Artist Network Theory No.1/No.2

First Nettles collects poems written between 2021 and 2024, from precarious off-key lyrics to sprawling elegies of damaged life. A book of flailing, desperate music, hurt and hopeful, held together by pins and gaffer tape, art and courage and comradeship. Includes the sequence “Seizures” (2022) – “perfect in its openness and lyrical disfigurement” (Danny Hayward).

“[An] exhilarating collection […]. The sequences here are ferociously and admirably radical, with some superb political satire and verve to the poems.”  —Adam Piette, Blackbox Manifold, no. 34

Designed and typeset by Phil Baber; cover collage by Sam Keogh

We are not where we need to be but, we ain't where we were is the first volume of a new series of publications by the collective Wages For Wages Against that reports on active research engaged within the artistic professions and institutions since 2017. Its aim is to question the underlying neoliberal logics in the contemporary art world, by orienting our object of study towards the struggles that impact it. With this publication, our hope is to put into practice various values specific to the campaign: the existence of a systematic and fair remuneration, a desire for transparency, the sharing of knowledge, and the visibilization of demands proper to the field of the visual arts and concomitant struggles. It is the result of militant experiences, at the convergence of our individual experiences and collective questionings.

With texts by Tiphanie Blanc, Antonella Corsani, Fanny Lallart, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Ramaya Tegegne and an interview with Outrage Collectif.

A critical examination of the aesthetic, social, and political dynamics of fascism, questioning its appeal and ideological mechanisms.

Around the world, there is a glaring turn towards a sinister  form of politics. One is reluctant to name it for what all its recognizable signs point to, for fear of accepting the reality that fascism is here and it is everywhere. Amid a raging discussion about where authoritarianism ends and fascism begins, the Global Fascisms—Reader critically examines the aesthetic, social, and political dynamics of fascism, questioning its appeal and ideological mechanisms, and looking at how current authoritarian conjunctures are being condoned, contested, and resisted across the globe. The longform essays, poetry, and conversations with experts collected here accompany the eponymous exhibition at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), engaging with a quintessentially modern and eerily contemporary political mo(ve)ment.

Contributions by Stefan Baghiu, Thomas Biebricher, Cosmin Costinaș, Kwame Dawes, Jakob Grüner, June Jordan, Jeremy Knowles, Canberk Köktürk, Henrieke Kohpeiß, Daniel Loick, Clara E. Mattei, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, M. NourbeSe Philip, Vanessa Rocco, Arundhati Roy, Aaron Skabelund, Quinn Slobodian, Eric Otieno Sumba, Terese Svoboda, Julia Adeney Thomas, Vanessa E. Thompson, Alberto Toscano, Maxi Wallenhorst.

Mystique des rues vides et peu éclatantes des banlieues pavillonnaires, ce court poème en prose interpelle par sa langue sombre. Dans une parodie de messe noire – beigeasse comme le crépis des façades –, Théo Robine-Langlois dépeint le monde mystérieux des maisons individuelles, du repli sur soi démonique, et des vieilles qui marmonnent entre leurs gencives au retour du marché, le panier plein de gros sel et de radis noirs en guise d'hostie. Les mots occitans qui ponctuent le texte comme des conjurations en accroissent l’escur.

The Anarchist Review of Books publishes intelligent, non-academic writing with an anti-authoritarian perspective. We are dedicated to transforming society through literature and through open, incisive critique of the media, politics, history, art and writing that shape our world.

Cover image: Battle of Appomattox Court House by Joyce Kozloff, from the series Uncivil Wars