Met Gala’s New Theme Is So Basic
Brancusi at MoMA, trouble at Pace, a rediscovered Georgia O'Keeffe painting, and The Met presents the biggest rescission indicator yet.
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Reviewing the game tapes
A long time ago, football coaches realized that watching previous games was a good way to help players learn to do better. Alas, the only thing we do with “this call may be recorded…” is use it as a cudgel for unempowered shift workers. If we actually want to improve our
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories by Francisco Cantú, Tom Bartlett, Jessica Lucas, Nigel Warburton, and Sadie Dingfelder.
Was Homer’s Ithaca Really an Island?: New Research Challenges a 2,000-Year-Old Assumption
Even if we didn’t make it to a screening of Christopher Nolan’s big-screen adaptation this past summer — and indeed, even if we’ve never read Homer’s original epic at all — we know that the Odyssey tells the story of a ten-year-long journey back to Ithaca. The narrative’s
Anthropic has new rules for its Opus 5.5 model to “steer...
Anthropic has new rules for its Opus 5.5 model to “steer it away from recreating someone else’s specific [video] game” . (From a few days ago but I just saw it…)
And in other news, the NY Times is trying to buy...
And in other news, the NY Times is trying to buy Letterboxd for a reported price of $330 million.
Salon, one of the last OG general interest web...
Salon, one of the last OG general interest web publications, is shutting down . “When Salon launched in November 1995, the web was a very different place.” And: “We have reached the difficult decision that our publishing model is no longer sustainable.”
Rosa Parks on To Tell the Truth
In 1980, civil rights hero Rosa Parks appeared on To Tell the Truth, a long-running game show. Parks appeared alongside two other women claiming to be Parks and a celebrity panel tried to guess the identity of the true Parks. See also the appearance of a Lincoln assassination
It’s Time to Talk About Classism in the Art World
In his memoiristic new book, photographer Mark Alice Durant weaves his personal experiences into a larger rebuke of the economic inequality that governs the art world.
Video captured by Amy Yolland of three humpback whales...
Video captured by Amy Yolland of three humpback whales breaching one after another . Incredible. Also available on YouTube .
Met Gala's New Theme Is the Biggest Recession Indicator Yet
Brace yourself for A-listers strutting down the red carpet in everyday garb like jeans, T-shirts, and "humble, even 'disposable' materials."
MFA Boston to Allow Visitors to Watch Live Conservation of Dutch Painting
Nicolaes Eliasz Pickenoy’s 17th-century group portrait of an Amsterdam wine guild will be the star of a pop-up restoration studio that museumgoers can peer into.
Subvocal’s glasses turn your silent speech into text at...
Subvocal’s glasses turn your silent speech into text at 200 wpm — it measures mouth movements with radar? Like many things these days, this is very technically interesting but also creepy and dystopian.
An Animated Film Made in Excel Sums Up the Pointless Impulse to Create
Just because something doesn't have a purpose doesn't mean it isn't worth doing. 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 An Animated Film Made in Excel
Foursquare was recently acquired and co-founder Dennis...
Foursquare was recently acquired and co-founder Dennis Crowley wrote about it . “Dozens of current and former Foursquare employees have reached out to me to express their frustration with the leadership that led the company to this outcome.”
Grocery Shopping With a Bow & Arrow
For a 1992 conceptual art piece called The Hunt , Christian Jankowski survived for a week on goods he shot at the local supermarket with a bow and arrow. To rebel against modern society, to return to nature: in pursuit of these primeval instincts, for one week, Jankowski lived
The Glimchers Can’t Keep Up the Pace
The mega gallery is struggling, Ebony L. Haynes joins Marian Goodman Gallery, longtime Manifesta director steps down, and more in Art Movements.
Paul Ford: “The web browser is very, very, very powerful...
Paul Ford : “The web browser is very, very, very powerful software for building applications, and the cost of accessing that power is going down seemingly every day.”
Women who die postpartum often do so because they lose...
Women who die postpartum often do so because they lose too much blood. An 80-cent plastic bag is helping solve the problem . “The drape is not an A.I. thing — it’s the absolute opposite: It’s a simple, simple, intervention that can solve our problems.”
Inconvenient brands
For an upcoming blog post, I’m collecting a list of small businesses that are worth bypassing Amazon for. Holiday shopping is around the corner, and sometimes people want to put in the effort to buy something that takes more than a click. Folks like Burlap and Barrel, Gramercy
At MoMA, Brancusi Is Lost in Space
The artist’s work is glorious and resonant, but the Museum of Modern Art has a space problem, or an elegance problem, or a crowd mitigation problem.
A growing list of brands to avoid because they are...
A growing list of brands to avoid because they are “actively engaged in the enshittification playbook” (many post-acquisition by private equity), including Dr. Martens, Pyrex, Hoka, rag & bone, Ray-Ban, Black+Decker, Hunter Boot, Craftsmen, and more.
Shape Your Artistic Future at UC Davis: The Maria Manetti Shrem Art Studio MFA Program
Generously funded, renowned faculty and visiting artists, spacious studios, and an exhibition at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.
Stunning Image of Our Satellite-Choked Night Skies
To create this composite image , photographer Brendan Larsen captured almost 600 photographs over a two-hour period and then manually stitched them together. This is the most time-consuming photo edit I’ve EVER done! I left my camera photographing the night sky over Mt
I Thought I’d Left Authoritarianism Behind. “To anyone...
I Thought I’d Left Authoritarianism Behind . “To anyone who has lived under dictatorship, the pattern is instantly recognizable. Dictators start by instilling fear. They exploit uncertainty to manufacture loyalty.”
Umberto Eco’s Antilibrary: Why Unread Books Are More Valuable to Our Lives than Read Ones
How to become an "antischolar" in a culture that treats knowledge as "an ornament that allows us to rise in the pecking order."
Why Immigration Agents Don’t Quit in Protest
"How a culture of dehumanization and denial keeps ICE and Border Patrol personnel 'at war with an enemy that does not fight back.'”
Long-Lost Georgia O’Keeffe Landscape Goes to Auction
Her painting “Near Abiquiu, New Mexico I” was stashed in an East Village closet for decades. Now it might sell for up to $3 million.
