Vice, Vol. 29, #4

245 x 310 mm, 184 pages New York, US Quarterly First published in 1994, relaunched as quarterly in 2025 Global editorial director: Ben Ditto Editor-in-chief: Kevin Lee Kharas Design: Eva Bevec Vice began life as an underground punk zine in Montreal in 1994, under the moniker ‘Voice’; it subsequently relocated to New York, where it became a multi-billion dollar global empire and the iconoclastic voice of a generation. Following a six year hiatus, the magazine announced it would be returning as a quarterly publication in 2025 under the global editorial direction of Ben Ditto, alongside EIC Kevin Lee Kharas. This is ‘The Not The Photo Issue’ for Spring 2026, featuring a perturbing photograph of Jeffrey Epstein and Michael Jackson on the cover; provocative less for what it reveals than for the information it withholds—both author and context are unverified. ‘Whether ‘real’ or not, the power of the image persists’, writes Ben Ditto in his opening remarks, getting at the crux of the edition, which explores the degeneration and over saturation of image production in the age of AI. Inside, Dean Kissick chats to Bafta-winning documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis, in a conversation spanning societal flaws, monoculture, (post-)postmodern fragmentation, and the real; Bertie Brandes laments the faceless ‘cult of perfect pretty’; American conflict reporter Collin Mayfield steps on a landmine—and, ever the investigative journalist—texts Ben Ditto photo evidence and his thoughts on the experience; and Vice veteran Ivar Wigan takes a trip to San Francisco to photograph local performance artist Benjamin Ackermann, who opens up about his transracial adoption. Elsewhere, U.S. porn preferences by state, Arvida Byström’s ‘optimized woman’, deep fried memes, and an abundance of AI slop. vice.com