Le Dictateur Magazine Reverses Format: Words Only, No Images in Sixth Issue

The sixth issue of Le Dictateur, the extreme-soul magazine founded in 2006 by artist and designer Federico Pepe together with Pierpaolo Ferrari, breaks with its own tradition. Previous issues were entirely image-based, but this one contains only text and no images—except for blackened rectangles that mark the ghostly absence of pictures. Over 400 pages long and bound in black cloth, it is the most ambitious edition to date. The issue invites nearly thirty curators to imagine a 'perfect exhibition' existing solely in the mind, reducing the show to its pure noumenon. The magazine will be presented on May 13 at the MAXXI Archive Wall in Rome and on May 19 at the Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi in Venice. Le Dictateur has previously collaborated with artists such as Maurizio Cattelan, Nico Vascellari, Patrick Tuttofuoco, Giuseppe Gabellone, Paola Pivi, and Roberto Cuoghi. The magazine has also been hosted at Tate Modern, Palais de Tokyo, and MoMA Library. Its physical presence in Milan has moved from Via Nino Bixio to Via Paisiello, and most recently to Le Dictateur Studio in Via Melzo.