Issue # 15
Archive stories

A man among men New York City: Day and night Vince Aletti is surrounded by thousands upon thousands of highly curated groupings of two-dimensional men. These men, mostly anonymous at first, later become established members of his household. He adds his own story to their lives, his own meaning to their gazes. Simply put, he…

In a pickle Archival imagery courtesy of !WOWOW! London: The first time I saw Matthew Stone he was performing an unruly, mad dance, whirling around and around the stage at a party in a chilly warehouse in Peckham, South London, and I had no idea who he was. The first time I met him was…

Gruyères is a medieval town with a present population of roughly 2,000 and an annual visitor count of over a million. It sits atop a small, freestanding mountain in the valley of the Sarine River, north of the Alps, in the canton of Fribourg. From the generous parking lot, steep steps lead to cobbled roads…

A man of many hats Tokyo: If you’ve ever been to a fashion show in New York or Paris, you may have wondered to yourself, ‘Who is that amazingly dressed man in the front row with the incredible head of hair?’ It would be Gene Krell, international fashion director of the Japanese editions of Vogue, Vogue…

Lives in a bakery Biel: While I was driving through the snow up in the mountains of Biel, I was very nervous. It’s a particular feeling when you finally meet someone you know through pictures and through writing. I know his image will be familiar, yet his voice will be strange to me. Maybe we won’t…

Southern weaver Johannesburg: Marguerite Stephens has been weaving tapestries for 50 years and looks fit enough to go 50 more. When we meet her at her award-winning, modular home in Diepsloot, half an hour outside Johannesburg, she is halfway through her latest commission for celebrated South African artist and long-time collaborator William Kentridge. Huge copies of…

It even has a name Miami: As Art Basel Miami Beach beckons its disciples to gorge on art in a show of reverence and decadence, Marvin and Ruth Sackner, who live across the bay, go about their quiet routine in what was once the duplex penthouse of the Venezuelan pop star El Puma. They decided to…

House of style New York City: I first met Todd about six years ago when he approached my family about the possibility of doing a book on my grandfather’s work. At that point the only association I had with his name was from an old favourite pair of jeans I owned in the ‘90s. After doing…

The gloomy reaction to the terrible murders of the Charlie Hebdo journalists raised the banners of freedom and democracy. But France’s largest rally since the end of the Second World War came with many unanswered questions. I’ve been living in Paris for 20 years as of this March. Elein Fleiss, who created Purple magazine in…

Concept by Ana Dominguez & Omar Sosa              

In 1970, a writer working for the popular culture magazine Zygote visited the ‘Loft’, an experiment in alternative urban living in New York City. The article he would go on to write describes a group of 27 men and women (presumably all were adults; there is no mention of any children, although he does refer…

Archival material courtesy of The César Manrique Foundation This time, we’re headed to Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, to visit the houses of César Manrique (1919–1992). For the first time since beginning this series of conversations, we’re going to discuss the work of a figure who has passed away. It is for this reason…

‘What do any of us really know about love?’ Mel said. ‘It seems to me we’re just beginners at love. We say we love each other and we do, I don’t doubt it. I love Terri and Terri loves me, and you guys love each other and we do, I don’t doubt it. You know…

One greyish, delicately plain, and nuanced Wednesday afternoon, Mieke and I sit in what I believe to be Antwerp-based artist Guy Rombouts’ studio. Or kitchen, or dining room, or living room—it’s a bit unclear. It’s a broad space on the ground floor of two stately, early 20th-century town houses that were once joined, buildings that…

No other interiors magazine has done it yet? And with good reason: to enter the ‘inside’ of Gaspar Noé is an impossible mission. We are good friends, he’s often been around to my place, we’ve shared some nice memories… but he is a little defensive when I ask him to talk about the movie he…

As most young teenagers in the early 2000s, I spent some of my afternoons and weekends watching MTV. It was channel number 14 out of 20 on French television, and we would play it in the background whenever we got back from school and had to do our homework, or when we were getting ready…

The adventures of Ryan McGinley New York City: Sitting in Ryan McGinley’s apartment is not unlike looking at his photographs. Exposed, handmade kitchen shelves communicate DIY insouciance, a bathtub in the centre of the room was practically made for mischief, and, on a brutal New York winter morning, flourishing plants suggest a perennial spring. Everything lining the…

The geometry of family Zurich: Last time I was standing on the balcony of a flat in a neighbouring high-rise building I did actually hear lightning. A kind of hissing sound, followed by good old thunder that you hear downstairs, as well. Artist Shirana Shahbazi has been hearing that for 14 years, living on the uppermost floor…

Paula’s Ibiza Ibiza: Last summer in Ibiza, while in the house of my friend Grillo Demo, I set my eyes on the colourful fabric of his kitchen curtains. ‘Ah, that’s from Paula’s’, he said. By pulling some strings I came to meet Armin. He lives in an old farmhouse in the mountains of Santa Inés. Access…

As most young teenagers in the early 2000s, I spent some of my afternoons and weekends watching MTV. It was channel number 14 out of 20 on French television, and we would play it in the background whenever we got back from school and had to do our homework, or when we were getting ready…