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Before the computer age, Letraset typefaces allowed anyone to make professional-looking graphics on the cheap. It soon became central to punk and the DIY fanzine scene.

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Cultural Brain Stretching

<p>Before the computer age, Letraset typefaces allowed anyone to make professional-looking graphics on the cheap. It soon became central to punk and the DIY fanzine scene.</p>

Letraset: The Punk Designer's Best Friend

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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

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

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

How can an artist unblock writer's block and free themselves of the fear of the blank page? Producer and musician Brian Eno has found the solution: a card game. Called Oblique Strategie", it gave artists inspiration when they had none. David Bowie composed his unforgettable Heroes thanks to this very strange game.

The Game That Saved David Bowie

David Bowie composed his unforgettable Heroes thanks to this very strange game

If Monopoly today is a cheerful celebration of capitalism, it actually didn't start off that way. Its creator, a working class woman who barely made any money from it, had devised the game as a way of denoucing the worst excesses of unfettered capitalism. 

When Monopoly Was Anti-Capitalist

Let's give credit where credit is due: the creator of Monopoly was a working class woman who barely made any money from it

Taboo since ancient times, periods are also taboo in art. But thanks to a generation of feminist artists determined to end the shame around menstruation, period blood is making a big splash in the art world - even if social media has yet to catch up. 

The Art of Menstruation

A generation of feminist artists are determined to end the shame around menstruation

Designer Erik Spiekermann explains how he created the map for Berlin's newly unified public transport network, just after reunification and the fall of the Berlin wall.

How a Map Healed Berlin

Designer Erik Spiekermann explains how he created the map for Berlin's newly unified public transport network

Federico Fellini is renowned for his extravagant productions. On the sets, there was often a mixture of creativity and chaos. But why did the filmmaker make his actors recite numbers and pasta recipes rather than scripts?

Carbonara Alla Fellini

Federico Fellini's creative process was chaotic but legendary

At the first hint of sadness, out comes the pints of icecream and the sad power ballads. But why is listening to sad music our idea of a good time? Does sad music make us happy?

Why Do We Love Sad Music?

Why is listening to sad music our idea of a good time?

Gymnastics - Cultural Brain Stretching

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“All your base are belong to us” was a baffling translation error in an early nineties video game which quickly became a long-running internet meme. But why share a meaningless sentence?

A Good Meme Never Dies

Jan Vormann is an inventor, a sculptor and a dreamer. He wants us to bring colour into our lives by repairing our cities with Lego.

Fixing Our Cities with Lego

Yetundey is originally from Leipzig and mixes styles and influences. Layla Boe wants to make the German language smoother in her music.

Germany

Girlhood - Women in Rap (1/4)

Whether they have fled, been banished or deported, some exiles find themselves alone, while others form communities in their host countries. But all feel nostalgia and even homesickness. Tracks East goes in search of the exile experience.

Exile

Tracks East goes in search of the exile experience of those who have fled, been banished or deported.

Tracks East

Discover contemporary cycling culture in three European cities: Berlin, the unofficial capital of vintage racing bikes. London, where cycle-cafés also hold speed dating evenings and Amsterdam where cyclists stand out from the crowd with style.

Cycling as Lifestyle

Discover contemporary cycling culture in three European cities: Berlin, London and Amsterdam.

Biking Boom

Dee Koala and Dope Saint Jude are young rappers from the Cape region of South Africa. Dope decided to move to London to pursue her musical career whilst Dee has stayed in her local community.

South Africa

Girlhood - Women in Rap (2/4)

A Polish cyber elf, a Ukrainian DJ on the front line, a militant Russian grandmother, and Belarusian hackers... On the face of it, they have little in common. And yet they are all resisting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, fighting back on different fronts.

Resistance

A Polish cyber elf, a Ukrainian DJ on the front line, a militant Russian grandmother, and Belarusian hackers...They are all resisting the Russian invasion of Ukraine on different fronts.

Have you ever wondered why pop songs sometimes sound a little too familiar? Welcome to the world of pop-recycling where borrowing, sampling and interpolation are the order of the day. Featuring interviews with Placebo, Ed Sheeran, Charlie XCX and Lauv.

Pop Music: The Great Recycling Business

Have you ever wondered why pop songs sometimes sound a little too familiar? Welcome to the world of pop-recycling. Featuring interviews with Placebo, Ed Sheeran, Charlie XCX and Lauv.

Tracks: Songwriting Special

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Bonuses and Extracts

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On 22 July 2016 a German high-school student David Sonboly killed nine people in a seemingly random attack in a Munich shopping-centre. Why do some young people become mass murderers? A look at radicalisation within extreme-right groups online.

