Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum celebrates 50th birthday

This weekend, the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia is marking a big milestone.

The Mocking Mural in Oslo City Hall in Oslo, Norway

Oslo city hall (Rådhuset) is one of the countries most visited tourist sites, famous for hosting the annual Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. However, few make it to the richly…

Gaia Alari’s Lilting Animations are Drawn Frame by Frame

Meandering botanical forms, gestural dancing, and sweeping birds converge into fluid loops. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and…

Maia Ruth Lee Invites Us to Embody the Interval

The works draw on motifs of migration, but the motifs themselves migrate across the gallery.

The Common Language of Science: Einstein’s Clarion Call to Divided Humanity in a Rare 1941 Recording

“Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem — in my opinion — to characterize our age.”

Ancient Pottery Reveals the Earliest Known Traces of Chocolate East of the Mississippi, Painting a Picture of Connection in the Americas

A new archaeological discovery suggests that people in present-day Georgia have feasted with cacao for 1,000 years

The Kneecap effect: Gen Z is taking a renewed interest in the Irish language thanks to this rap group

The trio gained international attention with the release of their semi-autobiographical film “Kneecap” in 2024.

18th Century Pirate’s Jolly Roger in Portsmouth, England

The National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth displays a genuine Jolly Roger, captured from pirates off the North African coast in 1790 by Admiral Richard Curry. Surviving…

How to Say “YES” to Life

It started with an urn for living gone wrong, the clay kiltering off center, resisting my every effort to force it back into shape. The harder I pushed to control it, the more it…

A New Exhibition Spotlights 4,500 Years of Broken, Shot-Up and Degraded Artworks to Explore the ‘Power of the Fragment’

The show, on view in Florence and coming to D.C. next year, examines the history and impact of destroyed sculptures throughout time and across cultures

You Can't Travel to 'Dune,' So 'Dune' Is Coming to You

'Dune: The Experience' will open in LA ahead of 'Dune: Part Three,' before going to other cities.

Beyond K-pop: British Museum explores 2,000 years of Korean art

A new exhibition opening at London's British Museum this week looks beyond Korea's pop culture to explore 2,000 years of the country's...

LEGO Lets You Build Gaudí’s Sagrada Família in Its Largest Set Ever

When work on the Sagrada Família first began in 1882, the original architect could hardly have imagined that, 144 years later, the ambitious undertaking would still be underway.…

The pursuit of happiness: the serotonin boost of ‘Renoir & Love’, the National Gallery’s latest blockbuster exhibition

Catherine Ostler, author of New York Times bestselling The Renoir Girls, finds his new show in London a great breath of fresh air showcasing the mastery of the official ‘painter…

New study links sustained arts education to lower chronic absenteeism in schools

Researchers estimated 25.4% of four-year music students were chronically absent, compared with 37.3% of students without four consecutive years of music.

Eddy Firmin Interrogates History and Colonizing Forces in Provocative Sculptures

The Montréal-based multi-disciplinary artist is deeply interested in the history and politics of colonization. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal…

The Cable that Changed the World: How Instant Global Communication Began in 1858

The word wireless is going the way of computerized and portable, and for much the same reasons. We no longer regard wireless devices that require no physical connections to…

design museum gent reopens with new wing built from locally made waste bricks

The Oldest Book Printed with Movable Type is Not The Gutenberg Bible: Jikji, a Collection of Korean Buddhist Teachings, Predated It By 78 Years and It’s Now Digitized Online

The history of the printed word is full of bibliographic twists and turns, major historical moments, and the significant printing of books now so obscure no one has read them…

C.S. Lewis on How to Structure the Days of a Creative Life and Train the Receptive Imagination

There are, in my experience, two fundaments of the creative life: putting yourself regularly in the path of wonder and getting out of your own way in order to receive what you…

A Stormy Week of Art in NYC

Reviews on major exhibitions at the New Museum, Guggenheim, and MoMA PS1, what it takes to get a fair union contract, and finding joy in the history of concrete.

