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“Brought to a brumal standstill, here I lie / Obliquely floored, mouth curbed by stones that speak / In pick-dressed spirals, egghead sucked bone dry, / Waiting for dawn inside my skull to streak.” This is how the Irish poet Richard Murphy described Newgrange in his 1985 poem of the same name, paying homage to one of the oldest—and biggest—prehistoric structures in all of Europe.

Located in Brú na Bóinne, a historical park north of Dublin, Ireland, Newgrange is thought to have been built around 3,200 B.C.E., making it 1,000 years older than Stonehenge and 500 years older than the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Even more impressive than Newgrange’s age is its size. The kidney-shaped mound covers an area of 15,000 square feet, and measures 43 feet high and 279 feet across. Inside is a 62-foot-long passage leading to a cruciform chamber with a corbelled roof designed to redirect water seepage from the cairn above, keeping the structure’s interior warm and dry. It’s one of many ingenious techniques used by the builders to ensure their creation would stand the test of time.

Speaking of the builders, archaeologists believe Newgrange was the work of wealthy farming communities that lived around Brú na Bóinne during the late Stone Age. Irish legend has it that the mound was meant to serve as the burial place of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a pantheon of pre-Christian Gaelic gods and demigods.

Most of what we know about these farmers comes from the construction of Newgrange itself. Their building techniques suggest they were both affluent and knowledgeable, while engravings found around Newgrange and other nearby neolithic structures offer insight into their culture and cosmology. Inside the cruciform chamber, archaeologists encountered a tri-spiral design that has been found across prehistoric Ireland.

Previously classified as a Celtic design, its presence at Newgrange—dating to at least 2,500 years before the Celts came to Ireland—suggests an Irish origin instead. Also known as the Triskele, it is thought to symbolize infinity and connection.

To this day, experts aren’t sure what purpose Newgrange served. Following the lead of Irish mythology, some believe it was indeed intended as a tomb. Others speculate that it didn’t serve a practical purpose at all, but was—in the spirit of the Triskele—envisioned as a symbol of life overcoming death.

Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland. Photo: DeAgostini/Getty Images.

The only thing everyone agrees on is that the mound marked the end of the summer solstice and the beginning of the new year. The reason they agree on this point is that Newgrange is constructed in such a way that between December 19 and 23, sunlight falls right through an opening on the roof, illuminating the passageway inside.

While Newgrange is open to the public, admission during the Winter Solstice is determined by lottery. According to Heritage Ireland, around 30,000 applications are submitted each year. Lotteries are held in September, when just 50 names are drawn and awarded two admissions tickets each.

Sometimes, archaeology gets big. In Huge! we delve deep into the world’s largest, towering, most epic monuments. Who built them? How did they get there? Why so big?

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More than 100 firefighters and 15 fire engines are tackling a blaze at Somerset House in central London. The Georgian-era complex, which was built on the site of a palace dating back to the Tudors, houses the Courtauld Institute of Art and other arts and education organizations.

A pillar of smoke can be seen billowing from the roof of the former stately home on the Strand. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) reportedly received the first call about the fire on Saturday just before midday. The Metropolitan Police said there are no reported injuries so far and the LFB said the cause of the blaze is not known.

Somerset House posted on X, “Owing to a fire in one small part of Somerset House, the site is currently closed.” It added that all of its Saturday events have been cancelled or postponed.

“Two of the brigade’s 32-meter ladders have been sent to the scene to support fire-fighting operations,” an LFB spokesperson said. “Traffic in the surrounding area will be impacted as crews respond.”

Social media users are posting photos and videos showing the grey smoke rising above the River Thames and nearby Waterloo Bridge.

The new collection from Nicolò Morales for Italian brand Paola Lenti starts with the natural resources in the landscape of Caltagirone, Italy, where the master ceramicist lives and works. In ancient times, potters had no means to procure clay on a large scale, and turned to the mountains and rivers that surrounded them. Morales gathers soils and mineral samples from the very same environment, which he then translates into different compositions and textures in clay. Comprising four pieces, the Stelo structure, the Primula table, the Helico table, and the Anemone side table, this collection celebrates the alchemy achieved using expert craftsmanship with found materials.

