Film
Invitation to the Party: Jan Nemec's 1966 Satire of Czech Communism
Long seen as the “enfant terrible” of Czech cinema, Němec constantly found himself in trouble with Czech government authorities, and was almost arrested for making this film.
Review
Art
It’s Nothing Close to Fantasy: Brandi Twilley’s Imaginary Friend
Brandi Twilley, who was eight years old when Pretty Woman was released, creates an atmosphere in which the real world becomes the phantom, while the fantasy strives to become real.
Art
Plié Meets Twerk in a Performance of Black Queer Joy
In Jumatatu Poe’s work, movements that appear classical blend seamlessly with voguing, African dance movements, and J-Sette, a style sprung out of black Southern drill teams.
Film
A Documentary Envisions a Book James Baldwin Never Finished
Directed by Raoul Peck, I Am Not Your Negro is montage and meditation, a dialogue between the archive and the present.
Art
How a 19th-Century Painter Turned from Reality to Fantasy
In his early, clear-eyed paintings, Henri Fantin-Latour’s subject was the reality of the observable world itself. Toward the end of his career, faithful reproductions no longer satisfied the artist.
Art
Diaristic Maps Composed of Tens of Thousands of Photographs
Sohei Nishino’s maps are hellish auto-portraits, subjective representations built through fantastic repetition.
Art
Doris Salcedo Captures the Weight of Mourning
Doris Salcedo is interested in replicating the indefinite, affective qualities of mourning — its weight, intangibility, absurdity, and reliance on personal associations.
Film
Documentarian Adam Curtis Dissects the World that Gave Rise to Trump
In Hypernormalisation (2016), Adam Curtis not only anticipates Trump’s victory, but also zeroes in on the abject disbelief and shock that followed in its wake.
Art
Disrupt and Then Destroy the World with a Dystopian Startup Simulator
In the game The Founder, you build the most disruptive, innovative, synergized startup in the world, but your success destroys the planet in the process.
Art
Mapping Migrant Journeys onto Boats of String
A suspended, stringy installation of boat forms by Chiharu Shiota in a Parisian department store evokes the uncertainty and peril of migrants' journeys.
Art
From Montage to Mounting: The Surprisingly Sexual Drawings of Sergei Eisenstein
Over the course of his life, Sergei Eisenstein amassed 5,000 sketches, including his "sex drawings," which depict various sex acts that are not limited to humans.
Art
An Artist Imagines Moving Syrians to Mars
Halil Altindere's latest exhibition uses science fiction to explore real political quagmires.