Extreme Present

In conversation with British writer, artist and editor. Shumon Basar.

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

You may also like

Love’s Secret Domain / Noelia Towers

Art&Culture | Interview
In artist’s work, innocence clashes with experience, and every muted colour, hidden face, or subtle gesture carries a perception of delicacy in contrast with a strong unspoken.

Finché nessuno muore / Lust for Paper

Art&Culture | Interview
Between the neon-lit Milan of the early 2000s and the unflinching intimacy of confession, Vera Nevi builds a literary world where domination becomes a metaphor for self-knowledge rather than control. Finché nessuno muore transforms the true story of a young girl becoming a dominatrix into an exploration of fragility, loneliness, and truth.

Digging Wounds / Shirin Neshat

Art&Culture | Spotlight
If there is an image that can capture Shirin Neshat’s work, it is a wound first touched, the finger sliding over old cuts once stitched together. In this three-voice interview we confront both her major works and her newest pieces, tracing the tangled threads between her art and the geopolitical violence unfolding around us.

reach us

 
Sunken TreasuresSnow Core