How to Explain Complicated Things

You may remember a time when it was difficult to make it through the day without hearing someone cite a TED Talk. A major technological reason for that was streaming video’s new…

Some of the Top-Performing Songs From the Past 50 Years, by Decade

Fifty years ago, disco was dominating nightclubs, punk had emerged from underground, and the nascent hip-hop scene was budding in the Bronx. Stevie Wonder released his masterpiece…

Bertrand Russell on the Secret of Happiness

"Let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile."

Hood River Pumping Station and Pipeline Trail in Hood River, Oregon

This is a place with two unique and magical places to see. The first, the abandoned Hood River Pumping Station, is at the parking lot to the Hood River Pipeline Trail. It is a…

A Giant Gold Coil by Plastique Fantastique Created a Loopy Portal on the High Line

Earlier this month, a monumental, metallic spiral appeared on Manhattan's High Line to coincide with New York Fashion Week. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become…

Mick Jagger Tells the Story Behind ‘Gimme Shelter’ and Merry Clayton’s Haunting Background Vocals

In the fall of 1969 the Rolling Stones were in a Los Angeles recording studio, putting the final touches on their album Let It Bleed. It was a tumultuous time for the Stones. They…

How urban, suburban and rural Americans engage in society

Urban, suburban and rural Americans engage in public life at similar rates but differ in some of the specific activities they do.

Skateboarding legends push for permanent museum in Vista

‘We made something out of nothing’ says pro-skater Mario Rubalcaba

At 100, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art Is Considering What It Means to Be a 21st Century Museum

Director Rand Suffolk describes the museum’s role as involving both bonding and bridging: letting people see themselves in its collections while bringing Atlantans of different…

A “Sound of Music” Museum Just Opened in the Austrian City Where the Story Began — Look Inside

Six decades ago, Julie Andrews burst into song atop Salzburg, Austria’s rolling hills, and the world fell in love with The Sound of Music. The 1965 film, adapted from the 1959…

Do Not Spare Yourself: An Antidote to Feeling Like You Are Waiting to Start Living

The only thing more dangerous than wanting to save another person — a dangerous desire too often mistaken for love — is wanting to save yourself, to spare yourself the…

The Weasel and the Meaning of It All: Annie Dillard on How to Live

Suppose we answer the most important question of existence in the affirmative. There is then only one question remaining: How shall we live this life? Despite all the technologies…

Hermann Hesse on Discovering the Soul Beneath the Self and the Key to Finding Peace

"Self-hate is really the same thing as sheer egoism, and in the long run breeds the same cruel isolation and despair."

Forget The Smithsonian, This One-Of-A-Kind Urban Gem Is A Wildly Underrated Asian Museum In DC - Islands

The Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the National Arboretum in Washington D.C. boasts a stunning collection of ancient curated trees and stones from all over.

Emerson on How to Trust Yourself

"It is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."

Red Moons and Lightning Illuminate Sarah Lee’s Uncanny Landscapes

Supple mountains cradled by lakes and forests are tinged with magical realism. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support…

See a Stunning Collection of Stolen Greek Artifacts, Spanning 5,000 Years, That Were Just Returned to Greece

The antiquities were seized at the Metropolitan Museum of Art by investigators from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr.

A 3,000-Year-Old Warhorse Burial and a Ramses II Tablet, Among Other Relics, Have Been Discovered in an Ancient Egyptian Fortress

New excavations in the Nile Delta offer eye-opening clues about military and residential life in the New Kingdom era

How Else Marie Pade, a Prisoner in World War II, Became Denmark’s First Female Electronic Composer

Before she became a composer of electronic music, Else Marie Pade was a sick child listening to the radio. Frequent kidney inflammations consigned her to bed for long periods of…

How to Be a Poet: Elizabeth Alexander on the Yin-Yang of Connection and Contradiction

