Real Review, Issue 16

Real Review is a quarterly contemporary culture magazine with the strapline “what it means to live today”. Our agenda focuses on the politics of space, and trying to understand how everyday conditions enforce and reinforce power relations.

In this issue:

There is no snow on Mount Fuji. Any hack will tell you the phase change is here, the restructuring of the world is underway. That would be a relief, like a broken fever. But they are wrong. We are still waiting. This period is merely the static on the skin, the rising pressure and building tension before the impending climax of a deluge. We live under a lavender sky, silver and green; this is the time of unsettled air, heavy with that metallic smell of the earth. Soon the wind will awake, driving the rain forward like a cloud of smoke. The tremendous powers by which our lives are encompassed are stirring.

How can we prepare for transformation? We interview professor JONATHAN WHITE on the future as a political idea. Artist DOZIE KANU presents a flyer for higher education, while OPIOID CRISIS LOOKBOOK speculates on semiotics. PETER SAVILLE reviews the mood with JACK SELF, who reviews voice notes, moral killing, and the Star Trek universe. ISABELLE BUCKLOW binge-watches tech demos. SATOSHI FUJIWARA captures law enforcement hardware. RUBA AL-SWEEL reviews the non-commercial image, while MARTINA ROCCA and IZZY FARMILOE review the production of culture. CARMEN WINANT documents the last safe abortion, FELIX MCNAMARA writes notes on minutiae, JOHN SUNYER attends a run club, plus much more.