Arts + Culture

Adrian Shaughnessy|Essays

Identity Politics

On the eve of a historic vote for independence DO’s resident Scot explains his position

John Foster|Accidental Mysteries

Rabanus Maurus: Poems of the Cross

Mathematical and geometric visual poems from a Benedictine abbot.

Laura Tarrish|Essays

Hunter | Gatherer: The House

A house may not always be a home but it is an iconic shape.

Adam Harrison Levy|Essays

An Interview with Picasso

On a Saturday morning in 1945 a young American soldier named Jerome Seckler climbed three flights of stairs to Pablo Picasso’s studio with the goal of being enlightened.

Rick Poynor|Essays

Tracking the Locations of J.G. Ballard’s Super-Cannes

A photo-essay on the futuristic marina and business park in the south of France that inspired Ballard’s disquieting fantasy about corporate crime

Jessica Helfand|Critique

To Thine Own Selfie Be True

Photographing oneself has become a singular pastime, an instantly rewarding yet indisputably time-sucking activity poised somewhere between narcotic and sport.

John Foster|Accidental Mysteries

Book Review: The True Gospel Preached Here

Margaret’s Grocery: part grocery, part church. And the subject of a new photo documentary book.

Observed|Projects

Digital Ethereal

Luis Hernan’s Invisible Landscape of Wireless Networks

Steven Heller|Essays

Confessions of a Frustrated Newsprint Lover

I’ve held on devotedly to newsprint as long as humanly possible but I recently reached the point where my loyalty gave way to expedience.

Adrian Shaughnessy|Essays

On Bias, Tolerance — and Taste

The unconscious mind responds with Darwinian brutality to anyone not “like us”.

Rob Walker|Essays

The Art of Redaction

A batch of visually "redacted" photos, courtesy of the FBI.

Sara Jamshidi|Essays

Black Hand: Iranian Banksy?

Black Hand is one of the numerous underground artists in Iran and his exhibition is neither the first nor the last underground exhibition.