Feast Your Eyes on Japan’s Fake Food
"However persuasive they might be as facsimiles, shokuhin sampuru are subjective interpretations, seeking not only to replicate dishes but to intensify the feelings associated with the real thing."
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Whitney Biennial Artists Revealed
Also: The rise of anti-monarchical art, a First Amendment rally in New York City, a Brutalist icon in Dallas, and more.
Lost Vegas
"Everyone inside America’s most flailing destination city has a theory for what’s wrong. Now I have my own."
Filtering ourselves
We don’t use the same language or ideas with an in-law that we do with our bar buddies. When the internet was young, people often chose to filter themselves online. We didn’t know who was on the other end of the pipe, and we knew it would be there forever. And typing feels more
How Movies Created Their Special Effects Before CGI: Metropolis, 2001: A Space Odyssey & More
The youngest moviegoers today do not, of course, remember a time before visual effects could be created digitally. What may give us more pause is that, at this point in cinema history, most of their parents don’t remember it either. Consider the fact that Steven Spielberg’s
Best of 2025: The Most Popular Editors’ Picks of the Year
These audience hits were the most-viewed picks on our site in 2025.
How Many Humans Have Ever Lived, and How Many Are Alive Right Now?
?si=RT8MgKeGcVzX6p9X How many people have ever walked the earth? Good question, even if you’ve never quite pondered it before. According to the Population Reference Bureau, a non-profit research organization, if you travel back to 8000 B.C.E., the world population stood at
Artists Issue Urgent Call to Defend First Amendment Rights
In New York City's Federal Hall, where the Bill of Rights was introduced, cultural leaders decried attacks on free expression, from book bans to censorship.
The Sinister Plan to Demolish a Brutalist Icon in Dallas
Behind the spectacle of City Hall’s potential demolition is the transfer of funding away from the public and into a few extraordinarily wealthy hands.
Mamdani Pulls a Marina Abramović at a Queens Museum
New York’s mayor-elect staged a 12-hour appearance at the Museum of the Moving Image, meeting with around 140 visitors for brief one-on-one meetings.
These Are the Artists in the 2026 Whitney Biennial
Three Palestinian visual artists, plus one born in Baghdad, are listed among the 56 participants.
A Vibrant Group Exhibition, ‘Thread Count’ Celebrates the Legacy of Anni Albers
What makes a tapestry a tapestry, and a rug a rug? 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 Vibrant Group Exhibition, ‘Thread Count’ Celebrates the Legacy
America Is an Unserious Country Filled With Unserious People. “We’ll tolerate this...
America Is an Unserious Country Filled With Unserious People . “We’ll tolerate this just like we tolerate everything else. Because this is who we are, collectively, as a country.”
‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens....
‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.
New York Academy of Art: Bringing Traditional Skills to Contemporary Discourse
Tracing its roots to Andy Warhol, the Academy merges rigorous figurative training with critical discourse in the heart of New York City.
Guggenheim Museum Launches New $50,000 Art Prize
Artist Catherine Telford Keogh is the inaugural winner of the Jack Galef Visual Arts Award.
In the Shadow of an Immigrant Detention Center, a Small House Offers Refuge
" Amid rising ICE arrests, volunteers provide aid—a meal, a bed, gas money—to anyone visiting someone detained in remote rural Georgia."
The Grab List: How Museums Decide What to Save in a Disaster
"Billions of dollars’ worth of art is imperilled by climate change. Curators will have to make sacrifices."
A Visual History of No Kings
From the destruction of King George III's statue to today's No Kings movement, resistance to tyranny has always demanded aesthetic subversion.
Affluent Genre Scenes Erupt in Chaos in Sabrina Bockler’s Uncanny Paintings
Scenes we often associate with aristocracy and refinement hint at strangeness or erupt in all-out chaos. 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 Affluent
Alan Sepinwall wrote a lovely remembrance of Rob Reiner and his career....
Alan Sepinwall wrote a lovely remembrance of Rob Reiner and his career . “A legend. No doubt about it.” Reiner and his wife Michele Singer were found dead at their home in LA yesterday. Which Reiner movie are we watching tonight? 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →