How to look at polycrisis without freaking out.

Eco ruin and refugeeism, illiberalization and inequality, hot wars and a New Cold War—the polycrisis hydra is always growing another head. But it's also a state of mind, an identity crisis brought on by paralysis and cognitive shock. Was it always like this, but with less media reach? Or is capitalism really burning itself out, just without any redemptive zest? The arts are expert at thematizing the woes that affect them—hello, Biennale and documenta—but maybe polycrisis is an instructive metaphor for what's breaking creativity: the commercial takeover of discourse, the bureaucratization of curating, and the dopamine highs of self-branding.

Maybe we're at a crossroads between recovery and death. But Spike #79 is clear-eyed about the fact that pessimists are never disappointed.

With Henrike Naumann, Shirin Neshat, Roberto Villanueva, Ben Davis, Mire Lee, Precious Okoyomon, Ivan Cheng, Nil Yalter, Anselm Franke, Anna Jermolaewa, Catherine Liu, Oliver Ressler, Morag Keil, Jeppe Ugelvig and many more.

Founded by the artist Rita Vitorelli in 2004, Spike (Spike Art Quarterly) is a quarterly magazine on contemporary art published in English which aims at sustaining a vigorous, independent, and meaningful art criticism. At the heart of each issue are feature essays by leading critics and curators on artists making work that plays a significant role in current debates. Situated between art theory and practice and ranging far beyond its editorial base in Vienna and Berlin, Spike is both rigorously academic and stylishly essayistic. Spike's renowned pool of contributing writers, artists, collectors and gallerists observe and reflect on contemporary art and analyse international developments in contemporary culture, offering its readers both intimacy and immediacy through an unusually open editorial approach that is not afraid of controversy and provocation.

Winter issue, featuring Mark Leckey, Ellen Cantor, Gertrude Stein, Piotr Uklański, P.Staff, Josephine Pryde, Blackhaine, Diego Marcon, Ingrid Wiener, Olivier Assayas, Jamieson Webster, Steven-Phillips-Horst...

Spike's latest issue is a beacon lit to rescue The Night. Long held under suspicion as the domain of outcasts and phantoms, the night has come under pressure to extend the horizon of work and production.

What faith, the state, and capital fear are the perils and promises of the dark's formlessness: to withdraw into the pure solitude of sleep and dreams' unreason; to blush with the pure elation of dance and a rave's ephemeral friendships; even to have one's edges undone by the murmurs of ghosts or a celestial sign.

Need a break from the tyranny of the sun? Then light a candle, a headlamp, a flare – anything but your phone – and grap your copy to follow us into the possibility of the night.

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.

Featuring William 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.

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.
 
Founded by the artist Rita Vitorelli in 2004, Spike (Spike Art Quarterly) is a quarterly magazine on contemporary art published in English which aims at sustaining a vigorous, independent, and meaningful art criticism. At the heart of each issue are feature essays by leading critics and curators on artists making work that plays a significant role in current debates. Situated between art theory and practice and ranging far beyond its editorial base in Vienna and Berlin, Spike is both rigorously academic and stylishly essayistic. Spike's renowned pool of contributing writers, artists, collectors and gallerists observe and reflect on contemporary art and analyse international developments in contemporary culture, offering its readers both intimacy and immediacy through an unusually open editorial approach that is not afraid of controversy and provocation.

To live means to be exposed, to be vulnerable, and seek safety. But what if we give up control and don't try to cover the wounds any more? Could we ultimately transcend to openness? This is one of the core questions Spike asks in its autumn issue. From the imperfections of the body to automated text generators, from poor images to pop stars. Spike #73 is about art's soft underbelly, why writing in first person is a risk, why humans fear each other, and grappling with grief, paranoia, and intoxication. Let's find out what happens if we take off our shells.

With contributions by: McKenzie Wark, Marlene Dumas, Tosh Basco, James Richards, Raimundas Malašauskas, Joanna Walsh, Kandis Williams, Mire Lee, Gustav Metzger, Rob Horning, Tea Hacic-Vlahovic, Constance Debré, Luca Lo Pinto, Simone Forti...

