The piece by Artemisia Gentileschi, the Italian Baroque’s trailblazing woman artist, is undergoing a months-long restoration to rediscover her original vision, hidden for centuries under a thick layer of strategically placed paint. While the restorers consider it too risky to remove the drapery and veil later painted on to cover the figure’s breasts and loins, diagnostic imaging will provide a…
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For the next few weeks, well-heeled shoppers at Le Bon Marche store in Paris will sniff perfumes and peruse designer dresses in the shadow of vast, three-storey sculptures made from pots and pans. The unexpected intrusion into one of the city’s fanciest department stores — owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH — is the work of India’s Subodh Gupta, one of…
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The twisting road that leads to Indonesia’s future capital is lined with dense rainforest and pockets of plantations, punctuated every so often with monkeys enjoying a laze out on the tarmac. Located in eastern Borneo — the world’s third-largest island — Nusantara is set to replace sinking and polluted Jakarta as new Indonesia capital and political centre by late 2024.…
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Entrepreneur Antony Perzo introduces a small device called Emobot, which looks like a cross between a speaker and a piece of abstract art, and explains: “It’s an emotional thermometer!” Like hundreds of other exhibitors at CES, the world’s biggest tech expo, French engineer Perzo is selling the merits of an object that depends on the latest breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.…
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Tributes have poured in after former pope Benedict XVI died aged 95 on Saturday, almost a decade after he became the first pontiff to resign in six centuries. Here are some of the tributes: – ‘Commitment to non-violence’ – UN chief Antonio Guterres praised the former pontiff for his “tenacious commitment to non-violence and peace”. – ‘Global peace’ – EU…
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When Kurt and Anna-Maria Spennesberger heard the news about former pope Benedict XVI’s death, they immediately got into their car and drove 200 kilometres to the former pontiff’s southern German birth town Marktl. They had to be at the small town bordering Austria for a special church service saying farewell to Benedict because “we knew Ratzinger personally,” said Kurt, 71,…
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As the European Union prepares to extend controls on planet-heating carbon emissions to heating and transport, politicians are wary of the social unrest sparked in France in 2018 when the government hiked taxes on diesel, hitting consumers hard. The “yellow vest” protests over the rising cost of living and perceived injustice of making ordinary people pay for climate measures forced…
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Shortly after the Golden Globes nominations were announced earlier this month, the advocacy group Women in Film took to social media, decrying the “shocking” omission of critically acclaimed female directors, citing Sarah Polley (“Women Talking”), Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Woman King”), Chinonye Chukwu (“Till”) and Maria Schrader (“She Said”). It might be more surprising that anyone is still taking anything the…
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Kore-eda, whose 2018 film “Shoplifters” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, told AFP that complacent attitudes and poor working conditions are holding Japan back in cinema and TV while its neighbour South Korea powers ahead internationally. “Our filmmaking environment must change,” he said in an interview, calling for an end to the low pay, long hours and insecurity faced by…
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From huge floods in Pakistan and Nigeria to heatwaves in India and drought-fuelled hunger in the Horn of Africa, vulnerable countries faced mounting climate disasters in 2022. That has made it much harder for wealthy nations – whose emissions have driven the crisis – to ignore the need for more financial help for those suffering the most in a warming…
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