Spike Art, founded in 2004, is a place for criticism and unconventional ideas, mixing writing on themes urgent and forever unresolved, from “Web3” and “After Beauty” to “Plants” and “Patriarchy.” As a print quarterly, a digital broadside, and an event space, Spike offers a soapbox to cultural critics and literary essayists to chronicle our time in thought. Spike is also visually splashy, by turns pushy, poetic, unexpected – and not shy to start an argument. Published quarterly by the artist Rita Vitorelli, Spike is one of the last remaining independent art magazines.

For their Autumn 2026 issue, Spike looks at the growing obsession with SOUND – from algorithmic earworms to immersive exhibitions and music made by machines – and asks: Why is something so elusive becoming our favorite way to set the mood?