Real Review / 13

MINING THE PAST

 

Robin Givhan

Gerhard Richter

Philippa Snow

Jordan/Martin Hell

Martina Tiefenthaler

Christopher Schaberg

Darcy Thomas

Sophia Alami

Leon Batchelor

Mina Polo

Patrick McGraw

Halima Ali

Liam Denhamer

Emily Sandstrom

Martin Sigler

Jack Self

Diane Polhemus

Tanya Anand

Christine Smith

Noé Cotter

Modem

Jonathan Monk

 

All times appear equally and at once. The past no longer recedes in an orderly way, but threatens to resurface at any moment in the guise of the contemporary. Nostalgia cycles are getting faster. Old material artefacts return as integral components of current trends. The future is no longer desirable or unforeseen. Simultaneously, the chaos of our epoch masks a vast project of algorithmic derisking to make tomorrow identical to today: who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.

 

Who owns the past? We interview columnist ROBIN GIVHAN on pluralist history. Artist GERHARD RICHTER reproduces a reproduction of an overpainted photograph. Author PHILIPPA SNOW reviews leather jackets. Balenciaga CCO MARTINA TIEFENTHALER and JACK SELF discuss fashion's cyclical relationship with the past, while philosopher CHRISTOPHER SCHABERG reviews airline travel chaos. Director DARCY THOMAS reviews climate reparations and the history of slavery. SOPHIA ALAMI reviews conscious parties and LEON BATCHELOR reviews the Carboniferous Period.

 

Historian MINA POLO was born in 2001 and reviews the 20th century. Designer MARTIN SIGLER reviews Black Being, HEIDEGGER and NEGRITUDE; Artist JORDAN/MARTIN HELL reviews the blasphemy of asking. JACK SELF reviews deferred fulfilment and the housing crisis, while PATRICK MCGRAW and LIAM DENHAMER review a two-room apartment. HALIMA ALI reviews domestic (non)functionalism. EMILY SANDSTROM reviews MODEM's vision of the smart city. DIANE POLHEMUS reviews Trussonomics. TANYA ANAND reviews keywords and generative art; CHRISTINE SMITH reviews the dreams of spiders.

 

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Real Review is a quarterly contemporary culture magazine with the strapline “what it means to live today”. Our agenda focuses on the politics of space, and trying to understand how everyday conditions enforce and reinforce power relations.