It makes sense that Superman would take a tolerant view of immigrants and other minorities, given that he himself arrived on Earth as a refugee from the planet Krypton. The Man of Steel may strike you as an unlikely mouthpiece for progressive ideals, but 1950 found him on a
“Human rhythm is what gives the material its character," says the artist. 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 Mirei Monticelli’s Hand-Woven Banana Leaf
Cosmetics billionaire Ronald Lauder's private museum has a vast collection of Austrian and German art.
Along the way of life, I have discovered three things you can almost always do in your darkest hour that almost never fail to recover the light: Learn something. Help someone. Feel it all. We need our sciences to learn how the universe works, to know what we don’t yet know and
This week: artists’ antidote to AI slop, Kimberlé Crenshaw’s new memoir, New Orleans and climate change, an Art Deco train, and what do sex workers think about “Euphoria”?
One of the biggest assholes in the Trump regime is Russell Vought — and that’s really saying something; it’s a fierce competition. He’s the guy who said in 2023 that he wanted to put federal workers “in trauma”. ProPublica produced a video in Oct 2025 about how Vought is acting
The beloved artist was best known for monumental canvases and inventive, gestural “lampblack” works.
His installations of layered photos drawn from an expansive Black heritage entice viewers to keep looking, find connections, and ask questions.
"Are you married to a man who’s obsessed with AI? I’m so, so sorry."
Omg, Amazon Prime inserted an ad for Febreze in the midst of the most famous match cut in the history of cinema (in Kubrick’s 2001, when the ape-thrown bone turns into a spacecraft). I don’t know whether to laugh or cry (rn, it’s both).
A very good, very 2026 headline: Japan Runs Out of Robot Wolves in Fight Against Bears . “Starting at around $4,000, each bespoke Monster Wolf is now equipped with battery power, solar panels, and detection sensors.”
This is a smart piece about where we are in America right now, post-Citizen’s United, post-Voting Rights Amendment, post-Dobbs, mid-MAGA: The VRA Was the Nice Version ( archive ). First, let’s be honest about what the Voting Rights Act actually was, because everything here on
“I believe in myself. That’s why I commit.” A young skater doesn’t give up trying to land a three-stair kickflip.
Autonomy or control may be fantasies rather than concrete realities. In 'Feel Free,' we witness four artists grappling with this enduring paradox. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as
The New York museum hires a new chief curator, Getty grants $1.8M for Black visual art archives, and an artist’s cheeky plea on the High Line.
Zendaya co-created a new collection for On, the Swiss fashion company, and Spike Jonze directed this cool promotional video starring the actress. I’ve always loved his aesthetic — along with Michel Gondry, no one makes these types of videos seem “hand-crafted” (in a way that is
On view May 20 to 28, the show brings together over thirty undergraduate and graduate artists, reflecting a broad spectrum of conceptual inquiry and material experimentation.
In a sea of zany little sculptures and assemblages, shiny stuff™, abstracted horniness, and kitschy vibrancy, there were works I did enjoy.
The Guardian asked authors, critics, and academics to help compile a list of the best 100 novels of all time . They’ve done 41-100 so far. Selecting a book will show you who voted for it, then click on the voter’s name to see their other choices.
The 2026 National Recording Registry inductees were announced today . “The 2026 selections mark the first recordings by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé chosen for the registry.” Also: music from Weezer, The Go-Go’s, Chaka Khan, and Johnny Cash.
At the 61st Venice Biennale, Ahmed expands upon his interest in the dialectic between digital processes and hand-crafted techniques. 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
This Tiny Celestial Body Past Pluto Shouldn’t Have an Atmosphere—but Astronomers Say They May Have Detected One .
"In the days after last July’s historic disaster, I wrote about the tragedy that befell my family. But crawling out of the river was only the beginning."
"Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself... You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of
A Moment That Changed Me: I Saw My First Total Solar Eclipse — and Its Beauty Shook Me to My Core . “I knew the theory, but I was not ready for the experience.”
"Amy Wallace has spent two decades guarding the human her brother was—against a world that prefers David Foster Wallace as a puzzle."
‘We’re not sure what it means or how it started’ – the enigmatic ritual that has existed in Switzerland for centuries - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
Talk as much as you like about human rights, nothing will change until the architecture of global finance is reformed - by Attiya Waris Read on Aeon
On what a dying patch of turfgrass can teach us about water scarcity, ecological repair, and the lies we tell ourselves about success.
A dog gets fed and thinks his person is an omniscient, benevolent being. A cat gets fed and thinks it is. How we see ourselves in this analogy is actually up to each of us, every day. It also tells us a bit about how we think about customers, vendors, and partners.
The question of who are the fifteen most influential philosophers of all time may not arise at every conversation down at the pub — not outside the circle of Open Culture readers, in any case. But even among non-specialists, it could spark a livelier debate than you might