Preserving Monuments or Preserving Meaning? : Buddhism Beyond the Temple Walls
Myanmar The sound of temple bells, the scent of incense filling temple halls, and the sight of people meditating may be among the first images that come to mind when we think of Buddhist culture. Across Asia, where Buddhism has had a profound cultural influence, these scenes represent more than a mere expression of religious Read more
The Bechdel Test : Three Questions to Examine Representation in Film
Is it really that uncommon to see two women having a conversation on screen ? In 1985, American cartoonist Alison Bechdel highlighted a paradox in film : women may be present in real life, yet they remain a minority, or confined to certain roles, in the stories told on screen. From this observation came the Read more
Netflix and the Big Screen: The Economics of Keeping Cinema at Home
Back in 2020, David Fincher released Mank, a black-and-white film about the screenwriter behind Citizen Kane. At a time when Marvel movies were dominating the bow-office, it was the kind of project that Hollywood had increasingly become reluctant to finance: expensive, unconventional… Read more
Fog Sculpture: How Fujiko Nakaya Redefines What a Sculpture Can Be
Try to picture a sculpture. You are probably imagining bronze, marble or steel — something solid, permanent, made to outlast the hand that shaped it. Now imagine a sculpture that dissolves while you are still looking at it. That is the paradox at the heart of the work of Fujiko Nakaya, the Japanese artist who Read more
When Formula 1 Becomes a Cultural Spectacle
Podium ceremony with fireworks at the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix (© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool) A race that begins before the start Twenty-two cars on the starting grid, engines roaring, ready to go as soon as the lights go out. Millions of spectators, in the stands or in front of their TVs, hearts pounding. A Read more
The Opaque Market of Contemporary Art: When Art Becomes an Asset
What happens when an artwork stops being valued primarily for what it is, and starts being valued for
what it might be worth tomorrow? Read more
From beauty to emotion: how art has changed its face
From beauty to emotion: how art has changed its face Art history is often seen as a succession of aesthetic movements. However, if we examine this evolution of art from a sociological and economic perspective, we realise that it represents a genuine transformation of its very function within society. Once the benchmark of beauty and Read more
How Can Museums Diversify Their Own-Source Revenues?
As public funding becomes increasingly constrained, cultural institutions are exploring new ways to finance their missions. Facade of the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie and the Géode in Paris One fact is clear: no “musée de France” is currently profitable, with the exception of the Musée Rodin, which is the only one to be Read more
Pop Art as Protest: How One Piece became Gen Z’s symbol of resistance
Since the mid-2020’s, the traditional political banners in street protests are surrounded by the drawing of a skull wearing a straw hat. This is the Jolly Roger – the ensign flown by a pirate ship – of Monkey D. Luffy, protagonist of Eiichiro Oda’s manga One Piece. What began in 1997 as a serialized manga Read more
H.R. Giger and Alien: How Biomechanical Art Redefined Science-Fiction Horror
The dark imagination of a Swiss artist When the film Alien by Ridley Scott came out in 1979, people came across a kind of creature entirely new to them. The creature’s long skull, mechanical look, skeletal structure and unpleasant biological features established a completely new conception of the science-fiction monster. The Swiss artist H.R. Giger Read more