“The poets (by which I mean all artists) are finally the only people who know the truth about us,” James Baldwin wrote. “Soldiers don’t. Statesmen don’t. Priests don’t. Union…

The Unsung Craftspeople Who Built Ancient Egypt

A new publication reflects a growing interest in the lives of the makers behind the civilization’s arts and crafts, long marginalized and erased by mythologized depictions of the…

Woodland Creatures Inhabit an Imaginary World in Kanako Abe’s Intricate Paper Cuts

Abe imagines dreamlike scenes reminiscent of childhood narratives and folk tales. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support…

How to Memorize an Entire Chapter from “Moby Dick”: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

Sometimes, when I can’t sleep, I mentally revisit the various homes of my childhood, wandering from room to room, turning on lights and peering in closets until I conk out. Turns…

What We’re Reading: Singapore Is Paying People to Read

Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might…

John Wilson’s ‘The History of Concrete’ Is Anything But Mundane

Wilson's movie debut is primed for absurdity, delving into something that's immanently mundane yet fundamental to the way we live. Do stories and artists like this matter to you?…

Maryland’s Natural Beauty Showcased in State Calendar Photo Contest: See the Winning Images

An image of a curious squirrel edging up behind an Eastern whip-poor-will — a species of nocturnal bird — took the grand prize in the Maryland Department of Natural Resources 2026…

This Kinetic Sculptor’s Machines Are Pointless—and That’s the Point

For nearly 50 years, kinetic sculptor Arthur Ganson has built machines that walk, wobble, dismantle themselves, and accomplish absolutely nothing—beautifully.

Emmy Star Brown’s Vivid Murals Channel Youthfulness and Play

Brown's work is currently on view in 'The Peace of Wild Things' at Joy Machine. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support…

Diverse and Dramatic Behaviors Top the 2026 Bird Photographer of the Year Contest

This year, the competition welcomed more than 24,000 entries from photographers around the globe. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today…

When Salvador Dalí Gave a Surrealist Lecture in a Diving Suit … and Almost Suffocated (1936)

Many a foreigner has visited England and found it an unexpectedly surreal place. Some of that effect has to do with encountering familiar icons — Big Ben, double-decker…

Art Problems: If I Have a Day Job, Am I a Real Artist?

Ever been shamed for having a nine-to-five job as an artist? Paddy Johnson can relate.

The Vampire Problem: The Paradoxical Psychology of Why It Is So Hard to Change

"Many of [life's] big decisions involve choices to have experiences that teach us things we cannot know about from any other source but the experience itself."

'Star Wars' fans, art lovers gather at George Lucas' new museum

Star Wars superfans and art lovers alike descended on George Lucas's long-awaited Museum of Narrative Art for its grand opening on Tuesday, lining up...

A Rare Aztec Codex Detailing the Rise and Fall of Tenochtitlan Returns to Mexico for the First Time in Nearly Two Centuries

The artifact, among the most prized visual accounts of Aztec history, will be on display in Mexico City for three months

France Celebrates the Bicentennial of Photography with Traveling Themed Exhibitions

In our era of digital screens and virtually endless images and videos, it's a challenge to imagine the time before photography existed. Do stories and artists like this matter to…

Classical Musicians Interpret Astronauts’ Footage of the Planet for Earth Music Theater

The multimedia project marries sonic experiences with incredible imagery captured from the International Space Station's orbit around Earth. Do stories and artists like this…

Winners of Bird Photographer of the Year announced

The winners of Bird Photographer of the Year 2026 have been revealed The post Winners of Bird Photographer of the Year announced appeared first on Positive News .

“What Does It Mean to Be Animate?”: The Films of Diego Marcon

On Diego Marcon’s sick children, dangling puppets, and suspended bodies

Beer With a Painter: Barbara Takenaga

The Japanese-American artist talks about her place as a paint dot in the universe and embracing disruption in her canvases.

