Tag Archives: Reviews

Arts & Culture: Art Review Magazine – May 2023 Issue

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ArtReview (May 2023 Issue) – Featuring Frida Orupabo, Isaac Julien, Sarah Pierce, Kahlil Robert Irving and Christina Quarles; columns on faltering art markets and questions of what art should do for a society; and much more

Aki Sasamoto wins Calder Prize 2023

Aki Sasamoto, Yield Point, 2017, installation view. Image: Jason Mandella

The winner receives $50k, a three-month residency at Atelier Calder, and the placement of works in a public collection

Have We Reached the Endpoint of Revivalism?

Cao Fei, MatryoshkaVerse, 2022. Double Channel HD video, 16:4.5, color with sound, 37min 38sec © Cao Fei, 2023. Courtesy the artist, Vitamin Creative Space and Sprüth Magers

Art has long looked to the recent past for inspiration, but might the return of post-Internet art just be too much, too soon?

Frida Orupabo, on the cover of ArtReview May 2023, mines images sourced from colonial archives, film, fashion and family albums to create collages that carve representation and empowerment from stereotype. Her visual references, ranging from clips of singers like Nina Simone and Billie Holiday, to the art of Carrie Mae Weems and Kara Walker, are incorporated into multilayered works, some pinned with metal tacks to look like the kind of vintage paper doll whose appendages are manipulable. The sense of ‘reclaiming the power to choose how a woman’s body, and more specifically Black female sexuality, is presented and received’, writes Fi Churchman, ‘is a central theme of Orupabo’s work’. 

May 2023 Exhibition Views: ‘Stephan Hostettler Solo’ In Bern, Switzerland

VernissageTV (May 8, 2023) – The opening reception of the Swiss artist Stephan Hostettler. Stephan Hostettler was born in 1988 in Unterseen, Switzerland.

After training as a metalworker, he attended the preliminary design course in Bern and graduated from the specialist class for graphics in Biel. He presented his works for the first time in 2019 at the Jungkunst exhibition in Winterthur. Hostettler lives and works in Bern.

“At its core, my work is about how we humans live or could live in this world. It offers a humorous but critical perspective on our actions as a society and aims to trigger discussions that contribute to a positive development. I wish for a world in which we treat each other with respect, we live with nature, take care of it and in which no one has to live in fear.”

Stephan Hostettler Solo Exhibition in Bern (Switzerland). Vernissage, May 6, 2023.

Food: How The Michelin Guide Rates Restaurants

CBS Sunday Morning (May 7, 2023) – First published in France in 1900, The Michelin Guide has been awarding stars to restaurants for about 100 years. Today, it rates the work of chefs around the world, including in the United States.

Correspondent Kelefa Sanneh talks with an anonymous Michelin restaurant inspector, and with chefs at a restaurant with a coveted Michelin star.

The New York Times Book Review- Sunday May 7, 2023

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW – MAY 7, 2023

Face to Face With Culture’s ‘Monsters’

An illustration of a grid of different faces of monsters, with the labels “polymath,” “genius,” “Nobel laureate,” “virtuoso,” “Pulitzer Prize winner,” “artist’s artist,” “best painter ever,” “visionary” and “comedy legend.”

Claire Dederer’s deft and searching book surfaces a “fan’s dilemma” over such figures as Vladimir Nabokov, Woody Allen, Willa Cather and Roman Polanski.


By Alexandra Jacobs

Expanding on a popular essay published in The Paris Review a month after the exposure of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual predation, “Monsters” sustains an essayistic, sometimes aphoristic tone throughout 250-odd pages.

Dark Shadows, Dark Times

Welcome to three novels set in locales where life is exceedingly difficult.

This is an illustration in shades of red, white and blue, of two women pressing their hands against a wall and peering at each other as if through a mirror.

By Alida Becker

AT THE HOUR BETWEEN DOG AND WOLF by Tara Ison

The title comes from a French expression for twilight. Sure enough, her novel sends us to the dusk that borders the familiar and the wild, the known and the unknown. It’s where our beliefs and suspicions can cast dark shadows over our lives. And, of course, the lives of others.

One Man’s Foray Into the Heartland of the Far Right

Alarmed by the country’s political divisions, Jeff Sharlet embarked on an anguished quest to understand the rise of antidemocratic extremism. In “The Undertow,” he documents his findings.

In this color photo, a group of men and women, including a man holding a baby, an older woman in glasses, and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, stand alongside what appears to be the wall of a red barn, pledging allegiance to the American flag. Several people in the group hold their right hands over their hearts as they make the pledge.

By Joseph O’Neill

THE UNDERTOW: Scenes From a Slow Civil War, by Jeff Sharlet


The premise of “The Undertow,” Jeff Sharlet’s anguished new book of reportage, is that the United States is “coming apart.” The disintegration is political. It involves the rise of the autocratically inclined Donald Trump; the attempt by members of the Republican Party to overthrow the election of Joe Biden in January 2021; and, during the Biden presidency, the overturning by the Supreme Court of Roe v Wade.

Finance Preview: Barron’s Magazine – May 8, 2023

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BARRON’S MAGAZINE – MAY 8, 2023 ISSUE

Culture Wars Are Hitting Companies. How They’re Fighting Back.

Culture Wars Are Hitting Companies. How They're Fighting Back.

Bud Light is the latest casualty in a battle over whether companies are embracing too many progressive goals on everything from gender identity to climate change. What’s at stake as companies fight back.

Thinking of Buying Bank Stocks? You’ll Need a Strong Stomach.

Thinking of Buying Bank Stocks? You’ll Need a Strong Stomach.

No one wants to buy bank stocks ahead of a recession, says UBS analyst Erika Najarian.

Weight-Loss Drugs Will Be Blockbusters. Here’s the Stock to Buy.

