The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Highlighting notable reads from Jasper Craven, Lisa Kaltenegger, Adam Iscoe, Lisa Abend, and Paul Schrodt.
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Acid media
How perforated squares of trippy blotter paper allowed outlaw chemists and wizard-alchemists to dose the world with LSD - by Erik Davis Read at Aeon
Aldous Huxley Explains How Man Became “the Victim of His Own Technology” (1961)
Just a couple of days ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted out a video promoting, “the new iPad Pro: the thinnest product we’ve ever created.” The response has been overwhelming, and overwhelmingly negative: for many viewers, the ad’s imagery of a hydraulic press crushing a heap of
Success is not an option
In any creative endeavor, it’s possible to define success as the big win, the moment when your dreams match reality. Success is the end of imposter syndrome, stability and finally making it to the other side. By this definition, it’s clear that success isn’t going to happen.
The First Recording of Allen Ginsberg Reading “Howl” (1956)
Image by Michiel Hendryckx, via Wikimedia Commons Occasionally I slip into an ivory tower mentality in which the idea of a banned book seems quaint—associated with silly scandals over the tame sex scenes in James Joyce or D.H. Lawrence. After all, I think, we live in an age
What It’s Like to Be a Falcon: The Peregrine as a Portal to a Way of Seeing and a State of Being
"You cannot know what freedom means till you have seen a peregrine loosed into the warm spring sky to roam at will through all the far provinces of light."
Art Students and Faculty Rally for Palestine at Cooper Union
The action drew connections between the student mobilization for Gaza and the Free Cooper Union movement in 2011.
Spring and Summer Skies by Amy Jean Porter
Just some lovely painted skies to end the day. ( Above , below .) Tags: Amy Jean Porter · art · skies 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
RISD Gaza Solidarity Encampment Dissolves After Expulsion Threats
Students renamed the art school’s Washington Place building after the late Palestinian artist Fathi Ghaben, who died in Gaza in February.
Paul Chan and His Mom Crochet Criminals Together
The pair work in tandem across coasts to craft hilarious yet moving portraits of criminals including Sam Bankman-Fried, Elizabeth Holmes, and Anna Delvey.
Jean Shin Gifts Endangered Birds a Safe Perch
At Appleton Farms, a new installation provides endangered bobolinks a secure place to nest, affirming a sense of human agency in the face of ecological loss.
A Japanese Reality Show’s Dark Legacy
Livestreaming, confessional monologues, and subjects’ willingness to let mass audiences surveil them all started here.
The Alienated Aesthetics of USC’s Student Exhibition
Across multiple media, USC art students’ works paired meditations on discomfort, isolation, and technology with an impressive aesthetic rigor.
All-Women Show Considers Becoming a Bathroom to Exclude Male Visitors
Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is considering turning it into a toilet — or a bible study.
Required Reading
This week, Audubon bird prints, the meaning of “Indigenous,” Met Gala responses, Zadie Smith roasted, backlash to iPad ad, and more.
A View From the Easel
“Working in a space that is somewhat detached from the confines of time allows me to create and solely place my focus on my art.”
Fiber Art Is the Binding Thread at This Manhattan Show
A group exhibition by BravinLee Programs pushes the boundaries of the already open-ended medium through more than 100 works.
Art Alluding to Pro-Palestine Slogan Nixed From Miami Beach Display
Hundreds signed a letter in support of Khánh Nguyên Hoàng Vũ after Oolite Arts removed their work, which referred metaphorically to the phrase “from the river to the sea.”
Romanian Singer Maria Coman
“Was the human voice the very first musical instrument? I don’t know, but I expect it will end up as the very last one.” Tyler Cowen shared an eclectic choral music playlist the other day, with the preceding lines as an intro, and the idea of a “last instrument” was pleasingly
How ‘Go,’ the Wildest, Druggiest, Horniest Cult Movie of 1999 Got Made (And Almost Didn’t)
"Twenty-five years after it came out—and got bulldozed in theaters by The Matrix—the timeline-twisting indie comedy Go looks better than ever."
Take Two Trips
A couple years ago, the NYT columnist David Brooks published a story called “ The Greatest Life Hacks in the World (For Now) .” It was mostly a tribute to Kevin Kelly’s famous life advice posts, but Brooks added one of his own, and I’ve thought of at least once a week since:
Open Call: The 6th VH AWARD for Emerging Asian Media Artists
Since its establishment in 2016, the VH AWARD , hosted by Hyundai Motor Group, has offered a platform for emerging media artists to showcase their artistic expression and discuss diverse cultural and socio-political issues. Artists interested in applying for the 6th VH AWARD
This is the first I’m learning of the spookily named Decline at...
This is the first I’m learning of the spookily named Decline at 9 phenomenon , in which kids apparently lose interest in reading around age nine. (Per the article, 57% of 8-year-olds claim to read for fun daily, vs. only 35% of 9-year-olds.) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 💬 Join the discussion on
Diary Comics, Dec. 21-25
It’s another Thursday Afternoon With Edith, and here are a bunch more comics from my journal! I’m publishing everything through my new baby’s birth, because it seemed silly to draw it out any longer than I have! She’s now four months old. 👶 ( Previously .) Tags: diary
Frenzied Symbols and Vibrant Vignettes Overlay Sam Rodriguez’s Figurative Illustrations
Sam Rodriguez sorts his works into three categories: nouns, verbs, and typography. Nouns comprises his portraits that zero in on a singular person and their expressions, while verbs takes a step back to portray figures in action. Typography is more abstract and centers on
“I maintain that the trash compactor onboard the Death Star in Star...
“I maintain that the trash compactor onboard the Death Star in Star Wars is implausible, unworkable, and, moreover, inefficient .” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
In This Police Youth Program, a Trail of Sexual Abuse Across the US
"Explorer posts, overseen by the Boy Scouts, are supposed to foster an interest in policing. They have faced nearly 200 allegations of misconduct."
Using the Building Blocks of Myers-Briggs, Jason Boyd Kinsella Puzzles Together an Expressive Cast
“For me, the studio is a place of discovery,” says Jason Boyd Kinsella ( previously ). “It maybe sounds silly, but it’s a little bit like a Christmas morning when you get a gift, and you’re excited to open it because you don’t know what’s inside… Something is going to be