Aesthetica Magazine Issue 131

Time and place define this issue. Inside, artists and architects examine how we inhabit and interpret the world around us. They share a sensitivity to material, memory and atmosphere, moving between per- manence, ephemerality, structure and fluidity. At their core is a fascination with the now, and how it is shaped by history, yet continuously reimagined through creative practice. We invite you to engage with a slower, more attentive way of seeing, and to discover space as something lived, felt and always in flux.

Inside this issue, we look at Kengo Kuma: New Works, which surveys the architect’s latest projects. Known for his rejection of monumentalism, Kuma works at the intersection of construction and en- vironment, privileging natural materials such as wood, stone and paper to create structures that feel permeable and responsive. He foregrounds tactility and lightness, dissolving architecture into its natural context through innovative materials. Now is Now Tokyo, meanwhile, presents the city as a destination for visual culture, as seen through the lens of contemporary image-makers. At Rencontres d'Arles, Jiang Zhi unveils work that meditates intimacy, vulnerability and the boundary between reality and imagination.

In photography, practitioners expand the medium’s possibilities. Daniel Rose constructs images that turn plant and graphic forms into bright, bold collages. Frank Relle captures cinematic landscapes in Louisiana that evoke histories embedded within place. Linda Burris Webster turns attention to geopolitical issues through paper sculpture. Nuno Alexandre Serrão presents cinematic, poetic scenes through layered visual storytelling, whilst Svetlana Talanova engages with natural forms and analogue techniques. Our cover photographer is Tamara Dean, with portraiture submerged by florals. Finally, the Last Words go to Åsa Johannesson with The Queering of Photography in Edinburgh. The show reframes histories of image-making, challenging established narratives and opening up possibilities for representation.