Shumon Basar is a British writer, co-author of such masterpieces as The Extreme Self and The Age of Earthquakes: A Guide to the Extreme Present. Curator of quite a few projects at Fondazione Prada. Artist and editor. In conversation with Maria Abramenko.
| YOUR FAVORITE |
Song
Kangaroo by This Mortal Coil
Book
The Concise Encyclopedia of Surrealism by René Passeron
Cake
Fresh kenefeh in Nablus. Must be before midday
Historical period
The present
Woman
Zaha Hadid
Dystopian movie
The Breakfast Club
Serial Killer
Capitalism
Color
50% Grey
Poem
“A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness;
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction;
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher;
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribands to flow confusedly;
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat;
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility:
Do more bewitch me, than when art
Is too precise in every part.”
Robert Herrick (1591 – 1674)
Politician
Nobody :(
Fashion brand
1980’s Comme des Garçons
Animal
The unicorn in Blade Runner
Curse
The Kvorka, which Kramer suffered from in Seinfeld: it made him utterly, destructively irresistible to women
City
New Babylon by Constant
Fetish object
I don’t have one but wouldn’t it be amazing if Isamu Noguchi or Charles and Ray Eames ever designed a butt plug
Ocean
Mare Crisium, Mare Ingenii, Mare Serenitatis, Mare Tranquillitatis: these are all “lunar maria”, mistaken by early astronomers for seas on the surface of the Moon, named after states of mind
Dead person
Jean-Luc Godard
Flower
Any orchid that looks like it’s grown in outer space
Fast food
Filet o Fish from McDonald’s
Tea
Turkish tea served in small glasses
Band
Cocteau Twins
Writer
Don Delillo
Dead writer
Samuel Beckett
Game
Love vs Lust
Cemetery
The Brion Cemetery by Carlo Scarpa
Quote
“In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art” — Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation
Object in space
The Golden Record sent on Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts in 1977
Artwork
The Earth Room, New York by Walter de Maria
News source
BBC World Service
Movie director
David Lynch
Joy Division Album
Substance
Meme
Whichever is the newest one I’ve just posted to stories
Shumon Basar / Extreme Present
Artist: Shumon Basar: / @shumonbasar
Art Editor: Maria Abramenko / @mariabramenko