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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?

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Cultural Brain Stretching

Nikola Tesla claimed to have invented a <b>"death beam"</b> 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?

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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

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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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

Russian artists have two choices: silence, or exile. There's been a mass creative exodus in recent weeks, including Russian rap stars like Face and Oxxxymiron. Art rockers IC3PEAK post protest videos that would get them arrested in Russia. TikTok star Nikita Sass bravely continues to post his opinion and stays. Few dare to do that.

Russian Artists Against the War

Russian artists have two choices: silence, or exile

Tracks

In 1973 choreographer and dancer Carolyn Carlson brought an breath of American fresh air into the Paris Opera. In true hippy style she brought barefoot dancing, improvisation and a relaxed attitude. Not everyone was ready for change.

Carolyn Carlson: The Day They Danced Barefoot at the Paris Opera

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The Maginot Line is a giant: Thousands of underground bunkers and concrete defences lining the French border, from Belgium to the Mediterranean. In its time it was celebrated as a technical masterpiece and thought to be impregnable, today it also stands for the trauma of the French defeat in 1940. The documentary looks at a military construction that is as fascinating as it is controversial.

France's Defensive Barrier

Thought to be impregnable, the French defensive barrier did not halt the German invasion in 1940.

The Maginot Line

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

Far away from the South Korean capital of Seoul is the Buddhist Gameunsa Temple. Three nuns live, pray and cook together here as they preserve the knowledge of centuries-old temple cuisine. The abbess of this small monastery is the charismatic Wookwan Sunim, revered in Asia as one of the best cooks in the world.

South Korea: Magic Temple Food

Far away from the South Korean metropolis of Seoul is the Buddhist Gameunsa Temple where three nuns live, pray and cook together 

Geo Reportage

After two months of fighting, the Russian troops had their advance towards the West blocked by fierce Ukrainian resistance. Forced to leave the suburbs of Kyiv, the occupying army left behind mass graves and horrific accounts of rape and abuse in their wake. Russia is now turning its efforts to the Dobas and the coastline along the Sea of ​​Azov. In Kyiv, the return of spring is also the return of many residents who had fled.

 In Kyiv, the return of spring is also the return of many residents who had fled

Ukraine: Kyiv in Spring

The literary source for Richard Strauss’s opera immortalizing the degeneracy of Herodes Antipas, King of Judea, and his step-daughter Salome, was supplied by Oscar Wilde. It tells of Herodes, who is keeping the prophet Jochanaan captive inside a cistern. Salome tries to seduce him and on being rebuffed, forces her stepfather to serve her the prophet’s head on a silver platter.

Directed by Christof Loy in Helsinki

Rejected by the prophet Jochanaan, Salome forces her abusive stepfather to exact revenge.

Richard Strauss: Salome

Three Japanese men have fallen under the charms of high school student Rinko, a character from the video game Love Plus. The game finally leads them to the seaside resort of Atami, where the virtual world and real life collides.

Three Japanese men have fallen under the charms of high school student Rinko, a character from the video game Love Plus

Petit ami parfait

The Supreme Court is now made of a majority of ultra-conservative judges since President Trump's term in office. The court now looks set to overturn the Roe v Wade case which gave women the constitutional right to have an abortion if they so wish or need. This worrying step backwards for women's rights doesn't mean women won't have abortions. It means they'll die trying.

Abortion: A Threatened Right

This worrying step backwards doesn't mean women won't have abortions. It means they'll die trying

Mapping the World

Lockdowns, crop failures due to climate change and the war in Ukraine are all to blame for soaring prices around the world.

Geopolitics of Inflation

Mapping the World Essentials

ARTE Concert Festival welcomes a legend, Damon Albarn. He performs his new album live: The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows.

ARTE Concert Festival 2021

ARTE Concert Festival welcomes a legend, Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn

In 2020, for the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, Philippe Jordan and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra recreated the mythical evening of December 22 1808, when  the composer presented his Sixth Symphony, also known as his Pastoral.

Philippe Jordan recreates the evening of December 22, 1808, when Beethoven presented his Pastoral symphony

Philippe Jordan Conducts Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony

On May 9, Russia celebrated its victory day without a victory in Ukraine. Instead, President Putin further pushed the narrative of Russian victimhood, despite the fact that Moscow, not Kyiv, is the agressor. As the battle continues to rage, we take a look at Ukraine before and after the conflict.

Ukraine, Before and After the War

As the battle continues to rage, we take a look at Ukraine before and after the conflict

Live from the Teatro Real in Madrid, an adaptation of Prokofiev’s flamboyant masterpiece by the ever-radical Calixto Bieito.

An adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev’s flamboyant masterpiece by radical director Calixto Bieito.

Prokofiev’s "The Fiery Angel" at the Teatro Real in Madrid

A breakaway region of Moldova that is not recognised internationally, Transnistria is largely pro-Russian. The war in Ukraine has awakened fears that Russia will try to annex the region.

Moldova: Transnistria and Russia

ARTE Reportage

Thirty years after the end of apartheid, South Africa has still not overcome its many problems: Endemic violence, economic and racial inequalities, state corruption. However, the rainbow nation has a lot to offer: tourism, natural resources and a leadership role on the African continent.

South Africa and its Demons

Ordinary Ukrainian citizens are preparing to resist the Russian invader by joining the army and helping the resistance in any way they can.

Ukraine: Resisting the Agressor

It is impossible for them to stay in Russia. For these Russian citizens opposed to the Kremlin, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the new laws restricting freedom of expression have forced them to leave everything behind. Their destination: Istanbul, as Turkey did not require a visa. It is a difficult exile with a host country that does not consider them as refugees and a homeland that views them as pariahs.

Russians Seek Refuge in Turkey

Russian Journalists Report

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought the people of Kyiv together like nothing else. Calling on the spirit of the Maidan Revolution of 2014, they are ready to resist.

Why Does Science Fiction Love Lasers?

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