Tariffs, attention & seeing colours

Severance Pop-Up

The Apple+ series Severance pop-up recreated the eerie, corporate world of Lumon Industries, blurring the line between fiction and reality at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. The actors performed inside a glass cube designed to mimic the show’s sterile corporate office. Dressed in character, they engaged in the eerie workplace rituals, typing on computers, stretching, tossing a ball, and staring blankly ahead, surprising the commuters as they passed by.

The series follows a company that surgically separates employees' brains, creating a split between their work and personal lives. The experience highlighted themes of control, identity, and the atmosphere of disconnected corporate dystopia. Immersive storytelling and surprise encounters can create moments of delight and interest, connecting people to the characters and the story in new, interactive ways. See more here

The Effect of Tariffs

Trade barriers and protectionist policies are reshaping globalization and trade, not leading to full deglobalization but rather a shift toward a more fragmented, multipolar system. While the US is imposing tariffs, other regions are deepening ties, particularly in Asia, where supply chains are evolving rather than collapsing.

Most economists expect the trade barriers to raise prices for U.S. businesses and households, which could lead to higher inflation in the US and in Mexico and Canada. Consumers could see rising prices for nondurable goods, including groceries, they are hurtful to all sides. Read more here

Endangered Attention

In the future, next to Artificial Intelligence, we will need human wisdom, attention and critical thinking. Attention is the very substance of life; what we focus on, consciously or unconsciously, shapes our experiences, identities, and, ultimately, our reality. Increasingly, we no longer control where our attention goes.

This loss of dominion over our own minds, felt globally, marks a profound rupture in our inner lives, reshaping our experiences in unprecedented and unsettling ways. This book, Sirens’ Call, describes how we can take back control of our lives, our politics, and our future. Read more here

Progress in Women’s Sports

The Trump administration could halt progress in women’s sports. Women’s sports have experienced record-breaking attendance, media attention and growth. However, this progress could stall if the Trump administration eliminates the Department of Education, which enforces the law to ensure equal opportunities for female athletes. Without federal oversight, funding and access to sports programs for women could shrink, reversing decades of hard-won gains. Read more here

Seeing Colours

Seeing Colours is a manga-inspired film that explores the perception, memory, and emotional weight of colour connected to identities. Blending hand-drawn animation with dreamlike images, it follows Kyo, an artist who begins to see colours that reveal forgotten truths. As reality and imagination blur, the film becomes a meditation on how colour shapes identity, connection, and how we see and interpret the world. See more here

Louvre Couture

For the first time in its history, the Louvre is organizing an exhibition entirely dedicated to fashion, from January 24th to July 21st, 2025. The Parisian museum will showcase its treasures of classical art alongside creations from the great fashion designers and contemporary talents such as Marine Serre, Charles de Vilmorin and Iris van Herpen. The exhibition shows the evolution of haute couture from 1960 to today.

The links between the garments and the art and furniture explore the connections between art, furniture, and fashion by revealing how haute couture draws inspiration from historical artefacts, materials, and craftsmanship techniques and how they are connected to history. See more here and here