Art
A Prototype for a New System of Composting Human Remains
The Urban Death Project is building a structure at Washington State University where human remains will be transformed into soil.
Allison Meier
Allison C. Meier is a former staff writer for Hyperallergic. Originally from Oklahoma, she has been covering visual culture and overlooked history for print and online media since 2006. She moonlights as a cemetery tour guide.
Books
A Tour of Timekeeping in Rare Books
Through 86 volumes that span the 15th century to the present, the Grolier Club visualizes the development of modern timekeeping.
Art
Machines Triggered by the Ghost of Thomas Eakins
Artist Fernando Orellana is summoning the ghost of Thomas Eakins to Philadelphia through art machines and nude models.
Art
Revisiting America’s Dead in Posthumous Portraits from the 19th Century
The 19th century saw the rise of the posthumous portrait when, through photographs and paintings, people preserved the faces of departed loved ones.
Books
Death by Wallpaper: The Alluring Arsenic Colors that Poisoned the Victorian Age
Lucinda Hawksley's book Bitten by Witch Fever chronicles the rise of poisonous pigments in the 19th century through the burgeoning British wallpaper trade.
Art
A Lost 15th-Century Mural that Depicted Death's Indiscriminate Dance
In 1942, an Allied bombing in Lübeck, Germany, destroyed a famous 15th-century dance of death mural by artist Bernt Notke.
Art
A History of Photographing Ghosts
In 1860, William H. Mumler set up the first photography studio that claimed to capture the dead, and his success started a movement of spirit images.
Art
A Podcaster Crafts Site-Specific Audio Experiences for the Met
Over 10 episodes, Nate DiMeo of The Memory Palace podcast is exploring the historical narratives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Art
When a Drowned Woman's Face Became the Muse of Paris
The face of "L'Inconnue de la Seine" was a fashionable fixture of salons and studios, her enigmatic expression of a slight smile and closed eyes haunted by stories of her suicide.
Books
Vintage Cameras and the Imperfect Photographs They Take
David Ellwand has collected over 100 vintage cameras and published the photographs he’s taken with them in RetroPhoto: An Obsession.
Art
The Unsung Woman Artist Behind Your Tarot Cards
In 1909, Pamela Colman Smith collaborated with occultist A. E. Waite on the most popular tarot deck of the 20th century.
Art
From van Gogh to William Blake, the Met Spotlights a Masterpiece a Week
For the 100th anniversary of the Department of Drawings and Prints, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is selecting a different work to highlight each week.