In this issue, writer and philosopher Federico Campagna, in a surprisingly conversation with
Andrea Bellini about the end of the world, explains that a world is a "'likely story' about reality" and that "after a while, each cosmological narration exhausts its narrative cycle and it comes to an end." According to Campagna, each of us go through several "ends of the world." Spanning from these reflections Flash Art titled the issue Cultural Apocalypses dedicating the cover story to
Cao Fei, one of the most farsighted artists on the international scene which discusses here her explorations of worlds both real and virtual with
Daniel Birnbaum, Hou Hanru,
Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Philip Tinari.
Also in this issue: multidisciplinary artist Cecilia Bengolea talks with Flash Art editor Eleonora Milani about her vision for a hybridized body in a perpetual state of change;
Chus Martínez considers
Ingo Niermann and Alexa Karolinski's film Oceano de amor while communing with feathered colleagues; Carlos Kong explores Lydia Ourahmane's intimate dislocations; Andrea Lissoni interviews Fatima Al Qadiri about the making of her new album Medieval Femme. Besides special commissions such as a visual essay conceived by
Giulia Essyad based on a sci-fi saga about a utopian civilization and a visual project made by
Jenna Gribbon.
And: Charlie Robin Jones reflects on designer Heron Preston and the unending work of the NYC Department of Sanitation;
William J. Simmons unpacks irony and shame in relation to the unflinching gaze of
Roe Ethridge; and John Belknap contemplates the leveraging of failure through the lens of Emily Segal's novel Mercury Retrograde.
Flash Art is an international quarterly magazine and
publishing platform dedicated to thinking about contemporary art, exploring the evolving cultural landscape through the work of leading artists, writers, curators and others.
One of Europe's oldest art magazines,
Flash Art was founded in Rome in 1967, before relocating to Milan in 1971, and was originally bilingual, published in both Italian and English. In 1978 two separate editions were launched:
Flash Art International and
Flash Art Italia. Today the magazine remains one of the most recognizable and widely read publications of its kind, and is distributed in 87 countries.
