Esse #116
228 x 292 mm, 136 pages
Montreal, Canada (French and English-language)
Triannual, since 1984
Editor: Sylvette Babin
Design: Feed
Canadian arts magazine Esse covers contemporary visual, digital and performance art from Quebec, Canada, and beyond. Its mission is ‘to publish a socially engaged magazine by addressing ethical reflections and the major changes that result.’
This latest issue, themed ‘Immersion’, investigates how artists engage with contemporary art in a landscape increasingly shaped by entertainment culture. Questioning one of the most overused terms of the past decade, this issue examines what it really means for art to be ‘immersive’, juxtaposing technology-driven exhibits with immersion found in traditional practices—a nuanced take on immersion beyond the hype. Inside, immersion unfolds through bodies submerged in water, interactivity as a method of enveloping the viewer in the work, and through a reclamation of immersion’s original trajectory—countering the monotony of a single focal point in modern visual culture. Featuring artists working across moving image, performance, installation, photography, sculpture, digital media and more.