FYI #72
Looking forward to writer / director Celine Song’s new film, Materialists (being released in June). Her 2023 film, Past Lives, was a favourite. Also enjoyed Steven Soderberg’s Black Bag, with Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender.
Sir Christopher Le Brun: the leading painter shares his artistic journey and the homes that have shaped him, via Modern House. Love the painting, Tidings (2023), in the artist’s Phases of the Moon exhibition.
‘It’s a scary time’: artists react to White House’s recent targeting of Smithsonian Institution, via the Guardian.
Making history and nature work together with Rene Olivieri, chair of the National Trust (UK), on Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith.
Who Believes In Angels? Stories From The Edge Of Creation (Official Trailer), with Elton John and Brandi Carlile. I always love getting glimpses into creative processes.
Australian artist Lola Giuffré will be participating in the SMACH Biennale 2025… a biennial open air exhibition in Val Badia (Italy)… very cool.
Latest episode of the Konfekt Korner podcast introduced me to the music of Brooke Combe and a lovely sounding Marimekko touring exhibition, Field of flowers.
I have long subscribed to what I call Franklin’s earthworm theory of social change. Social change will not come to us like an avalanche down the mountain. Social change will come through seeds growing inwell prepared soil—and it is we, like the earthworms, who prepare the soil. We also seed thoughts and knowledge and concern. We realize there are no guarantees as to what will come up. Yet we do know that without the seeds and the prepared soil nothing will grow at all. I am convinced that we are indeed already in a period in which this movement from below is becoming more and more articulate, but what is needed is a lot more earthworming (1990: 121) Ursula M. Franklin, The Real World of Technology, based on her 1989 CBC Massey Lectures
A conversation with friends the other day got me thinking about ‘third places’, a term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg (1932 - 2022). Oldenburg’s collaborator Karen Christensen is releasing a new version of his book, The Great Good Place Revisited: Havens and Hangouts at the Heart of Community (June 2025)
The Shoot Out | Race Around the World, via Australian Story. Late 90s flashbacks.
This story reminded me of having two pen pals, via International Youth Service (IYS), when I was a kid. One was in Finland and one was in Greece… Handle with care: the international community sending parcels of pure joy through the mail, via the Guardian.