Stories

Meet The Woman Who Brought Helvetica To America

Barbara Stauffacher Solomon brought the now-standard sans-serif font back from her studies in Basel in the early 1960s, when Americans were completely accustomed to traditional typefaces likes Times New Roman and Baskerville. She then became famous for her colorful designs, interior and exterior, for the new Sea Ranch community in California. - Artnet

Musician Opens Jewel Box 750-Seat Music Venue In LA

In a few weeks, this site will be Pacific Electric, a new 750-capacity music venue that Ben Lovett and his venue-developer firm TVG Hospitality have been converting for six years. It’s a small but ambitious entry into a Los Angeles venue landscape that’s recovering from fire and economic woes. - Los Angeles Times

The Aztec Dancers Of Silicon Valley

“Calpulli Ocelocihuatl (is) one of roughly half-a-dozen Aztec dance groups active in San Jose. Other Aztec dance groups – some whose histories stretch back more than half a century — are also thriving along the West Coast, from Washington state down to Sacramento, Oakland, Salinas and San Diego.” - The Mercury News (San Jose)

Why Dictionaries Still Matter

The book is formal and highly structured; it seems like something from another, vaguely bygone time. Still, dictionary editors have long paid close attention to how language is used and perused—in signs, in novels, in articles and pronouncements, and lately on the Web. - The Nation

Our Culture Of Insurance Is Breaking Down

What emerged in tandem with the growth of capitalism was a system in which insurance and investment were bound together until it became integral to the economic system, seen as essential in protecting investments. This is why today you can’t get a mortgage without it. - Aeon

The British Museum Employee Who Stole More Than 300 Prints

“Nigel Peverett, who worked at the museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings in the early 1970s, had remained a ‘frequent visitor’ until one day in April 1992, when he was caught.” He was prosecuted, hospitalized after a suicide attempt, and got a suspended sentence. Amazingly, he kept his employee pension. - The Independent (UK)

Russia Returns To Exhibiting At The Venice Biennale

Russia will host a pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, the world’s most important art event — the latest sign of the country’s will to end its pariah status in global cultural and sporting life amid the war in Ukraine. - The New York Times

How We Can Shape Our Dreams

Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI) uses external stimuli to connect with a dreamer and encourage them to focus on a particular topic or theme. - The Walrus

Exiled Belarussian Theatre Brings Dissident Work To Venice Biennale

The exhibition, titled “Official. Unofficial. Belarus.,” is a group show presenting work by Belarusian artists who works challenge the long-standing authoritative regime in their native country. - Artnet

How A Scholar Stumbled On Handwritten Notes By Galileo

Historian Ivan Malara spotted notes, annotations and a Bible verse handwritten by the young Galileo circa 1590 in an early printed copy of the Almagest, the second-century C.E. treatise on astronomy by Ptolemy which placed the Earth at the center of the universe. - Smithsonian Magazine

Protests Over Announcement DePaul University Will Close Its Museum

The move has prompted outrage from faculty and staff, including an open letter penned by art history and philosophy faculty members and signed by more than 2,000 community members that criticized the school’s decision as “short-sighted, wrong-headed, and grounded in some deeply disappointing principles of prioritization.” - Hyperallergic

Inside The Painstaking Restoration Of A Frank Lloyd Wright House

The Martin House’s resurfacing as a museum—with its insides restored, and its carriage house and conservatory rebuilt to original specifications—is nothing short of a “civic miracle." - Artnet

Colm Tóibín: Of Course AI Is A Threat To Creative Writing

"This idea no machine could ever replace my sensibility, which is so rich, varied, complex, and arising from experience and from history – that’s all rubbish. You can actually manufacture that." - The Conversation

Chicago Art Institute Expansion Threatens Iconic Louis Sullivan Room

The old Chicago Stock Exchange Building trading room — Adler & Sullivan’s gilded age space rescued from demolition 54 years ago — could be uprooted from its longtime Art Institute of Chicago home under preliminary expansion plans being considered by the museum. - Chicago Sun-Times

How Jonathan Groff Became A Now-Rare Thing: A Male Musical-Theater Superstar

Says director Michael Mayer, “He’s now established himself as someone who can open and sustain a show. And this at a time when star power is pretty much one of the only things that can guarantee viability for a musical.” - The New York Times

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