Kaleidoscope Issue 36

Kaleidoscope is a meeting place for a global community of creative minds, drawn by an audacious art direction and ever-surprising contributions from visionary artists, writers and image-makers.

The magazine has been redesigned by Swiss art direction and graphic design studio Kasper-Florio. Driven by a minimalistic approach which foregrounds the work of artists and photographers, the new graphic identity is “hacked” by a set of illustrations by Berlin-based studio PWR.

London-based Nigerian fashion designer Mowalola Ogunlesi (photographed by Jordan Hemingway) talks to Reba Maybury about her fluid representation of the Black body, championing the individual. A profile by Jeppe Ugelvig introduces Venice Beach native Eli Russell Linnetz, creative director for the Kardashian-West clan and Lady Gaga, and his powerful meditation on fame, glamour, and mythology. Featuring an artwork by design studio Sucuk und Bratwurst: The Gentrification of Weed, a trend report on the legalization and corporatization of the marijuana industry—comprising an essay by Whitney Mallett, case studies by Lucas Mascatello and Michelle Lhooq, and a focus on Richard Prince by Alexandre Stipanovich. Inaugurating a new text-only editorial segment dedicated to urgent research questions of our time, “What is Influence?” presents four newly-commissioned long-form essays (by Caroline Busta, Geoffrey Mak, Pierce Myers and Taylore Scarabelli) discussing influence as legacy, currency and agency—all the while examining art’s own influence on society, and viceversa.

Myristica, a special supplement to Kaleidoscope’s new issue #36 created in partnership with Gucci, portrays experimental cellist and songwriter Kelsey Lu as the protagonist of a comic book (illustrated by Terrell Villiers and written by Akia Dorsainvil) illuminating her personal journey with references drawn from fable, cosmology and afrofuturism.

Also featured in this issue:
Nora Turato (photography by Roos Quakernaat, interview by Ana Janevski); Lorenzo Senni (photography by John Divola, interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist); Clemens Von Vedemeyer (interview by Adriana Blidaru); Charlie Engman (essay by Francesca Gavin); Retail Apocalypse (Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen in conversation with Mark Lee); Olivier Mosset (photography by Alessandro Barthlow, interview by Gianni Jetzer); Diane Severin Nguyen (essay by Franklin Melendez); Davide Sorrenti (essay by Aaron Rose).

Dimensions: 220 × 286 mm
Binding: Softcover
Year: 2020
Language: English
Art Direction: Kasper-Florio with Samuel Bänziger
Design: Larissa Kasper, Rosario Florio, Samuel Bänziger, Giovanni Murolo
Publisher: Kaleidoscope