Cavemen Used Mammoth Tusk Patterns to Create Unique Art, Reveals New Research

[Stephen Beech | SWNS news] Cavemen used mammoth tusk patterns to create unique art, reveals new research. Intricate designs engraved on the surface of 18,000-year-old female…

Retiree Photographer Dreams Up Whimsical Scenes Starring Her Backyard Squirrels

In retired high school guidance counselor Nancy Rose’s imagination, squirrels drink tea, take baths, go bowling, and partake in many other day-to-day activities your average human…

China's newest art museum reinvents infinity

Suzhou, a historic city on the plains of eastern China, has just opened up the country's latest art exhibition space – and it's a spectacle for creatives, tourists, and…

overlapping concrete walls and columns blur inside and outside in okinawa house

Sound of Music museum opens where the von Trapp story met Hollywood

An Austrian museum is now alive with “The Sound of Music.”

Pirate tales come to life at annual festival in Marcus Hook

The annual Pirate Festival brings history to life and helps fund the restoration of the Plank House in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania.

Major restoration revives Istanbul's archaeological museums

An extensive restoration and renovation project has revitalized the historic buildings and visitor areas of Istanbul's archaeological museums,...

The Eiffel Tower Is Turning Into a Movie Theater for 4 Days — Learn 9 More of Its Unique Uses Throughout History

From the Arc de Triomphe to the Louvre Museum, Paris abounds in remarkable architecture, and yet nothing quite compares to the iconic Eiffel Tower. While the world-famous monument…

Step Inside 20+ Magnificent European Castles With These Free Virtual Tours (the World's Largest Castle is Included Too!)

Can't travel and looking for ways to satisfy your wanderlust? Check out this roundup of thirty epic virtual tours of castles in Europe!

Why human language may be intertwined with fire

Understanding how human language evolved is one of the hardest problems in science to unpick

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza Opens New Contemporary Art Space

Madrid’s Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (MNTB) will expand into a second venue to house more than 360 works of contemporary art, which have been donated or are on loan from the…

The Stoic Key to Living with Presence: Seneca on Time Spent vs. Saved vs. Wasted

"Lay hold of to-day’s task, and you will not need to depend so much upon to-morrow’s. While we are postponing, life speeds by. Nothing... is ours, except time."

NYC’s Shelter Population Speaks Out in Public Art Project

Alex Strada’s “Public Address” brings handwritten testimonies from over 400 unhoused New Yorkers and shelter staff to a dozen locations across the Bronx.

Buffalo Puppet Procession Traces Native History Through NYC’s Streets

“Return of the Buffalo: Tatanka Owe Akupi” pays homage to 38 Dakota men executed by President Abraham Lincoln in Mankato, Minnesota, in 1862.

Step Inside the Studios of 20 Contemporary Black Artists in ‘Another View’

Featuring Nick Cave, Nina Chanel Abney, Hank Willis Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, Kerry James Marshall, and many more. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a…

Across Two Exhibitions, Jaume Plensa’s Monumental Sculptures Unite Scale and Material

An exploration of the human figure, architectural materials, and the perception of space. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and…

African-American Blacksmiths Forge a Lineage of Sankofa

Blacksmiths in the South have long embedded West African symbolism into gates, rails, and window bars, proof that the craft evolved with every hand that held the hammer.

Rage Against the Machines: From the Luddites to the AI Data Center Backlash

One often-repeated anecdote about Milton Friedman has the famous economist visiting a canal under construction in nineteen-sixties China. Noticing the sheer number of human…

Lebanon returns 37 smuggled Pharaonic artifacts to Egypt

Lebanon has returned 37 ancient artifacts dating to the Pharaonic period to Egypt after they were smuggled into the country. According to Lebanon’s...

Seoul brings 600 years of heritage, Han River noodle bars to Rome - The Korea Times

Long before Korean culture swept global airwaves through pop music and cinema, residents of Seoul perfected "pungryu" — a philosophy of refined lei...

