The latest volume of writing by influential New York–based critic and curator Bob Nickas collects his 2012–14 column for Vice magazine’s Komp-laint Dept. This column unleashed the full omnivorous range of the author’s interests. There are essays on musicians such as Neil Young, Sun Ra, Royal Trux and Lydia Lunch, which look at their biographies and the history of Nickas’ personal relationship with their music; there are lengthy and often very funny “complaints” about, among other things, two different presidents, Jeff Koons, New York architecture, the meeting of fashion and punk, religion in general, nostalgia and the problem with contemporary graffiti. Additionally, there are meditations on filmmakers such as David Cronenberg and Nicolas Refin. The book is rounded out by perhaps the definitive (two-part) examination of how and why Richard Prince uses appropriation.

Author: Bob Nickas

Publisher: Karma

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Not-human, Not-fly is a publication made of two books. One contains a study on the concept of the posthuman using David Cronenberg’s film The Fly as a starting point. It argues that the human-fly mutant in the film, Brundlefly, is not just another cautionary tale that invalidates deviations from conventional expressions of humankind. The creature is worthy of consideration both as an organism that functions on their own terms, beyond the features of humans and houseflies, and as a picture of Dorian Gray that reveals not some underlying immorality, but the terms for living in an age of systematic environmental destruction that has been called the Anthropocene. The second book is a work of fan fiction: it presents a series of fictional DNA sequence constructs belonging to Brundlefly, which create a narrative based on the genetic transformations that Brundlefly was subjected to, revealing the not wholly linear relations that connect humans, posthumans and houseflies.

Hugo Almeida is an artist (who goes by the name Mao) and postdoc researcher at the Interuniversity Center for the History of Science and Technology (CIUHCT), Faculty of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal. He is an alumni of the Art & Science residency program of the IMéRA Foundation, Marseille (2016-2017), France and of the Saari Residence, KONE Foundation, Mynämäki, Finland (2016). He has been a postdoc at CIEBA, Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon University (2013-2016) and holds a PhD in Molecular Biology (2013, NOVA University of Lisbon), from his research at the Telomere and Genome Stability Laboratory, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), Oeiras, Portugal. Mao normally exhibits and publishes with the art research collective and publishing label Massacre. His work has also been published by Chili Com Carne and Komikaze. He was a founding member of zine label Clube do Inferno (2012-2019).

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Interview #4 (DE). Mai 2012

Diesen Monat in INTERVIEW:

Die Schauspielerin Keira Knightley sieht für sich keine Chance, US-Präsidentin zu werden, und plädiert für Ahnungslosigkeit beim Kinobesuch. Im Gespräch mit David Cronenberg erzählt sie vom Dreh zu ihrem neuen Film „Anna Karenina“, was der Filmemacher sich mit wachsender Eifersucht anhört: „Ich kann die Vorstellung, dass du mit anderen Regisseuren arbeitest, nur schwer ertragen.“

Die neue Documenta-Leiterin Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev fordert im Gespräch mit der Hundetrainerin Maike Maja Nowak ein Wahlrecht für Hunde. Die Filmproduzentin Minu Barati spricht mit Katja Riemann über ihren Flötenunterricht auf der Waldorfschule. Und die Musikerin Lydia Lunch erklärt ihrem Kollegen Alec Empire, dass sie sich wie ein schwuler Trucker fühlt.

Der Rolling-Stones-Gitarrist Ronnie Wood erzählt Naomi Campbell, dass er erst im Entzug gelernt hat, wie man Wäsche wäscht. Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough berichtet seinem alten Freund Joey McIntyre von den New Kids On The Block, wie glücklich er war, als ihm ein Fan in den Schritt gegriffen habe – es sei der Rock’n’Roll-Moment seiner Karriere gewesen. Ein ganz anderes Erlebnis hatte beim Künstler Martin Eder schwer wiegende Folgen: Wie er dem Kurator Thomas Girst erklärt, schlug ein Meteorit in seinem Garten ein.

Die Jungs aus der MTV-Serie „Jersey Shore“ haben sich von Terry Richardson mit dem israelischen Supermodel Bar Refaeli fotografieren lassen. Schauspielerin Jessica Alba erzählt Regisseur Robert Rodriguez von ihrem neuen Leben als Chefin eines Vertriebs für umweltfreundliche Baby- und Haushaltsprodukte. Und die Sängerin Norah Jones erklärt, dass sie ihr Hit-Album „Come Away With Me“ gern vom Markt genommen hätte.

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Spike #30.

CONTENTS 30

ARTIST’S FAVOURITES
By Saâdane Afif: Katarina Burin, Natalie Czech, Jofroi Amaral, Nathan Peter, Lina Viste Grønli, Adrien Missika

ESSAY

Changes in the Economy of the kunstbetrieb, Part 3: The Freedom of the Curator
By Daniel Baumann

ARTISTS TALK

Markus Schinwald talks to David Cronenberg
 about cinematic sublimation and blank beginnings

CURATOR’S KEY

Fabrice Stroun, forthcoming director of the Kunsthalle Bern on O-ism by Jim Shaw

GALLERIES
Jennifer Teets on the new programmgalerie Marcelle Alix, Paris

INSTITUTION
David Roberts Art Foundation in London is
a new and innovative exhibition space by a private collector. By Adam Carr

COLLECTIONS

A secret history of art: Steven Leiber’s collection
of art ephemera in San Francisco. By Matthew Post

PORTRAIT TOM BURR

Camp, appropriation and politics meet in the work of
this American artist. An Interview by Gianni Jetzer

PORTRAIT MOYRA DAVEY
Fionn Meade finds an obsession with collecting, systematic listing and nostalgic resistance in the photographs of this Canadian artist

PORTRAIT PETER FRIEDL
This Austrian artist never fails to surprise with unexpected strategies that defy all trends. By Raimar Stange

ART & POLITICS

Adam E. Mendelsohn takes a look at Occupy Wall
Street and asks some players in the art world what 
they make of it

ARTIST’S READINGS

Annika von Hausswolff talks to Mika Hannula about Maurice Blanchot’s The Madness of the Day

ARCHITECTURE

Charles Moore’s Piazza d’Italia in New Orleans reveals the topicality of postmodernism. By Michele D’Aurizio

SEDUCTION
or the things we like

REVIEWS

Reviews of international exhibitions

THE PFAFF BROTHERS

A Child is Born on the Internet

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