Things we like

Aroma Ad Astra

Scent, memory, and language all imperfectly conjure the moments we keep coming back to. Adina Glickstein writes about Rimbaud, a new fragrance from Celine.

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View of Ser Serpas, ”HEAS BANGER BOOGIE”, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, 2022. Courtesy: the artist and Schiefe Zähne, Berlin. Photo: Cedric Mussano

View of Ser Serpas, ”HEAS BANGER BOOGIE”, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, 2022. Courtesy: the artist and Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin

Five-Star Review: Ser Serpas

The solo show on view at Barbara Weiss is composed of items found discarded on the streets of Berlin

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Matthias Groebel, L1095 , 1995. Acrylic on canvas, 95 x 95 cm

Matthias Groebel, L1095, 1995. Acrylic on canvas, 95 x 95 cm

Five-Star Review: Matthias Groebel

The solo show of computer-robotic-assisted paintings by Cologne artist Matthias Groebel at Schiefe Zähne, Berlin 

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Leila Hekmat, Glory Ad Undulating Undies, 2021, Digital collage printed on silk/ viscose velvet, 405 x 132 cm

Leila Hekmat, Glory Ad Undulating Undies, 2021. Digital collage printed on silk/viscose velvet, 405 x 132 cm

Five-Star Review: “In the Company Of”

A group show at Eden Eden in Berlin, with Renate Bertlmann, Ellen Cantor, Vaginal Davis, Meret Oppenheim, Gina Pane, Carol Rama, among others. 

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Sanya Kantarovsky,  Spirits , 2022. Oil on canvas, 200.4 x 260.3 cm

Sanya Kantarovsky, Spirits, 2022. Oil on canvas, 200.4 x 260.3 cm

Five-Star Review: Sanya Kantarovsky

The solo show by Sanya Kantarovsky at Capitain Petzel, Berlin

Discourse
Shaung Li,  ÆTHER (Poor Objects) , 2021. Video, 18:28 min. Photo: Dean Kissick. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia

Shuang Li, ÆTHER (Poor Objects), 2021. Video, 18:28 min. Photo: Dean Kissick. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia

THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL: 59TH VENICE BIENNALE

Is the 59th Venice Biennale the final chapter of an exhausted story? In his May column, Dean Kissick ponders how identity became the biggest elephant in the rooms of mega exhibitions, and how to abandon our screens for the real world and the real world for dreams.

Discourse
!Mediengruppe Bitnik, "Flagged for Political Speech", 2021

!Mediengruppe Bitnik, ”Flagged for Political Speech”, 2021

Flagged for lulz

Ingrid Luquet-Gad traces the spirit of politicised laughter in !Mediengruppe Bitnik’s ongoing series “Flagged for” for the May edition of Spike x Liste Expedition Monthly Picks. 

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Exhibition view

Exhibition view, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin, 2022

Five-Star Review: Trisha Donnelly

The first installment of Spike’s new criticitism format Five-Star Review is a roundup of Gallery Weekend Berlin 2022. Here we judge Trisha Donnelly at Galerie Buchholz. 

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Five-Star Review

Spike inaugurates a new format, where galleries, curators, and art are judged by glyphs, through 18 categories that would be equally at home in gourmet guides, aesthetic treatises, or poetry. 

"The 80s was the last period when low self-esteem was a normative response to authority"

Essay: The Last Great Era of Low Self-Esteem