THE NEW YORKER — Slater Bradley by Anne Stringfield

A video and photographs celebrate the cult of Kurt Cobain, who killed himself ten years ago this April. Bradley, twenty-nine years old and something of a cult hero himself, is a seasoned channeler of adolescent despair. Here he perpetrates what might be called a true hoax: a convincing video of a performance by Nirvana–a “lost tape” with mythic status among Cobain fans–with lip-synching and air guitar by friends of Bradley. Cobain is played by Ben Brock, who also poses in character for the show’s photographs. The effect is sensational, cold excitement, haunted by death in a thoroughly lively way.