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

06 JUN 08

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

BY Jonathan Griffin | 06 JUN 08

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

06 JUN 08

Anarchic urbanism; pigeons, song and dance

BY Sam Thorne | 06 JUN 08

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

BY Luca Cerizza | 06 JUN 08

Invisible populations; animals, sight, translation and interpretation

BY Steven Stern | 06 JUN 08

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

BY Kirsty Bell | 06 JUN 08

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

BY Carol Yinghua Lu | 06 JUN 08

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

06 JUN 08

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

BY George Pendle | 06 JUN 08

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

BY Robert Storr | 06 JUN 08

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

BY Polly Staple | 06 JUN 08

The devotional aspects of looking at art

BY Jennifer Allen | 06 JUN 08

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

BY Michael Bracewell | 06 JUN 08

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

BY Sarah Khan | 06 JUN 08

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

BY Adrian Piper | 06 JUN 08

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

06 JUN 08

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

BY Sally O’Reilly | 06 JUN 08

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

BY George Pendle | 06 JUN 08

Michael Stevenson (JRP Ringier, Zurich, 2008)

BY Nicola Harvey | 06 JUN 08

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

BY Sam Thorne | 06 JUN 08

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

BY Dan Fox | 06 JUN 08

Various artists (Out There, 2008)

BY Jace Clayton | 06 JUN 08

Fanal (Sonig, 2008)

BY Nav Haq | 06 JUN 08

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

BY Ben Ehrenreich | 06 JUN 08

Heiner Goebbels, P3, London, UK

BY Jennifer Higgie | 06 JUN 08

Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

BY Amanda Coulson | 06 JUN 08

Beirut, Lebanon

BY Suzanne Cotter | 06 JUN 08

Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, USA

BY Sean O’Toole | 06 JUN 08

Montehermoso Cultural Centre, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

BY Jennifer Higgie | 06 JUN 08

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

BY Mark Godfrey | 06 JUN 08

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

BY Wally Caruana | 06 JUN 08

Maureen Paley, London, UK

BY Martin Herbert | 06 JUN 08

Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland

BY Yvonne Volkart | 06 JUN 08

The art of football

BY Jennifer Doyle | 06 JUN 08

Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK

BY Tom Morton | 05 JUN 08

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

BY A.M. Homes | 05 JUN 08

Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, Brazil

BY Fabio Cypriano | 05 JUN 08

Compton Verney, Warwickshire, UK

BY Jonathan Griffin | 05 JUN 08

Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, USA

BY Christopher Bedford | 05 JUN 08

Limoncello, London, UK

BY Chris Fite-Wassilak | 05 JUN 08

Johann König, Berlin, Germany

BY Kirsty Bell | 05 JUN 08

Museo del Barrio, New York, USA

BY Jenni Sorkin | 05 JUN 08

Various venues, Glasgow, UK

BY Martin Vincent | 05 JUN 08

Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal

BY Chris Sharp | 05 JUN 08

Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York, USA

BY Kristin M. Jones | 05 JUN 08

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

BY Max Andrews | 05 JUN 08

2nd Floor Projects, San Francisco, USA

BY Julian Myers | 05 JUN 08

Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, USA

BY Nato Thompson | 05 JUN 08

Les Complices, Zurich, Switzerland

BY Burkhard Meltzer | 05 JUN 08

John Connelly Presents, New York, USA

BY Katie Sonnenborn | 05 JUN 08

Korean Cultural Centre, London, UK

BY Tom Morton | 05 JUN 08

Galleria Francesca Kaufmann, Milan, Italy

BY Frank Boehm | 05 JUN 08

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

05 JUN 08

Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Germany

BY Dominic Eichler | 05 JUN 08

Knoedler Gallery, New York, USA

BY Katie Sonnenborn | 05 JUN 08

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, USA

BY Kristin M. Jones | 05 JUN 08

Galleria SALES, Rome, Italy

BY Emily Verla Bovino | 05 JUN 08

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

BY Dominic Eichler | 05 JUN 08