“Between 2003 and 2019, Kevin Killian published almost twenty-four hundred reviews on the site. Can they be considered literature?”
art
Looking at Art Will Never Be the Same Again
“A conversation with the art historian Claire Bishop about technology’s influence on museums and galleries, and her recent book Disordered Attention.”
‘Maya Blue’: The Mystery Dye Recreated Two Centuries After It Was Lost
“A ceramicist in Mexico retraces his Maya roots to recreate a long-lost pre-Hispanic pigment for the first time in more than two centuries.”
The Italian Fruit Detective Who Investigates Centuries-Old Paintings for Disappeared Produce
“Renaissance paintings, medieval archives, cloistered orchards—one Italian scientist is uncovering secrets that could combat a growing agricultural crisis.”
The Rise of the Climate Anti-Hero
“Soup on a van Gogh may be more strategic than it seems.”
Santa Maria
“A youthful obsession with Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’ turns to frustration over how its subject, Florence Owens Thompson, an Indigenous woman, has been misperceived.”
Unraveling the Mystery of the Art God
“For a decade, one writer tried to unravel the story of Dorje Chang, whose artwork sold for millions and who claimed to be the third coming of Buddha. Then he got an email: Dorje Chang and his wife were dead. What really happened?”
The Collapse of Self-Worth in the Digital Age
“Why are we letting algorithms rewrite the rules of art, work, and life?”
What to Make of Land Art in the Era of LandBack
“‘City,’ a massive outdoor sculpture in Nevada, took Michael Heizer 50 years to make. Today, it is met with a mixture of scrutiny and awe.”
