Real Review #18
115 x 260 mm, 100 pages
London, UK
Editor-in-chief and design: Jack Self
Deputy editor: Maddy Weavers
Perennially popular at the magCulture shop, this ingeniously formatted magazine concerns architecture (and life) in its broadest sense: ‘What it means to live today’. This Spring 2026 issue of Real Review is dedicated to ‘Pretending the World’, with Nishant Choksi’s signature cover design, depicting a slipping mask, reinforcing the message that power and performance are inextricably bound—both in the exercise of political authority, and the mobilisation of the masses:
‘To pretend means to ‘lay claim’—to stretch forward and take hold of what we want, as if it already existed, or were already ours. To pretend is thus to call forth another reality and create truth through the power of conviction alone. It is fashionable to ridicule performative gestures as ineffective posturing. Yet this is literally the only way new societies come into being.’
On the Journal:
Founder Jack Self shares the strategy behind the magazine’s cover designs.
READ MORE.