Memo Review 2026: Issue 5

Memo Review Issue 5 builds its fifth print edition around New York–based artist Marc Kokopeli, then ranges outward across philosophy, desire, artificial intelligence and the conspiratorial texture of networked life. About This Book Kokopeli's work moves between transparent screens, childhood archives, consumer electronics, pop-cultural debris, and sculptures assembled from nappies and nursery products. George Egerton-Warburton, Camille Orel, Miranda Samuels, and Sabeth Buchmann with Stephan Geene consider how that practice gives form to class anxiety, reproductive labour, media saturation, and an art world in which critique increasingly circulates as content. Elsewhere the issue gathers philosopher Alenka Zupančič on Jacqueline Harpman's cult novel I Who Have Never Known Men; Wayne Koestenbaum in conversation with Chelsea Hopper on desire, repetition and the pressure of the sentence; and Anna Greenspan tracing a lineage from Eden and Frankenstein through robotics to artificial intelligence. Joshua Citarella and Audrey Pfister examine conspiracy as the dominant cultural form of the present, while Helen Hughes, Rex Butler and Francis Plagne return to the doubt and negation at work in Elizabeth Newman's practice. Key Features Special focus on Marc Kokopeli, with four separate critical responses Alenka Zupančič on Jacqueline Harpman's I Who Have Never Known Men Wayne Koestenbaum in conversation with Chelsea Hopper A dedicated focus on Elizabeth Newman by Helen Hughes, Rex Butler and Francis Plagne Also featuring Jon Rafman, CC Hennix, Daniel Spoerri, Claire Lambe, Marcus Whale and Lévi McLean, plus fashion, sound, and reviews from across Australia What You'll Discover How an artist's use of consumer debris and nursery products can register class anxiety and reproductive labour Why conspiracy has become, for Citarella and Pfister, the defining cultural form of the networked present A philosophical reading of solitude and the unknown drawn from Harpman's speculative fiction The continuing critical force of Elizabeth Newman's work within Australian art About the Author Memo Review is an independent art criticism publication based in the Nicholas Building, Melbourne, publishing weekly reviews of exhibitions across Australia alongside an annual print edition that collects longer-form critical and philosophical writing. Specifications Format: Paperback Pages: 248 Dimensions: 166 × 230 mm Language: English ISBN: 9780645106091 Publisher: Memo Review Publication Date: July 2026 Perfect For: Artists, curators, critics and readers following contemporary Australian art, critical theory, independent publishing, and the meeting points of philosophy, media and visual culture. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bookshop by Uro (@bookshop_by_uro)