Pitfalls of the Artist Biopic; Zarina Muhammad’s Ecofeminist Sorcery

The horror story of modern Britain; Mike Davis's radical optimism; ArtReview Asia Winter issue out now |

View this email in your browser Scene of the Unseen On the cover of ArtReview Asia's Winter issue – out now – is Zarina Muhammad, a Singapore-based artist whose practice engages otherworldly responses to the current crises of environmental collapse and extractive capitalism via performance rituals and shrine-building. 'In Zarina's work, magic, myths and mysticism are put forth as valid ways of navigating a complex and uncertain world,' writes Adeline Chia. 'On a practical level, she argues that rituals, charms and spells offer psychological comfort and guidance through difficult times. But her other proposition is metaphysical: that there is a rich and hidden world of ghosts, gods and guardians of which the human is only a small part.' Elsewhere: Martin Herbert on the box-ticking exercise of filming an artist biopic; Juliet Jacques on modern Britain's horror show; our editors on exhibitions to see this month. And Nihal El Aasar pays tribute to Mike Davis, whose writing on everything from a history of the car bomb to Los Angeles's 'spatial apartheid' was marked by a 'true unboundedness that was able to completely alter worldviews'. En Liang Khong, Director of Digital Ecofeminist Sorcery Zarina Muhammad's sculptural installations, for Adeline Chia, 'metabolise her theoretical investigations into dynamic forms' – unbound by language, they 'engage with the world in more open-ended, unpredictable ways'. read now Radical Optimism The works of the late Mike Davis, as remembered by Nihal El Aasar, were powered by rightful rage, rather than cynicism or despair; 'written out of a radical love for and an unshakeable belief in ordinary people, and their potential to exact change'. read now Lively Lives 'It's worth remembering', writes Martin Herbert after watching Hilma, the latest artist biopic to hit screens, 'why most major artists' lives don't end up on film: because the part that's worth looking at is already out there, in galleries and museums.' read now Supernatural Kingdom A new show at Somerset House seeks to identify the gothic and supernatural air to recent British art. But how explicitly, Juliet Jacques asks, should expressions of urban alienation and social atomisation be taken as manifestations of horror? read now ArtReview Asia Winter 2022 Out Now The Winter issue looks to the ways in which stories and narratives originate, then morph and adapt to our contemporary times; featuring Zarina Muhammad, Jala Wahid, Fukushima art, Thai cinema and an artist project by Kaylene Whiskey. read more A Diary and a Window From Arthur Jafa's Black visual aesthetics at OBR Turin to Yayoi Kusama's self-obliteration at M+ Hong Kong – our editors on the art and culture they're looking forward to this month. read now An Art Exhibition or Fictional Quest? Bergen Assembly's 2022 edition, Yasmine and the seven faces of the Heptahedron, continually – and whimsically – returns to questions of authorship and identity. Rodney LaTourelle embarks on a playfully epic quest. read now Experimenter Curators' Hub 2022 There's still time to register for Day 2 of Experimenter Curators' Hub 2022, hosted in person, for the first time in two years, at Experimenter – Hindustan Road on 5 November 2022; in partnership with ArtReview. register & stream now Not subscribed yet? Sign up to ArtReview's newsletters © 2022 ArtReview Ltd. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at www.artreview.com or the previous digital magazine website Our mailing address is: ArtReview Ltd. 1 Honduras Street London, England EC1Y 0TH United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.