SIMULACRA IN SOHO: THE NEW STREET GUIDE BRINGS BAUDRILLARD TO LONDON

London’s latest indie print arrival, The New Street Guide, is “clunky and amateurish” — at least according to its own founder, Rosa Benito. But don’t be fooled: behind the humility is a sharp, satirical mind, using the format of a street magazine to prod at Baudrillard, hyperreality, and the topological truth of London.

Published biannually and available only in print — “because if it didn’t, that would be deeply ironic” — The New Street Guide is part sociological spoof, part sincere cultural dispatch. Its inaugural issue maps a strange and satirical London through essays, columns, and anonymous dispatches from the city’s murkier margins. “Essentially a low-brow take on a high-brow topic,” Benito explains, the issue includes everything from pseudonymous writers exploring identity politics, to Soho wanderings with anti-ad activist Stephanie Cartridge, to a Northern detour in Harrogate with local tour guide Harry Satloka.

The magazine is Benito's first foray into magazine-making, but not without personal precedent. “My grandfather set up a map business in the 1990s, so this magazine, rooted in Baudrillard’s theory, feels like a conceptual heir of sorts — albeit with fewer coordinates.” Its illustrations come courtesy of Rosa’s sister Lucy Ellis and father Eduardo Benito — keeping things conceptual and in the family.

One column tells the story of Rosa’s fast-fashion feud with a neighbour that escalated into “a cork-board-based battle,” while another features thoughts on polite politics from contributor Beth Jones. There's also “The First Draught,” a fashion internship diary from a rogue women’s student. The magazine is “deeply curious about how culture is formed,” possessing a humorous and pointed tone that will resonate with anybody with "a healthy suspicion of hyperreality the so-called progress within technology."

Whether you're a Baudrillardian purist or just someone who likes maps, the debut issue promises theory, satire, and real London grit — available now at MagCulture (EC1V 4PE) BOOKS Peckham (SE15 4LF), and Abney Books (N16 0LH).