Youth Violence Online

Why do some young people become mass murderers? A look at radicalisation within extreme-right groups online.

Like. Hate. Die

Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish perform at Hellfest 2022.

Nightwish

Hellfest 2022

In Europe, the last primary forests are found almost exclusively in the mountains in the east or south-east of the continent. These virgin forests have never been exploited or cut down, and have remained as they have always been. Few studies have been done on this forests, which are presumably havens of biodiversity. We go on a research trip to the Dinaric Alps in Albania.

The Green Lungs of Europe

We go on a research trip to the Dinaric Alps in Albania

Geo Reportage

The trio led by Matthew Bellamy is one of the most explosive and creative forces in rock music over the past two decades. There is no one else quite like Muse. Be impressed by their committed performance at Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds Festival.

Tempelhof Sounds 2022

 There is no one else quite like Muse. Be impressed by their committed performance at Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds Festival.

Muse

Anglo-French guitarist Laura Cox presents the Scorpions, probably the most successful German rock band ever, headlining at Hellfest 2022. For more than five decades the German five-piece has been producing international hits and have sold more than 100 million records.

Anglo-French guitarist Laura Cox presents the Scorpions, probably the most successful German rock band ever, headlining at Hellfest 2022. 

Scorpions

Young Korean musicians have been taking the world of classical music by storm. A new generation are winning the big prizes and pursuing successful careers in Europe and around the world. What makes these Korean classical artists so good? A documentary following the rising stars of K-Classic

The Korean Musical Mystery

Generation K-Classics

The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad sits between Lithuania and Poland. Once German East Prussia, it is now home to 1 million Russian citizens. What is life like in this small territory now practically cut off from its EU neighbours since the war in Ukraine began?

Kaliningrad: Putin's Enclave

The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad sits between Lithuania and Poland and is now practically cut off from its EU neighbours since the war in Ukraine began.

ARTE Reportage

Sheffield natives Bring Me The Horizon bring their heterogeneous metal sound to Hellfest 2022.

Bring Me The Horizon

As Lithuania stops Russia from transporting goods by train through its territory to Kaliningrad, a focus on the history of this singular Russian territory.

The Kaliningrad Affair

Mapping the World Essentials

Why does the European Union allow deadly pesticides banned at home to be exported to developing countries? Brazil, especially, uses large quantities of harmful pesticides imported from Europe with terrible effects on the population’s health.

Why does the European Union allow deadly pesticides banned at home to be exported to developing countries? 

Pesticides: European Hypocrisy

In an historic turnaround, Sweden and Finland want to join NATO thus ending their decades-long neutrality. The war in Ukraine has reawakened fears of the Russian neighbour.

Finland and Sweden Opt for NATO

In an historic turnaround, Sweden and Finland want to join NATO thus ending their decades-long neutrality. 

English post-punk duo Sleaford Mods tear up the Tempelhof stage with their visceral and poetic creations full of raw indignation.

Sleaford Mods

Just a few weeks before the release of their new album, The Sick and the Dying… and the Dead! Thrash metal stars Megadeth perform at Hellfest 2022.

Megadeth

According to the latest calculations by the OECD, South Korean women could live to be over 92 years old on average in 2070, and men over 89. That would be a world record. What's the secret?

South Korea: An Obsession With Health

South Koreans are on track to be the longest-lived people in the world

Mixing punk and old-school metal, Welsh band BFMV are set up to tear up Hellfest 2022.

Bullet For My Valentine

Folk, americana, country, rock - the music of The Lumineers is the sound of America. But with III, they take a darker turn as they explore the issue of addiction in three acts, and prove that they are so much more than Ho Hey.

The Lumineers, performing live in Paris, take a darker turn with their record III, which explores the issue of addiction in three acts

The Lumineers at the Zenith in Paris

The philanthropic foundation set up by US billionaire Bill Gates quietly co-finances experiments with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in several African countries. In the age of philanthropic capitalism, billionaires "save the world" and make money in the process. But who is helped the most, ordinary Africans or the food industry?

 In the age of philanthropic capitalism, billionaires "save the world" and make money in the process. An investigation into GM experiments in Africa.

Africa, GMOs and Bill Gates

Dutch band Epica returns to Hellfest to present Omega, a new album showing off their inimitable symphonic heavy metal sound.

Letraset: The Punk Designer's Best Friend

Gymnastics - Cultural Brain Stretching

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The Freedom to Cycle

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Van Gogh's Disappearing Colours

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Caravaggio, Genius - and Killer?

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