Katie Paterson, the cosmicomical artist
At her shows you can hear the sound of a star dying. Brian Dillon on the surprising charms of her artJust how small an object, or intervention in the world, can an artist make before the idea of a "work" drifts away on the wind? A couple of years ago a...
Ruin lust: our love affair with decaying buildings
As much-admired photographs of decayed Detroit go on show in London, Brian Dillon charts the history of a literary and artistic obsession with ruins, from Marlowe to The Waste Land to Tacita DeanEarly in May 1941, the novelist and essayist Rose Macaula...
Bubbles by Peter Sloterdijk
A meeting of art, science and metaphysicsIn 2005, the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk contrived a timely and satiric installation for Making Things Public: a vast exhibition on objects and present-day politics held at ZKM, a cutting-edge centre for...
Humiliation by Wayne Koestenbaum – review
The various ways of being and feeling humiliatedOn 30 October 1985, Andy Warhol was signing books at a New York bookshop when a young woman approached and tore off his silver wig. Andy simply pulled up his jacket's hood and went on ...
Linder, the artist with the hex factor
Best known for her Buzzcocks record sleeves and for her friendship with Morrissey, Linder is now exhibited at the Tate. Her montages and unruly performances continue to impress"One name seemed sufficient." Since the late 1970s, the English artist ...
The Anatomy of Influence by Harold Bloom
There is much to admire and infuriate in Harold Bloom's 'final reflections'What is the most apt image of literary influence? According to Borges we invent our precursors, while TS Eliot had it that great poets are thieves, not imitators. If Harold Bloo...
In memoriam
Grieving for his mother, Roland Barthes looked for her in old photos – and wrote a curious, moving book that became one of the most influential studies of photographyOn Monday 25 February 1980, at the invitation of the future French culture mini...
Tacita Dean at the Common Guild – review
Tacita Dean has been unveiled as the next artist to exhibit in the Tate Modern turbine hall. Her current show and recent films – about decay, beauty and nostalgia – mark her out as one of the best of her generation argues Brian DillonAt 11 minutes ...
Robinson in Ruins
Brian Dillon hails the return of Patrick Keiller's Robinson in a film about the conundrum of the countrysideThe opening sentence of Patrick Keiller's new film, voiced with laconic precision and italic irony by Vanessa Redgrave, is calculated to quicken...
