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Culture, Unfettered

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Gimnasia

The stories of Mohammed Mrabet are rooted in Berber oral tradition, and draw their inspiration from the Tangier of the 40s and 50s. His talent impressed the entire Beat Generation. Thus, Mrabet became the first Moroccan writer published in France. Despite the fact he couldn't read or write.

The Illiterate Writer: Mr. Mrabet

Mohammed Mrabet became the first Moroccan writer published in France - even though he couldn't read or write

Could your perfect look alike be out there in the world somewhere? The idea that a stranger could be living a completely different life to us, but wear the same face, is a troubling, intriguing concept. New technologies might make finding our 'twin' even easier.

Do We All Have Dopplegangers?

Could your perfect look alike be out there in the world somewhere?

Gymnastics

For a long time, dinosaurs in pop culture didn't even try to be believable. They were either too nice, too cartoony, or too sci-fi. Then in 1993, there was Jurassic Park. The blockbuster claimed to finally show us what they really looked like. Except that too was wrong! So when will we finally see the true face of these long-gone mega-predators?

The Evolving Truth About Dinosaurs

When will we finally know what these mega-predators looked like?

We tie knots every day without a second thought, but it's all about context. Tying your shoelaces is nothing special, but that very same movement becomes charged with meaning when it is practised as part of Shibari. This Japanese art of tying someone into a tightly woven mesh of intricate knots and bindings started off as a form of punishment. But it is now a sexual fetish, and a craft, full of precision.

Bondage: The Ties That Free

The tradition of Shibari started off as a form of punishment. But it is now a sexual fetish, and a craft, full of precision.

The mysterious Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) is a recurring figure in pop culture. He is on the Beatles album cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. David Bowie and Ozzy Osbourne dedicated songs to him, and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page even bought Crowley's Scottish country estate, which is believed to be haunted. Some consider him a great occultist, others have declared him insane.

The Wickedest Man in the World

The mysterious Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) is a recurring figure in pop culture. Some consider him a great occultist, others have declared him insane.

La Nouvelle Vague is the cinephile movement for cinephiles. If you missed the boat: at the turn of the 1950s, Truffaut, Chabrol, Godard, Rivette, Rohmer and others revolutionised French cinema. 

La Nouvelle Vague

La Nouvelle Vague is the cinephile movement for cinephiles

California, 1962: as counter-culture boomed, Corita Kent created her first pop-art paintings. The nun and art teacher mixed Jefferson Airplane, Pepsi and Bible verses in her work. But her activism and political convictions would force her to hang up her habit.

Corita Kent, the Pop Culture Nun

How a nun became a counter-cultural icon thanks to her art

All the laughs you hear in the background on television come from the same device, the Laff Box, invented in the 1950s. It's a sound that's become the hallmark of cheesy daytime TV, as well as iconic sitcoms like Friends. The technique has now fallen out of favour, but for decades it was a TV staple.

Canned Laughter on TV

It's a sound that's become the hallmark of cheesy daytime TV.

Brilliant FBI agent and scientist Dana Scully solved supernatural mysteries with her partner Fox Mulder in the TV series The X Files. She had significant influence on an entire generation of young women, inspired to become scientists.

The Scully Effect

The X File's Dana Scully had significant influence on an entire generation of young women

Since its invention in the 19th century, the bicycle has allowed Western women to move around independently. Today, it is the turn of women in Arab countries to discover its power. Though at first glance innocuous and common, the bicycle is unexpectedly feminist.

The Freedom to Cycle

Though at first glance innocuous and common, the bicycle is unexpectedly feminist

The paintings of Vincent Van Gogh are losing their colours. The paints he used were vibrant, but cheap, and degraded within months of painting. It's now impossible to appreciate the true beauty of his works, as his flamboyant flare for colours has slowly turned drab. If nothing is done, the Sunflowers which are still a beautiful gold today could well turn brown. Should we just accept they can't be saved?

Van Gogh's Disappearing Colours

The paintings of Vincent Van Gogh are losing their colours because the pigments used were vibrant but cheap

Why do the works of the Italian painter Caravaggio exude such violence? The answer is to be found in the eventful life of the artist, who just couldn't stay out of trouble and met a sticky end.

Caravaggio, Genius - and Killer?

