The Reel Argument: John Cassavetes

By Bergotte Before John Cassavetes, American cinema had a settled understanding of what feelings were for: they were the fuel that drove stories toward resolution. After Cassavetes, a different possibility existed — the possibility that feeling itself was the subject, that the camera could be pointed at a human being in the grip of emotionContinue reading “The Reel Argument: John Cassavetes”

The Human Condition According to Turgenev

By Bergotte Ivan Turgenev is the poet of the moment that has already passed. His novels and stories are pervaded by a melancholy so precise and so gracefully carried that it takes time to recognise it as a philosophical position rather than a temperamental one. But it is a position: the claim that the humanContinue reading “The Human Condition According to Turgenev”

The Nerd Reich Review

Book Review They Told Us What They Wanted Gil Durán exposes a Silicon Valley oligarchy that does not merely want to govern without us, but has begun to imagine most human beings as obstacles, dependants or waste By Bergotte Gil Durán, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on DemocracyAvid Reader Press /Continue reading “The Nerd Reich Review”

Would You Live It Again? Who We Are According to Friedrich Nietzsche

He has been claimed by fascists, by bodybuilders, by management consultants, and by every nineteen-year-old who has ever felt misunderstood. He would have been appalled by all of them. What Nietzsche actually said — about God, about values, about the self, and about whether you would choose your life again if you had to chooseContinue reading “Would You Live It Again? Who We Are According to Friedrich Nietzsche”

Paris in September: Vincent Beaurin at Galerie Poggi

Vincent Beaurin trained as a silversmith, worked as a designer, blew paint at canvases, and eventually found his way to the disc — the simplest form available, saturated with the colour of the last light before the sun disappears. A retrospective profile ahead of his show at Galerie Poggi.

Yayoi Kusama

Encounters · No. 15 – This was written before Kusama’s passing, and originally scheduled for a November release. Due to current events, we have moved things around. You can read her obituary here. Infinity, One Dot at a Time Yayoi Kusama has been covering every surface she can reach with dots and nets and flowersContinue reading “Yayoi Kusama”

Sliman Mansour 1947-2026

Obituary He Painted Palestine from the Ground Up — Literally Sliman Mansour, 1947–2026. When the occupation cut off his art supplies, he turned to the earth beneath his feet. What he made from mud and henna and olive wood became the visual language of a people. By Bergotte  ·  August 28, 2026 Sliman Mansour ·Continue reading “Sliman Mansour 1947-2026”