‘We thought it would be awesome if we could pick stuff from around the world that people could discover — really simple, accessible things like snack foods that people can enjoy but not have it be a big, intimidating, pretentious experience,’ say the guys behind Import, a relatively new store with outlets in New York and San Francisco, offering selected independent magazines from all over the world, top coffee, speciality snacks and the odd grooming product thrown in. Whatever gives us pleasure, really, because sometimes it can be so simple.
Check out mono.kultur #30 Chris Ware in a new film by Art21, “Chris Ware: Someone I’m Not“. From his home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois, artist Chris Ware shares motivations and challenges for telling stories from the perspectives of others in his work. “I distinctly remember being told by my teachers, if you draw women, you’re colonizing them with your eyes,” Ware recalls of art school. “Do you not draw women and then maintain an allegiance to some sort of experience that only you have had? Or do you try to expand your understanding and your empathy for other human beings?”
After a lengthy hiatus, Nine Inch Nails are back with Add Violence, a 5-track EP that sees them back in form – it compares in sound to 2005’s With Teeth, when we featured mastermind Trent Reznor for our, oh dear, third issue ever.
We’re not sure why our latest issue is only now arriving in stores in London, but we do love the word ‘astute’. We love it even more in combination with the word ‘typically’. Is that really us they are talking about? And why is that tea only lukewarm again? Thank you magCulture for the kind words.
Our storage has grown into a wild and impenetrable territory that requires some climbing, balancing and rummaging on all fours. It is also uncharted territory where every now and then, a forgotten box will appear, with issues that we thought long sold out. As happened recently with our mono.archiv #02, comprising some of our most popular issues to date, including the wondrous and wonderful Miranda July, rebellious Ai Weiwei, gallant Dries van Noten and mysterious Tilda Swinton. All issues sold out, and yes, we are pretty certain, for good. Last copies only available here and now, in one glorious and mouthwatering box set.
Your first EP was released under the pseudonym Ayshay. With Genre-Specific Xperience, you started releasing as Fatima Al Qadiri. Why did you abandon that pseudonym?
Having used Islamic a cappella as samples for my first releases, it made sense to use a pseudonym, as this project was a little edgy. I felt like the next record, Genre-Specific Xperience, was way more chill; it was more about my own personal experience of musical genres as breeding grounds for different social groups or ‘tribes’ and lifestyles and vice versa. So it felt more natural to use my real name. And I wanted it to be very clear that it was first of all a woman making this music, and second, that it was an Arab woman making this music. I didn’t want to hide behind a pseudonym anymore.
Why was that important to you at this point, to be clear about your identity?
I had too many conversations with people online that assumed I was male. So there was an impetus for me to put a foot down and to say: I’m a woman and I’m not from the West. And I’m glad I did that because now more people in the Arab world know about me. Also, I thought it was important to give a signal to younger girls there, to let them know: If I can do this, they can do this, too.
You have arrived at mono.blog by mono.kultur magazine. mono.blog is a rather eclectic summary of the things that are currently on our collective minds.
‘We thought it would be awesome if we could pick stuff from around the world that people could discover — really simple, accessible things like snack foods that people can enjoy but not have it be a big, intimidating, pretentious experience,’ say the guys behind Import, a relatively new store with outlets in New York and San Francisco, offering selected independent magazines from all over the world, top coffee, speciality snacks and the odd grooming product thrown in. Whatever gives us pleasure, really, because sometimes it can be so simple.
