The two themes that guide this issue are research-based artistic practices and strategic excess. In this issue, Brett M. Levine examines how technology and landscape interplay in Jason Varone's video-paintings; Patricia Reed interviews Maryam Jafri, discussing how Jafri's studio encompasses the entire world of images and media by way of the histories of cinema and theater; and D. Eric Bookhardt talks with Mel Chin about his recent New Orleans project: "an amalgam of the scientific and poetic" addressing social and ecological problems. Important reviews include Matt Moris' review of Karen Finley's Impulse to Suck, Monica McTighe's review of Tara Donovan's recent retrospective, and Mari Dumett's examination of Rachel Whiteread's Place (Village).
