KALEIDOSCOPE’s newest issue, Issue 21 (Summer 2014), is a special edition dedicated to curating, aimed to decode the dynamics and implications of the profession — from funding to theoretical propositions, from circulation to consciousness-raising and from trend forecasting to commodification — and imagine its possible future developments.

In the opening section of HIGHLIGHTS, we have selected five emerging, ’80s-born practitioners from different backgrounds and continents — Alex Gartenfeld, Sarah Rifky, Hanne Mugaas, Anthony Yung and Luca Lo Pinto — representing a glimpse into the multiplicity of visions and motivations behind, as well as approaches to, the curatorial practice.    

To follow, the MAIN THEME section comprises four extensive discussions, involving as many as twenty-five international professionals — including Adam Szymczyk, Sarah McCrory, Lauren Cornell, Dena Yago and Mitchell Algus — to comment on how curating unfolds in such diverse frameworks as the not-for-profit organization, the large-scale exhibition, the Internet, and the commercial gallery.

Surprisingly, on the other hand, the MONO section and cover story are dedicated to an artist, Swiss living legend John Armleder — with a comprehensive interview by Andrea Bellini, an essay by Jeanne Graff and a portrait by Mathilde Agius — as a means to account for an organic and unconstrained approach to all sides of creative production and to hint at the long and enthralling tradition, of Duchampian descent, of artist/curators.

Lastly, the closing section of REGULARS features interviews exploring to what extent curatorial practice has strayed into other fields, such as architecture, cuisine and radio broadcasting: Hans Ulrich Obrist interviews NTS founder Femi Adeyemi; Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen talk appropriating exhibitions with cult curator Bob Nickas; Jesi Khadivi discusses the art scene in L.A. with man-about-town Michael Ned Holte; Carson Chan meets Venice Architecture Biennale’s key contributor Stephan Trüby; and Francesca Gavin interrogates editor Emma Robertson and promoter Alessandro Porcelli on the art of food.

This issue is enriched by our seasonal TIPS on reading, listening, stopping by, meeting and visiting; as well as three visual INSERTS, specially commissioned as so many experiments of exhibitions on paper: “Portraits of Society” curated by Nicholas Cullinan, ”Robert Mapplethorpe” curated by Elad Lassry, and “Coupling” curated by Piper Marshall.

At the core of a platform that includes an exhibition space and an independent publishing house, Kaleidoscope is an international quarterly of contemporary art and culture founded in 2009 in Milan. Distributed worldwide on a seasonal basis, it has gained widespread recognition as a trusted and timely guide to the present (but also to the past and possible futures), unique in its interdisciplinary and unconventional approach.

For the Winter 2011/12, editor-in-chief Alessio Ascari is proud to present the first issue of Kaleidoscope magazine under the art direction of the prominent London-based design studio OK-RM — Oliver Knight and Rory McGrath.

HIGHLIGHTS
Robert Heinecken by Kavior Moon; Ming Wong by Hu Fang; Kuehn Malvezzi by Hila Peleg; New Jerseyy by Quinn Latimer; Patrick Staff by Catherine Wood.

MAIN THEME — How Does Fashion Look at Art?
Adam Kimmell by Angelo Flaccavento; Commes des Garçons by Maria Luisa Frisa; Proenza Schouler by Michele D’Aurizio.

MONO — Pierre Huyghe
Essay by Éric Troncy; Interview by Barbara Casavecchia; Special Project: Study for Zoodram; Focus by Chris Wiley.

REGULARS
Pioneers: Bruce McLean by Simone Menegoi; Futura: Ed Atkins by Hans Ulrich Obrist; Panorama: Toronto by Amil Niazi; Souvenir d’Italie: Luigi Ghirri by Luca Cerizza; Producers: Ute Meta Bauer by Carson Chan.