Aesthetica Magazine Issue 52

April / May 2013

Inside this issue, we start with Amalia Pica’s latest exhibition, which opens in April at MCA Chicago and is the artist’s first major solo museum show in the USA, including 15 of her most significant works. We also look at the Julio Le Parc retrospective on now at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, presenting a vast survey of the artist’s work from the 1950s to the present day. European Chronicles opens this May as part of Diffusion in Cardiff, which is Wales’ first international photography festival. NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star is the latest exhibition to open at the New Museum in New York City, capturing a specific moment at the intersection of art, pop culture and politics.

In photography, we present a selection from this year’s World Photography Awards as well as paying homage to Rudy Burckhardt. We also introduce three new photographers: Astrid Kruse Jensen from Denmark, Rune Guneriussen from Norway and Bharat Sikka from India. Jensen creates stark narratives by playing with light and colour, while Guneriussen engages with photography, installation and sculpture. Finally, our cover photographer, Bharat Sikka, blends fine art and documentary to create an arresting visual language with a bold use of colour and fascinating locations.

In film, we chat with Dominga Sotomayor about her debut feature Thursday Till Sunday, which recalls memories of family road trips. We also speak with Lisa Bryer from the BAFTA selection committee about this year’s theatrical release of BAFTA winning short films. In music, we chat with Jonas Bonnetta from Evening Hymns about their new album, and examine the phenomenon of video game music. In performance, Akram Khan discusses his latest show, iTMOi, as he celebrates the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring at Sadler’s Wells. Finally, for the last words, Pedro Reyes talks about his latest show Disarm, in which he re-uses decommissioned guns to make musical instruments.

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Rudy Burckhardt

Refusing simply to angle his lens at those he passed in the street, Rudy Burckhardt managed to record the shapes, patterns and architecture of his locations, leaving society to weave in and out of the frames.

Astrid Kruse Jensen

Astrid Kruse Jensen builds her entire portfolio on dynamic oppositions; girls in dazzling red chase across black backdrops and glowing light highlights silhouettes.

2013 Sony World Photography Awards

The Sony World Photography Awards collate thousands of remarkable images that uncover the secrets of humanity through countless pairs of eyes.

Game Music Levels Up

Video game music has changed and evolved with the current trends. For the musicians creating it, things have never been better.

Amalia Pica

Amalia Pica’s first major museum show explores her vast oeuvre, highlighting her ongoing preoccupation with modes of communication.

Thursday Till Sunday

Dominga Sotomayor’s debut feature recalls road trips, hours of travelling, fatigue and children’s games as a family in crisis travels through the Chilean desert.

Rune Guneriussen

Rather than producing didactic works that regulate understanding, Guneriussen creates captivating structures without an obvious, readable form.

Akram Khan

This spring, Sadler’s Wells celebrates 100 years since Stravinsky’s influential ballet, The Rite of Spring, with work from choreography’s golden boy, Akram Khan.

Evening Hymns

Jonas Bonnetta returns, under the new name Evening Hymns, with a passionate landscape of instrumental harmonies and lyrical memories.

BAFTA Shorts 2013

Long seen as the crudité to the blockbuster’s entrée, the short film is about to morph from a stepping stone into the main presentation.

Julio Le Parc

A landmark exhibition of Julio Le Parc’s work at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, looks at the pioneer of “Op” and kinetic art’s ongoing contribution to contemporary art.

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