The Stelo, a standing ceramic structure, is made up of independent majolica elements stacked on top of each other to form organic, jaunty columns. These elements are hand painted, and are installed with rubber spacers in between to protect the pieces from damage. This also allows for a smoother fitting process. These elements can be arranged in any manner, up to client preference.

The Primula is composed of extruded majolica elements, which create the legs, and a slightly opaque glass top. Reminiscent of limpets and other primeval sea creatures, these components offer different views from the top and the side, adding interest at every angle.

Morales is a professional diver, deeply inspired by the aquatic world he is so close with. Much of his work is inspired by the sea or aquatic forms, allowing the artist to play with the intricacies of clay composition and color with each nuanced take. The top of the table is finished with the slightest of opacities and is rounded smooth on all edges, reminding us of sea glass found tumbling naturally onto rocky shores.

Helico is our next piece in the collection, the thick glass tabletop hand-finished to create beautiful texture on the underside of the table. This slightly opaque top reveals the forms of the extruded legs, ceramic pieces reminiscent of prehistoric trilobites and shells that dot the ocean floor. The irregularity of the organic shapes within the confines of the clay composition makes for a beautiful originality in the finished pieces. The legs are glued to the top for security, and the feet are capped with rubber to prevent damage.

Anemone is a side table like no other, hand sculpted using custom blends of clay from the hillsides of Caltagirone. Layer upon layer of glaze creates ribbons of color running horizontally along organic shapes, filleted softly on the sides. Each color combination is unique, relying on the consistency of the glaze to pull the color organically down the surface of the table.

Indeed, all of the glaze combinations are numbered with a color code describing the tone that’s inside. Morales is colorblind, working with collaborators to tune the finishes and combinations of clay and chemicals to client’s exact specifications. This requires much trial and error, and the artist keeps the experiments in composition to further inform future iterations.

To follow Morales’ work on Instagram, click here. For more from Paola Lenti, click here.

Growing up in NYC has given Aria a unique perspective into art + design, constantly striving for new projects to get immersed in. An avid baker, crocheter, and pasta maker, handwork and personal touch is central to what she loves about the built environment. Outside of the city, she enjoys hiking, biking, and learning about space.

The Rothko Chapel, a destination for devotees of Abstract Expressionism in Houston that houses 14 sombre paintings by Mark Rothko, has closed indefinitely due to damage caused by Hurricane Beryl last month. Three of the American artist’s paintings were affected by the damage, as were parts of the chapel’s ceiling and several of its walls. The chapel has hired the firm Whitten & Proctor Fine Art Conservation to assess the damage.

“The chapel’s continued stewardship of this beloved cultural and sacred site, renowned for its Mark Rothko panels, remains our highest priority, and the closure will ensure that the necessary repairs and restorations can be made as effectively and completely as required,” David Leslie, the chapel’s executive director, said in a statement. “Our focus now is on the restoration of the building and panels, and on continuing our mission of both contemplation and action at the intersection of art, spirituality and human rights.”

The cost of the repairs and timeline for the building's reopening are currently unknown.

After striking parts of the Caribbean and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas on 8 July as a category one hurricane. It is estimated to have caused between $28bn and $32bn in damage in the United States overall, with insurers in the Houston area expected to pay out between $2.5bn and $3.5bn in claims because of the storm. In Texas alone, at least 36 deaths were attributed to Hurricane Beryl.

The Rothko Chapel is located in Houston’s Neartown neighbourhood, next to the Menil Collection, founded by the legendary Houston collectors Dominique and John de Menil. The chapel was also created by the Menils but operates as a separate non-profit entity.

In September 2020, the chapel reopened following the completion of the first phase of a $30m campus overhaul that included the restoration of the chapel’s skylight, bringing its walls up to code and adding several auxiliary buildings including a welcome centre. That centre, named the Suzanne Deal Booth Welcome House, will remain open during the chapel’s closure. A previous, $1.8m restoration project completed in 2000, had involved upgrading the chapel’s climate control system and restoring Rothko’s paintings.

Hurricane Beryl was the most powerful hurricane to develop so early in the Atlantic hurricane season in recorded history, and intensified with record speed, a phenomenon made significantly more likely by human-caused climate change. The US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted there is a 90% that this year’s Atlantic hurricane season will be above normal.

