Peter Hujar’s Darkroom Floor
Also, Coco Fusco asks: Where is Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara?
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Vinyl in the Veins
Behind the nostalgia lies an uncomfortable truth: Every record is made of oil.
The looting of science fiction
Tech titans claim the genre inspired them. But all they’ve done is graft their politics onto stories of a better future - by Ali Rıza Taşkale Read on Aeon
“Is it okay if I share my screen?”
The meeting is now broken. Even if you were actually engaging with the attendees before, it’s over. You took a new medium and stuffed an old one into it, changed the dynamic and ruined it. Zoom is a device that eliminates physical distance and enables a synchronized
How Anti-Chinese Immigration Laws Unexpectedly Led to a Chinese Restaurant Boom in America
This past spring, the oldest continuously operated family-owned Chinese restaurant in the United States served its last plate of chop suey. Pekin Noodle Parlor had been an institution in Butte, Montana’s Chinatown since 1911, long outlasting the town’s gold-rush boom, but
How Russian Artists Imagined in 1914 What Moscow Would Look Like in 2259
In the days of popular retrofuturism—say, the first half of the twentieth century—people tended to imagine the world of tomorrow looking very much like the world of today, only with a lot more flying cars, monorails, and videophones. This is true whether those doing the
How to Help Someone Change: The Samurai Guide to Giving Feedback
Few things in life are more exasperating than seeing the potential in someone you love and seeing them continually fall short of it, stumbling again and again over the same self-erected roadblocks of character and conduct, comporting themselves in a manner painfully inferior to
“A star located about 1,300 light-years from Earth...
“A star located about 1,300 light-years from Earth shows signs of having devoured one of its planets — and is now gearing up for a second helping…” Scientists found signs of the meal by looking for “cosmic cookie crumbs” .
How the Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem Nurtured Generations
Nearly six decades since its founding, the legacy of the beloved program is explored in an exhibition at Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery.
"Pam the Bird" Graffiti Stirs Controversy in Melbourne
Days after police arrested the graffiti artist who tagged a prominent bridge tower with a giant bird, some are calling on the city to preserve the work.
TIL about Fredkin’s paradox . “With this kind of...
TIL about Fredkin’s paradox . “With this kind of decision, what Fredkin’s paradox tells us is if it’s very difficult to decide, it’s probably because the alternatives are equivalent, and therefore it doesn’t matter which one you choose.”
Where Is Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara?
The Cuban artist's whereabouts remain unknown, as do his fate and that of more than 800 political prisoners on the island.
How to Grow Old: Bertrand Russell on What Makes a Fulfilling Life
"Make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life."
Suspects Shed Light on "Mastermind" Behind Louvre Heist
One of the two men told investigators that the person who allegedly hired them for the job “thought we could have taken more.”
Should We See Peter Hujar’s Contact Sheets?
Though not made for public consumption, the darkroom work prints reveal his portraits as excerpts of a conversation, rather than memories snatched from the ether.
The Universe of Short Film is an amazing site for...
The Universe of Short Film is an amazing site for watching, sharing, and connecting around short films. This is really cool…not sure why the site isn’t better known.
The Album Art Music Left Behind
Two projects examine the visual art and design that shape our perception of music, from Raymond Pettibon’s Foo Fighters record covers to the ephemera of bygone bands.
Earth’s Holes
From XKCD, a tour of some of the Earth’s deepest and most notable holes , including mines, caves, boreholes, subway stations, lakes, tunnels, neutrino detectors, and, of course, the Mariana Trench. I was surprised to learn that a pair of boreholes, the Kola Superdeep Borehole
Korea’s Coastal Folklore Surfaces in Jeongmin Lee’s Ink Illustrations
"I rarely paint a folktale exactly as it's written," Lee says. "I'm more interested in its symbols, emotions, and the questions it leaves behind." Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as
Skill Nostalgia
"Is all the beekeeping, baking and leatherwork just escapist fantasy or the start of a radically human approach to work?"
Ocean Vuong has a photograpy show opening at The...
Ocean Vuong has a photograpy show opening at The Wadsworth Museum in Hartford, CT in August. Vuong used “portraiture, landscape, and snapshots to document queer and immigrant life in the Connecticut River Valley over two decades”.
How to Spot and How to Stop a Liar: Hannah Arendt on Deception, Self-Deception, and the Psychology of Defactualization
"No matter how large the tissue of falsehood that an experienced liar has to offer, it will never be large enough ... to cover the immensity of factuality."
When A.I. Is a Member of the Family . How a family of...
When A.I. Is a Member of the Family . How a family of three in a Cleveland suburb uses AI chatbots. This is wild .
Helena Minginowicz Transforms Humble Paper Towel into Ethereal Paintings
"Civilizations are remembered through their monuments, but understood through the things they throw away," the artist says. 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
A People’s History of Mount Rushmore
Eight art books reframe America 250 and stock photography in the age of AI.
On Loving Birds
"A couple of years after I began volunteering, I realized I was hell-bent on healing birds because they, too, had healed me—in more ways than one."
The Best Shots From the 2026 Aerial Photographer of the Year Contest
The best aerial photography reminds us that we don’t have to go all the way to space to experience a small helping of the overview effect . The 2026 Aerial Photographer of the Year contest celebrates the best photos taken from the air; here are a few of my favorites:
A list of the new foods on offer at the Minnesota State...
A list of the new foods on offer at the Minnesota State Fair this year . They’re all some variation of “jerked pork rolled in butter & sugar, deep fried in dill pickle batter, and served with a side of cheese curd mayo”; I’d happily try any of them.
Once Unimaginable, Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out...
Once Unimaginable, Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out of Google Search . “We’ve been clear about what we want. We want a technical solution that allows you to be discoverable without having to give your content away for free.”
Uncanny Landscapes in Pen and Ink Span Wooden Panels by John Buck
The Bozeman-based artist is known for his eccentric wooden works that draw on folklore, personal memory, and daily observations. 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
Indie Film From the Global Majority: BlackStar Celebrates 15 Years of Cinema for Liberation
The world’s most significant and groundbreaking filmmakers of color will gather to showcase their work in Philadelphia August 6-9.
Exploring NYC With Next Generation Skaters
This might be my new favorite skate video ? It follows a pair of young skaters around the city as they chat about their friendship, share tips about living life, and try skating everything that is even remotely skateable. Best friends, Ari and Luca are two of the most
The Forgotten Bombing of LaGuardia Airport
“It’s been called ‘one of the greatest cold cases of the 20th century.’ It remains unsolved. But what happened next is almost a worse crime.”
Can we agree to pause the AI race? “If we can’t,...
Can we agree to pause the AI race? “If we can’t, then we are not as sovereign as we imagine; if we can’t, a machine god has already taken over this planet, and it’s called the market.”