The French, Opened
William Klein’s mesmerizing, rarely seen documentary The French goes behind the scenes at Rolland Garros in 1981.
Video
A collection of 120 issues
Con Art
“The high bidder at an auction has paid more money for a work than anyone else in the world thinks it’s worth at that point in time.” via Artsy
Reunited
Edward Hardy is 93, lives in a nursing home, and suffers from dementia and depression. Sam Kinsella, one of Mr. Hardy’s care givers and the narrator of this video, learns of Edward’s prior life as a jazz pianist. After Sam arranges for a keyboard to be brought in,
Rebirth of the Cool
Shimon is a robot that can play marimba chords and sequences that can’t be replicated by any single human. Jason Barnes is a drummer who lost part of his arm, and who now wears a robotic prosthesis that can drum up to 20 beats per second. Via Quartz
The Brain Dictionary
We use our entire brain—and not just the temporal lobe, as once believed—to group words by meaning. Via Aeon
The Art-Seeing Eye of Google
Google’s new “Art Camera” will travel the world, taking ultra-high-resolution “gigapixel” images to digitize a series of artworks. See also: Masterpieces already digitized from Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.
Classical Is Calling
Berklee pianist Tony Ann plays a medley of familiar ringtones. See more of Tony Ann on Facebook.
To Reduce Anxiety, Bliss Out to Ambient Music
Suffering from panic attacks, Ryan Bassil finds solace in the sounds of William Basinski, Oval, and Brian Eno, who “at one point felt like an angel sent to me from heaven.” Related: For those who experience anxiety attacks, every day is a case in survival. One writer’s journey to
Tour of the Pantone Color Factory
A brief tour of Pantone’s factory headquarters in Carlstadt, NJ, where global color standards are set—to make sure that red you’re using really is red. Credit: Quartz If you enjoyed this, check out Graham Beck’s investigation into how America’s military elects to paint itself.
Ash Dome
In 1977, David Nash planted 22 ash saplings and trained them to grow into a dome. Nearly 40 years later, his vision continues to take shape. Via This Is Colossal See also: A man who spent three years painting the same English tree repeatedly—in all weather, day and night—