Parts of coastal Texas, including Houston, are increasingly frequently in the path of dangerous storms, which will require art institutions in these regions to take increasingly drastic measures to secure their collections and buildings, and be prepared to operate for days or weeks without reliable power afterwards.

Van Ham, the Cologne-based auction house that has been tasked to sell the private collection of the late Kasper König this fall, will stick to its plan despite the former museum director’s death on Saturday.

“Although we are deeply saddened by the news of Kasper König’s death, our work on the auction catalog for ‘The Kasper König Collection — His Private Choice’ auction continues,” a spokesperson from the auction house said in an email on Tuesday, adding the house has reached an agreement with König’s family to continue with the auction.

The esteemed German curator and former art professor co-founded Skulptur Projekte Münster, a world-renowned outdoor exhibition that takes place across public sites in the German town of Münster every 10 years, and served as director of Museum Ludwig in Cologne for from 2000 to 2012. He died in Berlin on August 10. He was 80 years old.

Shortly before his death, Van Ham announced that it would be launching its autumn season with the sale of König’s private collection on October 1 and 2 as a single-owner sale titled “The Kasper König Collection — His Private Choice.” According to the sale announcement in July, König assembled a collection of more than 400 modern and contemporary artworks over many decades.

The sale will be divided into three parts, an evening live auction on October 1, which will consist of about 60 key works. This will be followed by the day sale on October 2, where 200 works will be offered. The rest are expected to be sold via an online-only sale running from September 26 to October 10. Among the highlights include works by American painter Richard Artschwager, German sculptor and painter Thomas Bayrle, American artist William Copley, and German painter and photographer Sigmar Polke, whose mixed media canvas work titled Masterpiece Auctioned Off as Junk will be among the lots featured, with presale estimates at €30,000 to €50,000 ($32,852 to $54,751).

Kasper König writing postcards. Copyright: Daniel Poller / Van Ham Kunstauktion.

Works by the late New York-based Japanese artist On Kawara (1932-2014) will be a focus. König was a neighbor of Kawara in New York and was a key supporter of his work. With König’s supprt, Kawara began working on his postcards from 1968, addressing the first ones to König. Among the highlights include Kawara’s May 7, 1967 (1967), which was hung on König’s wall. The work has a presale estimate of between €500,000 to €700,000 ($547,647 to $766,706).

König was to curate the preview exhibition of the auction with Renate Goldmann, director of Van Ham Art Estate. “Yes, Kasper König wanted to curate the preview of the sale. There were several meetings and calls for this exhibition since June,” Van Ham’s spokesperson noted, adding that the house will continue working with König’s family and office “to enable us to present the collection in his spirit.”

Van Ham has yet to announced the full sale catalog. Details of all the lots featured in the sale are expected to be revealed next month.

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After a two-year search, the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera has appointed Ilya Ram as its music director, ushering in a new era for the organization as it enters its 2024-25 season.

Following the departure of Kayoko Dan, who served as the symphony's music director for more than a decade, at the end of the 2023-24 season, Ram becomes the fourth artistic leader of the 91-year-old music organization. Before his appointment in Chattanooga, Ram served as music director of the Akademische Philharmonie Heidelberg in Heidelberg, Germany, a position he will continue parallel to his duties in Chattanooga, he said in a phone interview.

"My base, my home base, will remain in Germany for now, but I have made sure — and it is a very important part for me as music director here — that my presence in town will not just be for the music," Ram said. "I will be here often, and ... I want to integrate myself in Chattanooga. I want to be somebody that people can recognize and talk to and feel like they know, and (I'm) not just somebody they see on stage."

The 33-year-old, American-born conductor has spent much of his professional career in Germany, which has included work with university orchestras and contemporary opera, he said. But during the pandemic, Ram had a "tingling sensation" that he wanted to work in his birth country, he said. And so, the job search began.

(READ MORE: Kennedy: Retired Lakesite DJ helped invent morning "Zoo" format that swept America)

It's a not-so-well-kept secret that conductors look for jobs wherever they can, Ram said. But in Chattanooga, Ram found a place he thought he would fit very well. The Chattanooga Symphony and Opera is a "very European format" for a music organization, a format that doesn't really exist in the U.S., he said. Given his familiarity with the format from his time across the pond, he became interested in the local organization and applied for the music director position.