Caravaggio just couldn't stay out of trouble and met a sticky end

Women who play men's roles while singing high notes may seem suprising but in opera, it's tradition. Handel, Mozart, and Bellini all wrote roles for men, to be played by women. So how does the opera deal with questions of gender?

Does the Voice Have a Gender?

Handel, Mozart, and Bellini all wrote roles for men, to be played by women

Acrobatics, crazy sets, unobtainable beauty standards. A lot of porn often lacks realism. But the industry is changing: audio pornography, which leaves room for the imagination while arousing the listener with erotic stories. The increasingly popular medium attracts feminist women who see the medium as more sensual and empowering than traditional porn.

The Sensual World of Podcast Porn

Audio pornography leaves room for the imagination while arousing the listener with erotic stories

For millennia, people have wondered what constitutes our existence. But could it be that our reality is not real and that, like in the sci-fi movie Matrix, everything is just a simulation?

What if the Matrix Was Real?

Ayn Rand was a survivor of Communism, and as a result, her writings fiercely advocate uncompromising individualism. Her high profile fans include Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Angelina Jolie.

Ayn Rand, Capitalism Guru

Ayn Rand was a survivor of Communism, and as a result, her writings fiercely advocate uncompromising individualism

In 2019, Les Indes galantes was performed at the Opera de la Bastille in Paris, hip hop style. This baroque opera, composed by Jean-Philippe Rameau, is an ode to colonial exoticism, and its reworking is the brainchild of Bintou Dembélé, the first black woman to choreograph a ballet at the Paris Opera.

Operatic Hip Hop: Dance Decolonised

In 2019, Les Indes galantes was performed at the Opera de la Bastille in Paris, hip hop style

Yurts, tipis, igloos: traditional homes are round, but most modern buildings are full of harsh right angles. In the 60s, influenced by science fiction, strange, curved creations started popping up in France. But it was a brief movement that fell out of favour.

Why Live In a Bubble House?

In the 60s, influenced by science fiction, strange, curved homes started popping up in France

Nikola Tesla claimed to have invented a "death beam" in the 1930s, but laser has been more useful for printing out payslips than it has shooting planes out of the sky. But science fiction loved the idea. From Star Wars to Mars Attacks!, lasers slice up bodies or grind them to dust. What is the enduring appeal of deadly lasers for the SF fandom?

Why Does Science Fiction Love Lasers?

What is the enduring appeal of deadly lasers for the SF fandom?

Ever notice how utterly bizarre lions in medieval manuscripts look? It's like the artist had never been to a zoo or searched for 'lion' in Google images or something. Oh, wait...

Why Are Medieval Lions So Strange?

Ever notice how utterly bizarre lions in medieval manuscripts look?

Stadiums filled with raving fans, millions of dollars in contracts and fierce competition: esports is no longer a fad, and could even be headed to the Olympics. A look back on how it all began.

Esport: Born in 1972?

Esports is now mainstream. We take a look back at where it all began

Film director Jean Boullet was obsessed with Dracula. The vampire gained ground in popular culture in the Paris underground scene of the 50s, and Boullet was determined to create a film that captured the true creepy essence of Dracula. He decided to use shadow puppets, but the work would never see the light of day.

The Man Who Wanted to Be Dracula

Film director Jean Boullet was obsessed with Dracula, even getting surgery to look like him

The trolley problem asks, is it better to let 5 people die or choose to kill only 1? And now that problem is more pressing than ever with the advent of self-driving cars. Do they think? And what role should morality play in their decision-making process?

Are Self-Driving Cars Moral?

A self-drivng car won't just get you from A to B, it'll make crucial decisions in those life-or-death moments right before a car accident

A 1960s icon and a martial arts legend, Bruce Lee is still beloved as the king of martial arts the world over. But Quentin Tarantino may have committed the small crime of lese-majesty in his latest film. He asks: was Bruce Lee even really that good at fighting?

Was Bruce Lee Actually Good at Fighting?

Was Bruce Lee even really that good at fighting?

A tribute to nature and a classic coming-of-age film, Bambi is not just a cute Walt Disney cartoon. It first started off as a novel by Austrian writer Felix Salten, which was banned by the Nazi authorities in 1936. So why did the story of this harmless deer draw the ire of the facist censors?