Bought for $30 at an Estate Sale, This Long-Lost Gertrude Abercrombie Painting Could Now Fetch $250,000

The Chicago-based Surrealist created the piece in 1951, then gave it to a doctor in exchange for medical services

Where to Find the World’s Best Soup

20,000 BC was a monumental year in history. Why? The first pot of soup was crafted in a cave in modern-day China. To create their savory broth, prehistoric humans boiled animal…

An In-Depth, Immersive Journey Through the Bayeux Tapestry

With the Bayeux Tapestry now on display at the British Museum, Deep Down History presents a deep dive into the embroidery’s full story: “The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most…

Veronese's Dogs

“Oh, if I could only pray”, Luther once said of his dog Tölpel, “the way this dog watches the meat”. Attending to attentive canine figures in half a dozen paintings by Paolo…

The 2026 National Toy Hall of Fame Finalists Span Generations — Vote for Your Favorite

The 2026 crop of National Toy Hall of Fame finalists has something for everyone: baby boomers who grew up with Mouse Trap, ’80s kids who collected Care Bears, and veteran and…

The Largest Roman Mosaic Ever Excavated Opens to the Public

The "Great Mosaic" may be the largest in the Roman world. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing…

Virginia Woolf on Creativity

"Behind the cotton wool is hidden a pattern... the whole world is a work of art... there is no Shakespeare... no Beethoven... no God; we are the words; we are the music; we are…

10 Pounds of Viking Silver Found in Finland Extend Incredible Year for Scandinavian Treasure Hunts

Metal detectors have had a banner year in Scandinavia, where records for the largest recovered Viking silver hoards have been made in Norway, Denmark, and now Finland. A man found…

88 Van Gogh paintings reunite for rare Dutch museum exhibition

A Dutch museum on Tuesday put a collection of 88 paintings by Vincent van Gogh on display for the first time since 1984, in an exhibition featuring...

The Six-Seat Revolution

A theater director transformed an abandoned newsstand into a radically new theatrical experience that is helping to revive the historic center of a Southern Italian town.

Met Museum Breaks Ground on New Modern and Contemporary Wing

Mexican architect Frida Escobedo joined museum leadership and elected officials to celebrate “la primera piedra,” or “the first stone,” of the forthcoming Tang Wing.

J.R.R. Tolkien on How to Fall in Love with Life

In 1964, Pantheon Books invited J.R.R. Tolkien (January 3, 1892–September 2, 1973) to write an introduction to George MacDonald’s The Golden Key, which he had praised in Tree and…

How Monumental Environmental Works by Meg Webster Cultivate Reconnection

Inside Webster's interdisciplinary practice that advocates for nature. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts…

Please No Photos! A Short Film Focuses on Tourists’ Obsession with Capturing the Moment

Serenity now! 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…

The Mercator map has distorted Africa’s size for 450 years. The UN just voted to replace it.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM On most world maps hanging in classrooms, conference rooms, and government offices around the world, Greenland and Africa look roughly the…

Montana Built a $107 Million Museum. Its Smallest Room Says a Lot About the Thought That Went Into Designing the Space

The Montana Heritage Center in Helena has a smudge room. It is open to the public and teaches non-Native visitors why a room dedicated to the burning of cleansing materials, a…

Alfredo Jaar Is Still Trying to Change the World

Four decades after his Times Square artwork challenged the definition of America, the Chilean architect calls himself “a pessimist with my intellect and an optimist with my will.”

James McNeill Whistler’s Music for the Eyes

A long-awaited Whistler retrospective at Tate Britain makes the case that every brushstroke, color, and omission serves the pursuit of harmony.

How the Silk Road Actually Worked (and What Could Go Terribly Wrong On It)

You don’t have to spend a long time reading up on the Silk Road before you see the term itself (“Silk Road”) called a misnomer. In fact, what we refer to by that name comprises a…

How Martin Luther King, Jr. Used Nietzsche, Hegel & Kant to Overturn Segregation in America

Image by Dick DeMarsico, via Wikimedia Commons The influence of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel on the revolutionary philosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels is well known. Marx…

The High Cost of Winning a Michelin Star

Every plate becomes more expensive to produce, yet few diners can absorb the cost of eating at a Michelin-starred restaurant, writes Tulasi Srinivas.