In the interview process, Ram said that he and the symphony "just clicked," regarding ideas for the future of the organization, among other things. Once he arrived in Chattanooga to guest conduct the symphony as part of the candidate search, Ram felt incredibly welcomed, he said.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkIrZdvfLTA[/embed]

"The musicians were fantastic. I chose a very difficult program, a bit on purpose, to see how far I can go with the orchestra, and it was just a blast," he said. "I think I had an insane amount of fun; the concert was fantastic."

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From his perspective as the conductor, Ram felt that the musicians enjoyed the concert, and their performance reflected that, he said. Add this experience to Ram's feelings of comfort in Chattanooga, from the walkability of downtown to the food and coffee scene ("I don't want to live in a city where I can't drink a good cup of coffee," he said), and it shouldn't come as a surprise that he was "really hopeful to have a future here."

When the call came, saying the job was his, Ram said he "screamed a bit."

Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Executive Director Susan Caminez, who took over the role earlier this year following the departure of John Kilkenny, in a phone interview characterized Ram as passionate, exuberant and knowledgeable, even calling him a "ball of fire." As music director, Ram brings to the symphony a new artistic vision and leadership at a time when the organization is looking at how it can not just relate to the community but also what it is for the community, Caminez said.

(READ MORE: Chattanooga to host multiday bluegrass festival in 2025)

"We've really needed this really new and fresh change, and I think everyone's excited to see what happens," Caminez said. "We're looking for ways to sustain our organization, and I think something like this is what can really excite people, intrigue people and (help them) realize how important the symphony is. They can feel the excitement we feel, and I think any change like that is exhilarating."

For Ram, he said that it is important to him to be a facilitator of the positive experiences associated with music, for the organization, for the musicians and for the public. He said he wants to provide interesting programs, bring more people into concerts and make the symphony a pillar of the community again.

Contact Sam Still at sstill@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6579.

Banksy has struck again, this time painting a big black cat stretching on a bare billboard in northeast London. However, it was removed only a few hours after being spotted on Saturday morning by a contractor who said he feared it would be stolen.

The contractor, who gave his name as Marc to PA Media, said the billboard was earmarked to be torn down on August 12 so he was removing it in case someone “rips it down and leaves it unsafe.”

“We’ll store that bit [the artwork] in our yard to see if anyone collects it but if not it’ll go in a skip. I’ve been told to keep it careful in case he wants it,” he reportedly said.

The cat is the anonymous British street artist’s sixth animal mural to spring up in London over the last few days. It follows a mountain goat, a pair of elephants, three monkeys, a wolf, and two pelicans which have been sprayed in various locations across the capital.

The wolf, painted on a white satellite dish in Peckham, south London, was pilfered  by a hooded trio in broad daylight on Thursday.

Banksy has posted each animal painting on his Instagram, confirming that they are genuine. Their significance has sparked a flurry of speculation on social media.

The artist’s agent told the BBC that there was “no comment on the theme” of the series, adding that there “may or may not” be more murals to follow.  

The Observer, however, says it has learned from a Banksy spokesperson that a seventh painting “may shortly materialize in a surprising location … London residents should then keep their eyes peeled.”

The Guardian reports that it “understands” that “the artist’s vision is simple: the latest street art has been designed to cheer up the public during a period when the new headlines have been bleak, and light has often been harder to spot than shade.”

The paper adds that “recent theorising about the deeper significance of each new image has been way too involved, Banksy’s support organisation, Pest Control Office, has indicated.”

It seems like August arrived in the blink of an eye. As we begin to wind down from summer and prepare for the transition to a new season, we’re reminded of how quickly time passes – and the impact it has on our memories. This theme is beautifully captured by this month’s Designer Desktop artist, Alex Khabbazi. A visual artist based in the United Kingdom, Khabbazi merges physical and digital art techniques and processes to create bold, graphic works.

For Designer Desktop, Khabbazi shares his piece “The Effects of Time,” a mixed media artwork that he designed digitally, printed onto paper, scanned, had machine-knitted from the scan, and animated. The design serves as a poignant reminder that our memories inevitably fade over time, making the present moment all the more precious.