Why Burn Bambi?

Statues are silent observers of our everyday lives... and most of the time they go unnoticed as city dwellers bustle from one destination to the next. But now statues are having their moment in the spotlight. When we look at the stories of the people we put on plinths, we discover painful histories and shameful, forgotten truths.

Why are Statues Controversial?

When we look at the stories of the people we put on plinths, we discover painful histories and shameful, forgotten truths

These aren't doodles: Art Spiegelman or Marjane Satrapi's books are pieces of literary art. Without boxes or bubbles, the graphic novel is now a major genre in publishing. Graphic novels have an unlikely origin story: the genre emerged from woodcutting.

The Origin Story of the Graphic Novel

These aren't doodles: Art Spiegelman or Marjane Satrapi's books are pieces of literary art

White noise to better concentrate at work, pink noise to put baby to sleep, brown noise to meditate... After ASMR, this is the latest trend catering to a society in burn out. Tune in to a sound with a tune, melody, or rhythm.

Relax, Listen to Noise

White noise, pink noise, brown noise: tune in to a sound with a tune, melody, or rhythm

Birds have inspired many great composers, and like all self-respecting performers, they improvise and only sing when they are happy. But can you call them musicians?

Are Birds Musicians?

Birds have inspired many great composers, but can you call them musicians?

Some letters never reach their destination, whether by accident or design. This missing mail is brought back to life thanks to artist Adrianna Wallis. In a high tech world saturated by data, has the art of letter writing definitively died? 

The Search for Lost Letters

In a high tech world saturated by data, has the art of letter writing definitively died?

In response to the planned obsolescence programmed by the giants of the web, artist Olia Lialina designs interactive works that revive old tech. Will she succeed in saving the Internet?

Olia Lialina: The Artist Who's Saving the Internet

Meet the artist hacking the internet to revive old tech

Degas’s The Little Fourteen Year Old Dancer hit the headlines at the Impressionist exhibition because of its shocking hyperrealism. It's found to be an ugly and crudely done piece. But the real scandal wasn't the work's reception, but the life of the young dancer herself and the treatment of her peers. 

Degas, Backstage at the Opera

Degas’s The Little Fourteen Year Old Dancer has a sad history behind it

Would you attend a gallery exhibition with the paintings turned to face the wall? Probably not. And yet curators find a huge wealth of information about the painting based off of the clues left on the back of the canvas and its frame.

The Picture Behind the Picture

Would you attend a gallery exhibition with the paintings turned to face the wall? Probably not...

We've all experienced lockdown in the past year, but one artist has been doing his own self-imposed lockdowns for years. For Abraham Poincheval, confinement is just another form of artistic expression.

Confined for Art

For Abraham Poincheval, confinement is just another form of artistic expression

They cry, they cry and they faint at the Beatles or One Direction concerts: they are the fans. One might think that this isn't a recent phenomenon. In the 19th century, a pianist prodigy drew big crowds. His name: Franz Liszt. Long before beatlemania, there was "Lisztomania".

Franz Liszt, the First Rock Star

Long before beatlemania, there was "Lisztomania"

In many French cities, there are feminist messages hastily pasted across the walls, denouncing rape and violence against women. They come from a long tradition of feminist protest first sparked off by Oympe de Gouges.

Street Art Takes on Patriarchy

In many French cities, there are feminist messages hastily pasted across the walls, denouncing rape and violence against women

Gymnastics - Cultural Brain Stretching

Designer, singer, poet, stylist, Vava Dudu does pretty much everything. But having worked with Jean-Paul Gaultier and designed garments for Lady Gaga, why isn’t she more famous?

Vava Dudu: Fashion’s Best Kept Secret

Ancient Greek statues are white, pure and classical, just like the marble they are carved from. False. These statues were painted in fabulous bright colours. Archaeologists and art academics have known this for centuries so why does the white myth endure?

Ancient Greek Statues Were Not White

Ronja von Ronne explores different types of relationships and questions the nature of love and our search for it. Can love exist between two people, or between three? And what of our love for ourselves, or indeed the unconditional love we hold for our pets?

Love! But how?

Ronja von Ronne explores different types of relationships and questions the nature of love.

