Books
Among the Bliss Ninnies: Photos of Today’s Neo-Hippie Culture
In 1967, Chicago-based photojournalist Steve Schapiro became famous for chronicling The Hippie in the Haight.
Carey Dunne
In Brief
A Village Named Whitesboro Votes to Keep Its Insanely Racist Seal
Yay, democracy? Residents of the aptly named New York village of Whitesboro, in the town of Whitestown, voted Monday to keep their controversial village seal, which looks suspiciously like a drawing of a white guy strangling a Native American man.
In Brief
A Match Made in Hell: Mr. Brainwash Paints the Kardashians à la Renoir
Mr. Brainwash + Renoir + the Kardashians + flowery pastel hats + frilly Victorian dresses = "good art," declares Corey Gamble, boyfriend of Kris Jenner, in the latest episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
In Brief
David Bowie's "Lazarus" Video Is a Haunting Farewell
“Look up here, I’m in heaven/I’ve got scars that can’t be seen," sings a frail, blindfolded David Bowie from a hospital bed in his video for "Lazarus," released four days before his death on January 10.
Books
Before Google Earth: A Rare Cartographic Compendium From Renaissance Europe
Long before the ubiquity of Google Maps, these colorful engravings, produced between 1572 and 1617, comprised the world's most accurate and elaborate collection of urban cartography ever made.
Art
See Your DNA Visualized on a Colorful, Patterned Scarf
Since the advent of direct-to-consumer personal genome tests like 23andMe, it's simpler than ever to access information about your individual DNA sequence — that 0.1% of genetic coding that distinguishes you from the rest of humanity.
Art
A Mysterious Police Archive Reveals Mid-Century Mexico's Cult Criminal Heroes
In summer 2010, while poking around at a stall in Mexico City’s sprawling thrift market, Las Lagunillas, artist Stefan Ruiz discovered a batch of photographs from the city’s police archives.
In Brief
After PETA Lawsuit, Judge Rules Monkey Doesn’t Own the Copyright to His Selfie
In 2011, an Indonesian crested macaque monkey took a few grinning selfies with a camera found in his nature preserve. These "monkey selfies" would soon go viral.
Books
Gruesome and Surreal Surgical Illustrations from the 15th–19th Centuries
In 1811, nearly four decades before the advent of anesthesia, the English novelist Fanny Burney underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer.
News
Famous Painters Did Not Do Their Best Work While Grieving, Study Says
The trope of the tortured artist is a persistent one, dating back at least to Aristotle’s time.
In Brief
Design Your Own Marie Antoinette–Style Wig with the V&A's Addictive New Game
More so than the mulleted glam rockers of the 1980s or the beehive-wearing divas of the '60s, 18th-century Europeans were the queens of Big Hair.
In Brief
Facebook Censors Photo of Copenhagen's Beloved Little Mermaid Statue
For more than a century, Edvard Eriksen's bronze statue of "The Little Mermaid" has perched quietly on a waterside rock in Copenhagen, offending virtually no one.