Esse #118
228 x 292 mm, 128 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 examines the small, flexible muscle responsible for tasting, licking and creating sounds: the ‘tongue’, exploring its dual anatomical and linguistic functions. In her opening editorial, Sylvette Babin highlights the ‘impossible neutrality’ of tongues, explored in the work of many of this issue’s featured artists, whilst also emphasising the tongue’s radical potential—‘to take care, liberate speech, and restore memory.’ Featuring artists working across moving image, performance, installation, photography, sculpture, digital media and more.