Guy Wilson: beavers, buildings and the urban adventurer. In the summer of 2009 beavers were reintroduced to Argyll, Scotland. These aquatic mammals are famous for the dams they build. They work by carefully selecting suitable trees to cut down and by using the resources around them as sustainably as possible. Over a period of...
Read more »

Oliver Fearon explores Hogarth’s picture of 18th Century politics. On a typical walk around campus we are often bombarded with a whole host of political societies all vying for your individual allegiance and support. On an occasion they may even advertise a free dinner or offer a complementary wine reception. These generous incentives can...
Read more »

After seeing a flat production, Kaite O’Loughlin argues Godber needs to expand his horizons and his characters. John Godber’s 2002 play Men of the World has been praised as both clever and perceptive. Yet its performance at York Theatre Royal, by the Hull Truck Theatre Company, exposed its ultimate short-sightedness. Godber’s capacity for perception...
Read more »

Ed Dodson explains his fetish for big discs Ever since I visited a mighty vinyl sale in Leeds recently, I have been wondering quite why I – and seemingly many others – have an obsession with vinyl. Is it the material? Do we like the way it feels on our skin late at night?...
Read more »

Harriet Waghorn builds an argument about the new language of the Reichstag. When Norman Foster won the competition to re-build the Reichstag in 1993 it was an historic moment. Turning it into the permanent seat of the German parliament, and Berlin into the political capital, he approached the task with great delicacy. After an...
Read more »

Oliver Schotel pops the question: what makes Pop Art easy? A fine art student whispered to me over her drink, “Koons is my guilty pleasure.” Apparently, she saw Koons not as high art, but as entertainment. Something you should keep hidden, but also something that you can appreciate. As long as, God forbid, you...
Read more »

Mark Knighton explores the implications of Solomon’s sexuality. There is little doubt that some of the difficulty in arriving at a conclusive response to many of English Pre-Raphaelite Painter Simeon Solomon’s (1840-1905) paintings can be governed by the pre-emption to separate his work in two opposing categories; that of compositions depicting moral or religious...
Read more »

Tom Shingler explains the beauty of simplicity in Koyaanisqatsi. It’s hard to imagine being able to sit through a film that lasts longer than an hour with no discernible plotline. When you go to the cinema or watch a DVD, you usually sit down expecting an engaging story, maybe a few big explosions, and...
Read more »

Owain Gardner and Phillipa Toop sculpt a review of Anish Kapoor’s recent exhibition. Born in Mumbai in 1950, Anish Kapoor is one of the UK’s foremost artists. Studying first at Hornsey College of Art and then Chelsea School of Art and Design, he has worked in London since the 1970s. Some of Anish Kapoor’s...
Read more »

Beth Jane Walton looks at the continuing controversy over the Manic Street Preachers’ Saville album cover. Jenny Saville’s controversial painting ‘Stare’ the portrait of an anonymous child, was first exhibited in 2005, yet over 4 years after its original unveiling the piece is once again hitting headline news and whipping the countries press into...
Read more »