Robyn Lea When fashion people pour their creativity into their homes, the results can be tactile interiors that visitors may wish they could wear. “You walk into those spaces and it just blows your mind,” Australian photographer, author and director Robyn Lea tells the BBC. Lea’s latest photo book, This Creative Life – Fashion Designers at Home, published this month, features a catwalk of 18 homes, all owned by leading fashion creatives. The book derives from Lea’s curiosity about the drive to design. “I’m fascinated with the genesis of the creative spirit, and where that comes from – and why…
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Spoiler Alert: This article contains mild spoilers for the book and movie Annihilation. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book in just one sitting. I don’t have that kind of time anymore. I’ve grown accustomed to nibbling slowly at big books rather than swallowing shorter ones whole. But a few Sundays ago I was sick, and my family headed off to church without me. So I curled up on the couch and devoured a novel in one go (or rather, it devoured me): Annihilation, the first book in the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. I read…
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Christie’s Images A new exhibition charts how Claude Monet’s revolutionary, fog-shrouded visions of the Thames would “irreversibly alter how London saw itself”. Some artists help us perceive the world more precisely. A rare few go further. They look beyond looking. Theirs is a deeper reality, more felt than seen. Claude Monet is one of those. In three visits to London between 1899 and 1901, the French Impressionist, then approaching 60 years of age, embarked upon one of the most ambitious series of penetrating paintings ever undertaken by any artist – a project that is now the focus of a groundbreaking…
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Techies in the gaming industry have always been the guinea pigs of the technology world, and right now they are teeming with the buzz around blockchain technology.It is now believed to be the world’s leading software solution for digital assets.After finding its successful application in almost every field—including finance, agriculture, and geospatial areas—blockchain, the decentralized technology developed by an anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, is now making an entry into the gaming space.In fact, some believe that the gaming industry is the first to see the next generation using blockchain technology. The journey of the gaming industry Since ancient days games have…
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Alamy (Credit: Alamy) They emerged from 1960s Detroit with an explosive sound that paved the way for punk. As a new LP is released, those who knew them explain how they changed the shape of music forever. Detroit has a staggeringly rich history of music. From soul to techno via blues and garage rock, the US city has been a hub of innovation for the best part of the last century. While the sound of 1960s Detroit may have been dominated and epitomised by Motown, the era-defining soul label and production team, another band emerged in that decade who would…
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We’re heading into what certainly seems like the most fraught election in United States history—a sensation due in large part to the divisive and tribalistic nature of our politics. Indeed, the gulf between Left and Right, progressive and conservative, Democrat and Republican, has never felt more vast… or more dangerous. Back in June, we sent out a call for features that might help us all think through this intense tribalism. Starting on October 25, we’ll begin publishing them and consider a few questions, such as: What can video games and classic TV reveal about the pros and cons of tribalism?…
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Alamy Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 1984 blockbuster The Terminator has become synonymous with the dangers of superintelligent machines. But it “helps and hinders” our understanding of AI. In one episode of the HBO sitcom Silicon Valley, Thomas Middleditch (Richard Hendricks) is explaining his machine-learning platform Pied Piper to a focus group when one participant inevitably compares it to James Cameron’s 1984 film The Terminator. “No, no, no,” insists the exasperated Middleditch. “I can assure you that there is no Skynet type of situation here. No, Pied Piper will in no way become sentient and try to take over the world.”…
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Penguin Random House (Credit: Penguin Random House) Winston Churchill’s aristocratic daughter-in-law and confidante Pamela Harriman is considered “the greatest courtesan of her era”. Decades after her death, she still divides opinion – was she a smart power player, or “shameless” and “repellent”? You could call her by her six names: Pamela Beryl Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman – a British aristocrat who ended up a Washington power player and the US ambassador to France, having touched many famous lives in 20th-Century politics and culture. When she was just 20, her father-in-law Winston Churchill engaged her as “his most willing and committed…
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Emmanuel Lafont Disney’s stage version of their hit film is an unmatched global phenomenon. Twenty-seven years on from its premiere, its director discusses why it was a big risk that paid off 10 billion-fold. The Lion King musical is a beast of a show – captivating US audiences since 1997, it is the highest-grossing production of all time, in theatre or in film, taking over $10 billion (£7.68 billion) worldwide. It’s currently celebrating 25 years in the West End, hits 27 years on Broadway next month, and has been staged all around the world – from South Africa to South…
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Getty Images (Credit: Getty Images) The late muse of director John Waters, Divine delighted in inspiring outrage and disgust on and off screen. However from The Little Mermaid to Chappell Roan, he has left a big impression on popular culture Divine was a drag queen like no other. In the 1970s and 1980s, long before RuPaul’s Drag Race brought the art form into the mainstream, this outrageous actor, singer and cultural disruptor was blazing a trail that remains highly influential today. “We’ve seen Divine’s work bleed into fashion, music and film, particularly through the trashy aesthetic he pioneered with director…