We’re pleased to announce that SLEEK 59 is now available for pre-order — and we have to admit it’s pretty amazing! We’re especially excited to reveal that iconic chronicler of British culture, Martin Parr has lensed this edition’s cover, shooting the celebrated curator and director of London’s Serpentine Gallery, Hans Ulrich Obrist, on one of the hottest days of summer in Europe’s curveball heatwave. Parr’s lens on the Swiss-born, London-based cultural tastemaker is the ideal fit for our autumn issue, which takes Europe’s political crisis as its subject. Themed EUROPE: A Bordered State, SLEEK 59 explores the concept of Europe and creativity, particularly in light of the UK’s proposed departure from the EU early next year.
Parr x Obrist is the perfect cover story to reflect on Britishness, art and Europe as the UK staggers toward its divisive exit. As SLEEK’s Editor-in-Chief Grace Banks says of the cover shoot, “Martin’s images of Ulrich and a summer’s day on the Serpentine combine the photographer’s loved, lauded and inimitable aesthetic, and they also offer a fascinating glimpse into London’s last summer in the European Union. I think you can see a carefreeness and hedonism in the pictures, a last hurrah to a summer when the UK is still in Europe”.
The question of how Europe has impacted people in the arts and their work continues throughout SLEEK 59. We ask five writers and artists, including Nick Laird and Man Booker Prize nominee Sophie Mackintosh, about what Europe means to them, and we meet with Elmgreen and Dragset in their Berlin studio, ahead of their upcoming shows in London and Paris. We speak to Liz Johnson Artur about her career spent photographing Londoners, including a recent series on the Windrush generation, and we take a look at how Istanbul’s dissident artists are triumphing in harsh political times.
The autumn issue also features Chris Kraus’ second column for the magazine, in which she discusses the dissolution of art capitals. Meanwhile in “Girls, girls, girls… Stoya”, Laia Garcia profiles the adult actor and writer as she launches her new website, ZeroSpaces.
And let’s not forget fashion. Micaiah Carter’s striking menswear editorial “Alter Call”, shot in Brooklyn feels more like a fine art photography series than a fashion editorial; while Ricardo Rivera’s a surrealist-inspired womenswear story is an artistic feast for the eyes. Then there’s our Cabinet portfolio, where Patrick Waugh (of BOYOStudio) presents a compelling photo series about carving out a space in which to find your identity — providing some much needed hope in these strange, uncertain times.
If this sounds like your cup of tea, then be sure to pre-order a copy now, ahead of the magazine’s release on August 31 — and take a sneak peek inside the issue below.