It’s been more than nine months since we posted our “first” visual response to the Covid-19 epidemic, Mona Covid. Since then, the idea of adding masks to paintings and people really did catch on. Here is a selection of images we have seen online since.
Culture
Was this post written by a machine?
This post was not written by a machine. It was written by a real person, a human writer, me. I wrote it. But consider the following opening sentences of a post
The First Eco-Warrior of Design
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the designs of William Morris – his trellises and willows and honeysuckles – are a little out-of-date and irrelevant. Popular designs like Strawberry Thief adorn cushions and mugs, but do they really fit the modern interior? Surprisingly, not only have these botanical themes made a massive comeback, but Morris himself has been enjoying a new wave of popularity – as an environmental prophet and anarchist.
Watch a Short 1967 Film That Imagines How We’d Live in 1999: Online Learning, Electronic Shopping, Flat Screen TVs & Much More
Nobody uses the word computerized anymore. Its disappearance owes not to the end of computerization itself, but to the process’ near-completeness. Now that we all walk around with computers in our pockets (see also the fate of the word portable), we expect every aspect of life to involve computers in one way or another. But in 1967, the very idea of computers got people dreaming of the far-flung future, not least because most of them had never been near one, let alone brought one into their home.
The Walkman’s Invention 40 Years Ago Launched a Cultural Revolution
In 1979, when Sony introduced the Walkman—a 14-ounce cassette player, blue and silver with buttons that made a satisfying chunk when pushed—even the engineers inside Sony weren’t impressed. It wasn’t particularly innovative; cassette players already existed, and so did headphones. Plus, the Walkman could only play back—it couldn’t record. Who was going to want a device like that?
Digital Nihilism on Tap: Download Nietzsche’s Major Works as Free eBooks
In times of deep distress I’ve often found the brutal, unsparing candor of Friedrich Nietzsche a strange comfort. While wholly enamored of the aristocratic, Hellenistic past of literary invention, the often bilious German philosopher nonetheless had no illusions about the nature of power, which does as it will and is not held in check by what we take for common values.
Messaging App Telegram Moves to Protect Identity of Hong Kong Protesters
WASHINGTON—Telegram, a popular encrypted messaging app, will allow users to cloak their telephone numbers to safeguard Hong Kong protesters against monitoring by authorities, according to a person with direct knowledge of the effort.
The update to Telegram, planned for release over the next few days, will allow protesters to prevent mainland Chinese and Hong Kong authorities from discovering their identities in the app’s large group chats.
Yayoi Kusama ‘Infinity Mirrored Room’ to Go on View Permanently at Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas
Most times, when Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirrored Rooms” get shown at museums, they stay on view for several months at a time, and during their run, they get stormed with visitors. But one U.S. museum has plans to keep a Kusama installation for much longer than usual.
Instantly add colour to black and white photos with this free and easy website
Recent World War One doc They Shall Not Grow Old mesmerised many over Christmas with its hours of colourised war footage, but the ability to add colour to black and white imagery is no longer in the domain of top-end production studios.
Created by GovTech Singapore, the website Colourise SG allows anyone to upload any black and white photo for a simple and almost instantaneous colourisation.
Dreamlike indie game Etherborn draws inspiration from Monument Valley – and classic artists of the past
Classic 20th century artists such as Escher, Mondrian and de Chirico have influenced a surreal new platformer from studio Altered Matter.
Indie games have been becoming more dream-like these past few years, ranging from the ethereal classics of Monument Valley and Gris to the Twin Peaks bad-trip of Petscop.
A new name to add to 2019’s roster of anticipated games is Etherborn, as created by Barcelona’s Altered Matter studio and distributed by 20th Century Fox games label FoxNext this spring.
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