For the latest Spike – #71: Couples—we're seeing double. This one is dedicated to partnerships in life, love, law, and labour. Whether you're a serial monogamist, married to your job, or sublimating your crushy feelings into all that you create, it's tough to deny the role that romance—or its absence—plays in shaping our subjectivities. 

Might coupling be key to seeing beyond the self, opening us up to a more expansive, collaborative (co)existence? And do relationship breakdowns parallel wider social strife? Can the dusty old dyad be reconceived as radical? What happens when art-world couples blend business and pleasure?

Curl up with your soul mate—or settle into singledom—and grab a copy to read about the uses of love beyond love; the motivation posed by muses and rivals; psychoanalytic takes on partners' promises; along with artist-couples, curatorial duos, rom-com heroes, spectres, fembots, and beyond. 

With Chris Kraus, Asa Seresin, Whitney Mallett, Alenka Zupančič, Johanna Hedva, Sam Kriss, Calla Henkel & Max Pitegoff, Genesis & Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge, Darian Leader & Jamieson Webster, Eva & Franco Mattes, Tea Hacic-Vlahovic, and many more.
 
Founded by the artist Rita Vitorelli in 2004, Spike (Spike Art Quarterly) is a quarterly magazine on contemporary art published in English which aims at sustaining a vigorous, independent, and meaningful art criticism. At the heart of each issue are feature essays by leading critics and curators on artists making work that plays a significant role in current debates. Situated between art theory and practice and ranging far beyond its editorial base in Vienna and Berlin, Spike is both rigorously academic and stylishly essayistic. Spike's renowned pool of contributing writers, artists, collectors and gallerists observe and reflect on contemporary art and analyse international developments in contemporary culture, offering its readers both intimacy and immediacy through an unusually open editorial approach that is not afraid of controversy and provocation.

There are three sides to every story: your side, my side, and the truth. ­But how does this formula stand up when competing interests are fighting for narrative control? Where does self-expression end and branding begin? Let’s rewrite the story of how stories are written. Spike’s cast includes a Pomeranian and a psychoanalyst, an anthropologist and anonymous Instagrammers. Their tales are varied (and variously faithful), but what business do we have going to bat for consensus reality? They break out of tired oppositions to embrace anxiety, head­lessness, and ­nonsense. So stop fronting, set your subjectivity aside, and settle in for some show and tell. For better or worse, ­stories are a way of remaking – not just recounting – the world!

With contributions by Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Joshua Citarella, Tea Hacic-Vlahovic, Martin Herbert, Omar Kholeif, Ingrid Luquet-Gad, Sean Monahan, features on Tracey Emin, Sophie Calle, Julien Ceccaldi, Ho Tzu Nyen, and many more, as well as reviews from Hong Kong to Los Angeles to Vienna.

Spike's "Web3" issue is all about the blockchain (with Holly Herndon, Rhea Myers, Charles Broskoski, Constant Dullaart, Jerry Gogosian, Ruth Catlow, María Paula Fernández, Wassim Z. Alsindi, Damien Hirst, Miao Ying, Harm van den Dorpel, Sarah Friend, Kenny Schachter, Mónica Belevan, Rafaël Rozendaal, Toby Shorin, Mark Alizart, Primavera De Filippi, Elie Ayache, Simon Denny...).

"For Spike #70, we're getting technical. Come wade with us into the OpenSea: the Web3 issue is all about the blockchain, aka the latest digital innovation that promises to either wreck or revive the art world (and world-world), depending on who you ask. Our deep-dive into this wild new frontier features everything from debates on NFT aesthetics to the feminist case for crypto; generative art as anticapitalist; scepticism at digital currency's volatility; a polemic for the blockchain as ecological salvation; and a glimpse into Web3's status behind the Great Firewall. 

Decentralised, or degenerate? Genuinely liberating for creators, or just another PR stunt pulled off by capital? Any way you slice it, crypto is taking us by storm, and we'd be mistaken to look away as new possibilities and protocols crystallise. And if you're feeling hesitant, fear not: we've included a glossary walking you through all the relevant lingo, illustrated by an original selection of fresh-pressed memes."