25 is a delicious, delightful, divine number, even more so when it is connected to Extra Extra #25. Devilish and daring, this issue pulls you into a joyful embrace. Wolfgang Tillmans’ photographs crackle and buzz ardently, steaming up the windows, while the delectable selection of short stories makes your skin tingle. In the most open and honest way, filmmaker Radu Jude talks to Julian Ross about the inbetweens of the contemporary he so vividly captures in his films, and artist Arvida Byström opens up to Natasha Hoare about the tender provocations that blur the boundaries between digital desire and visceral ache of human want. Design collective Espace Aygo welcomes Nadine Botha into their Brussels communal home of alluring objects, while infamous performance artist Ivo Dimchev lays bare his new radical softness to co-artist Kira Nova, stripping away all pretense. Walk alongside Youssef Rakha over bridges and into the hidden chambers of longing in Cairo, while in News from Home Roan Kasanmonadi throws the dice to guide you across the game board of Rotterdam, daring you to play. Touching exactly where sound and revolt intertwine, composer Neo Muyanga joins curator Fatos Üstek in a conversation on protest songs, hymns and the force that makes bodies dance and move together. Sixteen pages of Lieve Hakkers’ vivid Cave made specially for Extra Extra invites you to lean in, while Elle Pérez’ penetrating photographs embed themselves on your retina. Loose yourself in Louis Fratino’s intimate paintings that hum with erotic charge and linger like a caress. Dazzling as a lover’s smile, Extra Extra issue #25 is to die for.
