The Globalist Podcast, Friday, June 23, 2023: Nations look to shake up the world’s financial architecture in Paris, an examination of the technology being used in the search for the lost submersible near the wreck of the Titanic and a round-up of the morning’s papers.
At the White House, the president emphasized common ground with India’s prime minister and announced joint initiatives without making progress in enlisting help against Russian aggression.
The vast multinational search for the missing submersible ended after pieces of it were found on the ocean floor, 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic.
Yeonmi Park’s account of the horrors of North Korea made her a human rights celebrity. Her new claims that America is on the same path have made her a right-wing media star.
The Art Newspaper (June 22, 2023): The Art Newspaper’s editor, Alison Cole, and London correspondent, Martin Bailey, join our host Ben Luke to review the National Portrait Gallery after its £41m revamp.
We talk to Nancy Ireson at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia about the exhibition William Edmondson: A Monumental Vision. Edmondson was the first African American artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the 1930s, but has rarely been shown in museums on the US East Coast since.
And this episode’s Work of the Week marks the 75th anniversary of the arrival in the UK of the Empire Windrush, a boat carrying passengers from the Caribbean. Zinzi Minott, the choreographer and artist, has made a film called Fi Dem about the Windrush on this anniversary every year since 2017. She tells us about the latest iteration, which is at the heart of a new exhibition at Queercircle in London.
The National Portrait Gallery is open now. Yevonde: Life and Colour, until 15 October.
William Edmondson: A Monumental Vision, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, 25 June-10 September.
Zinzi Minott’s Fi Dem VI is part of her exhibition Many Mikl Mek Ah Mukl, Queercircle, London, until 27 August.
Architectural Digest (June 22, 2023) – A guided tour of Bedford Quarry House, located an hour outside of New York City. Sitting atop the cliff’s edge of an abandoned quarry, this serene property boasts spectacular views of the lake and surrounding forest.
The boundary dividing these vistas from the interior is figuratively broken by floor-to-ceiling windows throughout–creating a sense of openness and fluidity between nature and the home. Join architect Steven Harris for an in-depth look at his design philosophy behind this unique family residence.
The costs of taming price rises could prove too unpalatable for central banks
At first glance the world economy appears to have escaped from a tight spot. In the United States annual inflation has fallen to 4%, having approached double digits last year. A recession is nowhere in sight and the Federal Reserve has felt able to take a break from raising interest rates. After a gruesome 2022, stockmarkets have been celebrating: the s&p 500 index of American firms has risen by 14% so far this year, propelled by a resurgence in tech stocks. Only in Britain does inflation seem to be worryingly entrenched.
For Russia’s war to fail, Ukraine must emerge prosperous, democratic and secure
Ukraine’s war is raging on two fronts. On the 1,000km battlefront its armies are attacking the Russians’ deep defences. At the same time, on the home front Ukraine is defining what sort of country it will be when the fighting stops. Both matter, and both will pose a severe test for Ukraine and its backers.
Iran cannot rival Ukraine and Taiwan for headlines, but it could soon prove as dangerous as either. Its nuclear-weapons programme has put its regime in a position to dash for a bomb. Because full-blown negotiations are impossible, the threat could yet draw the Middle East into war—including through American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. That is why it is good that the Biden administration is seeking to lower tensions.
HISTORY TODAY MAGAZINE (JULY 2023) – Civil war in Ancient Rome, England’s most useless charities, agents of anarchy in the fin de siècle, the battle for the Korean peninsula, a Catholic sympathiser at Elizabeth I’s court, Bardolatry, Hong Kong’s floating population.
Vitellius led through the streets of Rome by the people, by Georges Rochegrosse, 1883.
For citizens of Ancient Rome, the recurrence of brutal civil war was par for the course. For writers, it was an opportunity.
During the Roman Empire, outbreaks of civil war (and the assassinations which often preceded them) were generally intended to change the emperor, not the imperial system. Even though there was a brief moment after the emperor Caligula’s assassination in AD 41 when a change in the political system might have been triggered, the rudderless and leaderless soldiers quickly reverted to the reassuring default mode of imperial rule after conveniently finding Claudius hiding behind a curtain and making him emperor.
The Modern House (June 22, 2023) – “We’d never seen anything like it – we were totally blown away,” said Simon Siegel when we went to visit him and his wife, Monica, at their 1970s mid-century home in Nottinghamshire four years ago for our My Modern House series.
Simon’s words echoed our feelings exactly: we were blown away not only by the brilliance of architect David Shelley’s original design, but also by how Monica and Simon lived in it so sympathetically and stylishly, for that matter – a true one-of-a-kind. And now we’re back.
Dezeen Films (June 22, 2023) – Scandinavian studios Henning Larsen and White Arkitekter are designing Stockholm Wood City, which will become the world’s largest wooden construction project and have the “serenity of a forest”.
The project, set to be built in Sickla in southern Stockholm, was dubbed the “world’s largest wooden city” by developer Atrium Ljungberg, which also said it is the world’s largest known construction project in wood.
Stockholm Wood City, which will have 7,000 office spaces and 2,000 homes, is being designed by Danish studio Henning Larsen and Swedish firm White Arkitekter. It will feature nature-informed elements and was designed to have the feel of a forest.
The Globalist Podcast, Thursday, June 22, 2023: The UK and Ukraine host a joint reconstruction summit in London, Narendra Modi is accused of weaponising yoga and we check in with the Paris Air Show.
Plus: we head to Vienna for the latest episode in our Quality of Life series. Matt Wolf brings us news from the theatre world and Monocle’s Fernando Augusto Pacheco interviews South African musician, Bongeziwe Mabandla.
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