Culture & Religion

The Global Africa Project sheds light on design innovators at the forefront of Africa’s design movement, which is being integrated (co-opted?) into the marketing of Western goods.

Thanks to a new crop of Chinese design firms, the phrase “Made in China” may soon come to stand for design, creativity and innovation. 

Today, most men in their 20s hang out in a novel sort of limbo, a hybrid state of semi-hormonal adolescence and responsible self-reliance: It doesn’t bring out the best in men.

When the actor and director Dennis Hopper died last year, it sparked renewed interest in his ‘other’ career—a chronicler of Sixties America with a stunning collection of photographs.

The true worth of a film is no longer decided by the crowd that assembles in an American city. It is decided by youngsters in countries such as Russia, China and Brazil.

Want to know how bad things are in Hollywood right now — how stifling and airless and cautious the atmosphere, how little nourishment or encouragement a good new idea receives?

By the fall of 1861, Walt Whitman had come to believe he needed to do something for the war effort. His first act was to contribute a patriotic broadside in verse.

Cultural impresario and literary and software agent John Brockman has spent the last half century merging art and science to create what he calls the Third Culture.

Egyptians take note: The months after a revolution can be more dangerous than the revolution itself, warns Anne Applebaum.

When the telephone was invented, there were similar fears that human interaction would suffer, but neither it, nor the internet, changes fundamentally human traits like love and friendship.

What happens when a Hollywood heartthrob and the art world collide? Berlin is about to find out as it plays host to James Franco’s first ever commercial gallery show.

The director of An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for “Superman” reflects on how life’s path has a strange and wonderful way of catching up with us—no matter where we go.

Yoga is not as old as you think…nor very Hindu either. There is telling evidence to debunk this nationalistic myth.

If you know the rules of good taste, pervert them by embracing fashions that are considered passé—and then charge lots of money to buy them.

Women have a stronger genetic predisposition to help other people compared with men, according to a study that has found a link between genes and the tendency to be “nice”.

Humans value love and friendship that aren’t just forged by family ties or sexual attraction. Now researchers have determined that such friendships exist among some animals.

Reality is discouraging, unproductive, disconnected, and broken in about a dozen other ways. Meanwhile, electronic games are already “fulfilling genuine human needs.”

What happens to those chimps? Major ad agencies have pledged not to use great apes. Why won’t CareerBuilder?

This incredible culture that seemed to be able to control the senses in a way through the architecture, through the features of Chavín, and these Strombus shell trumpets.

“I was in a cult for thirty-four years. Everyone else could see it. I don’t know why I couldn’t.”rnIn this profile, film director Paul Haggis talks about his departure from Scientology.

For some, a list of 1001 books you “must” read is no mere suggestion. Jeremy Dauber explains his addiction to lists and why he thinks they are a cultural boon.

Sports, and most importantly talking about sports, is the only activity just about all Americans share regardless of age, education, or wealth. It is what unites Wall Street and Main Street.

Whether you’re a fan or not, the massive outpouring of grief this week in response to the news that minimalist rock band the White Stripes were to split up might seem puzzling.

Is our psychological capacity the “one big thing” that could help us finally understand what it means to be human? Could it tell us something about how we find meaning in the universe?

Why do people play the lottery? On the one hand, the answer is obvious enough: We’re happy to spend $3 for approximately 15 seconds of irrational hope.

Harvey Weinstein lost his beloved Miramax studio, millions of dollars, and his passion for filmmaking. How Hollywood’s last true impresario returned in triumph, in time for Oscar season.

The Google Art Project offers a new form of collaboration that allows museums to take extraordinary art works beyond their individual homes to create the first global art collection.

The arts start the conversation. When the world is saved—and it really does require saving—the door will be opened through the arts and then the politicians. Then the policies will follow.

“The South was kissed by God.” This was what a woman I work with told me last week while extolling the geographic virtues of the South. It wasn’t the just […]

Pundits aren’t solely to blame for the vitriol. They’re just giving us what we want. To change our discourse we have to be masters, not slaves, to the cycle.rnrn