The Spike Podcast

In Spike’s Spring 2026 issue, “Everything’s Computer,” we turned to a digital culture that feels newly unstable: no longer defined by the clean futurity of Net Art, the speculative cheerleading of Web3, or the already-tired mandala of generative AI, but something murkier, more communal, more occulted. Closing Gallery Weekend Berlin 2026, the magazine brought together a roundtable at the Julia Stoschek Foundation Berlin in May 2026, featuring writer and filmmaker Morgane Billuart; artist-researcher Christopher Dake-Outhet; and critic and Spike contributing editor Dean Kissick. Moderated by Spike editor-at-large Adina Glickstein, they discussed what happens to images after datafication, slop, dark forests, and the algorithmic feed – and whether, in the wreckage of the screen, new fables, protocols, and forms of life are beginning to emerge. Sound and editing: Sören Hochberg.

In Spike’s Summer 2024 issue, “The State of the Arts,” we invited Daniel Baumann, art historian, critic, and former longtime director of the Kunsthalle Zurich to write on a vocation that, it turned out, he believes is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. After the digital republication of his print article struck a chord online, the magazine brought together a roundtable at the Julia Stoschek Foundation Berlin in November 2025, featuring Daniel himself; independent curator Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu, who has worked with the Istanbul Biennial, Kunsthalle Wien, and DOCUMENTA (13), among others; and Luca Lo Pinto, former artistic director of MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome. Moderated by writer and editor Pablo Larios, they discussed what went wrong in the trajectory of a vocation that, not so long ago, was the darling of global art. Sound and editing: Sören Hochberg.

In the debut conversation of The Spike Podcast, print columnist and novelist Tea Hacic-Vlahovic speaks to Travis Diehl, a New York-based critic and poet, about his exploits: from his monthly Spike column "Libra Season," to his book-length essay on Trump & poetry, "A Snake Whistles," and his take on Al. Or watch a video of their conversation on YouTube via Spike Art Magazine. Recorded at Spike Berlin.

In Spike’s 20th anniversary double issue, “The Post-Cool,” we asked several of Berlin’s leading cultural figures if it remained a world-leading center for contemporary art – or if Berlin as we knew it is really over. Much hand wringing and many think pieces later, the magazine brought together a roundtable at the Julia Stoschek Foundation Berlin in September 2025, to espy what new city is emerging. The panel featured Matthias Lilienthal, dramaturg and artistic director of the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz; Axel Wieder, art historian, curator, and director of the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art; and the late artist Henrike Naumann, who passed away in February 2026, while preparing to co-represent Germany at the 61st Venice Art Biennale. Their conversation, moderated by writer and editor Pablo Larios, now published as a podcast, is dedicated to Henrike’s memory. Sound and editing: Sören Hochberg.