Culture

Between beer gardens and picnics: Climate Culture Care at the Ashmolean

When I returned to Oxford this term, just as England teased us with the sixth heat-wave of the year, I found myself at a loose end. With the deadline for two vacation essays still far in the distance, the sun lit up the sign for Soma Surovi Jannat’s Ashmolean Now exhibition, Climate Culture Care.

“What is a good life?”: The Standard of Living in review 

“What is a good life?” This axiological question, asked earnestly in the opening lines of James Graham’s The Standard of Living – playing at Theatre Royal Haymarket until December 12 – is often overlooked by the fractured and hyper-specialised discipline of economics.

Diverse voices: ‘Inshallah, Madonna, Inshallah’ by Miljenko Jergović 

‘When he created Earth and these lands upon it, when he divided people into...

Art as protest on university campuses

CW: rape. This week, Cornell University has made headlines as prosecutors reopened an investigation into...

Thinking Through The Flesh

A review of Lidia Yuknavitch's new memoir, The Chronology of Water.

The Consolation of ‘Constellations’

A review of Sinéad Gleeson's new memoir.

The Rise and Fall of Artistic Movements

The mutability of movements is an inevitability. It’s the constantly self-renewing process within art that ensures it can continue to fulfil its purpose of...

Interview: Cindy Gallop

Don’t Block Porn: Disrupt It

Is sadness ‘all Greek’ to you? – Greek tragedy in the modern day

Can Greek tragedies be staged for a modern audience?

Review: Heart of Darkness at York Theatre Royal

Can we retell Conrad’s disturbing critique of exploitation in colonial times without falling prey to racism which even the author couldn’t avoid?

Review: Good Dog – ‘reflects an experience that many can relate to’

Arinzé Kene’s Good Dog portrays the harsh reality of growing up in inner-city London as a young black man

Unstoppable and unassailable: Sean Scully is an artistic force of nature

Self-mythologising, commercially driven, and unabashedly 21st-century, Sean Scully drives his own narrative of artistic success with brazen solipsism.

‘If We Were Villains’: Caught in long shadow of ‘The Secret History’

Does M.L Rio's debut novel prioritise style over substance?

Lady Gaga is not a receptacle for your pain

It's been almost two years since the release of Chris Moukarbel's documentary about the pop icon super-star Lady Gaga, a.k.a. Stefani Germanotta. Gaga: Five...

Reflective Awakenings

  The Victorian period was one defined by immense social change - especially in regards to women’s position in society. Throughout the century, increasing debate...

The Magic of Madeline Miller’s ‘Circe’

An exploration of the way Madeline Miller finds beauty in sadness.

Review: Edward II – ‘fantastic at handling themes of homosexuality and power’

The tender exploration of sexuality in Bagnall's production makes Marlowe's sixteenth century play still relevant for a modern audience

Van Gogh and Britain

Exploring Van Gogh's fascination with British culture and Dickens

Tracey Emin’s A Fortnight of Tears: an unflinching study of the haunting power of trauma

The body is placed centre stage in an exhibition that flits between the violence of both birth and death.

BBC Three’s Fleabag

“I’d just like my tits to be that much bigger — does that make me a terrible feminist?” Such forthright, fourth wall busting, hilarious, and...

Jordan Peele’s new horror film ‘Us’

The idiom, “To be afraid of one’s own shadow,” normally forms part of an insult, a derogatory phrase denoting child-like cowardice. The characters of...

Hartnell’s ‘Bodies’: Hugely readable

A review of Medieval Bodies by Jack Hartnell (Wellcome Collection, 2019, 352 pages)

Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution: The Sound of Protest Art

Tracy Chapman’s appearance at the 1988 Nelson Mandela tribute concert transformed her career. The political turmoil surrounding Apartheid was transposed onto Chapman’s performance; songs...

Mackintosh at the Liverpool Walker

A working-class liberator of the arts

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