Issue 125
September 2009

‘What I like about theory is that it spares us disasters. We don’t need to see the worst to understand it.’ Sylvère Lotringer in conversation.

Plus: Jörg Heiser asks whether philosophers understand contemporary art, theory’s place in art schools, Art & Language, Walead Beshty, Monica Bonvicini, Liz Deschenes, Vladimir Nabokov, Plato, Eileen Quinlan and John Russell.

Also featuring: Venice 2009 unraveled. 

Reviews from: the UK, USA, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa and Spain.

From this issue

The application of theory to the modern world

BY Mark Fisher |

The changing role of cultural theory, and its enduring importance for contemporary art

BY Sam Thorne |

Contemporary art’s confusion about the difference between praxis and practice

BY Robert Storr |

The evolution of theory and its impact on contemporary thought

BY Jennifer Allen |

The publication of an unfinished novel by Vladimir Nabokov prompts a reflection on the aesthetic possibilities of the literary vanishing act

BY Thomas Karshan |

Vladimir Solovyov is now – thanks to Lenin’s censorship – the most important philosopher you’ve never heard of

BY Noemi Smolik |

In an ongoing series, frieze asks an artist, curator or writer to list the books that have influenced them

BY Maria Fusco |

Steven Shaviro (MIT Press, Cambridge, 2009) / Graham Harman (Re.Press, Melbourne, 2009)

BY Mark Fisher |

Giorgio Agamben, trans. David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella (Stanford University Press, 2009)

BY Brian Dillon |

The Invisible Committee (Semiotext(e), Los Angeles, 2009)

BY Nina Power |

Warp Records, 2009

BY Dan Fox |

Wisin y Yandel, Machete Music/WY Records, 2009

BY Jace Clayton |

The xx, Young Turks, 2009

BY Sam Thorne |

Do philosophers understand contemporary art?

BY Jörg Heiser |

Four leading teachers from universities and art schools around the world reflect on the importance of theory for students today

Theorist Sylvère Lotringer talks art and the market, the failings of capitalism and how radical thinking can help us survive 'the system'

BY Nina Power |

Artists Walead Beshty, Liz Deschenes and Eileen Quinlan discuss the return of the topic of abstraction to photography

BY Christopher Bedford |

Delicacy, vitrines and Modernism; scaffolding, relics and arcades

BY Quinn Latimer |

Collective memory and amnesia; mapping cities and family life

BY Martin Herbert |

Human rights and urban living; knowledge, complicity and the potential for change

BY George Stolz |

The highs and lows of the 53rd Venice Biennale, ‘Fare Mondi Making Worlds’

BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, and Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

BY Vivian Sky Rehberg |

Various venues, Cape Town, South Africa

BY Sean O’Toole |

MADRe, Naples, Italy

BY Luca Cerizza |

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA

BY Steven Stern |

Irish Museum of Modern Art, Project Arts Centre, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland

BY Brian Dillon |

Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK

BY Maria Fusco |

Taka Ishii Gallery, Kyoto, Japan

BY Katie Kitamura |

Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver, Canada

BY Dan Adler |

What do you like the look of? The sheep in the meadow

Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, USA

BY Joanna Kleinberg |

Simon Lee, London, UK

BY Mark Durden |

Sister, Los Angeles, USA

BY Andrew Berardini |

Supportico Lopez, Berlin, Germany

BY Sarah E. James |

Museo Tamayo de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico

BY Jessica Berlanga Taylor |

Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK

BY Kate Forde |

Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, ISA

BY Melissa E. Feldman |

Galería Oliva Arauna, Madrid, Spain

BY Ara H. Merjian |

Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK

BY Chris Fite-Wassilak |

RogueArt, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

BY Brian Curtin |

Mary Mary, Glasgow, UK

BY Sarah Lowndes |

Various venues, Thessaloniki, Greece

BY Sam Thorne |

Le Grand Palais, Paris, France

Figge von Rosen Galerie, Cologne, Germany

BY Catrin Lorch |

Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, Ireland

BY Jennifer Higgie |

Maureen Paley, London, UK

BY Kathy Noble |

Gladstone Gallery, New York, USA

BY George Pendle |