Aesthetica Magazine Issue 73

October/November 2016

Predictability is an interesting concept. On the one hand it means that things can happen in a regular and orderly fashion, creating reliability from which systems and routines are formed. It would be pretty difficult to get through a 24-hour period with complete randomness. However, it’s also important to deviate from the ordinary. This edition pays homage to that notion. It’s only through innovation that we can move forward. In the current times – both politically and economically – I find great comfort in constant movement; semi-permanence means that change is always on the horizon.

Inside this issue we look at the impact technology has on our lives; see for example Tatsuo Miyajima’s show at MCA Australia. One of Japan’s leading contemporary artists and is best known for his immersive sculptures and installations, Miyajima focuses on the passing of time and the cycle of life and death. He reminds us of our position in the universe and the temporality of life. Similarly Björk Digital is currently on at Somerset House, displaying an artist who needs no introduction as a true pioneer. This survey event comments on the crossover between art, music and electronic advancements. Meanwhile, Thomas Struth: Nature & Politics opens at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, examining how we interact with our environment and how human ambition has physically shaped the world in which we live. We also look at 20 years of the RIBA Stirling Prize, charting how all the winning buildings have encouraged new ways of living and working. The text reminds us just how much the built world in uences the quotidian.

In photography we present a range of seven photographic practices including Sebastian Weiss, Mária Švarbová, Natalia Evelyn Bencicova, Aurélien Villette and Ben Thomas, who negotiate the boundaries of the natural and the man-made world. Joshua Jordan, our cover photographer, captures retrospective moments. Finally, Chiharu Shiota offers the last words on the power of memory. Moving between technology, urbanisation and organic landscapes, this issue highlights what it means to live in today’s world.

Pseudo Americana

Tom Blachford’s photography renders functional, man-made structures into strange dreams that fluctuate between reality and fantasy.

Spatial Dimensions

Slovakia-born Mária Švarbová completed her studies in conservation, restoration and archaeology before dedicating herself to photography in 2010.

Ethereal Movements

The inventive performance group return to Sadler’s Wells with an exploration into their own potential both physically and existentially.

Cyclical Installation

Included in the 2016-2017 Sydney International Art Series, MCA Australia launches Tatsuo Miyajima’s first major life survey in the Southern Hemisphere.

Cinematic Retrospection

Joshua Jordan is an American fashion photographer who executes cinematic shoots of iconographic journeys with structural consideration.

Enduring Foundations

The RIBA Stirling Prize: 20 includes every winner over the last 20 years, highlighting how buildings must move beyond functionality.

Archaic Dereliction

Aurélien Villette (b. 1982) is a Parisian photographer fuelled by a desire to travel. Bringing to view more than 30 countries, the works are shaped…

Visceral Uniformity

Slovakian artist Natalia Evelyn Bencicova (b. 1992) works mostly in digital photography and is currently studying at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Having…

Concrete Abstraction

Ben Thomas focuses on urban spaces. Having experimented with tilt-shift and kaleidoscopes, featured series Chroma I and Chroma II decode cities, highlighting colour and tonal flatness.

Dynamic Composition

High Museum explores the photographer’s investigative legacy through new works that see comparisons in networks of cables and patterns of life.

Towards Hyper-Reality

Somerset House constructs a brand new world for artistic pioneer Björk, whose quest for audience integration ventures beyond cultural peripheries.