2026 Emmys Preview: It’s a Good Year to Be a New Show

At the 2026 Emmys, it’s out with the old and in with the new. Well, maybe not entirely, but this has still been an exceptionally good year for debuting TV series jockeying for…

The Fascinating Science of How We Think Not with the Brain But with the World

"By reaching beyond the brain... we are able to focus more intently, comprehend more deeply, and create more imaginatively — to entertain ideas that would be literally unthinkable…

Ebenezer Scrooge’s Gravestone in Shropshire, England

“A Christmas Carol” starring George C Scott as Scrooge was filmed on location in Shrewsbury and broadcast on CBS in the United States and released in theaters in the UK in…

15 Fall Art -Ennials, From St. Louis to Dakar

A photography show dedicated to NYC in the nighttime, an Indigenous-led arts festival honoring the Mississippi River, the first-ever Bienal de Yucatán, and more biennials and…

The Day Dostoyevsky Discovered the Meaning of Life in a Dream

"And it is so simple... You will instantly find how to live."

Pop Art: Walking All Over New York’s New Balloon Museum

An installation from Marina Abramović floats "Manhattan's next gimmick"

Historical art can hide scientific secrets

Scientists are working closely with art historians to uncover scientific documentation in historic paintings.

Ancient Rome’s Largest Fresco and Mosaic Complex, Featuring Depictions of a Mysterious Maritime City, Opens to the Public After 2,000 Years

The massive artworks, created in the first century C.E., were discovered in the 1990s during excavations of the Baths of Trajan

Route 66 Turns 100 This Year: Take a Tour of America’s Most Famous Highway

This past summer, the United States of America celebrated 250 years of independence. But for a great many Americana-lovers around the world, this year also brings another, even…

The Most Unique Camping Spots Across the U.S.

America’s geography is unmatched in diversity, spanning from scorching, sandy deserts to snow-capped mountains and dense swamps; coastal wetlands to high, grassy plains. There’s…

When all the world — or at least many of its Minneapolis porches — becomes a stage

Once again this fall, homeowners in neighborhoods in the city are hosting performances that will build stronger communities.

Artists Reflect on 25 Years Since 9/11

Shahzia Sikander, Wafaa Bilal, Rina Banerjee, and more recount their experiences, Rabkin Prize winners announced, and introducing pocket reviews.

Albert Camus on the Source of Strength and How to Save Our Sanity in Trying Times

"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."

Add These OG Restaurants to Your Foodie Bucket List

From an old-school steakhouse to a family-owned pasta joint, these 18 restaurants are the most iconic, must-visit in the West.

Indie Comic Creator Sells Out Thanks to Viral Visit from Reviewer Who Stopped When Others Didn’t

It’s so tempting to dismiss social media as all doom scrolling through AI-generated slop and political arguments, but it also just turbo boosted this young comic book author’s…

Ten Thousand Buddhas ‘Monastery’ in Hong Kong

The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is a misleading name that significantly downplays the number of Buddha effigies, as there are actually well over 12,000 statues present. Another…

Karla Wong’s Folkloric Portraits Conjure Mysterious Portals to Another World

In Chicago, Karla Wong presents a suite of vivid paintings that double as mysterious portals. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and…

The Paradoxes and Possibilities of Transformation: Adam Phillips on Our Ambivalent Desire for Change

"There is no description of a life without an account of the changes that are possible within it."

Download Hundreds of Issues of Jugend, Germany’s Pioneering Art Nouveau Magazine (1896–1940)

It’s an ungainly word for English speakers, which is maybe why we do not hear it often: Gleichschaltung. Yet the concept remains central for a clear view of what happened to…

‘Star Trek’ and NASA have intertwined legacies – the show championed diversity and inspired generations of real space scientists

60 years of ‘Star Trek’: A cultural anthropologist on how the show’s “infinite diversity in infinite combinations” conception helped shape NASA’s vision of the future.

