National Gallery of Art Acquires Stirring Artemisia Masterpiece
“Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy” (c. 1625) is the first work by the Italian Baroque artist to enter the institution’s collection.
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Required Reading
This week: the art of writing love letters, Black-owned bookstores across history, poets on the Parthenon Marbles, opening a 1926 time capsule, and more.
A View From the Easel
“We love that we’re able to make art as queer artists inside a church.”
The Mountain That Weighed the Earth . How scientists in...
The Mountain That Weighed the Earth . How scientists in 1774 used a Scottish mountain to estimate the mass of the Earth to within 20% of the modern number by measuring the mountain’s gravitational effect on a precision plumb line. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Keep the Meter Running With Mouhamadou Aliy & Zohran Mamdani
In addition to his great series Subway Takes , Kareem Rahma does another series called Keep the Meter Running where he hops into NYC cabs, interviews the drivers, and asks them to take him to their favorite places. In the run-up to the NYC mayoral election last year, Rahma
Some cool animations made from Japanese receipts by...
Some cool animations made from Japanese receipts by Michele Merlo . 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
A Haunting in Brooklyn
"At 25, I saw my grandfather’s ghost. At 52, I think of what it may mean to be a ghost."
Tara Donovan’s ‘Stratagems’ Tower Within a San Francisco Architectural Icon
ICA SF situates Donovan's towering sculptures amid a skyscraper's modernist glass gallery. 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 Tara Donovan’s
Times New Resistance
This is awesome and clever. Minneapolis designer Abby Haddican has made a typeface called Times New Resistance . The letters are identical to Times New Roman (and it even appears as such in font menus, except there’s “an extra space between the words Times and New”) but when
Art Critic Sebastian Smee Laid Off From the Washington Post
The entire team of in-house photojournalists was also cut, as were multiple critics and editors across the Bezos-owned paper’s culture section.
10 Movies to Stream for Black History Month , from The...
10 Movies to Stream for Black History Month , from The Flying Ace (1926) to Killer of Sheep (1978) to Moonlight (2016). 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
8 Art Books to Read This February
The trailblazing sculptural practice of Edmonia Lewis, the birth of modernism in Montmartre, the luminous paintings of Kaylene Whiskey, and Gainsborough’s alluring fashion portraits are among our favorite reads this month.
Hour-long YouTube training session on how to observe &...
Hour-long YouTube training session on how to observe & record ICE/CBP . “This call will give you the tools to exercise your rights in a moment when federal agents are terrorizing our communities and using excessive force.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Frankenthaler Climate Initiative Opens Applications for Sixth Grant Cycle
The program has awarded more than $17.5 million to US visual arts organizations pursuing energy efficiency assessments and projects.
The Strangers’ Case
I don’t normally say this, but if you watch one thing on kottke.org today, this week, this month, make it this speech written by Shakespeare and performed by Sir Ian McKellen on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The segment starts at ~20:00; McKellen sets it up: It’s all
The Murder of ‘The Washington Post’
"Today’s layoffs are the latest attempt to kill what makes the paper special."
A Major Survey in Paris Chronicles Leonora Carrington’s Esoteric Surrealism
An exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg surveys the artist's eight-decade career. 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 A Major Survey in Paris
Africa’s cultural landmarks: Tsodilo Hills, Botswana
Rising far above the desert, the walls of these magnificent hills carry the ancient story of humanity’s creative spark - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
When Will MoMA Dump Leon Black?
New horrific allegations against the museum trustee, artists push against ICE, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art says goodbye to "PhAM."
Between being and emptiness
In Japanese philosophy, unlike the atomised Western self, we are ‘ningen’ (人間), each enmeshed with other humans and nature - by Takeshi Morisato Read on Aeon
Making it whole
Integrity is the act of being in and of itself, from every angle. As we see the bait-and-switch of the online networks and monopolists, it’s easy to imagine that nothing with integrity stays that way very long. The systems we support almost always end up trading a
The Rohonc Codex: Hungary’s Mysterious Manuscript That No One Can Read
Image by Klaus Schmeh, via Wikimedia Commons Magyar, which is spoken and written in Hungary, ranks among the hardest European languages to learn. (The U.S. Foreign Service Institute puts it in the second-to-highest level, accompanied by the dreaded asterisk labeling it as
Cats in Medieval Manuscripts & Paintings
Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) never saw a rhino himself, but by relying on eyewitness descriptions of the one King Manuel I of Portugal intended as a gift to the Pope, he managed to render a fairly realistic one, all things considered. Medieval artists’
How Pioneering Physicist Lise Meitner Discovered Nuclear Fission, Paved the Way for Women in Science, and Was Denied the Nobel Prize
"Science makes people reach selflessly for truth and objectivity; it teaches people to accept reality, with wonder and admiration, not to mention the deep joy and awe that the natural order of things brings to the true scientist."
Rockhopper Penguins’ Athleticism Makes Them the Daredevils of the Animal World. Will a Warming Climate Slow Them Down?
"A visit to the Falkland Islands, where the fearless seabirds navigate the rugged topography with tenacious spunk, shows the new challenges they face."
The CIA has deleted the CIA World Factbook (a popular...
The CIA has deleted the CIA World Factbook (a popular almanac about the countries of the world) from the web. Fuck this. All these assholes do is pillage & destroy. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Measles Is Causing Brain Swelling in Children in South...
Measles Is Causing Brain Swelling in Children in South Carolina . 876 measles cases in the state so far, and some children have developed encephalitis. “Among children who get measles encephalitis, 10 to 15 percent die.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Philadelphia Museum of Art Says Goodbye to “PhAM”
“There was no good reason to rename it,” Director Daniel Weiss told Hyperallergic about the museum’s decision to backpedal on a controversial new name.
Sleep and the Meaning of Life: Fernando Pessoa on the Existential Dimension of the Horizontal Hours
One of the most important things I have learned about living is that, in any life of purpose and creative vitality, you must be as religious and disciplined about your sleep as about your work. And yet one of the great self-betrayals of our culture is the way it wears the lack
Epstein Files Detail Gruesome Allegations Against Leon Black
Emails and apparent diary entries accuse the billionaire and MoMA trustee of biting and abusing alleged victims.
In Minneapolis, Artists Mobilize to Crush ICE
From screen-printed posters to apparel, beaded earrings, and even spell-casting, the message is clear: Artists want ICE out of Minnesota.
Michelangelo’s First Painting, Made at Age 12
The Torment of Saint Anthony is the earliest surviving work attributed to Michelangelo, painted by him in 1487 or 1488 when he was 12 or 13 years old. This is an intense painting, the kind of thing that would have resulted in Michelangelo’s parents visiting the principal’s
The Tour Down Under’s winner won despite being...
The Tour Down Under’s winner won despite being blasted off his bike by kangaroos. “ Two of them blasted through the peloton when we were doing probably 50 kph and…went left, right, left right, left right and I ended up hitting its backside .” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →