Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

The Pollock-Krasner Foundation (PKF) announced today, August 2, that it bestowed the Lee Krasner Award on Brazilian artist and first-time recipient Josely Carvalho. In total, the PKF awarded almost $2.7 million in grants and awards to 106 artists and arts organizations over the past year, with grantees hailing from 16 countries and 16 states. The Lee…

The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is launching a new vinyl lending library for record aficionados and new initiates alike. Beginning today, patrons can listen to any of 400 records at newly-installed listening stations at the Central Library, and check them out for up to three weeks. The Vinyl Lending Library joins existing non-textual collections like…

Archaeologists in Turkey say they have discovered a Roman-era gladiator burial ground in Anazarbus (modern Anavarza) in the country’s southern Adana province. If true, this would be one of only a few known gladiator cemeteries across the ancient Mediterranean. As previously excavated gladiator cemeteries reflect: The men and women who fought professionally in the Roman…

A popular adage states that one should never compare their insides to someone else’s outsides — that is to say, what looks perfect on the surface usually conceals the same dumpster fire shitshow we all have going on internally. Recent findings reported by the National Gallery of Art suggest that even Vermeer, a painter historically cherished for…

We all know that size doesn’t matter, but archaeologists are nonetheless aflutter over a massive stone penis unearthed last month amidst excavation of Roman ruins in an Iberian archaeological site called El Higuerón, in southern Spain. At nearly 18 inches long, it may be the largest known specimen within a common genre — proving that scientists do…

An open letter published in e-flux this weekend and co-signed by almost 100 individuals and organizations in Documenta 15’s “lumbung community” condemns the exhibition’s leaders for allowing a “hostile environment” to prevail at the international contemporary art show hosted in Kassel, Germany. The most recent offense the letter responds to is a preliminary assessment, released by Documenta’s advisory…

At the opening reception of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei’s exhibition Who Am I? at Palazzo Fava in Bologna, Italy, a man shattered a porcelain sculpture by the artist to the astonishment of visitors. In a security video posted on Ai’s Instagram after the incident, a man identified as 57-year-old Vaclav Pisvejc from the Czech Republic is seen theatrically toppling the artist’s…

The days of microfiche — or even those who can remember what that is — may be well behind us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to access the history of newsprint. In fact, with the Chronicling America initiative from the Library of Congress expanding to include media from all 50 United States, Washington, DC, the US…

Spanish authorities are investigating an individual believed to have poured water over various ancient cave paintings in Andalusia to take clearer photos of the artwork for social media. According to a statement from the Spanish Civil Guard shared with Hyperallergic, the 39-year-old man, a resident of neighboring Los Villares, reportedly posted his geotagged pictures from the caves…

In response to calls for disqualification, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) said it stands by the Emmy nomination of Palestinian reporter Bisan Owda’s eight-minute film about surviving the Israeli attack on Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza in April, where she and thousands of others were sheltering. The backlash against Owda’s film came from…