Spring 2024 Book Launch!
We’re proud to present the next round of Mercurius books!
Mercurius’s Future World(s) is an anthology of essays that look beyond nihilistic neoliberalism.
Mercurius No. 2: Local Nature Devas is a selection of texts and images from the Poetry of Life, Society, Transitions, and Images sections of the website.
The Prospects and Problems of Post-Bovine Man
When the first human chose to crawl under an aurochs to suckle at its teat, s/he did so in a state of starvation and desperation. It was this act of desperation that led humanity into a contract of mutual dependency with cattle.
On Plastics
A Factual, Poetic, and Spiritual Look at the Plastics Predicament. An excerpt from The Orgastic Future
Liberate the Future
‘Liberate the Future’ consists of flights of fantasy which may seem surreal or even satirical, but might better be thought as ingenious, unrestrained and concrete ways of thinking about alternative futures, and in the sections below, Katzeff offers readers a series of modest proposals for rewilding the moon, transplanting Hong Kong, taking mushrooms directly, and solving the coming housing crisis through more ambitious forms of clothing.
The Affordable House
An architect's view on the housing crisis and what can be done to solve it.
Curators Conversation: Entanglements in Time
‘Entanglements in Time’ is an exhibition at Lewisham Arthouse in London from 6-15 August 2021, showcasing UK-based artists Bart Hajduk, Jasmin Märker, Kristina Pulejkova, Margo Trushina, Solveig Settemsdal and Yambe Tam. Exhibited together for the first time, the works of these artists challenge anthropocentric markers of temporality by examining timelines that stretch far beyond the duration of human existence. On the show’s last days, co-curators Kristine Tan and Mariana Lemos came together to discuss the project.
Mercurius in Conversation with Chino Moya
Mercurius Editor Thomas Helm asks visionary director Chino Moya about the role of the dystopian narrative in contemporary culture, the artistic response to authoritarianism, creating dream-like narrative structures in stories, Kafka, Beckett, alienation, among other topics....
Full Game Walkthrough
Full Game Walkthrough is an essay on art and magic with a fictional scenario informed by science fiction and videogame culture. The text explores the conditions that can be produced in integrating fantasy and magic in a digital and fictional setting (a videogame), where things are subject to constant transformation and manipulation. Ultimately, the text explores a magical perception and rendering of reality in the practices of five artists.
Practising a Sustainable Life: An Interview with Sara Rodrigues
After many years of urban living, the Portuguese artist Sara Rodrigues, and her partner, Rodrigo B. Camacho, moved from London to the rural area of Cabeceiras de Basto in Portugal, to start a new life. The pair are realising a dream from the ground up with their bare hands: a zero waste, self-sustainable home. The name of this project is Landra.
A Very Brief History of Oneness
Poetry of Life - Future World(s)
When we speak of Oneness, we usually mean the separation of the self is an illusion and that ultimate reality transcends such dualism. It is a concept that recurs throughout human history.
Places that hum
A villa on the Mediterranean coast is built in 1929, designed by architect Eileen Gray as a refuge for herself and her lover. She encodes their intertwined initials into the name of the building — the house from its foundations up is inscribed with love. After the couple separate, she watches the building fall into disrepair: inside unwanted murals are painted while from outside bullets perforate its skin. Now as the building undergoes restoration, they channel Eileen’s phantasm - her ideas and her intuitions. Her desire to design a “dwelling as a living organism” invoked to bring life again to its bones.
What It Means to Be a Rebel in the 21st Century
An essay that explores the difficulties of rebellion in the 21st century from a wide range of perspectives. Of particular concern are the shortcomings of “us and them” narratives and the absence of a single cohesive alternative to neoliberalism in the fragmented terrain of postmodernity.
The Future of the Oracle
Georgieva’s practice ranges from film to performance to installation, often incorporating herself as a character, pop icon, and/or feminine trope. Her work utilizes lo-fi materials and production to merge traditional, mythological, and historical themes with contemporary popular culture.
Don't They Know It's the End of the World?
World-ending has long been a popular scenario for the future even before capitalism, with the apocalypse for example. However, the hopelessness that things will never change is what this is about—as we fall dependent on crisis capitalism, our awareness could make way for an apathetic witnessing of the end of the world.
Are we Living in Disneyland?
A shallow interpretation of our consumerism today maintains that we are all given an ‘illusion of choice’. Coca-Cola is Republican, and Pepsi is Democrat, with this key conceptualisation of politics as soft drinks pertaining that either choice is bad for you. However, it’s precisely that choice of substituting one product for another that, in turn, develops our identity from the culture of significance that holds us captive.
The never-ending quest…
Sign up to receive our free fortnightly newsletter-publication and occasionally a free book