“In the 19th century, when photography was developing into a mass medium, a few intrepid early adopters pointed their glass plate cameras at one of the most intimidating natural forces on Earth.”
Tag: 04.06.16
The Joy Of Crooked Buildings (Eat Your Heart Out, Leaning Tower Of Pisa!)
“The buildings that often get the most praise (one famed tower in Pisa not withstanding) are those that stand up straight, refuse to bend or bow over time. But those buildings are boring. The really compelling constructions are those buildings that, despite looking like they are slowly keeling over, continue to stand, and continue to be used.”
Stolen Edvard Munch Recovered After Seven Years
The lithograph, titled Historien, “shows an elderly bearded man speaking to a young boy and was valued at the time of its theft at 240,000 euros ($244,000).”
Doin’ It All Night Long: London To Launch A Version Of Paris’s Nuits Blanches
“For one long rapturous night, artists will wrest Westminster from the clutches of politicians, creating art from dusk till dawn in public spaces and very private ones … Plenty is programmed, even for the sad suburbanites who have to catch the last tube home, including installation art, theatre, film and dance, and a giant exercise class.”
Nigeria’s Booming Literary Genre: Romance Novels
“The books shift between morality tales and classic pulp romance. Often written by hand in small composition books, the books are sold in crowded marketplaces, where you can buy thousands of different titles for a dollar or two.” (text and audio)
Inge Hardison, 102, Sculptor Of African-Americans Heroic And Ordinary
“A former actress, artist and photographer, Inge Hardison sculpted a cast-iron collection in the 1960s that she called Negro Giants in History, which included George Washington Carver, W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson and Harriet Tubman. She titled another series, featuring relatively obscure black inventors, ‘Ingenious Americans’.”
The GIFs Take Famous Paintings To Their Illogical Conclusions
“Goya’s Saturn devours his son on a park bench, flinging chunks of arm to a flock of pigeons; the lady in pink of Edward Hopper’s Morning Sun snaps out of her reverie when a bird crashes into her bedroom window; the raining men of René Magritte’s Golconda jump out of a plane and splatter bloodily on the ground, alarming local newscasters.”
Even Vanity Fair Says Justin Peck Is Making Ballet Cool
“Last year, for example, he commissioned Shepard Fairey – of Obama-Hope poster fame – to design the set for his Miami City ballet, Heatscape, and collaborated with Opening Ceremony for their New York Fashion Week show.”
Philadelphia Museum Of Art Launches Pop-Up Art Shows
“Pop-up art exhibitions will begin to appear throughout the region Wednesday, when high-quality reproductions of artworks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be installed in public places from Coatesville to Doylestown.”
This Year’s Pritzker Prize Winner Makes His Low-Cost Housing Plans Available For Free
“Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena … is releasing a number of his residential designs as an open-source resource to help tackle the global affordable housing crisis. … The aim is to provide the material to government agencies and developers who might think it’s ‘too expensive’ to invest in well-designed social housing.”