Why publishers are turning to art for answers this week


The world has become so complex that even Stephen Hawking is unsure what’s going on. We can’t explain what we don’t understand, and when words elude us we turn to art for answers. Several publishers this week are tapping into the collective concern people are feeling.

Buzzfeed News is covering Inktober (artists from all over the world make one ink drawing a day for the entire month of October) and Ohio artist Shawn Coss who’s gorgeous but haunting images of mental health disorders are getting tremendous response.

On a lighter note The Guardian is talking about newly discovered artwork by Finnish writer and artist Tove Jansson who is best known for the Moomins.

The Internet has gone a bit bonkers over an odd looking terracotta sculpture of baby Jesus.

But that’s nothing compared to the #TrumpBookReport meme. Antonio French kicked it off in a tweet where he compared Trump’s foreign policies to badly written teenage book reports:

Trump’s foreign policy answers sound like a book report from a teenager who hasn’t read the book. “Oh, the grapes! They had so much wrath!”

— Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) October 20, 2016

Now, whether or not it counts as art I’m not sure, but we love this bike lock that emits a horrible smell that will make a thief vomit if they cut the lock.

SkunkLock was crowdfuned on IndieGogo

What an imaginative way to use technology to course correct without violence. I hope we find similar antidotes to the threats posed by AI that Hawking sees ahead of us.


Originally published at www.kaleida.com on October 21, 2016.