Introducing 2026 editorial cycle: Transformers

Everyone dreads turning 40, but we’re celebrating it. Our 40th issue opens the year of the fire horse with an issue titled “Synthetics.” It’s the first part of “Transformers”, our 2026 editorial cycle, where we look at the impact of change—and not techno-feudalist dreams. It will be followed by the issues “Energy” (spring), “Organisms” (summer), “Global Players”(fall), and “Ancient Battles” (winter).

Transformers goes back to a fiction film-saga from 2007 on staging a battle between “humans” and “aliens” or “terrorists.” The plot is familiar: the defenders of “civilization” (the US) versus the Others (guess who), stretched between extraterrestrial fantasy and contemporary propaganda. Cinema and media rehearse this binary until it hardens into instinct, until the monstrous invader mirrors the villain of the evening news. The line between science fiction and state ideology dissolves, revealing how both have long prepared the emotional infrastructure for real-world violence.

About AWC’s 40th issue
“Synthetics” looks at society’s toxins, addictions, and collective hallucinations—everything that threatens to erase imagination and replace it with disillusionment. Across this issue, contributors write with embodied experience and critical analysis, as they reflect on Elie Wiesel’s famous quip KEIN MENSCH IST ILLEGAL (nobody is illegal) on our cover.

The issue is the first one in collaboration with the street newspaper from Mexico City, Mi Valedor, and includes a monographic inquiry into Mariana Castillo Deball’s Feathered Changes—a site-specific installation commissioned for the new David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) that investigates cosmologies that refuse to be commodified.

Contributors are Shane Anderson, Erin Lee Holland, Alina Kolar, Dalia Maini, Maga Miranda, María Inés Plaza Lazo, Cristina Pérez, Anahita Razmi, Fabiola Rayas, María Luisa Romero, Lilo Ruminawi, Liv Schulman, Peter Zumthor, Rico Zyrano, Transformella, LA Poverty Department, and Habersaathstrasse Residents.

Co-edited with María Portilla Acevedo, artist and publisher of Mi Valedor.
Designed by Studio Manuel Raeder (Manuel Raeder, Cecilia Murgia, Andrew J. Beltran).
Special thanks to José Carlos Porras (Viejo Vago Brujo) for the first draft of this joint utopia.

Events: Tools and Situations Against Dystopia
In March 2026, we’re launching “Community Conduits”, a series of one-day gatherings and workshops created with, for, or inspired by the many communities AWC works alongside in Berlin. We are opening the doors of our office to artists and practitioners who bring transformation to communities. Oriented toward access, mutual aid, redistribution of resources, as well as any act of generosity among art workers, vendors, and readers, two events are already scheduled and spaces are increasingly limited. Register now.

March 8, 12–4pm: Prison bread is awful, we feed it to the ducks
Belia Zanna Geetha Brückner with Justice Collective Berlin

What’s the first dish you want to share with your loved ones after release?

This workshop unites cooking and writing as acts of care and connection across prison walls. While discussing the German justice system and the importance of being a witness to what happens in courtrooms, participants will cook vegetarian recipes shared by prisoners. 

Donation-based, sliding scale: 15 to 25 euros. Donations cover food and support for the Freiheitsfonds. Cash, PayPal, or a card will all be accepted on the day of the workshop. Register by March 5. Register here.

March 15, 12:30–6:30pm: Economies of Mutuality
Sarj Lynch

Building collective capacity for care and action, Open Space and Carepods are two mutual aid projects that participants will engage with. The space encourages awareness, generosity, and exchange. Connecting people across adjacent struggles, the aim is to share skills, knowledge, and support while sustaining justice-oriented work together.

Donation-based, sliding scale: 10 to 45 euros. Donations cover materials, food, and labor. Cash, PayPal, or a card will all be accepted on the day of the workshop. Register by March 10. Register here.

Accessibility: The entrance has a small step of approximately 10 cm, and the bathroom is not wheelchair accessible. We cannot guarantee a low-allergen environment as the space is shared. Please COVID test before attending or wear a mask during the event. Masks are available on site. Young people aged 10 and above are welcome, though this is not a child-centered event.

Arts of the Working Class is a newspaper for the streets. All proceeds of issues sold by vendors remain with the vendors. It is our modest way of addressing the structural inequalities and economic disparities that generate precarity, houselessness, and social marginalization. If you’d like to support our editorial work, you can subscribe here, and/or donate here.