Required Reading
This week: Gladys Nilsson subverts ageist myths, letters from children in ICE detention, Heathcliff and whiteness, Toñita at the Super Bowl, Japanese incense clocks, and more.
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“ ‘CEO said a thing!’ journalism...
“ ‘CEO said a thing!’ journalism generally involves a press outlet parroting the claims of a CEO or billionaire utterly mindlessly without any sort of useful historical context as to whether anything being said is factually correct .”
The Importance of Making “Degenerate” Art
Here, the term is reclaimed not as an insult but as an ethical position: art that refuses neutrality, civility, or institutional comfort.
“Our Milky Way galaxy may not have a supermassive...
“Our Milky Way galaxy may not have a supermassive black hole at its centre but rather an enormous clump of mysterious dark matter exerting the same gravitational influence.”
The Art of Choosing Love Over Not-Love: Rumi’s Antidote to Our Human Tragedy
"You’ll long for me when I’m gone... You'll kiss the headstone of my grave... Kiss my face instead!"
Bruce Springsteen on Surviving Depression and His Strategy for Living Through the Visitations of the Darkness
"If you can acknowledge it and you can relax with it a little bit, very often it shortens its duration."
The Origins of One of the Most Beloved Video Games of...
The Origins of One of the Most Beloved Video Games of All Time . “Something I’ve heard from every Mario developer I’ve ever spoken to over the years is this: Whenever you press a button, something fun should happen.”
A View From the Easel
“Touching the soil fuels my imagination, and it shows in the canvases.”
Michelle Zauner (Crying in H Mart) on the 30th...
Michelle Zauner (Crying in H Mart) on the 30th anniversary of Infinite Jest . “If you allow yourself to trust-fall into the barbed intricacies of the writing, you will discover soft, exquisite humanity as its perennial landing.”
“It’s Fine If I Suck Sometimes”
Sara Hussain for Vogue India: In 2026, I’m No Longer Interested in ‘Working on Myself’ , aka the exhausting “hyper-policing [of] our thoughts and language until having a personality feels like a risk assessment exercise”. Everything began to feel like a diagnostic exercise. If
Ethereal Kites by Hai-Wen Lin Transform into Elegant Garments and Sculptures
"What does it mean to care for, drape, dress, and accommodate change and instability?" 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 Ethereal Kites by Hai-Wen
“Any serious push to account for the actions of...
“Any serious push to account for the actions of this government — to abolish the president’s private army, restructure immigration enforcement and punish anyone responsible for wrongdoing — must include recompense and repair for its victims .”
When Gmail was released as a public beta in 2004, it...
When Gmail was released as a public beta in 2004, it “ ran on three hundred old Pentium III computers nobody else at Google wanted ”.
Actor-style headshots from the 80s of artists like...
Actor-style headshots from the 80s of artists like Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, and Robert Longo.
Notes on Complexity: A Buddhist Scientist on the Murmuration of Being
"You are this body, and you are these molecules, and you are these atoms, and you are these quantum entities, and you are the quantum foam, and you are the energetic field of space-time, and, ultimately, you are the fundamental awareness out of which all these emerge."
Stephen and David’s toy cupboard
David’s handcrafted figurines pay tribute to cultural icons. His latest project takes on his greatest hero, his late brother - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
Lessons From a Children’s Art Teacher
Amy Sherald’s solo show breaks attendance records, remembering artists we lost this week, and an exhibition proves critical theory doesn’t have to be a snore.
The Olympics Are Ditching PFAS Waxes—and the ‘Ridiculous’ Speed They Gave Skiers
"After years of concern over so-called “fluoro” waxes, the Milan Cortina Games will be the first Olympics without them."
Subverting hell
In their visions of the underworld Dante and Milton were truly subversive, incorporating predecessors into their own repudiation - by Charlie Ericson Read on Aeon
Tip for tap
There is plenty of unintentional harm in our world. We’ve all been bruised or derailed by someone who had no ill intent. We often respond with intentional harm, to make a point and to teach a lesson. The alternative is clarity. Shared understanding instead of intentional pain.
How This Skyscraper Ruined Paris, and Why They’re Now Trying to Make It Invisible
The playwright Tristan Bernard is said to have eaten lunch at the Eiffel Tower every day, but not because he liked the menu in its café: rather, because it was the only place in Paris with no view of the Eiffel Tower. His view wasn’t wholly eccentric in the decades after its
Long Live the Rom-Com
Love, Actually, Never Died: A reading list on the evolution of the romantic comedy.
Watch All of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Performed on Original Baroque Instruments
Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons reigns as one of the world’s most recognizable early 18th-century pieces, thanks to its frequent appearances in films and television commercials. Upon its debut in 1725, The Four Seasons stunned listeners by telling a story without the help of
Why You
A self is a story of why you are you — a selective retelling of the myriad chance events between the birth of the universe and this moment: atoms bonding one way and not another, parents bonding with one partner and not another, values binding you to one culture and not
Darwin’s Greatest Regret and His Deathbed Reflection on What Makes Life Worth Living
"If I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week."
The Art of Solitude: Buddhist Scholar and Teacher Stephen Batchelor on Contemplative Practice and Creativity
"Here lies the paradox of solitude. Look long and hard enough at yourself in isolation and suddenly you will see the rest of humanity staring back."
Amy Sherald’s Show Sets Visitor Record at Baltimore Museum of Art
The museum became a venue for “American Sublime” after Sherald withdrew her exhibition from the Smithsonian, citing censorship concerns.
Teaching Children Taught Me How to Be an Artist
My young students reminded me that my entire body is an extension of my art and making.
Recently Discovered: an NYC Underground Railroad Stop
The Merchant’s House Museum was NYC’s first landmarked building, but until this year, the function of a small hidden passageway in the house was unknown. When historians and preservationists examined it in detail, they found that it was built by the first owner of the house,
Jerry McMillan, Whimsical Chronicler of LA’s Art Scene, Dies at 89
His experimental photo-sculptures and inventive portraits of artists like Judy Chicago and Ed Ruscha pushed the boundaries of photography.
Art Problems: Should I Sell My Work to People Whose Politics I Hate?
Paddy Johnson explains how to make it in the art market without selling your soul.
AI Is Getting Scary Good at Making Predictions ....
AI Is Getting Scary Good at Making Predictions . “From this point on, for as long as we exist, we might be asking AIs what comes next. We won’t always understand how they arrived at their predictions.”
Along the Mississippi River, ‘Water | Craft’ Is a Confluence of Art, Culture, and Ecology
Amid the ongoing climate crisis, how do artists express concerns about water and the environment? 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 Along the
Remembering Ted Berger, Christopher White, and Hudson Talbott
This week, we honor a devoted patron of the arts, the director of the Ashmolean, and a beloved children’s book illustrator.
Debra Wimpfheimer Named Executive Director of Queens Museum
The Queens native, who succeeds Sally Tallant, has held senior roles at the institution for over two decades.
Zoning Out Is Good For You
Sleeping cleans your brain . Research suggests that zoning out, daydreaming, and being bored can perform a similar function without the need for deep sleep. So put down that phone occasionally and let your brain chill for a bit. Tags: neuroscience · science · sleep · video
In case you didn’t realize, ICE is still...
In case you didn’t realize, ICE is still terrorizing communities, kidnapping people off the streets, and destroying property in Minnesota . “The target of the kidnapping was taken away by ambulance.”