BOMB 124/Summer 2013
The vast rewards offered by the films of Nagisa Oshima, exemplified by the strange, unclassifiable Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, are just beginning to be appreciated in America.
Michael Schmelling made a book called Atlanta, a photo book about the Atlanta hip-hop scene. Then Richard Maxwell wrote a review of it.
Olivia Booth and Rebecca Norton’s works address the body directly by involving us in an involuntary relationship to interiority, in which it’s inseparable from the exterior—surface, skin, or the space in front of either.
Full House Head presents mind-numbingly blissful tracks, and uses repeated riffs to create a long, loud, monolithic album.
Brandon Downing’s book of collages explores the space between visual art and poetry. His use of images from antique books gives the collection a feeling of historic Americana, both dreamlike and irreverent.
The Way Out is a joyful record, deftly using a miscellany of samples to create experimental, engrossing music.
Gaspar Noé’s new film is a psychedelic experience of Tokyo shown through the eyes of the deceased protagonist.
A collection of essays examining the cultural, social and political manifestations of both literal and metaphorical masquerade.
An exhibition of photographs from three series, exploring absence, decomposition and dislocation. Shot in Cape Town and New Orleans, subjects vary from migrants in their intimate spaces, empty beds, and ruined houses.
In John Phillp Santos’ tale of his families origins from Spain, he sets out on a quest to discover his heritage and explores the human fascination with borders.
A more brutal pop-art sensibility was taken up by the artists who designed the decals sold by the Topps Company’s Wacky Packs in the late ‘60s.
A compilation of text, photographs, illustrations and diagrams, The Art of McSweeney’s documents the history of the unique publisher as it rose from its precarious position as a hawker of rejected stories.
Frederic Tuten’s collection of short fiction paints a world in motion. A sensitive crafting of characters and scenes reveals the adeptness of the writer of five novels.
Justin Spring weaves a revealing biography of Samuel M. Steward, the novelist and professor who had hidden identities as a tattoo artist and pornographer.
The artist Josiah McElheny has published two books that display his collaboration with artists, scholars, scientists and creative writers, offering a multitude of voices, speculations, fictions, and facts.
After designing and building what he regards as an improved M16 in his studio, Jameson Ellis reduced the act of firing a gun to “pure functionality” at the Salomon Contemporary.
In this Editor’s Choice, Mac Wellman reviews The Kenning Anthology of Poets Theater 1945–85 edited by Kevin Killian and David Brazil.
Tiphanie Yanique was just selected as one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 in Fiction. Listen to a podcast of her reading from her debut collection, How to Escape from a Leper Colony, and read a review by Jaime Manrique.
This Editor’s Choice contains Paul W. Morris on Electric Literature’s publishing model, which utilizes a combination of various electronic formats and print-on-demand technologies.
This Editor’s Choice contains Daniel Borzutzky’s review of Cipango, the latest by Chilean poet Tomás Harris, translated by Daniel Shapiro.
This Editor’s Choice contains a review of Gil Scott-Heron’s album I’m New Here out by XL Recordings, 2010, by Douglas Singleton.
This Editor’s Choice contains Stuart Horodner’s review of Blind Handshake, a compilation of David Humphrey’s writings about art alongside reproductions by more than 100 artists.
This Editor’s Choice contains Clinton Krute’s review of Estonian filmmaker Veiko Ounpuu’s second feature The Temptation of St. Tony.
In this Editor’s Choice, Mónica de la Torre reviews Susan Bernofsky’s translation of Robert Walser.
Genevieve Belleveau’s performance series Church of gorgeousTaps and the Reality Show draws inspiration from Lutherans and addicts alike to create a secular Sunday afternoon sanctuary for those seeking community.
In this Editor’s choice, Cameron Shaw reviews Suzanne Lacy: Spaces Between, a survey of the artist’s 40-year career.
In this Editor’s Choice, Lisa Kahane reviews the first major catalogue of 1980s art program the Kids of Survival.
This Editor’s Choice contains Carlos Brillembourg’s review of new work by artist George Negroponte.
Vanessa Place reviews the poetry of Heimrad Bäcker.
Anne K. Yoder reviews Best European Fiction, from Dalkey Archive Press.
