When speaking of the body, we need words with the rapid elasticity of muscles, the length and density of bones, the bristling electricity of nerves, the rhythmic pulsing of arteries, the obscure complexity of brains, the tireless chemistry of kidneys, the fine flow of fluids, the sharp sheen of skin, the arduous and ardent insubmission of the loins.

The photographic campaign featured in this ‘Book of Hours’ was recently undertaken by Daniel Blaufuks in Japan, with images captured in Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe Koyasan, Hiroshima and Himeji. To these images, the photographer has added the words of the haikus of the great poet Matsuo Basho, creating a dialogue of mutual and multiple resonance, which charmingly alludes to the life of nature and the nature of life. Electra has previously published Blaufuks's photographic diary ‘The Days Are Numbered’, recorded during the lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic. The publication of this ‘Book of Hours’ by Daniel Blaufuks is the result of a partnership between Electra and the Portuguese Commissioner-General for Expo 2025 Osaka. The images of this photographer's work are presented in an exhibition at the Portuguese Pavilion at this Universal Exposition.

Seen from end to beginning, the life of Yukio Mishima seems like a destiny in which everything that happened could not have unfolded any other way. Yet it is precisely this notion of an easy fatalism that has given rise to many misunderstandings in the interpretation of his work and in the understanding of his character. On the centenary of the birth of the author of Confessions of a Mask, Thomas Garcin, a professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Paris and a profound connoisseur of the writer's legacy, paints a portrait that contradicts the clichés that have built up around Mishima. In this ‘Register’, each of us is invited to create (or recreate) our own image of him.

In this ‘Scoop’, we present a series of previously unreleased images by Japanese photographer Sakiko Nomura, one of the most celebrated figures of Japanese photography today. Her vast and powerful work, which moves between clarity and mystery, seems to have been created against verbal language, grounded in the belief that there are fundamental things that only photography can convey. In a well-researched essay, professor, essayist and photographer José Bértolo presents the work of this artist, which has been shown in the most prestigious museums and galleries, examining its singularity and its ability to subvert tradition and its laws.

This conversation between two artists, Canadian photographer Jeff Wall and Portuguese film director Pedro Costa, took place in Lisbon on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition Jeff Wall – Time Stands Still. Photographs 1980-2023, at MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (which can be visited until the end of August). The meeting of these two gazes and two voices evokes the great appreciation that the photographer has shown for Pedro Costa's films ever since he saw Ossos, testifying to a mutual admiration and a communion of intellectual interests. Both have developed a long and deep reflection not only on their own work, but also on the artistic disciplines they practice. In the case of Jeff Wall, this reflection has taken the form of essays on art, where his relationship with cinema is clearly visible, but also with painting and literature. Pedro Costa, for his part, also pushes the boundaries of cinematographic art in his work and reflections, making incursions into the territories of photography and painting. This created an open space for dialogue, for mutual inquiry, for measuring affinities and differences. It is this conversation, held exclusively for Electra, that we are publishing here.

In his book In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust speaks of him as a magical creator of beauty, in whose works is reflected, as if in a mysterious mirror, the encounter between West and East, of which Venice, where he lived and died, is a major symbol and where the museum that bears his name and preserves his artistic legacy still stands today. Painter, engraver, sculptor, photographer, set designer, costume designer,stage director, designer, collector, inventor and entrepreneur, Mariano Fortuny left the mark of an invincible and melancholic desire for perfection on everything he created, from paintings to dresses, from set designs at La Scala in Milan to his innovations in lighting technology. Professor, researcher and curator Anabela Becho portrays this fascinating figure in a narrative that flows between life and work.

Here we have one of the many cryptic utterances of Dr Jacques Lacan, the kind that drew large audiences to his seminars. In order to help interpret and comment on this, we turned to a psychoanalyst, Sinziana Ravini, who has published various articles in Electra in her capacity as an art critic, curator, and novelist.

T.J. Clark, one of the most influential art historians of the last half century, whose work has managed to move this discipline away from traditional concerns with style and form towards an engagement with the social and political conditions of modernity, talks to Electra about the ever-increasing image problems in the contemporary era.

From the Kinderstern ‘social sculpture’ to the stained glass windows of Reims Cathedral, Imi Knoebel's work reflects the major questions that art has asked of itself — and of the world — throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Drawing early inspiration from Malevich's challenging geometry, he studied under Kilian Breier and Joseph Beuys, making the creative exploration of material, form and colour a constant demonstration of his extraordinary creativity, giving non-figurative art a new splendour. This German artist, represented in the world's most prestigious art collections, has prepared a portfolio for Electra which is presented here in an essay by Gabriel Barbi.

Our perceptions of social realities tell us a lot about ourselves, as individuals and societies. People are not empty vessels just waiting to be filled with correct facts, and the public as a whole are not a blank slate to be written on. Instead, our view of reality is shaped by our myriad biases, heuristics and motivated reasoning, and a media, social media and political system that play on them.