What’s Happening: For All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Oscar-winning director Laura Poitras offers an intimate look inside the renowned photographer’s inextricable art and activism, from chronicling the emergent AIDS crisis to her ongoing stand-ins at museums that take money from the manufacturers of OxyContin.

The Download: In the 1970s, Nan Goldin was an inimitable fixture in New York’s downtown scene, documenting the “lawless bohemianism” of the city’s vibrant post-Stonewall gay subculture with snapshot photographs of hard drug use and violent relationships. Startling in their emotional candor, they appeared alongside autobiographical moments in her slideshow The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, perhaps her best-known work and a benchmark for confessional photography. But most of Goldin’s subjects, such as artist Greer Lankton and it-girl Cookie Mueller, were overdosing or succumbing to AIDS. At the tail end of 1989, Goldin organized “Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing,” a groundbreaking group exhibition at Tribeca gallery Artists Space that responded to the injustices of the burgeoning HIV/AIDS crisis.

The show’s philosophy speaks directly to Goldin’s defiant practice and foreshadows her late-career activism against the billionaire Sackler family for their involvement in Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin. Goldin, who was prescribed the drug after wrist surgery, became addicted overnight and almost died from a fentanyl overdose before battling through rehab. She soon launched a campaign called Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (PAIN) that contrasts the Sacklers’ lack of responsibility taken for the opioid crisis with their philanthropic contributions to art galleries, museums, and universities, which bear the family’s name. The protests called for those entities to forgo Sackler donations, finding their first success at the National Portrait Gallery in London after Goldin threatened to withdraw from a retrospective if they didn’t turn down a million-pound gift.

More victories ensued, capturing the attention of Academy Award–winning filmmaker Laura Poitras, who was aware of Goldin’s AIDS activism and volunteered to turn PAIN’s efforts into a documentary. That film, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, enjoyed a wide release last week. Through an elegantly paced chapter format, the film chronicles PAIN’s momentum as it staged demonstrations and “die-ins,” starting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s famed Temple of Dendur exhibition, located in a gallery bearing the Sackler name. It ends on a hopeful note, celebrating the Met removing the Sackler’s presence—and Purdue Pharma filing for bankruptcy.

Though anti-Sackler protests are the hook, entwined within the film is a poignant look back into Goldin’s art-world emergence. It begins with her childhood in suburban Maryland—a traumatic period spent between foster homes and mourning her older sister, Barbara, who died by suicide at age 18. Through hundreds of original photographs presented in her signature slideshow technique and overlaid with her disarming narration, Goldin recounts first picking up a camera as a teenager and documenting her drag queen friends during a liberating stint in downtown Boston. She relocated to New York soon after, capturing fraught memories from the Bowery through daringly candid images of her party-all-night peers.

Because Goldin spent so much time behind the camera, much of All the Beauty and the Bloodshed focuses on her contemporaries—especially those who didn’t make it out of the AIDS crisis alive. Among them is David Wojnarowicz, the wryly funny artist whose controversial catalog essay for “Witnesses” came as a battle cry for an anguished, AIDS-ravaged subculture clamoring for a callous government to come to their protection. Poitras gracefully weaves in Goldin’s priceless footage from that era with PAIN’s recent die-ins, illustrating the plights—and eventual triumphs—of two marginalized groups fighting for their lives, against all odds, with unshakeable resolve.

In Their Own Words: “One thing we’ve been talking about with the film is how we need to have compassion for drug users and understanding there are solutions operating on the ground like harm reduction and overdose prevention sites,” Megan Kapler, a co-producer for the film, said during a recent screening at Brooklyn Academy of Music. “They’re just so deeply stigmatized that they don’t get the funding they deserve. We’d love for people to get behind harm reduction, take what they’ve learned from this film, and take action moving forward.”

Surface Says: The triumph of Goldin’s activism and the painful memories of her late sister would each have made their own worthy film, but the brilliant way Poitras weaves both together is transcendent—and makes All the Beauty and the Bloodshed an unmissable meeting of the minds.

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From Web3 Salon Sessions co-hosted with Polygon at the W South Beach to cocktails fêting a visionary sustainability exhibition by Model No., join Surface and the leading designers in our network for a packed Miami Art Week.

They say “go big or go home,” and for this year’s Miami Art Week, Surface is going bigger and better than ever with immersive art-meets-Web3 programming at the W South Beach. Those planning to be in town for the Art Basel and Design Miami/ VIP days can look forward to joining Surface for a series of thought-provoking, salon-style conversations, a disco-fied lightwave bungalow, and opportunities to fête with our community of artists and designers.

Outside of our activation at the W South Beach, we’re sharing details on events from our community of Surface-approved artists and designers, including a panel with homeware designer Tina Frey, a ceramics exhibition presented by SCAD, and a multi-artist furniture launch by Model No.

Over the years, Kelly Wearstler has carved a niche as the progenitor of a modern aesthetic: groovy but not goofy, comfy but smart, and sharp enough to never get too cozy. Her latest collab feels perfectly of the moment, teaming with Miami-via-Mexico stone purveyor Arca to utilize its ancient materials and forward-thinking technology for one-of-a-kind pieces that offer, as she describes, “a nuanced and sensual interplay of suppleness and strength.”

