When Jeff Koons Met Epstein
New revelations from the Epstein files, a hilarious protest against Melania's doc, the problem with archival art, our monthly crossword, and more.
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Can you rewire your brain?
The metaphor of rewiring offers an ideal of engineered precision. But the brain is more like a forest than a circuit board - by Peter Lukacs Read on Aeon
On Children: Poignant Parenting Advice from Kahlil Gibran
"Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself... You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of
“Everybody wants to win”
Sports analogies often let us down. A colleague was explaining how measurement was difficult in many organizations, unlike a basketball game, where the time, the score and the stats are clear and obvious. He said, “everybody wants to win.” Depending on how you define ‘win’,
The Samurai Who Became A Roman Citizen
Last year, we featured here on Open Culture the story of how a samurai ended up in the unlikely setting of seventeenth-century Venice. But as compellingly told as it was in video essay form by Evan Puschak, better known as the Nerdwriter, it ended just as things were getting
‘I Promise You, You Have Your Soul.’
Three mothers, one struggle: saving their children with schizophrenia.
Bang the Drumstick Slowly
"About 26 billion chickens occupy Earth, but apart from the lucky ones in backyards, most are condemned to the hellscape that is industrial farming."
The Powerful Messages That Woody Guthrie & Pete Seeger Inscribed on Their Guitar & Banjo: “This Machine Kills Fascists” and “This Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces it to Surrender”
Photo by Al Aumuller, via Wikimedia Commons Like another famous Okie from Muskogee, Woody Guthrie came from a part of Oklahoma that the U.S. government sold during the 1889 land rush away from the Quapaw and Osage nations, as well as the Muscogee, a people who had been forcibly
Elon Musk and other internet racists started an internet...
Elon Musk and other internet racists started an internet war over Christopher Nolan’s casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, thereby immediately disproving their point. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Early this month, a wily coyote swam across San Francisco...
Early this month, a wily coyote swam across San Francisco Bay to Alcatraz. He was in such rough shape, observers thought he’d probably die, but he’s been snacking on birds and rodents and was recently observed fat as a pickle . 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Rilke on the Relationship Between Solitude, Love, Sex, and Creativity
"There is only one solitude, and it is large and not easy to bear... People are drawn to the easy and to the easiest side of the easy. But it is clear that we must hold ourselves to the difficult."
Seu Jorge’s Lovely Tribute to David Bowie
For his 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Wes Anderson enlisted Brazilian musical artist Seu Jorge to perform several of David Bowie’s songs in Portuguese. Jorge released an album of the songs about a year or so later. A few weeks ago, to mark the 10th anniversary
Jeff Koons Attended Dinner Party at Jeffrey Epstein’s House
The artist confirmed to Hyperallergic that he was present at a 2013 dinner but said that he “did not have a relationship with Epstein” beyond that event.
The Art Crossword: Renaissance Edition
What do you call the artistic technique that creates contrasts of light and dark?
10 Art Shows to See in Upstate New York This February
A seminal Vito Acconci performance, Nona Faustine and Ocean Vuong’s explorations of identity, Sita Gómez’s celebrations of womanhood, and more.
Archival Art Will Not Save Us
Archival work has a place in historical recovery and cultural self-understanding. But not every artwork must be archival, and our politics shouldn’t end with presence rather than action.
The Accidental Winners of the War on Higher Ed ....
The Accidental Winners of the War on Higher Ed . “Well-resourced and prestigious small colleges are less exposed in almost every way to the crises that higher ed faces.” (My kid goes to a liberal arts school & anecdotally can confirm.) 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Opportunities in February 2026
Residencies, fellowships, grants, open calls, and jobs from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, the Rubin Museum, and more in our monthly list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers.
Significant Find of Cambrian Explosion Fossils
A recent paper in Nature details what scientists found at the Huayuan biota: Here we report the Huayuan biota — a lower Cambrian (Stage 4, approximately 512 million years ago) BST Lagerstätte from an outer shelf, deep-water setting of the Yangtze Block in Hunan, South China.
