Samsung’s Latest Phones Leverage AI to Improve Utility

Last week Samsung presented their latest Galaxy line of products with a heavy focus on Galaxy AI. Integrated throughout the phone features, it’s clear their focus is on improving everyday apps over adding entertaining gimmicks. Circling a product in a photo to initiate a search for it, live speech translation during a mixed language phone call and filling in parts of a photo left blank while editing are just a few things Galaxy AI is reported to do with underlying power from Google’s Android operating system. Ian Carlos Campbell digs in over at Inverse. And keep scrolling from there for Ray Wong’s hands-on review.

200+ Works Comprise New York Academy of Art’s “Take Home a Nude” Online Auction

For the 31st annual edition of New York Academy of Art’s “Take Home a Nude” auction, more than 200 works are being offered through an online auction to benefit the prestigious school’s academic programming and to fund scholarships for emerging artists. The impressive roster of pieces includes contributions by Will Cotton, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Alexis Rockman, Kathy Ruttenberg and more. Coupled with the online auction (where anyone can bid), the Academy’s annual gala, hosted at Sotheby’s, will honor Pakistani American artist Salman Toor. “The Academy’s community holds Salman Toor and his work in high esteem. His vision is uniquely his own—honest, intimate and completely engaging. He brings individual stories to light in a way that makes them universally important to see and hear. In his disarming way, he makes us witness to the circumstances and realities of the people and situations he depicts,” says Academy President David Kratz. Learn more and see all the lots at Live Auctioneers.

A Guide to Japan’s 1,000 Kilometer Michinoku Coastal Trail

Accessible by Japan’s ever-reliable train system (and within reach of Tokyo by bullet train), the Michinoku Coastal Trail stretches for more than 1,000 kilometers along the northern coast of Honshu. After years of development, the trail officially opened in 2019. It passes through traditional villages and modern cities, granting day hikers and thru-hikers alike scenic vantage points, natural hot springs, delicious food destinations and all types of accommodation (including campgrounds, ryokans and hotels). To learn more about its creation and how to traverse it successfully, head over to Field Mag.

Volcán de Mi Tierra’s Ultra-Premium Volcan X.A Becomes Formula 1’s Official Tequila for the Las Vegas Grand Prix

An additive-free, ultra-premium blend of añejo, extra-añejo and reposado tequilas, Volcan X.A—from Volcán de Mi Tierra—will be the official tequila partner of Formula 1’s forthcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023. With ever-increasing US interest in the sport (thanks, in part, to the Netflix show Formula 1: Drive to Survive) coupled with the grandiose spectacle of each event, along with exponential tequila market growth, it’s a fitting partnership for all parties involved. To commemorate the occasion, Volcan X.A will release a limited edition bottle inspired by the elegance and thrills of F1 racing, with more details to be announced shortly. Read more at Forbes.

Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood’s Collaborative Exhibit at Tin Man Art, “The Crow Flies Part One”

A series of otherworldly, large-scale collaborative paintings by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and artist Stanley Donwood will debut in the exhibition The Crow Flies Part One at London’s Tin Man Art gallery this September. Yorke and Donwood met when they were art students and first collaborated in 1994, when the latter produced the album cover art for Radiohead’s third EP,  My Iron Lung. Donwood has since made all of Radiohead’s album art. For the pieces in the forthcoming exhibit, both artists worked side by side, at the same time, on the same vellum (or calfskin) canvas. Haunting, abstract forms couple with intricate line work—yielding unexpected and extraordinary compositions. Tin Man Art will host part two of the exhibition toward the end of 2023.

Link Culture

A Restored Painting Brings Back a Subject That Was Previously Covered Up, An Enslaved Child Named Bélizaire

The incredible story of the Met’s new acquisition

Via The New York Times link opens in a new window

17 August 2023

Alexandra Eaton‘s in depth video and feature in the New York Times shares the journey of a now historically important work—a portrait of a family’s three children and the Black slave who took care of them. The painting’s nearly two hundred year journey includes the death of the three children shortly after it was painted, the identification of the slave and details on his life, the work’s storage for years in attics and basements before being donated to the New Orleans Museum of Art, its sales, restorations and eventual acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It will hang in the museum’s American Wing, helping to fill a large representation gap of Black people in American art of the era.

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is for Fans and Foes Alike

“Some may call Gerwig a sellout, but she’s the one who hid a moving, emotional journey of self-discovery inside a toy commercial,” is just one of the great lines in Hoai-Tran Bui’s considered review of one of this summer’s most talked about films and pop culture moments. From its solid performances to crisply written script, nods to cinematic icons and an indelible entry into America’s camp database, Bui explains all the reasons why this film is both successful and a must-see summer romp. We’re supportive of the writers and actors on strike and recognize Barbie might be one of the last summer blockbusters you’ll be able to enjoy for a while.

Chef Brian VanderGast’s “Lemon: A Rooftop Experience Inspired by Krug” at The Ned Nomad

Following the success of last year’s “Single Ingredient” pairing menu series—which starred rice as the key culinary component—Krug’s consumer-facing dinner explorations are continuing this season, at NYC’s The Ned Nomad, with lemons as the counterpoint to the beloved champagne. Featuring Krug Grande Cuvée 171st Édition and Krug Rosé 27th Édition, the spectacular dining experience has been imagined by The Ned’s executive chef, Brian VanderGast, who artfully aligns zesty, citric flavors with the maison’s signature aromas, flavors and effervescence. Entitled “Lemon: A Rooftop Experience Inspired by Krug,” the event series is only one facet of the multi-chef Krug x Lemon chronicle, which even includes the cookbook The Zest is Yet to Come. Read more about the event at OpenTable.

Image courtesy of Krug

TartanPest, an Autonomous Robot That Manages Lanternfly Proliferation

Lanternflies, though pretty, have become an increasingly present and destructive force for crops in the eastern US and it’s anticipated that they will spread across the country. In response to the growing hazard and financial impact, a team of students in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University created TartanPest, an autonomous robot that moves through potentially infested areas on a microtractor base, uses computer vision to identify the insect’s egg masses and uses its robotic arm to remove the masses from the trees and objects they are attached to, preventing them from hatching. Read more about the invention at Carnegie Mellon University’s website.

TartanPest image courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University

Photographer Charlie Engman’s Midjourney Images Expand His Subjects’ Point Of View

Brooklyn-based photographer and artist Charlie Engman is leveraging Midjourney’s lack of physical constraints to create hundreds of machine-generated images in a day, embracing the platform’s quirks and the way it provides additional layers of complexity to his work. Engman, formerly known for thought-provoking imagery of his mother, is using the technology to create something that feels both alien and fresh. Read about his explorations and discover some of his AI-produced images at The New Yorker.

“Mom (Clay II), 2003” image used with permission by the artist