The problems of informal payments and freeports mean that "Western collectors are buying without fear of much reprisal, despite the already present provisions in international law that prohibit pillaging and include it as a war crime." - NPR
Half of Laura Fernandez's family is Ukrainian, so when the then-Stanislavsky Theatre first soloist heard her Russian peers describe "the destruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as a 'liberation,'" she knew she had to go. - The Guardian (UK)
Some physicists bat it around, with the help of art: "We meet up, sometimes over a drink, to exchange ideas and share our latest musings in cosmology or molecular biology. We have often stayed up late talking while listening to our favourite jazz or flamenco musicians." - New Scientist
Fans of the sport and the arts might ask, "Why not?" but also, you know, why? "'It’s like the best sport ever,' said Jonas Wood, who has become one of the world’s most sought-after painters while making basketball a recurring theme in his work." - The New York Times
"Amid a labor battle, a pandemic that surged again and again, and a war, it was as if the real drama was in simply getting the doors open. Once that was achieved, what followed ... was like icing on the cake." - The New York Times
The artist "created them for Maya Ruiz-Picasso when she was aged between five and seven. On some pages, the little girl made impressive attempts to imitate the master. She also graded her father’s work, scribbling the number '10' on a circus scene, to show her approval." - The Observer (UK)
"Legions of Stranger Things viewers have been recently indoctrinated into a secular belief system that has already transformed millions of lives. The text that led them there? Kate Bush’s 1985 song 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God).'" But there's more. - Los Angeles Times
Sure, gladiators, but: "The recent restoration of a 17th-century wall painting of ancient Jerusalem on one of the Colosseum’s main interior arches is shedding new light on another centuries-old use of the Roman landmark: as a sacred site for Christian worship." - The New York Times
Amid an absolute avalanche of online criticism, the SMH has activists shaking their heads. "The 42-year-old Australian actress, who is known for roles in Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect among others, said it was a 'very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace.'" - BBC
Theaster Gates' design for the Serpentine Pavilion 2022 reveals that there's slavery behind many contemporary building materials, and buildings: "To the greatest extent possible, Black Chapel was built without any materials produced by slave labor." - Fast Company
As Lansbury wins and Chita Rivera is in the audience, we see how "the theater, for all its physical hardships, can provide actors with pretty good third or fourth acts to their careers." (Of course, for some of the Tonys winners, this is a first act.) - The New York Times
The Cosquer cave is "an underground grotto off the coast of Marseille that was once home to more than 500 works of prehistoric art." Now 150 remain, and climate change is rapidly destroying access (and the paintings themselves). But a new museum gives everyone access. - Artnet
Elizabeth Shaw had quite a life: "From a childhood living above the Ulster Bank in Belfast's York Street, via the London Blitz to four decades spent as an artist in communist East Germany, hers is a remarkable 20th century life story." - BBC
