She prepared a miraculous feat for my celebration. The very thought of it still makes me smile

Aberdeen is launching an ambitious bid to revive its struggling centre. Could it offer lessons for other high streets?

From his farm in Portugal, the acclaimed artist speaks about war, peace, the state of the world – and his 40 metre sculpture Mushrooms, on Sydney Harbour “It’s like a film set. Like it’s not real,” the bemused Uber driver says as we pass through a succession of silent rural villages washed with milky sunlight. He’s right: signs of human life are weirdly absent during our windy journey through the Alentejo. I’m making my way to Ai Weiwei’s secluded farm, nestled deep in the Portuguese countryside, where arguably the world’s best known living artist has quietly lived for the last six years. When I arrive, I am ushered inside a vast cathedral of a building, a replica of Ai’s erstwhile, and controversially demolished, studio in Shanghai. The space is cavernous. It’s gridded by huge wooden columns and its dizzyingly high ceilings are webbed with beams. There is no artwork on the walls, nor are there any obvious signs of production or activity. Continue reading...

The death of Nick, goodbye to Neil, and the power of watching fourteen real lives in time-lapse – the return of my Mid-Week Culture Culture Blast

Can the Tapestry’s narrative ambivalence tell us about the women who made it?

A stellar cast of historians and experts unravel the secrets of the Bayeux Tapestry.

The sculptor is known for her mastery of shape and movement—but colour was just as essential a part of her art

ALT: Jumpscare Kid Jumpscare

Education is at a crossroads, argues the author and academic. Should we embrace new technology in the name of efficiency, or is it time to fight back?

A Massachusetts farm is integrating solar panels above berry fields. This agrivoltaics project generates electricity while shading the crops. The elevated panels create a cooler microclimate, retain...

The seven inhabited isles off the North Sea coast, part of a Unesco world heritage site, are a sanctuary for wildlife – with great hotels and restaurants too

The UK is losing its wildlife, and shows like Winterwatch are vital for connecting us to nature. The BBC's decision to cancel it makes no sense. Let's ask them to rethink this! Add your name here:

Museums Journal sits down with China's most famous dissident, Ai Weiwei, to talk history, rebellion - and his hopes of being forgotten

The long read: For tens of thousands of years, these Palaeolithic artworks were unseen. When they were rediscovered, onlookers marvelled at their vivid beauty. One of the world’s leading experts took me up close

Orchis Morio, flowers in meadows in late spring., can sometime be confused with early purple orchid.

With their sublime confection of heartbreak and dancefloor power, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have never sounded like anyone else. Thirty years since Walking Wounded, here’s the duo’s very best

Britain’s second-tier cities are being held back by a simple problem, too many people still cannot get across them quickly enough to reach the jobs, customers and opportunities that drive growth.