Spike ePaper (Issue 53): The Real

Reality can’t be trusted. Elon Musk believes we live in a computer simulation, everybody is saying we live in a post-truth era, and when we buy food it comes with a guarantee that it’s real. We look at artists who have founded companies, Francesco Vezzoli’s fascination with television, the slowed-down performances of Maria Hassabi at this year’s Documenta. The stylist Ella Plevin writes about the latest Gucci campaign and Asad Raza explains why tennis has become interesting again. A Kickstarter project by the artist Emily Jacir, the current significance of the readymade, and the question of truth in documentary film. The poet Wayne Koestenbaum on porn, the philosopher Tristan Garcia on “the real”, and Gabi Ngcobo on Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi. Artists Calla Henkel & Max Pitegoff send us a postcard from Washington DC.