Streetphilosophy

MIA gained international recognition in 2007 thanks to Paper Planes. She continues to lobby for a world without walls, and without borders, through her songs.

MIA continues to lobby for a world without walls, and without borders, through her songs

TAPE: MIA

Meet Olivier Latry, the organist of the famous Notre-Dame in Paris: one of the most prestigious organist gigs in the world. Join him on an exciting musical and historical journey to the heart of the organ.

Meet Olivier Latry, the organist of the famous Notre-Dame in Paris

The Organ of Notre Dame

In Ukraine, long-distance love is the new normal. Indie pop icon Ingret Kostenko had a meteoric rise to fame until the Russian invasion forced her to flee to Germany. The man she loved was a soldier at the front and she went home regularly to see him. This separation is the inspiration for Ingret’s music.

Love in Wartime

Ukrainian Indie pop icon Ingret Kostenko is in a long-distance relationship with a soldier, the inspiration for her music.

Tracks East

Exiled in Latvia since 2022, Russian journalist Masha Borzunova and her team are on a mission to teach Europe what Russian state media propaganda actually looks like: Sinister, full of contradiction and absurd.

Fake News: Russian Propaganda for Beginners

It will soon be a year since Russia invaded their country, but Ukrainians remain optimistic: 88% of them are convinced that within ten years their country will be a member of the European Union and will enjoy prosperity. And many Ukrainian artists, singers, inventors and entrepreneurs believe that their country should not be reduced to the role of victim. Musician Olga Osinnya meets people in Kyiv who are looking towards the future with hope.

The Day After Tomorrow

Tracks East meets people in Kyiv who are looking towards the future with hope.

Bonuses and Extracts

Discover more

At once seductive and dangerous, historical myth and male fantasy, the femme fatale represents both erotic promise and a death trap to the male observer. Conceived at the end of the 19th century in the works of Gustave Moreau, Franz von Stuck and Lovis Corinth, the femme fatale was completely reinvented in the 20th century by many female artists.

Seductive and dangerous, the figure of the femme fatale in art was completely reinvented in the 20th century.

The Femme Fatale in Art

The decisive moment in 1618 that triggered the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants and changed the course of European history.

The decisive moment in 1618 that triggered the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants. 

The Defenestration of Prague

Tensions between Moldova and Russia are escalating over the breakaway region of Transnistria, an investigation on how prepared Europe is for another summer of wildfires, and a report from the Dissident Club in Paris.

Tensions in Moldova / WildFires in Europe

Tensions between Moldova and Russia are escalating with street protests and controversy over Russian secret documents.

ARTE Europe Weekly

Highly influential indie rockers from Boston, famous for such tracks as Debaser and Where is my mind perform in Paris as part of a European tour for their latest album Doggerel.

Legendary and highly influential indie rockers perform in Paris as part of their European tour.

Pixies - Live at the Paris Olympia

Behind his polite exterior lies a formidable leader with a ruthless character, ready to do anything to make China the world's leading power by the People’s Republic’s centenary in 2049. This well-documented portrait of the Chinese president gives an unprecedented insight into his politics and shows how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

A portrait of the Chinese president giving an unprecedented insight into his politics and showing how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

The New World of Xi Jinping

Eclectic American singer-songwriter Ben Harper performs from his latest album, 2022’s Bloodline Maintenance. Filmed at Ground Control in Paris.

Ground Control

Eclectic American singer-songwriter Ben Harper performs from his latest album, 2022’s Bloodline Maintenance.

Ben Harper

An exclusive investigation into the Russian paramilitary organisation Wagner, headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 2,500 documents were leaked from Prigozhin’s servers by anti-Putin hackers, shedding light on this secretive group of mercenaries, a key element in the war in Ukraine.

Data Sources

An exclusive investigation into the Russian paramilitary organisation Wagner, headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 

The Prigozhin Papers

Music director of the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cristian Măcelaru takes his musicians on a tour of his homeland, Romania. A tour stopping in Timişoara, his hometown. On the programme: The Piano Concerto No. 2 by Johannes Brahms with soloist Simon Trpčeski.

Concert from the European Capital of Culture 2023

Conductor Cristian Măcelaru and the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne perform Brahms and Klaus Lang in Romania.

