Our world is shaped by contagious and competitive games. Along the way, we invent scoreboards that change the culture, and badges that we award to various players. An example: How did we end up with weddings that cost $200,000? It’s a great example of a runway cultural dynamic,
Many a foreigner has visited England and found it an unexpectedly surreal place. Some of that effect has to do with encountering familiar icons — Big Ben, double-decker Routemaster buses, Marmite — in cold, damp reality. More of it may be induced by the country’s simultaneously
In 1924, Zenon Komissarenko, Youry Merkulov and Nikolai Khodataev produced Interplanetary Revolution, which might just be one of the strangest Soviet propaganda films ever produced. First, the film is animated using not only traditional cel animation but also collage and stop
"To be a human being among people and to remain one forever, no matter in what circumstances, not to grow despondent and not to lose heart — that’s what life is all about, that's its task."
Ever been shamed for having a nine-to-five job as an artist? Paddy Johnson can relate.
Collector Ceil Pulitzer provided detailed provenance of the works, but the museum preferred another route.
The protesters handed out zines that detailed the billionaire trustee’s links to Jeffrey Epstein and several sexual assault allegations brought against him.
Just a short note to say that because of some internet scammer shithousery, I had to bulk-unsubscribe a bunch of email addresses from the KDO Newsletter subscriber rolls. If you subscribed to the newsletter back in Dec 2025 and don’t get the next issue (which I’m sending out a
With some of the oldest surviving tarot decks on view, the Morgan’s exhibition traces how a Renaissance card game became something far more powerful.
A thoughtful review of Nolan’s The Odyssey , comparing it to the original Planet of the Apes movies. “I was very influenced by seeing The Planet of the Apes when I was a kid. We had the Statue of Liberty half destroyed. That idea of a fallen monument.”
This year's cycle received more than 340 video entries from 40 different countries. 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 Microscopic Universes Come
I always learn so much from Evan Puschak’s videos about art. In this one , he takes a look at the work of Mary Cassatt, who, unlike many of her male peers, used the flattened perspective of Impressionism to reveal the thoughts and feelings of her subjects. Like Manet, she’s
Her 25-day dance at MoMA is meta, but it’s not about dance itself so much as a lifetime of collaborating with dancers.
Who’s it for? This problem you’re solving–is it your problem or are you focused on someone else? I had a conversation with Rodrigo about his restaurant in Mexico: You can have your own conversation with a colleague: find the free tool at: theknot.chat
3D models for every single object in Katamari Damacy , all 1680 of them. You can download models and animated gifs of each one.
"Many of [life's] big decisions involve choices to have experiences that teach us things we cannot know about from any other source but the experience itself."
Ross Anderson on NASA’s recently launched Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope , which may “be able to deliver the first direct images of distant planets in visible light” as well as measure the effects of dark energy.
Brown's work is currently on view in 'The Peace of Wild Things' at Joy Machine. 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 Emmy Star Brown’s Vivid Murals
Canyon Groove . What if the grooves on a record were shaped like actual canyons? What would that sound like? “The floor sets the key. The shape of the walls sets the mood. The width sets how long one pass takes, and the depth sets the echo.”
"Sacha Jafri sold an artwork for $62 million dollars in 2021 at an auction. But the money never changed hands. What happened?"
Dread Scott’s body politic, Azzedine Alaïa’s sculptural garments, Dewey Crumpler and Irving Norman surveys, and much more.
So that companies can use them to make accessories like cases and bands, Apple maintains a collection of downloadable dimensional drawings and tech specifications for many of their products, including the iPhone, AirPods, Watch, and iPad. They are beautiful. I love their
"Writers aren’t born, they’re made—from practice, reading, and a lot of caffeine. And sometimes tutelage."
Camille Henrot’s pack of dogs take Central Park, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz leads a procession through Philadelphia, and Sara Genn paints the sky in Santa Fe.
This year, the competition welcomed more than 24,000 entries from photographers around the globe. 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 Diverse and
The exhibition illuminates the role that women played as artists, designers, and tastemakers shaping modernist aesthetics in early 20th-century Vienna.
What’s your “origin” video game? “I’m talking about the game that flipped that little switch in your brain and made into a life-long gamer.” Mine is Lode Runner . Reflexes + puzzles + constraints + make-your-own levels = hooked for life. You?
The Stamps MDes program builds curious designers interested in interdisciplinary problem-solving, community engagement, and critical making.
There are times in life when the continent of certainty parts underfoot and, as the ash cloud of the old world rains darkness upon us, we are asked to swim in the rivers of lava that will make the new. “Almost it would appear that it is useless in such confusion to ask,” wrote
TIL Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris (aka The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) was written in part to help save the cathedral from demolition .
"Godwits make the longest non-stop migration in the bird world. That might be the least of their marvels. Can they survive a changing planet?"
“ The best next steps are the concrete ones : Big AI needs to follow all current laws—just like everyone else. So far—they haven’t. When Big AI breaks those laws, they must face prosecution and penalties—just like everyone else. So far—they haven’t.”
"In New Orleans, water is coming. What should we do with the time we have left?"
What we didn’t like at the Biennale, artists pulled out of documenta 16 over Gaza, visitors arrested for hanging paintings by Mona Lisa, and more.
When I found the mushroom Amanita muscaria being sold in candy wrappers, I uncovered legal loopholes, dangerous dosages and more - by Eric Leas Read on Aeon
Nine months, 25,000 miles, one phone cord, and the kindness of strangers.