Spanning 200+ Works, a New Book Celebrates the World of Fungi

This October, Phaidon will release an expansive tome gathering more than 200 photographs, artworks, historical objects, and more all devoted to the vast diversity and creative…

With a Chainsaw as His Chisel, This Artist Creates Intricate Wooden Sculptures

One talented artist is carving out a living by making realistic wooden animal sculptures with a chainsaw as his chisel. Simon Bogg started chainsaw carving as a side project…

Emma Thompson shares how she gleans profound life lessons from old ‘Peanuts’ comics

"I will pluck one of those selections of cartoons and immediately feel better about myself, about my failings, about my stupid elderly ambitions." The post Emma Thompson shares…

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Secret Career as a Japanese Art Dealer & How It Shaped His Architecture

Frank Lloyd Wright was often strapped for cash. In that respect, he had something in common with Vincent van Gogh, who passed most of his much shorter life in more dire…

Henry Wessel’s Candid California Photos Underscore the Art of Noticing

“There is the world, and there is the photograph. The photograph is not the world, it’s a completely different thing." Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a…

The Ancient Greek Water Clock That Kept the Most Accurate Time for 1,800 Years

Today, we’re surrounded by technologies we could justifiably describe as time thieves. In ancient Greece, those who wanted to know where their time was going consulted a device…

These Are the Books That Changed Nice News Readers’ Lives

“The whole world opened to me when I learned to read,” 20th-century American educator Mary McLeod Bethune once said. The same holds true for countless people today, and many of us…

15 US Museum Shows We Can’t Wait For

Plus, artists on feeling deceived by a widely advertised summer residency that lured them in and never materialized.

How Not to Waste Your Wildness

"What is wild cannot be bought or sold, borrowed or copied. It is. Unmistakable, unforgettable, unshamable, elemental as earth and ice, water, fire and air, a quintessence, pure…

How the Japanese Practice of “Forest Bathing”—Or Just Hanging Out in the Woods—Can Lower Stress Levels and Fight Disease

When the U.S. media began reporting on the phenomenon of “forest bathing” as a therapy for mental and physical health, the online commentariat—as it will—mocked the concept…

Everything to know as Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens in Los Angeles

The highly anticipated $1-billion building opens Sept. 22. Learn more about its architecture, must-see experiences, rocky start and the questions surrounding "narrative art."

The True Purpose of Tarot

“Nothing like this has ever happened before or will ever happen again,” a friend said to me about a lucky turn of events — a statement that struck me as touchingly self-negating:…

How to Apologize: Reflections on Forgiveness, Self-Forgiveness, and the Vulnerabilities of Being Human

"It's permitted to receive solace for whatever you did or didn't do, pitiful, beautiful human."

Capture the city: Istanbul celebrates 200 years of photography

Returning for its ninth edition this autumn, 212 Photography Istanbul transforms the metropolis into an open-air museum, spanning iconic heritage venues,...

Erich Fromm’s 6 Rules of Listening: The Great Humanistic Philosopher and Psychologist on the Art of Unselfish Understanding

"Understanding and loving are inseparable. If they are separate, it is a cerebral process and the door to essential understanding remains closed."

Meet Lloyd Kahn, the Counterculture Publisher Who Is Skateboarding at 91

Lloyd Kahn worked as an insurance broker before quitting in 1965. Then, he took a turn into the DIY building movement that emerged with the 1960s counterculture. Soon enough, he…

Zanzibar's Freddie Mercury Museum showcases life of legendary Queen frontman | Africanews

The Freddie Mercury Museum in Zanzibar showcases the life and times of the music icon in the very house where he was born Farrokh Bulsara, 80 years ago, and where he spent his…

The 8 Best US Museums for Ancient Civilizations You Should Visit at Least Once | TheCollector

If you are in the United States, these are the must-see, world-class museums and institutions that preserve the stories and archaeology of ancient civilizations.

