He Was One of the World’s Most Wanted Men. So He Bought a West African Country.
"How Jos Leijdekkers turned Sierra Leone into a drug-dealer’s paradise."
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How the West was fun
Be it movie mythos or nostalgia for a ‘simpler’ time, there’s an undeniable allure in stepping into the American West - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
How Tarot Survived for 500 Years
Plus: Protesters call on MoMA to ditch Leon Black, and our exhibition fall guide for the Bay Area.
Badge vs Scoreboard
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,
When Salvador Dalí Gave a Surrealist Lecture in a Diving Suit … and Almost Suffocated (1936)
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
Watch Interplanetary Revolution (1924): The Most Bizarre Soviet Animated Propaganda Film You’ll Ever See
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
Dostoyevsky, Just After His Death Sentence Was Repealed, on the Meaning of Life
"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."
Art Problems: If I Have a Day Job, Am I a Real Artist?
Ever been shamed for having a nine-to-five job as an artist? Paddy Johnson can relate.
Met Museum Brokers Return of Three Artworks to Nigeria
Collector Ceil Pulitzer provided detailed provenance of the works, but the museum preferred another route.
Duo Calls to Oust Leon Black in Protest Outside MoMA
The protesters handed out zines that detailed the billionaire trustee’s links to Jeffrey Epstein and several sexual assault allegations brought against him.
Some Newsletter Tidying
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
Tarot for a Broken World
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...
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.”
Microscopic Universes Come Alive in Nikon’s Small World in Motion Contest
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
Mary Cassatt: The Impressionist Who Painted The Mind
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
Sarah Michelson’s Delicate Fetish Play
Her 25-day dance at MoMA is meta, but it’s not about dance itself so much as a lifetime of collaborating with dancers.
KnotChat: Rodrigo Delavina Simon
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...
3D models for every single object in Katamari Damacy , all 1680 of them. You can download models and animated gifs of each one.
The Vampire Problem: The Paradoxical Psychology of Why It Is So Hard to Change
"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...
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.
Emmy Star Brown’s Vivid Murals Channel Youthfulness and Play
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...
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.”
Impossibility is a Myth
"Sacha Jafri sold an artwork for $62 million dollars in 2021 at an auction. But the money never changed hands. What happened?"
10 Art Shows to See in the Bay Area This Fall
Dread Scott’s body politic, Azzedine Alaïa’s sculptural garments, Dewey Crumpler and Irving Norman surveys, and much more.
Dimensional Drawings of Apple Products
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
Annie Dillard and the Writing Life
"Writers aren’t born, they’re made—from practice, reading, and a lot of caffeine. And sometimes tutelage."
10 Public Artworks to See Across the US This Fall
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.
Diverse and Dramatic Behaviors Top the 2026 Bird Photographer of the Year Contest
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
"Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte" at the Jewish Museum
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...
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?
Lead, Create, & Innovate: University of Michigan’s Master of Design Program
The Stamps MDes program builds curious designers interested in interdisciplinary problem-solving, community engagement, and critical making.
How to Hold the Darkness: Notes on Living Through Uncertainty
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...
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 .
The Incredible Journey of a Migratory Shorebird
"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...
“ 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.”