Essay Roland Betancourt on White: The History of a Color February 02, 2023 Moving away from those who might wish to find a universal symbolism or archetypal truth in a color, Michel Pastoureau鈥檚 The History of a Color series has sought to understand color as first and foremost a social phenomenon, one with historically grounded realities and effects. Read More
Essay Batman鈥檚 holy grotto: The psychic resurrection of Bruce Conner February 02, 2023 Bohemian San Francisco gained a new gathering place in 1960 when the deep-pocketed aspiring painter Billie Jahrmarkt and his wife Joan decided to found a gallery for the benefit of their artistic and literary friends. Two such, artist Bruce Conner and poet/playwright Michael McClure, took the project in hand. Read More
Interview The need for material literacy October 03, 2022 In a time of screen saturation, digitized images of objects and manuscripts, and an emphasis on 鈥渒nowledge workers鈥� rather than craftspeople, we run the risk of becoming materially illiterate. Read More
Interview Aline, Eero, my boyfriend, and me September 20, 2022 A few years ago, after I had just met my boyfriend, we found ourselves driving in circles around a Colorado carpark. He claims the carpark was confusingly oriented, that its architecture seemed to indicate that we would go either up or down if we kept going. Read More
Interview B茅n茅dicte Savoy on Africa鈥檚 Struggle for its Art May 09, 2022 For decades, African nations have fought for the return of countless works of art stolen during the colonial era and placed in Western museums. In聽Africa鈥檚 Struggle for Its Art, B茅n茅dicte Savoy brings to light this largely unknown but deeply important history. Read More
Video In Dialogue with Lucas Bessire and Emmet Gowin April 29, 2022 In聽The One Hundred Circle Farm, renowned photographer Emmet Gowin (b. 1941) presents stunning aerial images of center-pivot irrigation systems in the western and midwestern United States. In this short discussion with anthropologist and National Book Award finalist Lucas Bessire, author of Running Out, Gowin offers insight into his powerful photographic survey of the impact of irrigation systems on landscape. Read More
Podcast Listen in: Africa鈥檚 Struggle for Its Art April 14, 2022 For decades, African nations have fought for the return of countless works of art stolen during the colonial era and placed in Western museums. In聽Africa鈥檚 Struggle for Its Art, B茅n茅dicte Savoy brings to light this largely unknown but deeply important history. Read More
Essay How does one communicate with colors? December 20, 2021 Architecture is represented not only with lines, figures, and words, but also with colors. What sounds like a truism today鈥攚hen colorful, computer-generated renderings of building projects dominate architectural media鈥攊s in fact a relatively recent phenomenon. Read More
Essay Humanities to the rescue November 08, 2021 Environmentally speaking, it might be said that Western culture backed the wrong horse with both Christianity and capitalism. Each ingrained a self-centeredness鈥攔espectively, inter- and intra-species鈥攖hat has proven disastrous for the planet. Read More
Essay All stories are stories about food September 27, 2021 A confession: for many years I lived a double life鈥攁s a writer, anyway. I started as a scholar of the Renaissance and antiquity who loved to cook, to eat, and to taste wine; then, by various happy accidents, I began to receive requests that I actually write about cooking, eating, and tasting wine. Read More
Podcast Listen in: Twelve Caesars September 24, 2021 What does the face of power聽look聽like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we deplore? Read More
Podcast Things Fall Together: A Guide to the New Materials Revolution June 03, 2021 Things in life tend to fall apart. Cars break down. Buildings fall into disrepair. Personal items deteriorate. Yet today鈥檚 researchers are exploiting newly understood properties of matter to program materials that physically sense, adapt, and fall together instead of apart. Read More
Video Visualizing Dunhuang: A look inside the nine鈥憊olume set June 01, 2021 We invite you to take a look inside this stunning nine-volume presentation of the incredible Buddhist caves at Dunhuang in northwestern China. Read More
Interview Marci Kwon on Enchantments: Joseph Cornell and American Modernism March 29, 2021 Joseph Cornell (1903鈥�1972) is best known for his exquisite and alluring box constructions, which transform found objects into enchanted worlds that blur the boundaries between fantasy and the commonplace. Read More
Video Abloh-isms: Essential quotations from the renowned fashion designer, DJ, and stylist March 15, 2021 Abloh-isms聽is a collection of essential quotations from American fashion designer,聽DJ, and stylist Virgil Abloh, who has established himself as a major creative figure in the worlds of pop culture and art. Read More
