For the ‘Subject’ of this issue of Electra we chose a topic that is, by definition, always current: ‘the new’. To develop it in several directions we have counted on the valuable contributions of authors from various fields of knowledge: Boris Groys (in an interview), critic, art and media scholar, and philosopher; François Hartog, historian; Iwan Rhys Morus, historian of science; Lionel Ruffel, critic and essayist on literary theory and studies; Nuno Nabais, philosopher.

The traditional categories of modern politics are now inadequate. The foundations of the very notion of democracy are undermined, while the words inherited from modernity, which had once served political action and political ideas, are now devoid of sense.

The concept of ‘new’, as it is understood in philosophy, science and art, has a long history beginning with the notion of deviation, which Lucretius identified as the origin of all forms of new. Nuno Nabais, professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon, traces some of the stages in this history in order to arrive at the complex concept of new in contemporary philosophical and scientific thought.

Numbers are the code of universal harmony, divine creation, magic, and also of scientific rationality, calculation and method. Cryptic knowledge is perfectly expressed in numbers, as if they were the emanation of a mathematical God. Our age pays little heed to numerology, but is obsessed with quantification and statistics, which have become the main tool of governance, rankings, ratings and generalised evaluation as a way of managing human and material resources. It is precisely because numbers are now so dominant and powerful (to the extent that politics has become a mere province of the wider economy), that Electra is devoting the ‘Subject’ section of this issue to this area. Here you will find articles about the philosophy of number, forms of digital art, modern governance through numbers, and the history of algorithms and their function in digital networks. These compulsory stops shine light on a variety of incursions into a vast universe that continues to expand in our age - the digital age. All the images dedicated to Numbers in this issue are by António Sena. Throughout a career that spans over five decades, signs, numbers and letters represent his attempts – successful or not – to interpret the world and everything that happens in it. His work also questions the demands, potentialities and illusions of human communication in all its variety of languages. In inviting António Sena to collaborate, Electra recognises an artist who, through his intellectual research and artistic practice, and integrity and persistence, has created a body of work with a considerable formal coherence that is unique in the world of contemporary art.

‘Fame’ – is the central theme of this 11th issue of Electra. We begin with a very brief metalinguistic presentation: the word has recently become slightly anachronistic, referring it seems to something which radiates from the public sphere with characteristics that are no longer those which dominate under the all-encompassing influence of the media. Hence, today we call ‘famous’ people ‘media personalities’, and at the margins of the latest mechanisms of visibility there is really nothing that could be described as ‘fame’. If anything, there are those who benefit from the short-term prestige granted and recognised by a small section of the public and their peers. ‘Media personality’ is the term used to describe someone who frequently appears in the media. Not occasionally but constantly, on media where every appearance is profane – this is the form that fame now almost exclusively takes.

Political communication researcher Susana Salgado comments on a quote from Noel Gallagher, former Oasis vocalist. She warns that, ‘emotions trump facts’ in these times of ‘over-democratisation of the individual’.

The neo-liberal market presents itself as a cosmos, an order, in the sense that it governs individual conduct and therefore requires an anthropological approach. Thus, it actualises the concept that humans will never be the masters of their own destiny and presupposes that everything is quantifiable and therefore subject to governance by algorithm. This is the theory set out and developed by philosopher Dario Gentili, a professor at Roma Tre University and author of among others, the book Crisi come arte di governo [Crisis as an Art of Government]; a genealogy of the concept of crisis.

A verse by Goethe was quoted in passing by philosopher Hannah Arendt in an essay on Brecht, in which she is highly critical of the effects of the poet’s political and ideological commitment in some of his poems and plays. The verse is the subject of comment by José Maria Vieira Mendes, who is a playwright, a member of Teatro Praga, and a writer of essays and an extraordinary diary (Arroios. Diário de um Diário, Dois Dias, 2015) – and who could not ignore Arendt’s mediation.

Henry James is a great writer from the turn of the 20th century. An expert in human psychology and a refined stylist, he was the creator of a vast, powerful harbinger work, in which the theme of the meeting-confrontation of Europe with the United States appears insistently. In his work, the subtlety of the mysteries combines with the harshness of the conflicts. Born 180 years ago, his enigmatic personality traits and the surprising events of his life continue to generate enormous curiosity and fascination. Novelist, short story writer, essayist, literary critic and journalist, the renowned Irish writer Colm Tóibín is a devoted connoisseur of James, about whom he wrote The Master, a biographical novel translated into many languages. In this issue of Electra, Tóibín revisits the author of The Portrait of a Lady, to show the importance of houses in James’ life and work. From these, he gives us a picture full of truth and vigour of this tormented genius.

With Europe at war and fascist regimes in the ascendant, the Portuguese World Exhibition held in Lisbon in 1940 was the New State’s greatest propaganda event. It exalted the political and cultural symbols and the ideological underpinnings – predominantly nationalism, Catholicism and colonialism – of Salazar’s authoritarian regime. Using art and culture as instruments of prestige and seduction, its purpose was to create an imperial imaginary and a providential and civilising myth for the Portuguese nation. Under the aegis of the commemoration of the Double Centenary, history was co-opted to create a grand backdrop. Today, from a distance of eighty years, this major ideological and cultural event, which also comprised a ‘large album of images’, presents a historical memory that is far from neutral or passive, as the historian and researcher Júlia Leitão explains.