Books
How Ghosts Became Transparent, and Other Spectral Evolutions
The Ghost: A Cultural History by Susan Owens explores the evolution of the ghost in British art and literature, from Hamlet's father to Marley's ghost.
Allison Meier
News
The Wellcome Collection Acquires a Dignified Portrait of a 17th-Century Bearded Woman
The Wellcome Collection in London acquired a 17th-century oil painting of Barbara van Beck, who had a rare genetic condition causing excessive hair growth on her body.
Art
The Artist Who Preserved the Vanishing Technology of Knots
Thou Shalt Knot at the New Bedford Whaling Museum celebrates the legacy of Clifford W. Ashley, artist and author of the most influential book on knots.
Performance
A Performance Digs Into the Family History on a Found 1950s Wire Recorder
Say Something Bunny! is a live documentary that excavates the found audio of a 1950s family, and considers what makes these mundane moments compelling.
Art
Christmas Cheer from a Lean Year: The 1950 Holiday Cards of Langston Hughes
The Beinecke Library at Yale University is exhibiting Hughes's typewritten 1950 Christmas postcards, along with holiday cards he received from friends.
Art
A Puzzle Game Inspired by the Mathematics of Islamic Art
Engare by Iranian developer Mahdi Bahrami is a game of geometry and motion, inspired the tessellations that often adorn Islamic art and architecture.
Art
The Eccentric Architecture of Queens in Photographs
All the Queens Houses is a photographic survey by Rafael Herrin-Ferri that explores the idiosyncratic architecture of NYC's most diverse borough.
Art
Tracing the Life and Times of Self-Taught Artist Bill Traylor in a Documentary
The documentary film Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts is crowdfunding on Kickstarter to premiere alongside next year's Smithsonian retrospective on the self-taught artist.
Art
The Unbuilt Futuristic Architecture of New York City
Never Built New York at the Queens Museum explores almost two centuries of unrealized architecture through blueprints, drawings, a panorama, and a bouncy castle.
Books
Drug Culture: Picturing Pharmaceuticals Since 1850
PhotoRx: Pharmacy in Photography Since 1850 explores a pharmaceutical company's collection of art on drugs.
Art
How Medieval Manuscript Makers Experimented with Graphic Design
Designing English: Graphics on the Medieval Page at the University of Oxford's Bodleian Libraries considers how early English manuscripts approached graphic design.
Art
Skeleton of 18th-Century Philosopher Jeremy Bentham Will Travel to the Metropolitan Museum
The auto-icon of 18th-century philosopher Jeremy Bentham will travel from London to New York for an exhibition at the Met Breuer that explores the human body.