5 h. ago The sailor reviving the lost art of canoe building in New Caledonia

Dozens of traditional boats made as part of a project to reconnect with culture and ‘start of conversation’ on ocean rightsIn October in Lifou island, a double-hulled canoe was pushed into the lagoon - a small act that marked a deeply symbolic moment.It was the first launch of a traditional canoe on Lifou in generations, an event that brought together the island’s three chiefly clans in a rare show of unity. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Imperial War Museum backs campaign to save "lost" art masterpiece

"We are distressed to hear that it is under immediate threat."

Events

2 w. ago Drink tea, tidy up and take action! Can advice from artists really improve your life?

As three self-help books chock full of arty wisdom are released, an art critic tests whether they can improve a seemingly lost cause: himYou’d think at this point I would have learned all the lessons I could from art. I have been a full-time, professional art critic for most of my adult life. I spend my days in galleries, surrounded by art, reading about it, absorbing it. I like art a lot, but I am also cynical about its supposed benefits beyond the merely aesthetic.But just as a new study by the Art Fund finds that art isn’t just good for our mental wellbeing but our physical health, three new books are hell-bent on proving that art is chock full of important life lessons too. Can art really teach us anything, can it change the world, can it make you a better person? We might as well put it to the test and see if it can improve the apparently unimprovable: me. Continue reading...

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3 w. ago Twisting tale of ‘Henry VIII’s lost dagger’ to be told in London exhibition

Twisting tale of ‘Henry VIII’s lost dagger’ to be told in London exhibition  The Art Newspaper

Politics

3 w. ago ‘We want people to get lost!’ Princeton’s new museum survives scandal to deliver a mazey art ambush

It is architect David Adjaye’s first major project since the allegations that rocked his firm – a bold museum for Princeton University with exhibits that sneak up on its students. But do the insides match the outsides?A cluster of serrated concrete bunkers has landed in the heart of Princeton University’s leafy campus in New Jersey, sending tremors through this twee Oxbridge fantasyland of gothic turrets and twiddly spires. The new addition’s brute, blank facade gives little away from the outside. Wrapped in rows of vertical grey ribs, contrasting with the arched windows of the surrounding stately stone halls, it has the look of a secure storage facility, keeping a beady eye out through a single cyclopean window.The vault-like quality is fitting. This bulky new bastion is a repository for the university’s astonishing collection of art and antiquities – a 117,000-strong haul spanning everything from Etruscan urns and medieval staircases to expressionist paintings and contemporary scu...

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4 w. ago ‘Am I doing this right?’: how to master the lost art of flirting

Making a romantic connection with a stranger in real life means levelling up one’s game. The good news is, it is possible to learn how to be a good flirtGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailFrom his birds-eye position in the booth, DJ Rakish has noticed a blue light disco effect on the dancefloor when he plays at “straightish” nightclubs. “If people aren’t already in groups, you definitely see the boys hanging around together and the girls hanging around together,” he says. There might be furtive glances here and there but, “particularly with younger people, game just doesn’t seem to exist at the moment”.Rakish is not alone in noticing a lack of casual flirting between strangers. Clinical psychologist and UCLA professor Dr Elizabeth Laugeson says: “There is some evidence that young adults today are engaging in less traditional dating behaviour, compared to previous generations.” Continue reading...

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