ESSE MAGAZINE no. 117 May 2026

It is a contemporary art and opinions magazine. It offers in-depth analysis of the art world, as well as artistic and social issues addressed across various contexts. Each issue features a thematic section; this issue is #115 Décomposition Decay.
From the publisher:
In this issue, while “handi” (short for the term “handicapé” in French) and “crip” (derived from “cripple,” meaning “disabled”) are diminutive forms of stigmatizing terms, the meaning we ascribe to them is by no means reductive. On the contrary, they carry a political weight that provides those who embrace them with a powerful tool for empowerment, offering disabled artists non-normative ways for articulating the strange temporalities of disabled experience and alternative ways for navigating an ableist art world. In this issue, we are interested precisely in this work of social, political, and cultural transformation, and we focus on the ways in which crip authors and artists address the different challenges they face.