Weight-Loss Drugs Will Be Blockbusters. Here’s the Stock to Buy.

Everyone is talking about Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic. Now, the drugs are poised to go from conversation starters to profit makers.

Biofuel Stocks Are Sputtering. They Could Get a Jump Start.

Biofuel Stocks Are Sputtering. They Could Get a Jump Start.

An industry reckoning over carbon credits could refresh the market for renewables derived from things such as cooking oil and cow manure. These beaten-down stocks that could get a lift once headwinds subside.

June 2023 Cover: National Geographic Traveller UK

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National Geographic Traveller Magazine (June 2023). The latest issue features Canada’s greatest outdoor adventures, summer guides to Oslo and Lisbon, the quetzals and rivers of Costa Rica, and explores the Silk Road route of Central Asia.

Breaking bread: dining with sheep farmers in the Faroe Islands

Óli and Brim the dog, on the coast close to Velbastaður.
Óli and Brim the dog, on the coast close to Velbastaður.

​On their farm in the Faroe Islands, where the sheep roam the hillsides and the chickens put themselves to bed, Óli and Anna Rubeksen dish up a feast of local ingredients ranging from rhubarb to lamb hearts.

Also inside this issue:

Oman: A rich history and striking landscapes, from the Arabian coast to the Hajar Mountains.
Costa Rica: Explore Central America’s wildest corners, where quetzals hide and rivers lead to jungle lodges.
Laos: In a corner of this Southeast Asian country, life is shaped by the flow of the Mekong River.
Lisbon: Tram rides, street art and al fresco meals: Portugal’s lively capital is best explored outdoors.
Oslo: Summer is the perfect time to discover Norway’s flourishing premier city.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Discover this Balkan country’s turbulent history, wild nature and surprising food scene.
Barbados: Inventive food and drinks projects are redefining the Caribbean island’s culinary landscape.
Paris: The French capital beckons with accommodation options to suit every pocket.

Plus, it’s the anniversary of Vienna’s World Fair; new exhibitions in London; a taste of Corfu; archaeology and Indiana Jones in Syracuse; Manila’s design-led hotels; family trips to the UK seaside; sand, sherry and Spanish history in Cádiz; a Cornish escape to Falmouth; great reads on British nature; and packing essentials.

Research Preview: Science Magazine – May 5, 2023

Current Issue Cover

Science Magazine – May 5, 2023 issue: The immune system protects us from cancer and infection using a powerful armamentarium that is kept in check by an array of regulatory processes. When they fail, the immune system can start attacking the host in a process known as autoimmunity. This special issue highlights recent advances in our understanding of autoimmune diseases and the regulation of immune tolerance. See the special section beginning on page 468.

When a delicate balancing act goes wrong

Antibodies that target self-antigens are an important component of certain autoimmune diseases and are sometimes used as a clinical marker for these syndromes. ILLUSTRATION: STEPHAN SCHMITZ/FOLIOART

A cardinal feature of the immune system is its ability to distinguish self from nonself. Although many early immunologists thought that its powerful defenses could rarely, if ever, be turned against the host, pioneering research on autoimmune diseases beginning in the early 1900s has documented a different reality. More than 80 different autoimmune disorders have now been described that may affect up to 5% of the population.

Russia tensions keep Arctic research on ice

Collaboration stifled as many scientists look to establish fieldwork elsewhere

Twist of fate

A physician-scientist has probed Parkinson’s disease for more than 30 years. Now, he has it

Previews: The Economist Magazine – May 6, 2023

Much of the Earth remains unexplored | The Economist

The Economist – May 6, 2023 issue:

Governments are living in a fiscal fantasyland

The world over, they are failing to confront the dire state of their finances

If Turkey sacks its strongman, democrats everywhere should take heart

After 20 years of increasingly autocratic rule, Recep Tayyip Erdogan risks eviction by voters

Time to engage (very carefully) with the Taliban

Isolating the mullahs is not working. The West needs a more constructive approach

Airline Travel: Legacy Vs Low-Cost Carriers (WSJ)

Wall Street Journal (May 3, 2023) – United Airlines flies 988 routes globally with around 30,000 departures every week. How do airlines choose where to fly when they have so many flights every week?

Video timeline: 0:00 Meet Patrick Quayle, a global network planning executive 0:27 The hub-and-spoke network structure 2:50 The linear route system, point-to-point 4:45 When to update route networks

It turns out legacy airlines like American and Delta and low-cost airlines like Southwest and Spirit use different models when planning their route networks. WSJ asked United’s global network planning expert to explain how airlines plan and manage their routes.

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – May 4, 2023

Volume 617 Issue 7959

nature Magazine – May 4, 2023 issue: As stars evolve, they expand and so will engulf planets in close orbit around them. This planetary catastrophe is expected to generate powerful luminous ejections of mass from the star, although this has not been observed directly.

Is the world ready for ChatGPT therapists?

The current landscape of mobile mental-health apps is the result of a 70-year search to automate therapy. Now, advanced AIs pose fresh ethical questions.

Cartoon of a mobile phone as a psychotherapist surrounded by several other mobile-phone patients
Illustration by Fabio Buonocore

Since 2015, Koko, a mobile mental-health app, has tried to provide crowdsourced support for people in need. Text the app to say that you’re feeling guilty about a work issue, and an empathetic response will come through in a few minutes — clumsy perhaps, but unmistakably human — to suggest some positive coping strategies.

Fish on dry land hint at why we blink

Close up of an Indian mudskipper (Periophthalmodon septemradiatus) blinking on land.
Mudskippers blink by retracting their eyes into the heads, helping them to moisten their corneas. Credit: Brett R. Aiello

Insights from mudskippers suggest that blinking is an adaptation to emerging from the sea.