Download the wallpapers for free with the links below for all your tech devices today!

DESKTOP: 1024×768  1280×1024  1680×1050  1900×1200  2560×1440

MOBILE: iPhone XS iPhone XS Max  iPad Pro

Check out some of Alex Khabbazi’s other work:

Follow Alex Khabbazi on Instagram here.

View and download past Designer Desktops here.

As the Senior Contributing Editor, Vy Yang is obsessed with discovering ways to live well + with intention through design. She's probably sharing what she finds over on Instagram stories. You can also find her at vytranyang.com.

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Members of Slovakia’s cultural community have reacted with consternation to the government’s decision to remove the leaders of two of the country’s leading arts institutions. On Tuesday, 6 August, the head of the National Theatre, Matej Drlička, was summarily informed of his dismissal by an officer from the ministry of culture. A day later, the ministry followed up by removing Alexandra Kusá as the director of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG).

In response, Drlička and Kusá, who are viewed as respected figures both inside Slovakia and internationally, have presented a united front, appearing together in a press conference outside the SNG on Wednesday. Employees of the two institutions have joined the two leaders in expressing their opposition to what they perceive as an attack by the country’s nationalistic coalition government on cultural freedom and institutional independence.

A statement issued by the SNG on Wednesday noted that “The staff.. stands firmly behind Alexandra Kusá, recognising the immense effort, time, expertise, humanity, innovative vision, and at times, superhuman dedication she has invested in building a national cultural institution that truly understands the real meaning and value of the words ‘national', ‘culture’, and ‘institution’.”

In a statement published on it’s own website, the National Theatre responded to the news of Kusá’s dismissal by describing it as an attack on “the freedom of creation and freedom of speech.” The statement added that her removal amounted to a “loss for the entire artistic community and the country as a whole.”

With Slovakia currently governed by a coalition made up of parties from the left and right, reports in the country have suggested that the head of the Slovak National Museum, Branislav Panis, is also now at risk of being removed.

A real estate photographer has sued the creator of a wildly popular media site that posts about distinctive properties, saying the creator used two of her photographs without her permission.

Veteran photographer Jennnifer Bouma, of Washington State, has filed a copyright infringement complaint against Zillow Gone Wild. She took the photos in 2021 and copyrighted them in 2022; Zillow Gone Wild reproduced them on its Substack as well as its social media feeds in 2022 without notifying Bouma.

She discovered the photos, of a $1.9 million home in Monroe, Washington, on Zillow Gone Wild in April and notified the company, but, according the complaint, the parties haven’t been able to negotiate a licensing agreement. Bouma declined an interview request.

The complaint seeks up to $150,000 for each infringement.

“Zillow Gone Wild is not the only entity that does what they appear to be doing, which is to aggregate photos of a certain subject matter and act as a clearinghouse for a curated version of those images,” said her lawyer, David C. Deal. “What Zillow Gone Wild and others do is they leverage their popularity for financial gain.

“The photographers are typically left out of the equation,” said Deal. “They’re not part of the negotiations when a real estate agent who has hired a photographer chooses to grant permission to someone like Zillow Gone Wild. They appear to pay no attention to the intellectual property rights of photographers.”

Zillow Gone Wild did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zillow Gone Wild boasts some four million followers on the major social media platforms. A few recent examples of homes it highlights, from its Instagram: a “rare Mansion x Castle crossover in Henderson, NV” with “castley vibes,” listed at $10 million; a $20 million, 13th-century Italian villa that, so says the listing, once belonged to the Mona Lisa’s husband; and, just for the lulz, a $1,930,000 home in Belleville, Michigan, that supposedly has two bedrooms and 86 baths in its 1,396 square feet.

Zillow Gone Wild was the brainchild of Samir Mezrahi, social media director for Buzzfeed. When he made his first post, in 2020, it tapped into a COVID-driven moment of fascination with real estate by the homebound millions, suddenly taken with the possibility of moving wherever they liked as work went remote and with skyrocketing home prices. Its popularity has led to an HGTV show, starring Jack McBrayer of Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The Office fame, with Mezrahi as executive producer.

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