Culture

From Survival to Revival: The World’s Last Beetling Mill Eyes a Bright Future

This is Beirut 26/09 17:40 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Craft Linen Heritage Fashion Northern Ireland Culture

The noise is deafening and the work can be lonely, but to William Smyth, who toils in the world's last commercial linen "beetling" mill, his job is unique. "There's nothing modern about it, I'm doing the same now as they were doing 100 years and more ago," said Smyth, 59, at the mill in Northern Ireland in a village some 45 miles (70 kilometers) ...

Pop Art Brings Royal Tradition to Life in Luxembourg

This is Beirut 26/09 11:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Luxembourg Exhibition Culture Pop Art Tradition Art

As Luxembourg awaits the coronation of a new Grand Duke, local artist Jacques Schneider is planning to jazz up the occasion with a splash of pop art. A set of new "monarchical" paintings are among the works on show at a retrospective on Schneider's 20 years in the art industry that opened on Thursday in Berchem, a small town in the south of the ...

Spotify Leads Industry Effort to Label AI Involvement in Music Creation

This is Beirut 25/09 17:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Music Spotify Technology AI Culture

Spotify on Thursday unveiled several measures to encourage artists and publishers to be more transparent about their use of artificial intelligence, as well as to limit certain abuses. The Swedish platform is recommending that musicians and producers comply with a new standard developed by the Digital Data Exchange (DDEX), a consortium of leading ...

Comic-Con Goes Global: Málaga Hosts Inaugural International Edition

This is Beirut 25/09 16:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Comic-Con San Diego Spain Kick-Off Entertainment Culture

Warriors, wizards and other costumed characters flooded the streets of Malaga in southern Spain on Thursday for the opening of the first San Diego Comic-Con held outside the United States. Mirroring the famous California event, the four-day convention will feature blockbuster film presentations, prominent figures from the worlds of comics and ...

Snoop Dogg to Perform at AFL Grand Final in Melbourne

This is Beirut 25/09 13:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Music Snoop Dogg Football Concert Australia Culture

American rapper Snoop Dogg said he was "in love" with Australian Rules football on Thursday, ahead of his performance at the sport's grand finale. The 53-year-old will take to the stage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday, which will be jammed with up to 100,000 fans watching Geelong face Brisbane. "I've been coming to this country for ...

Famed 'Sponge Cities' Chinese Architect Kongjian Yu Dead in Brazil Plane Crash

This is Beirut 25/09 13:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Obituary Architect Kongjian Yu Accident China Brazil Culture

Chinese landscape architect Kongjian Yu, known for his so-called nature-mimicking "sponge cities," has died in a small plane crash in Brazil with two filmmakers documenting his work, police said Wednesday. The 62-year-old was considered a leading figure in sustainable urban planning; his "sponge cities" replace concrete surfaces with natural ...

SpotlightClaudia Cardinale and the Myth of the Mediterranean Woman

Marie-Christine Tayah 25/09 11:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Italy Tunisia Claudia Cardinale Cinema Culture Hollywood

In the wake of her passing, snippets of Claudia Cardinale’s films are flooding social media, rekindling the spell she cast on the silver screen. Each photograph of her now seems to belong to another time, a time of larger-than-life characters and burning passions, reflecting a woman of sun and sea, a Mediterranean rebel who carved her own ...

ExplainerAddiction: The Body Speaks the Unspoken

David Sahyoun 24/09 18:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Addiction Psychoanalysis Drugs Alcohol Culture Emptiness

Understanding addiction means looking beyond the mere fact of dependency. If the first part traced the origins of emptiness and the formation of lack, the challenge now is to grasp why—when suffering cannot be symbolized—the body steps in and makes the symptom speak. Since Freud, psychoanalysis has tried to probe what escapes language: ...

Love and Loss Lead the Way on the 2025 Booker Prize Shortlist

This is Beirut 24/09 17:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Literature Booker Prize Shortlist 2025 Britain Culture

Three authors writing about love and loss have made the Booker Prize shortlist for the first time, among the six chosen as contenders for this year's prestigious award. The works explore "the ties that bind families together, and the moments of crisis that can pull them apart," the prize organizers said late Tuesday. The shortlist ...

Giorgio Armani’s Legacy Shines Amid Milan’s Renaissance Treasures

This is Beirut 24/09 10:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Armani Itlay Renaissance Painting Italy Culture

More than 120 of Giorgio Armani's creations went on display Wednesday at a prestigious Milan gallery, mixing high fashion with fine art to mark 50 years of the late designer's label. Red-carpet gowns and classic suits displaying Armani's soft tailoring, neutral tones and exquisite decoration have been placed among masterpieces of Italian art at ...

Claudia Cardinale, Iconic Italian Actress and Muse of Fellini and Visconti, Dies at 87

This is Beirut 24/09 09:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Obituary Claudia Cardinal Icon Film Italy France Culture

Sixties screen siren Claudia Cardinale, who died on Tuesday aged 87, entranced audiences across the globe with the sultry gaze that made her the muse of Luchino Visconti and Federico Fellini. With her fierce beauty and husky voice, Cardinale not only captivated Italy's greatest filmmakers, but she also played opposite most of the leading men of ...

Spotlight‘American Gigolo:’ The Film That Put Giorgio Armani on the Map

Bélinda Ibrahim 23/09 19:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

American Gigolo Film Fashion Richard Gere Giorgio Armani Hollywood

In 1980, America discovered American Gigolo and its protagonist, Julian Kaye, portrayed by Richard Gere. His silhouette, sculpted by the California light, moves through his modern apartment and pauses before an endless wardrobe. It is not just a display of suits. In every movement and every choice of jacket or shirt, there is something new, a ...