Five reasons Andy Warhol is so popular right now
Andy Warhol, like an image on one of his silkscreens, is multiplying. Suddenly, he is everywhere: in documentary series (The Andy Warhol Diaries on Netflix and Andy Warhol’s America on the BBC), in plays (The Collaboration at the Young Vic…
Six must-see summer exhibitions – reviewed by our experts
Looking for something to do this Summer? Our experts have gone to some of the best exhibitions around the UK and given us their take on it. From retrospectives of painter Peter Howson’s work in Edinburgh and filmmaker Brian Desmond…
Prison food: what we learned from organising food-themed art workshops for women prisoners
There are two common misconceptions about food in British prisons: that it is either not fit for human consumption, or too luxurious to be enjoyed by those in prison. The artworks produced by the women prisoners in our project broke…
Nothing is not nothing: how a scientist set out to sing the story of our origins
At the close of the 18th century, the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn wrote one of his masterpieces: an oratorio – a large concert piece for orchestra, choir and solo singers – entitled The Creation, with a libretto based on the…
Every science lab should have an artist on the team – here’s why
I’ve been conducting scientific research with experts who specialise in advanced microscopy at Nottingham University for more than ten years. But I’m not a scientist – I’m an artist and lecturer in illustration. Despite their importance in education and society,…
Marina Abramović retrospective celebrates the grand dame of performance art – but questions the genre’s future
In 1974, Marina Abramović performed a career-defining work at a small experimental gallery in Naples, Italy. The Serbian artist stood naked next to a table on which she had arranged 72 objects associated with pleasure and pain. They included a…
Friday essay: reclaiming artist-musician Anita Lane from the ‘despised’ label of muse
When I heard Anita Lane had died aged 61 in April 2021, a memory flashed up: I’m sitting beside her at the foot of a bed in the mid-1980s, and she turns to me to say how much my hair…
AI art is everywhere right now. Even experts don’t know what it will mean
An art prize at the Colorado State Fair was awarded last month to a work that – unbeknown to the judges – was generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) system. Social media have also seen an explosion of weird images…
Three Impressionist paintings that give an insight into the complicated history of breastfeeding in the 19th century
The history of breastfeeding reveals uncomfortable truths about women, work and money. An unlikely place where the history of nursing is clearly visible is in Impressionist paintings. Although the art of Manet and his followers is best known for its…
Grenfell: Steve McQueen’s film is a silent, unflinching reminder of lives devastated by fire
Oscar-winning artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen’s new work, Grenfell, is on show at London’s Serpentine Gallery. The 24-minute film – which the artist captured by helicopter in December 2017, six months after the fire – rotates around the Grenfell Tower…
