Issue 116
Jun - Aug 2008

Carol Yinghua Lu considers Ai Weiwei’s unprecedented visibility as a defining voice in the country’s cultural make-up. Dominic Eichler recounts his research trip through Vietnam’s Central Highlands with artist Danh Vo and photographer Pratchaya Phinthong. American writer A.M Homes talks to British artist Sarah Jones about photography, film, memory, roses, psychoanalysis, women and hair. Dan Fox explores the prolific output of Ryan Gander, which includes lectures, scripts, videos, sculptures, paintings, books, clothing, jewellery, typography, etymology, facts, fictions, borrowings and more… 

From this issue

The artist will be exhibiting new work at Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London, in the spring of 2009

Songs as memorials; the presence of the past in empty spaces

BY Jonathan Griffin |

A celebration of the over-looked, the under-appreciated and the disappeared

Anarchic urbanism; pigeons, song and dance

BY Sam Thorne |

Metamorphosis and ‘life-sharing’; decadent humour and demon kings

BY Luca Cerizza |

Invisible populations; animals, sight, translation and interpretation

BY Steven Stern |

The sculptures of Polish artist Monika Sosnowska respond to architecture, memory and emotion

BY Kirsty Bell |

What accounts for Ai Weiwei's unique position in the cultural make-up of contemporary China?

BY Carol Yinghua Lu |

The Best Lack All Conviction, While The Worst Are Full Of Passionate Intensity

When so much art is trumpeted as being ‘political’ why do so few artists enter politics?

BY George Pendle |

Robert Storr compares Lawrence Weiner and Kara Walker’s projects of the early 2000s

BY Robert Storr |

An enigmatic representation of the abstract social and political systems regulating our world

BY Polly Staple |

The devotional aspects of looking at art

BY Jennifer Allen |

Independent publishing has seen a boom in new imprints, often designed by artists, of classic novels and ‘lost’ books

BY Michael Bracewell |

Elvis Presley died on Madonna’s 19th birthday, the two stars can be seen as complex and contradictory emblems

BY Sarah Khan |

In an ongoing series frieze asks curators, artists and writers to list the books that have influenced them

BY Adrian Piper |

In an ongoing series, frieze asks artists and filmmakers to list the movies that have influenced their practice

Bridget Penney (Book Works, London, 2008) / Maxi Kim (Book Works, London, 2008)

BY Sally O’Reilly |

Edward Castronova (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2007) / eds. Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg (MIT Press, Cambridge, 2008)

BY George Pendle |

Michael Stevenson (JRP Ringier, Zurich, 2008)

BY Nicola Harvey |

Volume I: 50 Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum (Dust-to-Digital, 2007)

BY Sam Thorne |

Ryan Gander’s lectures, scripts, installations, videos, sculptures, paintings, children’s books and more …

BY Dan Fox |

Various artists (Out There, 2008)

BY Jace Clayton |

Fanal (Sonig, 2008)

BY Nav Haq |

Exploring the history of Cuba’s National Art schools – a tale that reflects the hopes and failures of a revolution

BY Ben Ehrenreich |

Heiner Goebbels, P3, London, UK

BY Jennifer Higgie |

Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

BY Amanda Coulson |

Beirut, Lebanon

BY Suzanne Cotter |

Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, USA

BY Sean O’Toole |

Montehermoso Cultural Centre, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

BY Jennifer Higgie |

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

BY Mark Godfrey |

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

BY Wally Caruana |

Maureen Paley, London, UK

BY Martin Herbert |

Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland

BY Yvonne Volkart |

The art of football

BY Jennifer Doyle |

Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK

BY Tom Morton |

British artist Sarah Jones about photography, film, memory, roses, psychoanalysis, women and hair

BY A.M. Homes |

Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, Brazil

BY Fabio Cypriano |

Compton Verney, Warwickshire, UK

BY Jonathan Griffin |

Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, USA

BY Christopher Bedford |

Limoncello, London, UK

BY Chris Fite-Wassilak |

Johann König, Berlin, Germany

BY Kirsty Bell |

Museo del Barrio, New York, USA

BY Jenni Sorkin |

Various venues, Glasgow, UK

BY Martin Vincent |

Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal

BY Chris Sharp |

Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York, USA

BY Kristin M. Jones |

PAC Murcia (Proyecto Arte Contemporáneo / Contemporary Art Project), various venues, Murcia, Spain

BY Max Andrews |

2nd Floor Projects, San Francisco, USA

BY Julian Myers |

Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, USA

BY Nato Thompson |

Les Complices, Zurich, Switzerland

BY Burkhard Meltzer |

John Connelly Presents, New York, USA

BY Katie Sonnenborn |

Korean Cultural Centre, London, UK

BY Tom Morton |

Galleria Francesca Kaufmann, Milan, Italy

BY Frank Boehm |

The multi-faceted exhibitions of French artist Loris Gréaud reward leaps of faith with wild flights of the imagination

Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Germany

BY Dominic Eichler |

Knoedler Gallery, New York, USA

BY Katie Sonnenborn |

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, USA

BY Kristin M. Jones |

Galleria SALES, Rome, Italy

BY Emily Verla Bovino |

Vietnamese artist Danh Vo and Thai photographer Pratchaya Phinthong journey to Vietnam’s Central Highlands

BY Dominic Eichler |