Cristian Mācelaru in Timişoara

Lyubov, which means love in Russian, is 80 years old and lives alone on the shores of Lake Baikal. She bears witness to this wonder of nature and possesses and unbreakable bond with the world’s deepest lake in Siberia. Her life here is hard, especially in winter, but she would not live anywhere else.

On the shores of Lake Baikal, an old woman lives alone in a beautiful place that is dear to her heart.

The Old Woman and the Lake

Working her way out of poverty as a sex worker all while supporting her family in Romania. That’s Andrada’s goal. She speaks confidently and openly about her work in a red-light district in Germany’s Ruhr region.  
This programme by German channel ARD is part of The European Collection, a joint initiative of European public media (ARD, ARTE, France Télévisions, SRG SSR and ZDF), coordinated by ARTE.

Portrait of a sex worker in the Ruhr region, Germany.  

Hard Life – I sell sex for money

Far from the metropolitan centre of Tel Aviv, Sderot show another side of Israel. One with high-levels of social deprivation and strong support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s controversial judicial reforms.

Sderot - The Other Israel

Far from the metropolitan centre of Tel Aviv, Sderot is a different Israel with strong support for Netanjahu and high levels of social deprivation.

ARTE Reportage

In El Salvador, gangs have terrorised the country for decades. But when Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019, becoming the youngest head of state in Latin America, he vowed to take back control from the gangs by installing a state of emergency.

El Salvador: The coolest dictator in the world?

When Nayib Bukele was elected president in 2019, he vowed to take back control from the gangs by installing a state of emergency.

In Peru, every year, the people who live in remote mountain villages gather to build the Inca bridge of Q'eswachaka, a traditional structure of woven grass, and the last of its kind. This ancestral know-how inherited from the Incas, and the enduring spirit of community, enables the villagers to pull off a stunning feat of engineering, time and again.

In Peru, every year, villagers build the Inca bridge of Q'eswachaka from woven grass, and the last of its kind.

The Inca Grass Bridge of Q'eswachaka

One aspect of the war in Ukraine is being played out in the shadows. Our reporter met partisans in the Kherson region, which was occupied by Russian forces until last November. These Ukrainian civilians have set up resistance networks in Russian-occupied territories.

Ukraine: Resistance in Occupied Territories

Our reporters met partisans in the Kherson region, which was occupied by Russian forces until last November. Ukrainian civilians there have set up resistance networks in Russian-occupied territories.

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli gaols have fathered around one hundred children over the last ten years. Their sperm is smuggled out of prison to be used in IVF with their partners.

Israel-Palestine: Secret Babies of the Intifada

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli gaols have fathered around one hundred children over the last ten years.

With all the religious wars, the 17th century was a tense time in Europe. And in art one theme caught everyone’s imagination: the Virgin Mary.

Assumption of the Virgin - Nicolas Poussin

Look But Don't Touch

The Greek government is under intense pressure to explain how February’s tragic train accident happened. The crash has sparked widespread anti-government protests. We take a broad view of the state of gender equality across Europe and find out about a pioneering law to help menopausal women in Spain.

Greece train crash / Gender equality / Photography

Massive protests engulf Greece after a deadly train crash, with the public pointing fingers at the government.

From an incredibly varied selection of 19th century postcards, the Paris of the Belle Epoque (1871 – 1914) comes to life. Street-photography captured Parisians from all walks of life and conveyed the optimism and elegance of the period.

From an incredibly varied selection of 19th century postcards, the Paris of the Belle Epoque (1871 – 1914) comes to life.

Paris in the Belle Epoque

A look at how we are getting better at managing and conserving water supplies in drier parts of our planet like southern Spain, Israel and the desert city of Las Vegas.

Water

 A look at how we are getting better at managing and conserving water supplies in drier parts of our planet like southern Spain, Israel and the desert city of Las Vegas.

Gymnastics - Cultural Brain Stretching

Gymnastics

Do We All Have Dopplegangers?

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The Evolving Truth About Dinosaurs

Gymnastics

Bondage: The Ties That Free

Gymnastics

The Wickedest Man in the World

Gymnastics

La Nouvelle Vague

Gymnastics

Corita Kent, the Pop Culture Nun

Culture, UnfetteredThe Illiterate Writer: Mr. Mrabet

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