Does This Restored Roman Fresco Depict Italy’s Prime Minister?
The recent restoration, which bears an uncanny resemblance to far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, is currently under investigation.
Pizza Supreme
"Pizza Hut Classic is fast becoming a cultural obsession. I spent a day at one to find out why."
Culinary Students Given Live Baby To Learn How To Care...
Culinary Students Given Live Baby To Learn How To Care For Bag Of Flour . I laughed so hard at this. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Volleyball Player Does Sliding Dogeza Apology
During an exhibition, Japanese volleyball player Yuji Nishida hit a courtside judge in the back with an errant serve. He immediately sprinted across the court and dove prostrate in apology. The gesture was a sort of sliding dogeza : Even in a country where a sincere apology can
Living in Tracy Chapman’s House
"Fresh out of college, we were a bunch of misfits, in a chaotic, run-down communal home, desperately trying to figure out who we were meant to be."
As part of their coursework, students at UC Berkeley are...
As part of their coursework, students at UC Berkeley are contributing edits to Wikipedia about “LGBTQ+ history, with an emphasis on queer and trans people of color” . They’ve added 300,000+ edits and 3,000+ citations. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
When Your Parents Are Dying: Some of the Simplest, Most Difficult and Redemptive Life-Advice You’ll Ever Receive
"Death makes human beings seem like very small containers that are packed so densely we can only be aware of a fraction of what's inside us from moment to moment."
Thich Nhat Hanh on True Love and the Five Rivers of Self-Knowledge
“For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks… the work for which all other work is but preparation,” Rilke wrote to his young correspondent. The great difficulty of loving arises from the great difficulty of bridging the abyss
The Schoolchildren of Minneapolis . “As thousands...
The Schoolchildren of Minneapolis . “As thousands of ICE agents arrived, kids started staying home from school. A local principal, teachers, and parent volunteers have banded together to keep the families safe.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Protesters Dressed as Marie Antoinette Roast “Melania” Film at Kennedy Center
The action unfolded during the $75 million film’s premiere, days before Trump announced the two-year closure of the performing arts center.
Autocratic backfire : when dictators construct echo...
Autocratic backfire : when dictators construct echo chambers, overestimate their abilities, and dismiss their adversaries’ capabilities, leading to weakening or ruin. Examples: Mussolini, Putin, and now (hopefully) Trump. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
How Richard Wright Shaped John Wilson’s Protest Art
Wilson, like Wright before him, wrestled with the psychic toll of racial violence on Black families in his paintings and lithographs.
A Celestial Nest by Atelier Yokyok Lands on a Former Farm in Eastern Portugal
"Ninho Globo" evokes a nest or a giant seed pod tumbling through the landscape. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article A Celestial Nest by Atelier Yokyok
Darren Aronofsky’s AI Studio Used Artificial...
Darren Aronofsky’s AI Studio Used Artificial Intelligence Tools for Revolutionary War Animated Series . Interesting use of “animated” to mean “AI-generated photorealism”. I watched the trailer…everything looks vaguely plastic. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Do you know about the original vampire ending for Marty...
Do you know about the original vampire ending for Marty Supreme ? (You heard me.) 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Tim Burton on Catherine O’Hara :...
Tim Burton on Catherine O’Hara : “Catherine’s so good, maybe too good. She works on levels that people don’t even know. I think she scares people because she operates at such high levels.” Loved her. RIP. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
‘Sarah Stone’s Unseen World’ Highlights Avian Paintings by an 18th-Century Talent
Decades before photography, the British natural history illustrator chronicled global discoveries. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article ‘Sarah Stone’s
The Middle Passage: A Jungian Field Guide to Finding Meaning and Transformation in Midlife
"Our task at midlife is to be strong enough to relinquish the ego-urgencies of the first half and open ourselves to a greater wonder."