Debt-Stricken Single Mom Pays Off $25K Debt in 5 Months by Decluttering 410 Items

A British mom who racked up £23,000 in debt ($31K) has paid back $25,000 (£19,000) in just five months by decluttering and selling 410 household items on Vinted, eBay, and…

Nazis demanded to know if ‘The Hobbit’ author J.R.R. Tolkien was Jewish. His response was legendary.

J.R.R. Tolkien had no problem telling his German publishing house exactly what he thought. The post Nazis demanded to know if ‘The Hobbit’ author J.R.R. Tolkien was Jewish. His…

How to Relate to Your Worst Mistakes: The Life-Shaping Difference Between Regret and Remorse

You know it, that awful moment your coherent self-image shatters and a part of you, shadowy and untended, splits off to cause harm and havoc as the rest of you watches helplessly,…

A New York City Exhibition Celebrates Snoopy’s Enduring Influence on Art and Fashion

The beloved "Peanuts" character’s many costumes and brand collaborations are featured in a new showcase

How Two Souls Can Interact with One Another: Simone de Beauvoir on Love and Friendship

It is in relationships that we discover both our depths and our limits, there that we anneal ourselves and transcend ourselves, there that we are hurt the most and there that we…

The Art of Choosing Love Over Not-Love: Rumi’s Antidote to Our Human Tragedy

"You’ll long for me when I’m gone... You'll kiss the headstone of my grave... Kiss my face instead!"

Go Behind the Scenes of Blackwing Pencils’ Ode to Analog Creativity

The company shares how pencils are created in a multi-step process in factories in Japan and California. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member…

‘Inploration’ Highlights Dozens of Artists Who Explore Space to Understand Earth

Nearly 100 artists, scientists, astronauts, futurists, and others explore how the cosmos teach us about ourselves. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a…

In “Whistler,” Ann Patchett Tackles Loss and Art

The beloved author’s new novel tells a story of familial loss and reconnection, beginning with a chance encounter at The Met. But why does it seem to imply that grief and art are…

Denizens of a Crowded City Populate Erin Milez’s Dense Paintings

Milez's new body of work goes on view this month in 'Everything the Light Touches' at Monya Rowe Gallery. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member…

75,000 Patterned Paper Kites Cascade in Jacob Hashimoto’s Largest-Ever Installation

Hashimoto’s elaborate 'Giant Arc' installation is a vibrant "cloud canopy" at SFMOMA. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support…

Why Inventing Color TV Was So Difficult

Many who read this will remember watching television on a black-and-white set at some point in their lives. Fewer will remember doing so because only black-and-white sets existed.…

Discover J.R.R. Tolkien’s Personal Book Cover Designs for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

In some rare cases, adaptations and interpretations of a literary work can surpass the source. Despite hundreds of valiant efforts on the part of fans, filmmakers, game/toy…

Wes Anderson Picks Nine of His Favorite Criterion Films

Many an internet cinephile has wondered aloud if the Criterion Closet is a real place, or just a set thrown together to make videos when famous directors like Christopher Nolan,…

To Capture the Beauty and Wonder of Flight, These Celebrated Artists Created Spectacular Visions of Astronauts, Aviators, Rocket Launches and the Moon

At the National Air and Space Museum, a recently opened gallery space features artworks by Norman Rockwell, Alma Thomas, Francisco Goya and other luminaries

The Paradox of Knowing Who You Are and What You Want: Cristina Campo on Fairy Tales, Time, and the Meaning of Maturity

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales,” Einstein reportedly told one mother who wished for her son to become a scientist. “If you want them to be…

Our use of fire has strange ties to how we can talk

Come, sit. Let me tell you a story. Listen closely now. Continue Reading Category: Biology , Science Tags: Fire , Language , Speech , Evolution , Brain