Ladies and Gentleman, Your In-Flight Entertainment for this Evening: Late Capitalistic Nausea
Benjamin Kirby’s humorous essay takes us through the absurdity of a six-and-a-half hour Emirates flight
Down and Out in the UAE Badlands
Film camera in tow, Benjamin Kirby heads to Al Dhaid in Dubai, where he meets an enigmatic TikTok-famous travel agent and muses on the urban landscape in this new essay
On Artists and Institutional Stigma
What do artists and institutions truly want from each other? How can this relationship tread the tightrope between exploitation and care? Artist and creative practitioner Mays Albaik opens up the conversation in this essay
Lobster and potato bread
Paired with gorgeous photography, a poetic new short story about the emergence of capital in a communist Cuba
Three Poems
Howie Good writes of a utopia we should question, probe, and perhaps even strip of its title. Evoking images of modernity and capitalism, Good’s writing is both familiar and alarming
Sorry to Bother You: Reflecting on Modern Capitalism and Satirical Black Cinema
As part of our new "b-roll" film column, Vamika Sinha revisits Boots Riley's Afro-surrealist Sorry to Bother You, and why it offers important commentary on the intersections of race and late-stage capitalism in 2020.
Yin Yang Capitalism, and Others
In a new conceptual art series, Turkish artist Erhan Us provides scathing commentary on the effects of capitalism on humanity.
Fighting for Scraps: Class Relations and Murder in 'Parasite'
Kicking off our new film column "b-roll", Toby Le reviews Bong Joon Ho's Parasite through the lens of a pivotal murder sequence.
Prayer
“Everything I like is like that man who first thought to take that picture of that starving black child waited for by that black vulture in that Sudan” – new prose poem by Tawanda Mulalu.
The Pills are the Only Proof
“I see your daughter has decided to become a prostitute now.”“I tested negative.”
Sign of the Times: A Photo Essay
Street photography scenes of Abu Dhabi, UAE during the COVID-19 pandemic, by Vamika Sinha.
Invisible Family
Continuing our haiku series on family masks, by Louise Gerodias.
ruin
A personal meditation within an existentially fraught world. New in poetry, by Vamika Sinha.
McNight
A drive-thru poem invoking images of grease, fries, and capitalist labor.
Pearl Eyed People
New in milk & vodka, S K Garcia uses natural imagery to articulate female pain and emotional suppression.
Hazed
“After we finished crying there was still a lot to do” – Hazed is a short collection of poetry on the total penetration of the palm oil industry in our daily life, as well as its oft unseen effects on animals, plants, and indigenous communities.
An Interview with Artist Thomas Derksen
Zoe Jane Patterson talks to Canadian visual artist Thomas Derksen.
CLASS
“poetry cannot exist without a question / of utility” – what is the point of poetry in a post-capitalist world?
Going Black: The Commodification of Hip-Hop Culture
“The commodification of hip-hop leads to a watering down of its content. As corporations try to capture as much of the market as possible, they ‘tone down’ hip-hop’s radical aspects to make it as palatable for consumers as possible.”
Plastic Doesn't Die
A climate-focused poem by Amna Al Harmoodi.