The people and things we want feel very far away. Everything else feels far too near. Daily life is incorrectly calibrated. Lockdown kept us painfully apart. The virtual keeps us painfully together. Everyone wants the same thing. We all crave spaciousness. We all feel too close, without any closeness. This paradoxical sensation of claustrophobia and isolation is a condition of "absolute proximity".

Have we changed? We interview archaeologist David Wengrow on the dawn of everything. Philosophers Slavoj Zizek and Timothy Morton agree about the future of humans on planet Earth. Design studio Metahaven contribute an insert on the stuff of experience and sensation. Photographer Tacita Dean captures a boat abandoned at sea. An essay by Ursula L. Le Guin reviews the Hero narrative, with photography by Magali Reus. Film curator Roisin Tapponi reviews fake nails, while Jack Self reviews lateral flow tests and mindfulness.

Contributors to issue 12 include Cao Fei, David Wengrow, Roisin Tapponi, Tacita Dean, Claire Marie Healey, Maddy Weavers, Ursula K. Le Guin, Vivian Amos, Secretary, Jacob Dreyer, Anna Ulrikka Andersen, Eliot Haworth, Magali Reus, Harry Woodlock, Sebastian Olma, Kristabel Chung, Metahaven, Timothy Morton and Slavoj Zizek.

Real Review, 2022

26 X 11,5 cm, 103 pages