The Nudo collection comprises 16 furniture pieces and a further six accessories, each a knotty exploration of natural stone’s potential. Benches in Pink Marble seem to effortlessly double back on themselves before tying themselves off to complete the design; linear iterations also pull off the trick, as do consoles, stools, side tables, and chairs, in the pink or eye-catching options like Rainbow Onyx, Fior di Bosco, Amarillo Triana, and more. Platters, bowls, and multiple vases put a bow on the collection, just in time for an exhibition in Wearstler’s immersive installation at Arca Wynwood from Wednesday, Nov. 30, where they’ll be joined by a large-scale installation of Alicja Kwade’s lustrous marble spheres.

In 1922, the Bank of Italy opened its Morgan, Walls & Clements–designed headquarters in Downtown L.A. Various owners spent time in the Neoclassical building over the next century, including, most recently, the NoMad. Now, the Hotel Per La calls it home, with interiors by Jaqui Seerman in collaboration with Voila Creative Studio that invests new ideas in the 10,000-square-foot property.

On the way to one of the 241 rooms and suites, each paying respect to the local art guests pass through in a series of Italianate mirrored archways and a reception area defined by a rippling plaster desk before a figurative mural by L.A. local Jessalyn Brooks. A game room in deep purple boasts furniture and artwork by local makers. Seerman seeded the double-height lobby with botanical-print seating and ample actual botanicals.

The main banking hall is now the sunny Per L’Ora restaurant, all with creamy millwork and palette-cleansing pastel marble; diners can sip on chef Courtney Van Dyke’s bucatini with Spam, egg yolk, and nori, and finish with ex-Jean-Georges pastry maestro Sohrob Esmaili’s chamoy zabaglione. The Venetian-style Café Ora, with its menu of espresso drinks and sweets, is the ideal start to the day. And up on the roof, a red-and-gold bar offers Coleen Morton’s group of on-tap spritzes—clink a pair as Saluti to the Bar Clara’s namesake, the first woman to serve on the board of the Bank of Italy.

In February 2021, Christine Kuan took the helm of Creative Capital as president and CEO of the grant-making organization that has awarded millions of dollars in direct funding to nearly 1,000 pioneering artists like Simone Leigh, Etienne Charles, and more, while also providing professional development and educational resources to grant recipients and a wider, 45,000-strong community. As Creative Capital’s next grant cycle approaches, Kuan, whose 20 years of experience in the art world’s nonprofit and commercial sectors includes serving as CEO of Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Chief Curator & Director of Strategic Partnerships at Artsy, spoke with Surface about her vision for the organization.

Though initially drawn to ceramics as a pastime, seven years spent perfecting the graceful, biomorphic shapes of her favorite architects (think Savin Couelle and Valentine Schlegel) has cemented Simone Bodmer-Turner as one of today’s most sought-after makers of sculptural vessels. She continues to scale up her practice, recently debuting her first-ever furniture pieces—a whimsical credenza with spherical drawers and some gravity-defying chairs—and now unveils her largest piece yet, a freestanding mirror for Emma Scully Gallery at Design Miami.

Anything goes in the ascendant painter Maggie Ellis’s frenetic, Goya-esque canvases, one of which embraces the euphoric energy exchange of a crowded dance floor.

Here, we ask an artist to frame the essential details behind one of their latest works.

Bio: Maggie Ellis, 31, New York.

Title of work: Other People’s House Parties (2022).

Where to see it: Charles Moffett’s booth at NADA Miami until Dec. 3.

Three words to describe it: Light-speckled, wavy, climactic.

What was on your mind at the time: The feeling of being at a house party hosted by someone you don’t know, watching a group of friends cut loose together, loud, crowded rooms, blurry vision, heat, transparency, overstimulation, confusion, piles of winter coats; that moment when a party takes on a life of its own, where no one is in control any longer, and bodies seem to take on otherworldly forms.

The mood was dismal when politicians and diplomats from around the world descended on Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for COP27 three weeks ago. The tense negotiations, which concluded this past week, illustrate the challenges ahead as wealthy countries remain invested in fossil fuels and struggle to see eye-to-eye with developing nations increasingly ravaged by climate disasters. A study published during COP27 found only a few countries followed pledges from last year’s conference to cut emissions.

According to climate scientist Rob Jackson, the inaction stems from shortsighted politicians and apathy. The latter was addressed through an installation nearby, which showcased the phenomenon for skeptical attendees. According to a 2011 study, attitudes toward climate change differ depending on current temperatures—a concept called “visceral fit.” Someone in a sweltering office, for example, is more likely to think global warming is a major threat. It inspired Bahia Shehab to create Heaven & Hell in the Anthropocene, an immersive work comprising two identical-looking rooms with different temperatures, sounds, sights, and smells meant to represent humanity’s two possible eternal outcomes.

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Moleskine revived the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers—such as Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Bruce Chatwin—over the past two centuries. Today, Moleskine is known as an iconic brand that is an open platform for creativity, reflection, and sharing.

Surface Says: Best-known for the stalwart minimalism of its classic notebooks, Moleskine also produces bags, accessories, and illustrated books. The high quality of its products, as well as their references to history, evoke a nostalgia that inspires writers and authors to this day.

Could listicles be one of our most ancient forms of writing and narrative?

The Brooklyn Public Library’s most popular books aren’t what you’d expect.

This game asks players to guess the prompt behind AI-generated images.

An old-school guitar shop survives the Chelsea Hotel’s chic makeover.