Issue # 23
Archive stories

London: Coco Capitán has often said, will say again, that her work is just a reflection of her own life. Which is true—and which fact makes the ease with which it draws on themes of identity and selfhood, nods to art-historical ideas about pop and consumerism, and pinpoints the absurdity of our contemporary condition, all…

Saint-Georges-sur-Allier: I met Patrick 10 or 11 years ago while tasting wine in another winemaker’s cellar. Why is he immediately likeable? I think it is his laugh and his earnest interest in others, even me, then, despite my terrible French. He recommended I go to the 10 Vins Cochons, a wine tasting held locally that…

The composer and musician Laurie Spiegel is distinguished by many accomplishments, including one that really sets her apart. For the past 40 years a musical composition made with computers and based on the work of a 17th-century astronomer has been orbiting the solar system on NASA’s two Voyager space probes. The scientist Carl Sagan selected…

Los Angeles: I first encountered Ricky Swallow online. Or rather, what I actually encountered was an anonymous blog called Ready for the House. It was an album quilt of objects—hundreds of objects—stitched together by some mysterious collector in California. Navajo jewellery. Nineteen-forties wave splitters from Papua New Guinea, worn and weathered from time at sea….

New York City: New York City is the birthplace of the namesake-mega brand, pioneered by Ralph (Lauren) in the late ‘60s and perfected by a handful of designers who have used their personas and lifestyles to embed their clothes with aspiration, so that the very mention of their names—Calvin, Donna, Tommy, and even Tory—evokes an…

Barcelona: I first met Paloma 15 years ago through Fotolog, the first social network in Spain. This means I first met her visual universe when we were teenagers, and a bit later on I met her gestures and her particular way of articulating words—details that I return to in her apartment today. When the digital…

Toki City: A golden tea bowl with an enchanting lustre; an almost infectiously pop object, reminiscent of the work of Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol. The countless works produced by Takuro Kuwata exhibit a delicate balance amid their quirkiness, giving rise to new forms of aesthetic beauty. His appearance in the ‘Fire and Clay’ group exhibition…

Ocho Rios: I first met Jessica Ogden properly at her studio in South London in 2002, when she was running her eponymous ready-to-wear label. I remember her insisting that I meet her in her studio; if I was to promote her brand I needed to understand her ‘world’, for Jessica Ogden’s work was always very immersive….

‘At one end of the spectrum are those who set value on day-to-day living according to a humanist perspective. Then there are others, such as myself, who envision an abstract expanse of so-called symbolic space, where all everyday concreteness will be rejected as a way of recovering fundamentally human qualities’. ‘At times people other than…

Tokyo: I first travelled to Japan 13 years ago. One of my only connections was a friend of a friend who was a b-boy from Tokyo; we hung out every day for a week, neither of us speaking a word of the other’s language. As a result, a lot of time was spent drawing pictures, trying…

Los Angeles: I’m sitting with my translator, Naoki, as we drive over a hill and emerge onto a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The water glares up at us with an unforgiving blueness, and cypress trees dot the cliffside. It feels like we’ve stumbled onto an ancient Greek island. But it’s not: Palos Verdes is a…

A conversation chaired by Dean Kissick The mainstream discourse around gender and sexuality has come on in leaps and bounds this decade, even if there’s still a long way to go. For this conversation, we met to talk about how sexual fantasy, sexual difference, and fluid identity, whether as guiding ideas or lived experiences, inform…

Concept by Ana Dominguez & Omar Sosa            

Portland: I’ve gotten to know many brilliant talents throughout my life and career, but my friend Thomas Lauderdale is truly one of the most amazing, gifted, and unique people I have ever encountered. Best known as the visionary who, 25 years ago, founded the inimitable little orchestra from Portland, Oregon, called Pink Martini, Thomas still…