Ursula (FALL 2023): The new issue feature Takesada Matsutani, 86, who has lived and worked in Paris since the late 1960s, but he came of age as an artist in Osaka, Japan, as a member of the avant-garde Gutai movement. He has long worked in highly experimental ways with printmaking and artist’s books.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (October 29, 2023): This week’s issue features “A Haunting on the Hill,” by Shirley Jackson; ‘I Feel a Human Deterioration’ – making sense of the violence and loss in Israel; Is It Time to Pull Up Stakes and Head for Mars? – Probably not, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith argue in “A City on Mars”….
Apparitions, black hares and time warps festoon the pages of Elizabeth Hand’s “A Haunting on the Hill,” set in the same moldering mansion as Shirley Jackson’s classic horror novel.
Probably not, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith argue in “A City on Mars.”
By W. M. Akers
A CITY ON MARS: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?, by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith
Face it, folks. Earth is finished. It’s overheated, overcrowded, overregulated. It’s the ultimate fixer-upper, a dump we inherited from our parents that we’d be cruel to pass on to our children. It’s time to pull up stakes. It’s time for Mars.
Or maybe not.
Lighting out for the solar system is an appealing fantasy, but “A City on Mars,” an exceptional new piece of popular science by the “Soonish” authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, suggests we shouldn’t be so quick to give up on Earth. Forceful, engaging and funny, it is an essential reality check for anyone who has ever looked for home in the night sky.
Lucas T. Jahn Films (October 27, 2023) – An exploration of 10 of the 18 Faroese Islands, from Viðoy in the north to Suðuroy in the far south. In total, more than 1000 km were driven during the 16 days.
The Faroe Islands is a self-governing archipelago, part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It comprises 18 rocky, volcanic islands between Iceland and Norway in the North Atlantic Ocean, connected by road tunnels, ferries, causeways and bridges. Hikers and bird-watchers are drawn to the islands’ mountains, valleys and grassy heathland, and steep coastal cliffs that harbor thousands of seabirds.
Monocle on Saturday, October 28, 2023: Terry Stiastny and Carlota Rebelo discuss overnight developments in the Israel-Palestine conflict and the new US House Speaker, Mike Johnson.
Plus, Monocle’s Alexei Korolyov meets the feminist non-binary choir taking Austria by storm. Join Monocle on Saturday every week for a review of the latest news, arts, and culture in the week’s global papers.
Cellular and internet service abruptly vanished for much of the territory, stoking fears that a full-scale invasion was imminent — or already underway.
In discussions with their American counterparts, Saudi officials have framed a ground war as a potentially devastating blow to stability in the Middle East.
U.S. Airstrikes Contain Twin Messages to Iran, American Officials Say
The airstrikes were the latest gamble by the United States to modify Iran’s behavior, few of which have worked in the past.
Dave Chappelle and the Perils of Button-Pushing Comedy
His comments on the Mideast conflict have been the subject of news reports, but the polarizing coverage has ignored how comics have treated the situation.
The Week In Art Podcast (October 27, 2023): This week: the first Kyiv Biennial since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year is taking place in various locations across the wartorn country as well as a host of neighbouring European states.
We talk to the co-curator, Georg Schöllhammer, about this year’s event. As refugees and displaced people continue to dominate the news, a global sound art project, Migration Sounds, aims to explore and reimagine the sounds of human migration and settlement.
We speak to Stuart Fowkes, the founder of Cities and Memory, who has conceived the project with the University of Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (Compas). And this episode’s Work of the Week is Rebirth of a Nation, a mural made for Brixton Underground Station in London by the Ethiopian-Italian artist Jem Perucchini, which is unveiled next week. Jessica Vaughan, the senior curator of Art on the Underground, tells us about the commission.
The Kyiv Biennial continues to unfold into 2024, visit 2023.kyivbiennial.org
Cities and Memory’s Migration Sounds project, citiesandmemory.com/migration; compas.ox.ac.uk
Jem Perucchini: Rebirth of a Nation, Brixton Underground Station, London, from 2 November.
The Economist (October 27, 2023) – Hizbullah has been shooting rockets across the Israel-Lebanon border. If it intervenes in the Israel-Hamas conflict, it could lead to serious escalation.
Video timeline:00:00 – The origins of Hizbullah 01:06 – Its political rise 02:00 – How big a threat is it?
The Local Project (October 27, 2023) – Liz Gardner of creative studio Bodega Ltd. buys and renovates this heritage house as she had aspired to, having admired it from afar for many years.
Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Dream House 00:27 – A Hybrid Building In A Historic Location 01:08 – A Walkthrough of the Space 02:03 – The Process of Obtaining the Space 02:35 – The Original Live Work Space Brief 03:40 – Specific Requirements and Constraints 05:22 – An Interesting Material Palette 06:39 – A Focus on Lighting 07:34 – Creating an Accomodation Space
Perched on a hill in a leafy neighbourhood near downtown Minneapolis, the home illustrated a unique style of architecture and boundless potential to renovate. Liz had always felt a long-term draw to the property after witnessing it having been on the market and taken off years prior to her and her partner acquiring it. She describes the building as being dreamlike and perfectly contrasting the hustle and bustle of the city. To her, the dwelling is an anomaly – its style cannot be easily identified.
Exuding notes of Italian-style architecture and a twist of contemporary features, this physical state of the building mirrors the way in which her and her team inhabit it. Amid a location known for its historical heritage homes, Maison Bodega reflects both the past and the present. Looking to the future she, and partner Josef Harris, buys and renovates the house, transforming it into a home and creative space known as Maison Bodega. Taking various design cues from the existing architecture, the hybrid live-work space is a thoughtful blend of heritage and modern interior design sensibilities that caters to parties, workshops, family life for Liz, Josef and their dogs and, most recently, a house tour with The Local Project. Downstairs, the kitchen is undoubtedly a social space.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (October 29, 2023): The latest issue features The Scientists Watching Their Life’s Work Disappear; Can We Save the #Redwoods by Helping Them Move?; ‘It’s Like Our Country Exploded’: #Canada’s Year of #Fire and #ClimateChange Is Keeping Therapists Up at Night….
Amid the chaos of climate change, humans tend to focus on humans. But Earth is home to countless other species, including animals, plants and fungi. For centuries, we have been making it harder for them to exist by cutting down forests, plowing grasslands, building roads, damming rivers, draining wetlands and polluting. Now that wildlife is depleted and hemmed in, climate change has come crashing down. In 2016, scientists in Australia announced the loss of a rodent called the Bramble Cay melomys, one of the first known species driven to global extinction by climate change. Others are all but certain to follow. How many depends on how much we let the planet heat.
The largest trees on the planet can’t easily ‘migrate’ — but in a warming world, some humans are helping them try to find new homes.
By Moises Velasquez-Manoff
When Philip Stielstra retired from Boeing in 2012, he needed something purposeful to do. He and his wife, Gay, were casual golfers, but Stielstra, an antiwar activist in college who refused to fight in Vietnam — he worked in a post office instead — wanted a pastime with bigger stakes. Before leaving his job, he received an email from the city of Seattle: The Parks and Recreation Department needed “tree ambassadors.” Tree canopy cover had receded in the city, and the department was responding by promoting an appreciation for its remaining trees. The volunteer ambassadors would learn about these trees and lead residents on walking tours to marvel at them. Stielstra, despite being a self-described introvert, signed up.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious