In times of conflict and imposed power structures, artists tell stories of different worlds and alternative narratives. They do not represent the world from a single perspective: they narrate it from multiple viewpoints, with their ability to subvert perceptions and connect differences, participating in processes of cultural transformation.
With five portrait covers, featuring Sung Tieu, Cao Fei, Christelle Oyiri, Tabita Rezaire, Róisín Tapponi, an incredibly rich board of authors, and over 420 pages, CURA.46 “Soft Power” presents the artists who are redefining the geographies of art today, actively intervening in the collective imagination not only through speculative or futuristic aesthetics, but across a variety of media. Artists who embody the ability of art to build worlds, dismantling dominant paradigms through new storylines and the possibility of reinterpreting the past or imagining possible futures: techno-cultural and postcolonial identities, decolonial futures, and speculative imaginaries capable of developing alternative visions intertwine with the memory of home, family experience, and history.
Artists: Sung Tieu, Cao Fei, Ayoung Kim, Meriem Bennani, Farah Al Qasimi, Dorota Gawęda/Eglė Kulbokaitė, Tolia Astakhishvili, Lydia Ourahmane, Melike Kara, Precious Okoyomon, Diamond Stingily, Sandra Mujinga, Tabita Rezaire, Christelle Oyiri, Ruba Karabekian, Li Yi-Fan, Janiva Ellis, Mawena Yehouessi, Sadaf H Nava. / Contributors: Dan Rees, Christopher Williams-Wynn, Xue Tan, Ruba Katrib, Ruth Gebreyesus, Sarah Johanna Theurer, Alvin Li, Fabio Cherstich, Myriam Ben Salah, Jamieson Webster, Coumba Samba, Nikita Sena Quarshie, Mariam Elnozahy, Martha Kirszenbaum, Róisín Tapponi, Nora N. Khan, Mohamed Almusibli, Rosanna Puyol Boralevi, Laura McLean-Ferris. / Editors in Chief: Ilaria Marotta, Andrea Baccin. / Art Director: Dan Solbach
CURA. 46 launches and premieres
Offprint, 180 The Strand, London, May 15–17 / Art Basel, Basel, June 15–21 / I Never Read, Basel Social Club, Basel, June 14–20
/ Paris launch, July 2026
/ Rome, summer party, July 2026.
CURA. is available in Europe, US, and Asia.
Grab your copy via curamagazine.com or in your local bookshop, thanks to our distributors
Antenne Books and Les Presses du Réel. The “Soft Power” issue is accompanied by a special soundtrack by Sadaf H Nava.
“Soft Power” new merch includes a limited edition of tote bags. On request via curamagazine.com.
