Art Monthly 416: May 2018

Contents

Michael Rakowitz The invisible enemy should not exist 2007-

Interview

Cooking with the Enemy

Michael Rakowitz interviewed by George Vasey

The Iraqi-American artist discusses objects as proxies for people, giving shelter, the spoils of war and ghosts.

For me, this was a very angry project in that the outrage about lost artefacts didn't translate into an outrage about lost lives. It is about making the absence of the Lamassu present rather than making the Lamassu present.

Ana Teresa Fernández Erasing the Border 2012

Feature

Brinkmanship

As international border tensions rise, Bob Dickinson sees a return to the politics of paranoia

While artists Christoph Büchel, Marcos RamÍrez and Margarita García Asperas negotiate President Trump's proposed Mexican wall, others like John Byrne, Park Chan Kyong and Sean Snyder tackle existing barriers.

The politics of brinkmanship today is, however, not just limited to threatening your neighbour with Armageddon, it is also about intervening in the immediate and the everyday. Borders are where the pressure is felt most keenly, because they are where the new severity hastens to clamp down on exchange, movement and dialogue.

Dori Atlantis C**t Cheerleaders 1970

Feature

Troublemaking

Francis Frascina reconsiders conflicting debates about female pleasure and female violation in cultural representation

In the context of the #MeToo movement, the work of writers and artists from Jacqueline Rose, Carole S Vance and Judith Butler to bell hooks, Helen Chadwick and Sonia Boyce take on fresh significance.

Catherine MacKinnon's fear that without bringing sexuality within the remit of the law (directly related to gender inequality) it will 'become a law unto itself'. However, for Jacqueline Rose this very phrase may describe 'what sexuality is', which is consistent with Simone de Beauvoir's existentialist feminism where woman is not 'born' but 'becomes'.

Comment

Editorial

The Terminators

Although the media had a field day with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's reluctant appearance at Senate committee hearings, the circus around the 64 billion dollar man's appearance allowed the shadowy figures (the 'oiligarchs' and kleptocrats) behind the murky misuse of Facebook's user data to remain largely hidden.

Owning your own political party is the ultimate luxury, but if only politics was a movie, it would be so much easier to resolve things if you had a script.

Artnotes

Gender Pay Gap

The new requirement for organisations to publish gender pay gap data has revealed a mixed picture in the arts; ACE has published its review into the Bristol visual art scene, allowing some of its ring-fenced funding for the city to trickle out; the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has cut funding to almost half of its regularly funded organisations; the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has launched his draft culture strategy; plus the latest news on galleries, appointments, prizes and more.

Rehana Zaman When an artist dies in me/Exit the Emperor Nero 2013

Profile

Rehana Zaman

Adam Benmakhlouf on the Yorkshire-born, London-based artist who explores acts of resistance through subversive speech and group interactions.

Rehana Zaman's surprising subversion of popular forms, and the attention she gives to embodied pleasures, subtly reorganise the field of oppositional politics.

Forensic Architecture Rafah 2015
located photographs and videos within a 3D model tell the story of one of the heaviest days of bombardment in the 2014 Israel-Gaza war

Exhibitions

Forensic Architecture: Counter Investigations

Institute of Contemporary Art, London

Maria Walsh

Langlands & Bell: Internet Giants – Masters of the Universe

Ikon, Birmingham

David Trigg

de-leb: data as currency, the currency of data

Banner Repeater, London

Tom Emery

Adrian Piper: A Synthesis of Intuitions, 1956-2016

MoMA, New York

Lina Dzuverovic

Pakui Hardware: The Return of Sweetness

Tenderpixel, London

Henry Broome

Magali Reus: As Mist, Description

South London Gallery, London

Cherry Smyth

Joan Jonas

Tate Modern, London

Isobel Harbison

Linder: Her GraceLand • The House of Fame

Chatsworth House, Bakewell

Nottingham Contemporary

Ellen Mara De Wachter

Maria Zahle: Trotsky and the Wild Orchids

Arcade, London

Paul Carey-Kent

Fiona Crisp: Material Sight

Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland

Catherine Spencer

Is this Planet Earth?

Ty Pawb, Wrexham

Lizzie Lloyd

Another Kind of Life: Photography on the Margins

Barbican, London

Chris McCormack

Reviews

Books

Is the Living Body the Last Thing Left Alive?

Rob La Frenais

But this book is not just important for underlining these tensions; it also teases out numerous 'institutional irritants' worldwide, international histories which have not been considered together before.

Reports

Phil Hayes Legends and Rumours 2013

Letter from Paris

Past into Present

Edward C Ball

The much anticipated opening of Lafayette Anticipations further cements the dominance of private foundations in the parisian art scene.

Reports

Awami Art Collective Light Pyramid 2018

Letter from Lahore

Framing and Light

Virginia Whiles

Under Zia-ul-Haq's dictatorship, constant surveillance and censorship reigned. Women resisted with wit and ingenuity.

Artlaw

Ways of Working

Reputation

Henry Lydiate

Is there legal protection against public accusations that may be false or fake or inaccurate and which may damage reputations before they are proven to be true?

Listings

Events

Calendar

The updated events and exhibitions calendar can be viewed online.

Exhibitions

Exhibition Listings

Art Monthly's exhibition listings can be viewed online.