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Using AI, Scientists Recreate the Sights and Sounds of 2,500-Year-Old Tombs

The Etruscan painted tombs of Tarquinia, Italy, dating from around the 7th to the 1st century BCE, have long been celebrated for their vivid iconography and remarkable state of preservation. Now, archaeologists have used AI to examine how sight and sound may have affected Etruscan mourners of the time. Focusing on two 5th-century BCE painted tombs at Tarquinia, the Tomba del Gallo and the Tomba dei Demoni Azzurri (“Tomb of the Blue Demon”), as case studies, researchers used acoustic science and AI modeling to recreate each tomb’s distinct experiential strategy. Their findings suggest that these tombs were intended not simply to house the dead but to affect the living through an immersive environment. “Etruscan tomb architecture was structurally designed in a manner that produce[d] somatic and affective responses,” say archaeologists Maurizio Forte of Duke University and Jacqueline Ortoleva of the University of Oxford, who coauthored a study recently publi...
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Lawsuit Alleges Warhol Forgery Scheme Spanning Florida, Peru, and Philadelphia

Duped into buying more than $6.7 million worth of fake Andy Warhol paintings and prints, real estate investor Richard Perlman and his family have launched a multinational lawsuit against the players they say are complicit in the alleged scam. Filed on September 9 in a Miami state court and first reported by the Wall Street Journal , the lawsuit accuses roughly half a dozen individuals and companies across Florida, Philadelphia, and Peru of acting as “suppliers, fake authenticators and distributors” within an elaborate forgery network. The lawsuit traces the alleged journey of the illicit works to Miami—from the painter employed in Peru, through their smuggling into the US, to the construction of a false provenance, including fabricated documents and a label for the canvas. According to the lawsuit, the forgery was uncovered in 2023, when the Perlman family invited experts from Christie’s to assess a collection that included portraits they believed were b...
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Sideline Conversions 14 September (some rugby news and information to start the new week)

Above: Wellington Centurions U18s lock Kitiona Talaepa runs on to Laifone Kamoto’s pass on Saturday. The Petone and USA Junior Eagle and Wellington College flanker have both been selected in the two-day Hurricanes U18s camp at Upper Hutt at the end of this week. Monday morning edition – updates to come: Another wild ride for...
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How Janine Antoni Simultaneously Disturbs and Delights

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Janine Antoni’s hands descend over the eyes of a creamy-colored bust to the sound of water pouring from a faucet. Bubbles froth at the sculpture’s chin and twinkle from grooves between sculpted strands of hair. She caresses the immobile features, then turns the statue to face her. In this 2003 video, little of the artist herself can be seen: A sliver of bare leg presses against the white enamel of a bathtub; her quick hands studiously encircle the simulated cartilage of the bust’s outer ear as she uses the tips of her thumbs to excavate soap from the concha. Then, it cuts to Antoni seated in her studio, her features the same as those of the bust.  “For me, [this work is] about that conflict, that kind of love/hate relationship we have with our physical appearance,” she says. “And, really, the problem I have of looking in the mirror and thinking, ‘Is that who I am?’” Another cut reveals a chocolate version of the same statue.  The footage, which ...
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Talanoa: Are our businesses being left behind?

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Marama T-Pole | Presenter With Aotearoa heading to the polls in November, the economy and whether it’s delivering for our communities will be one of the big issues. Nearly 3,000 businesses went into liquidation last year, the highest number in 50 years, while many Pasifika businesses are also doing it tough. So what’s really happening on the ground, and what does the current economic climate mean for Pasifika businesses? Laura Keil-Hall from the Pacific Business Hub joins us for our talanoa.
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‘I Live for My Art. That’s Really All There Is to It’: Read One of Yayoi Kusama’s Final Unpublished Interviews

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Yayoi Kusama, who died last month , was among the world’s most famous artists, her reach extending far beyond the realm of museums and galleries, both because of the work she made and the way she saw the universe all around her. She was most beloved for her “Infinity Mirror Rooms,” jewel-box installations that dazzle the eye, extending one’s perception and immersing the viewer in an unending abyss of pure beauty and total wonderment. She made the first one, Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field , in 1965, but these installations didn’t bring her global renown until decades later, during the 2010s. Her 2012 Tate Modern retrospective was perfectly timed, since Instagram was first becoming popular when the show opened and seemingly everyone wanted to post the mind-bending photos that are possible in an “Infinity Mirror Room.” Almost overnight, Kusama became not just an art world star but a worldwide icon. People lined up then—and continue to do so now—jus...
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Aisle be Back: All Blacks v South Africa 4.0

By Kevin McCarthy 32-26. Not a score prediction for the fourth and final test of the thriller Boks v All Blacks. Though New Zealand would happily take a win of that margin. No, 32 is the average age of the Springbok starting XV, and 26 the same for the All Blacks during the series before...
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