Good Trouble #21
The latest issue of broadsheet-sized Good Trouble has finally arrived, having been trailed by founder Rod Stanley at our last event of 2019. Here, we take on the ambitious task of summing up its three sections and pull-out poster in five pictures.
ONE: The main part of the issue addresses the climate emergency, leading with an interview with artist Olifur Eliasson about his work with glaciers. The growth of Extinction Rebellion since the magazine’s last issue 18 months ago is a perfect example of Rod’s concept of using good trouble to address big issues, and the 12 pages covering our climate introduces many individuals and groups organising against this existential threat. This alone makes the issue a must-read.
TWO: The second section – the issue packs the weight of a serious Sunday newspaper – is titled ‘More Trouble’ and covers subjects beyond our climate, such as this profile of US collective Sex Militant, dedicated to liberating us from sexual oppression. Other stories cover radical printshops, anti-Brexit campiagns and media theorist Douglas Rushkoff; a typically diverse set of concerns and subjects.
THREE: The same section also has this excellent essay from Nathalie Olah’s book ‘Steal as Much as You Can,’ railing against the way our ideas of taste exert control over us. Another essential read.
FOUR: The third section of the issue is ‘The Wasteland,’ a series of double-page artworks curated by Feancesca Gavin, including this Ian Shrigley piece. Together with works by Andy Sewell, Skrei and Joan Jonas, all are powerful evocations of the desire to protest and have a voice.
FIVE: The final piece to the issue is a shiny, fold-out poster by Scott King, lamenting Brexit, adding a dose of irony to an otherwise pretty bleak issue.
The best magazines reflect their times, and boy this issue of Good Trouble does just that. It’s a vital voice of enlightenment.
Listen to an excerpt from Rod Stanley’s talk about his magazine at the magCulture Shop, in our Podcast episode 16 (from 33:30).
Editor/Creative director: Rod Stanley
Art director: Sophie Abady
(Original design by Richard Turley)