Real Review 3

GLOBAL CIVIL WAR
 
The world order is gradually slowing down, and democracy is grinding to a deadlock. Global civilisation is sliding into stasis. But whereas this might have once led to outright World War, instead we are seeing high levels of universal domestic instability. From protest, unrest and insurgencies to proxy theatres and armed conflict, we have entered into a condition of global civil war. There is a popular sense that blunders have been made and we should backtrack as quickly as possible. Exactly which past you are trying to recreate depends on your political persuasion. The search for something drastically different has begun.
 
Have we all become artists? We interview editor ISABELLE GRAW on our condition of perpetual work. J.G. BALLARD'S Super Cannes is reviewed by KELLER EASTERLING. TIM IVISON reviews a marriage proposal made with a diamond ring fashioned from Mexican architect LUIS BARRAGÁN’s remains. Urban owl SUZANNE HALL stays up late to take the London Night Tube, with photography by MAX CREASY. LIAM YOUNG becomes the first visitor at Facebook’s central data centre. JACK SELF reviews the café. Swiss architect PETER MÄRKLI tells us what it means to live today, plus much more.