The Shape of Things to Come — Issue 21

Join Modern Matter on an exciting journey into the future. Our latest issue stands at the nexus of art, culture, and technology. In it, we break new ground through images, interviews, and articles created with the assistance of AI. In fact, 80% of the research materials and ideas were conducted by the AI assistant, making this a truly groundbreaking publication, once again pushing the boundaries of the possible.  

MM20 — Issue 20

Is Tomorrow Better ? This issue is an anthology, a think tank within an object. Each story, each spread page; all are free to intertwine and co-exist. The reader is a participant in their own right, invited to turn a kaleidoscope of ideas, stories and journeys in any way they see fit. It’s a puzzle with no ‘correct’ answer. Same ideas, different configuration. Both the front and back cover are entrances into the magazine. 

MM19, Rage Against The Machine — Issue 19

We started asking ourselves: who owns our data? And how much of what’s online is really us? The new issue, Rage Against The Machine, is a rebuke to the idea that everything about us should be easily accessible—the magazine, partly shredded as if to obscure important information, is a challenge to the reader, asking them to reassemble its various parts in order to see the full picture. In print, we can do things it is impossible to do online, and remembering this is part of making a truly great magazine; creativity is never entirely about data, because it is always partly about soul. 60% of the Rage Against The Machine issue is devoted to a series of conversations about data compiled by Hans Ulrich Obrist. Other contributors include Koo Jeong A, Juergen Teller, Dovile Teller, Senta Simond, Philippa Snow, Susanne Koller, Barbara Sanchez Kane, José Esparza Chong Cuy, Paul Virillo, Albert-László Barabási, and Jodie Barnes.

MM18, It’s Time to Listen — Issue 18

Modern Matter’s eighteenth issue, It’s Time to Listen, put together in unprecedented and uncertain times, is concerned with time itself: the passage of it, the loss of it, the durational and experiential aspects of it, and its status as a thing that defines and encircles a new age. Across 160 pages, the issue explores time through interviews and features with leading artists, including Formafantasma’s Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, Tom Burr, Rebecca Ackroyd and Alexandre da Cunha, and Chris Burden, among others. The accompanying LP to It’s Time to Listen is an audio-visual guide and tour of the issue. It is a translation of contemporary times. Side A introduces and illustrates the many conversations and essays that have unfolded during this temporal passage; Side B presents a curated selection of current shows, stilling them as illustrations of our contemporary world, alongside a sound performance and tribute to the late James Baldwin by Editor Olu Odukoya. 160 pages + Audio Visual Guide Ultra Clear LP 12’’

MM17 “Is anyone normal out there?” — Issue 17

What “normal” means is, of course, subjective — for a person still interested in push- ing and redefining the boundaries of what arts and culture look like circa 2020,
it does not necessarily mean someone who upholds the status quo. A few more questions I was thinking about, making Modern Matter 17: Is anyone trying to keep it real anymore?
Is anyone trying to break the mould anymore? Is anyone trying to be bold, or to go beyond the fringes anymore? Is anyone willing to take chances? Is anyone trying to be an individual?
In an age where followers mean fame, and where we all end up submerged in the same stories, the same images, and the same general aesthetic, this new issue is interested in exploring
individuals and artists who have created a body of work — or a general attitude — that is designed to reflect what they stand for, as well as to inspire others to stand up for their own ideals, too.
From Raymond Pettibon to Larry Clark to Torey Thornton, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Albert Oehlen, Paulina Olowska and Xu Zhen we are looking at those figures who are redefining, and creating, their own “normal.” This decade, let’s make “normal” anything we want it to be. 160 pages + 28 pages newspaper supplement featuring Larry Clark & Raymond Pettibon

MM16 Visual Essay — Issue 16

This issue of Modern Matter is a visual essay from the magazine’s studio, created in collaboration with Erwin Wurm and Helmut Lang. At its core, it is an exploration of the dialectics between creator and viewer; artist and audience; director and reader. When we create an image, we ourselves become performers, curating an image of ourselves and of how we see our surroundings. In this way, the image is imbued with our sense of self — and by the same means, we can often decode images of others through our own experiences as a viewer. Questions around the language of the visual, too, have never been more pertinent than in the age of Instagram. This issue — like all portraits, and especially all self-portraits — is about performance.

MM15 REMASTERED — Issue 15

REMASTERED remaster /riːˈmɑːstə/ verb 1.make a new master of, typically in order to improve the quality. Modern Matter presents a showcase of the art of remastering, rendered in print, so that analogue processes are given a digital sheen, and old-school artists are given a new-school vibe. Franz West, born in 1947, is re-printed in his favourite colour, hot pink; Paul Chan weaves new publishing and politics out of a rich experimental literary history.   Daniel Richter remixes two archive issues of this very magazine, and Arthur Jafa reconfigures Whitney Houston as not just an icon, but a saintly ghost. Cajsa Von Ziepel reworks human bodies, so that male and female forms combine, and Christian Jankowski re-appropriates art world frivolity to make art. Nick Knight introduces, or re-introduces, liberal skinhead brutalism into fashion. Replay: pause: stop: rewind. Then start all over again.   (Our repeat version happens to be printed in an offbeat colour profile: Froga V5 uncoated, European Standard. Can you tell the difference Either way: consider it a chance to reconsider everything that you’ve already seen.) Also featuring  : Tim Gutt & Shona Heath, Barbara Pobst, Marc Aseksame.

MM14, The Mother Issue — Issue 14

Modern Matter is proud to present our 14th edition for S/S18, The Mother Issue: a celebration of the art of birthing, nurturing and shaping concepts that go on to influence a younger generation. Every artist is the mother — or the father — of their practice, their ideas, and their eventual successors. Plus: Modern Matter gives birth to a special mini supplement, Child.