One of South Africa’s most important new artists raises difficult questions about colour, womanhood, and the nature of freedom. As another banner year for Mary Sibande ends, Lisa Meekison looks back on her development and on the many meanings of her work.
The massive architectural heritage of the Soviet era has long been a source of mixed feelings for Moscow’s residents, and in the building boom of the last two decades, much of it has been lost to the developer’s shovel. Belatedly, the city has now begun to acknowledge, protect, and adapt these time-worn, daunting, romantic buildings.
A modern consensus has all but consigned free will to the graveyard of outmoded ideas. But one philosopher isn’t so sure.
The construction of an exciting new building is a spectacle of optimism, and we tend to assume that once completed, a given structure will last forever. It never does, of course, but planning for the end of buildings remains rare. A new book, Buildings Must Die, sets out to change that.
We see selfies everyday, but rarely do we see the people in the midst of taking those selfies. Luisa Dörr and Navin Kala show us precisely that — and in doing so, warm our hearts.
In this age of stunningly-complex digital animations, in which computer technology seemingly removes all limits for artists, it is refreshing and inspiring to see how the physical constraints of pottery, drawing, and paper cut-outs can be transformed into a new kind of magic.
Moscow-born-New York-based photographer and international model Ira Chernova talks with SCOPE about being on both sides of the camera, her attraction to fairy tales, and the importance of shooting in the moment. (Photo: Alina Valitova)
Industrial-scale agriculture has placed small farmers and their local environments at risk not just in the United States but across the developing world, warns Eric Holt-Giménez of the “think-and-do-tank” Food First. Fixing the problem, he argues, isn’t a matter of waiting for top-down reform — but of generating sustained pressure from below.
At the forefront of South Africa’s emerging psychedelic rock movement marches The Very Wicked, a band that wants rock and roll to recapture its sense of story — and even, dare we say it, subtlety. And as a driving force behind Cape Town’s monthly “Psych Nights”, they’re bringing a lot of other bands along for the journey.
