Spike #75 fêtes the museum in all its stuffy, messy, showy, old-timey glory, as a home-away-from-home, the address of solace and astonishment. We feel the heavy load it bears after centuries above the fray – to decolonize collections and cheerlead justice, to backdrop local potlatches and global photo-ops, to do all this more with less – and adore it for looking none the worse for wear. This issue is a guestbook to be leafed through at half-light, to be reminded among all the petitions to should of what the museum already is: a trove of our symbols and the histories they shift for; a stubborn beauty mark amid everything’s turning smoother; an agora and a target and a legacy of timeless becoming. If it is a half-light of dawn, let it be a new chapter; and if dusk, then a eulogy of many voices. Featuring Pope.L, Simon Wu, Louise Lawler, Ben Davis, Ann Demeester, Anthony Hudek, Meschac Gaba, Bernadette Van-Huy, Ghislaine Leung, Estelle Hoy, Tea Hacic-Vlahovic, and many more.

Spike ePaper (Issue 75): The Museum Issue