arts-and-culture20.865 min read
Clarissa in Lagos: Woolf Reimagined by the Esiris at Cannes
10 days ago•Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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5.04 min•12 days ago
Obsession: A stylish, viciously funny warning about getting what you wish for
Curry Barker's Obsession turns a simple unrequited crush into a darkly comic horror tale, using a magical trinket to grant wishes with gruesome consequences. Inde Navarrette delivers a standout, unsettling performance as Nikki, while the film's lean production, sharp sound design, and sly humor elevate it above many studio efforts. It's a stylish indie debut that doubles as a cautionary tale about what happens when desire runs unchecked and lore is kept minimal.
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Rethinking the Great American Songwriter
Israel Daramola critiques the NYT's list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters (and a runner-up list), arguing that such rankings are engagement-driven and often miss the deeper question of what truly makes a great songwriter, inviting readers to rethink the criteria beyond fame or headline-worthy controversy.
Pulitzers Spotlight Angel Down and Liberation as Genre-Bending and Feminist Milestones
Pulitzer Prize winners span genres this year, with Daniel Kraus’s Angel Down—a WWI narrative told in a single sentence—and Bess Wohl’s Liberation, a feminist memory play, among awards across history, biography, memoir, general nonfiction, poetry and music, including Jill Lepore’s We the People and Amanda Vaill’s Pride and Pleasure.
Clothes as Canvas: The Met’s Costume Art Exhibition Bridges Fashion and Fine Art
The Met’s new Costume Art exhibition treats fashion as fine art by placing garments alongside artworks and using reflective, named mannequins to invite visitors to see themselves in the clothes. Organized around a typology of bodies—from Naked & Nude to Classical, Abstract, and Reclaimed—the show explores how dress shapes and is shaped by the human form, including diverse, pregnant, corpulent, and disabled bodies, while connecting fashion history to broader art contexts. It unfolds across the Met’s new Condé Nast Galleries, aiming to democratize aesthetics and celebrate the body as a shared artistic medium rather than a mere display of clothing.
Eye to Eye at a Height-Equalizing Party
An Oakland artist hosted a “same-height” party using custom platform footwear to let guests stand eye to eye with the tallest participant (6'5"), exploring balance, perception, and social ease. The months-long build focused on precise measurements and safety (walking sticks, flat venue), and attendees reported easier conversations and a sense of belonging, with the shoes donated afterward and a guide published to help others recreate the concept.
Flower Mart's near-death and comeback: Baltimore's beloved festival survives unrest and reform
Baltimore’s Flower Mart, a century-old Mount Vernon festival started by the Women’s Civic League, nearly collapsed in the 1970s after violent unrest and repeated organizational turmoil, including a 1971 riot and venue shifts. Civic leaders helped revive it, moving venues and retooling management, with the festival returning to Mount Vernon in 1981 and later being sustained by nonprofit stewardship, ensuring the beloved city celebration endures today.
Bezos’s Met Gala Moment: Wealth, Fashion, and Controversy on One Night
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez headline the Met Gala as sponsors and honorary chairs amid a global debate over billionaire wealth and workers’ rights. The gala remains the Met’s landmark fundraiser for the Costume Institute, with sky‑high ticket prices and new exhibitions, while critics point to Amazon labor issues and widening inequality. Protests and a Ball Without Billionaires will accompany the event, highlighting tensions between philanthropy and labor activism as fashion’s premier charity event presses on.
George Lucas-Curated Debut Exhibitions Unveiled by Lucas Museum
Los Angeles’s Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has announced its inaugural exhibitions curated by George Lucas, opening Sept. 22, 2026. The program spans Americana and the human condition across painting, photography, murals, illustration, comics, and cinema, featuring works by Benton, Rockwell, Parks, Lange, Rivera, and items from the Lucas Archives, alongside pieces from Lucas’s 40,000‑piece collection. The 11-acre Exposition Park campus, designed by Ma Yansong, will house 300,000 square feet of galleries, theaters, a library, and more.
Rocky Statue Moves Inside as Museum Reframes Its Legend
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is bringing the Rocky Balboa statue indoors for a new exhibition, Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments, framing the fictional hero within a long arc of boxing imagery and Philadelphia identity. After decades of tension, the museum embraces the statue as part of public art and cultural history; it will move inside to a permanent high-spot after the show closes, while a Joe Frazier statue will replace it on the steps and the outside statue remains on loan from Stallone.
Nature’s Orchestra: Copeland Turns Animal Voices into a Concerto
60 Minutes profiles Stewart Copeland and naturalist Martyn Stewart as they transform thousands of animal recordings into a musical album, Wild Concerto, hoping to preserve nature’s sounds and raise awareness about endangered species.
Wonderland in Fells Point aims to be Baltimore’s secret nightlife gem
Wonderland, a new Fells Point lounge with a bold '70s-glam vibe and a forthcoming second-floor nightclub, opened in April to word-of-mouth buzz. Created by Bryan Burkert and Emmy-nominated lighting designer Scott Chmielewski, it features immersive visuals and a high-end sound system, with the first-floor lounge open Thu-Sat and a larger dance floor on the way, aiming to offer Baltimore a dress-up, art-forward nightlife experience—Burkert's swan song in the city.