I picked this article out as an example of the wider and challenging issues the magazine includes.
The article is a discussion about the role of big art institutions in responding to current social and political crisis, particularly in reference to the Arab uprising this year.
It highlights the complexities of dealing with current events and the awkward balance of politics in art.
The point in the article that came over strongest to me was the idea that institutions that are distant from these events are at risk of curating work that distances the audiences even further because of the traits art tends to have in monumentalizing, sensationalising and historicizing reality. Or, becoming detatched from the reality by implementing it's own ideas and concepts onto these events.
The article also seems to question the balance between a completely apolitical art world and one that is self-congratulatory and conceited.
The article contained a photo of Imran Qureshi's installation 'Blessings Upon the Land of My Love', a very powerful installation at the Sharjah Biennial. The red stains are actually painted flower patterns, but have become a massacre on the courtyard floor; it's beautiful and horrific all in one.
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