culture

Strauss’s ‘Blue Danube’ Waltz to Beamed Beyond Stars

Austrian composer Johann Strauss II's The Blue Danube has, for many people, been synonymous with space travel since it was used in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 sci-fi film classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. But the world-famous waltz will truly travel among the stars on Saturday, when the European Space Agency's (ESA) antenna will broadcast a live ...

'Citizen Kane': Orson Welles’ Thunderclap in the Sky of Hollywood

What’s being told here is no myth. Orson Welles really was 25 when he shot Citizen Kane. He had never directed a film before, but had already caused a sensation in 1938 with his radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds, so realistic it panicked thousands of Americans. A prodigy to some, a fraud to others, he fascinated everyone. The RKO studio, ...

Moroccan Women Stitch Their Way to Empowered Futures

In a small village on the coast of southern Morocco, women gather in a house to create collaborative works of textile art, and also earn a living. Several hunch over large canvases, embroidering their latest piece at the women-only workshop, in the village of 400 people. Some of their works have been shown internationally. "This project has ...

‘La Dolce Vita’ or Fellini’s Prophetic Vision

When it was released in 1960, La Dolce Vita caused a stir. The film disrupted cinema, unsettled Italian society, and changed how we understand what a film can express. Yet this masterpiece by Federico Fellini was not born out of serenity or control. It emerged from the tumult of late 1950s Rome, where nights seemed more intense than ...

African Art Reimagined at Met Museum’s Revamped Wing

From a delicate 13th-century clay figure to self-portraits by photographer Samuel Fosso, New York's Metropolitan Museum reopens its African art collection on Saturday, exploring the "complexity" of the past and looking to the present. After a four-year renovation with a $70 million price tag, the reopening of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing comes ...

Ana de Armas Strikes Back as Vengeful Ballerina Assassin

Ana de Armas steps into the spotlight alongside Keanu Reeves in Ballerina, the highly anticipated spin-off of the John Wick saga, hitting theaters this Wednesday. The 37-year-old actress plays Eve Maccaro, a ballerina-turned-deadly assassin raised and trained by the Ruska Roma, a shadowy organized crime syndicate. Eve is on a relentless quest to ...

Maria Grazia Chiuri Steps Down as Dior Women’s Artistic Director

Dior announced Thursday that Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri was stepping down as artistic director of the French fashion house's women's collection after almost a decade on the job. Dior has boomed since Chiuri took over in 2016, becoming the second-biggest brand in the stable of luxury labels owned by French powerhouse LVMH. Her ...

'Sex and the City' Stars Shine Bright After 50

Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte are back in heels and back in action for season three of And Just Like That, the follow-up to the iconic series Sex and the City. The show continues to make the case that “life doesn’t end after 50.” The emotional, professional, and romantic adventures of the three New Yorkers unfold across twelve new ...

Bérénice Between Two Languages: A Foreign Queen on the French Stage

The play Bérénice at the Lavoir Moderne Parisien is co-directed by Marie Benati and Sanae Assif. Love exists in exile across ninety intense minutes, during which Racine’s unyielding verses intertwine with their poetic Arabic translation. The cast—Sanae Assif, Ghina Daou, Edouard Dossetto, Leslie Gruel, Adam Karoutchi, and Majd ...

Eurovision 2025: 166 Million Viewers, Record Audiences, and Viral Peaks

The Eurovision Song Contest confirmed its place as the world's biggest live televised music event, with 166 million viewers in 37 countries watching the 2025 edition, organizers said Wednesday. Three million more people watched this year's 69th edition in Basel, Switzerland, than last year's contest in Malmo, Sweden, said the European ...

AI Is Not a Threat, It's The Future of Music, Says Spotify CEO Daniel Ek

Artificial intelligence will encourage more people to create music in the future and is not a threat to the industry, the co-founder and CEO of streaming giant Spotify said. Artists using machine-learning tools to produce music have given rise to concerns about whether AI-generated music  - even entirely fake artists - could one day replace ...

Shakespeare’s 'King Lear' Rocks Tehran with Beat and Passion

An Iranian director is bringing a jolt of energy to King Lear, staging the Shakespearean tragedy in Persian in Tehran with electrifying rock music and dazzling lights to draw in younger crowds. In Iran, artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, and playwrights constantly walk a fine line to avoid censorship of content considered inappropriate by ...