Spike #80 The State of the Arts

A sense of major flux is spreading in the art world – and not only among its pessimists. Under pressure from reactionary politics and its own “now more than ever” imperatives, so much in art is transforming: criticism into a flashy rubber stamp; art schools into trauma industries; fairs into 3D-PDFs; museums into everything for everybody; and art-making into a moral protocol.

Some artists are responding by dropping out, going Web3, or protesting genocide; a few are launching their own galleries or wellness brands; plenty are still just painting painting painting.

This issue is point of reference so that the next time we go off road, we can find a way back to our last clear perspective – a bit jaded, a little dizzy, but faithful as ever that artists are finding our way forward.

With Travis Diehl on riskless art; Domenick Ammirati on getting ahead by getting hot; Anna Kornbluh on culture as pure vibe; Daniel Baumann on the impossibility of succeeding as a curator; an interview with painter and gallerist Jamian Juliano-Villani; Aodhan Madden on the trash girl art of Maggie Lee, Ser Serpas & K8 Hardy; Jaakko Pallasvuo and Kristian Vistrup Madsen talk trying (and failing) to drop out of the art world; a guide to decentralized social media; Marina Abramović’s secret to longevity; a postcard from Riyadh; Nicolas Bourriaud on this year’s Venice Biennale; and so much more.