Spike Issue 89

From algorithmic earworms to machine-made music and immersive exhibitions, Spike’s Autumn 2026 issue asks why contemporary art is so obsessed with sound.

For our Autumn 2026 issue, Spike looks at the growing obsession with SOUND – from algorithmic earworms to immersive exhibitions and music made by machines – and asks: Why is something so elusive becoming our favorite way to set the mood? The answers are eclectic, vibrant, and sometimes dissonant: Aodhan Madden traces hyperpop’s sweet rise and sticky demise; Brian Droitcour diagnoses art’s age of “vibe”; Alex Quicho indulges the guilty pleasures of AI music. Avant-garde icon Laurie Anderson talks to Dan Fox; Travis Jeppesen enters the visceral audiovisual worlds of Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel; Isabella Zamboni listens for silence in paintings by Agnes Martin, R. H. Quaytman, and others; Steve Goodman (aka Kode9) on what sound does to the brain; DJ Courtesy on what art can learn from the club; Ville Haimala of Amnesia Scanner on the musical history of Myspace; Reece Cox on the best sound art LPs; a visual essay by Akeem Smith; and Steven Phillips-Horst decodes the synthetic future in sonic branding. Plus! A backpage audio diary from Tea Hačić-Vlahović.