Ai Weiwei turns the Armory into a surveillance play park

The artist and activist is reunited with Herzog & de Meuron for an immersive trip into digital mass monitoring

Ai Weiwei inside Hansel & Gretel. Image courtesy of Ai Weiwei's Instagram

Who's the boss of mid-century design?

A new exhibition looks at the relationship between mid-20th century designers and their corporate overlords

Design for an IBM work station by Gary Huxtable, 1956. Courtesy of the J Paul Getty Trust and Cantor Arts Center

Does democracy work in art?

As Britain goes to the polls, we look at the democratic processes within the artworld’s most prominent groups

Claire Fontaine: Grève Humaine (Interrompue). Installation view of ‘Claire Fontaine Inhibitions’, Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, 2009–10. Courtesy Reena Spaulings. Photo: Farzad Owrang

Magnum Photos get closer (and cheaper)

The photo agency’s latest print sale focuses on ways in which photographers have got close to their subjects

Mrs Peggy Guggenheim in her palace on the Grand Canal. 1950. Venice. Italy © David Seymour / Magnum Photos

A Movement in a Moment: Young British Artists

On Damien Hirst’s birthday, we look back at the London movement that propelled him and his fellow Brits forwards

Opening party for “Freeze,” part 2, with Richard Patterson (left) and Damien Hirst (right). As reproduced in Biennials and Beyond

How Charles Rennie Mackintosh changed the Vienna Secession

Discover the architect and designer's often overlooked influence on Austria’s famed art movement

Koloman Moser, cover of Ver Sacrum II: iv, 1899 (picture credit: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg). From Art in Vienna


Kathrina Grosse paints Denmark pink

Aarhus's coastline gets a dash of colour, courtesy of this wild, German site-specific abstract painter

© Katharina Grosse and VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2017 / Photo: René Dame, Phlox Films

A first look at Massimo Bottura’s London Refettorio

His Refettorio Felix just opened, serving fine food to the needy - here’s why he doesn’t mind being asked for chips!

Massimo Bottura and his London volunteers at Refettorio Felix. Image courtesy of Food is Soul's Instagram account

JR does the cover of the new Arcade Fire album

The artist’s desert installation features on the band’s new record cover and in new video Everything Now

JR's Everything Now installation for Arcade Fire. Image courtesy of JR's Instagram

A Movement in a Moment: Social Practice

JR, Ai Weiwei and Olafur Eliasson are at the vanguard of a new movement. But what exactly is it that they're doing?

Cutlery extensions by Quynh Vantu, Grey Sheep, 2011. Photo: María del Pilar García Ayensa / Studio Olafur Eliasson. © Institut für Raumexperimente, UdK Berlin. From Studio Olafur Eliasson: The Kitchen

This guy eats more plant-based protein for breakfast than anyone you've ever met - and he looks good on it!

On Meatless Monday meet Kyle Michaud, founder of VegFest Expo and champion of all things vegan

Kyle Michaud founder of Tri-State VegFest Expo and more

MAD make the walls come alive in this Beijing bathroom

The Chinese architects rethink art bathroom conventions setting LEDs into the walls of Roca Beijing

The Roca Beijing Gallery by MAD Architects. Image courtesy of MAD Architects

Elmgreen & Dragset’s Fjord focus

The art duo’s latest sculpture Dilemma recalls the early childhood urge to both leap and hold back

A rendering of Dilemma (2017) by Elmgreen & Dragset. Image courtesy of the artists and Ekebergparken

A Marilyn Monroe postcard from Ellsworth Kelly

On the 94th anniversary of the artist’s birth we look back at his little-known (and often stolen) mail art collages

Marilyn Monroe/Shadows (1974) by Ellsworth Kelly. As reproduced in our Ellsworth Kelly book

Did you see us with Grayson Perry on TV last night?

The ceramicist is inspired by our books Body of Art and Map judging by his Channel 4 Brexit documentary

Grayson Perry on Channel 4 last night with our books Body of Art and Map

Annie Leibovitz shoots Star Wars for Vanity Fair

The brilliant US photographer shoots four different covers featuring the cast of The Last Jedi

Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher photographed Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair. Image courtesy of Vanity Fair

A Phaidon guide to Mario Testino’s art collection

The photo legend is selling his collection at Sotheby’s - here’s all you need to need to know about the artists in it

Mario Testino in a video to promote his Sotheby's sale

The weird numerology behind Anselm Kiefer’s new show

Meet the poet who wrote a language for birds, predicted the web, and inspired Kiefer's new Hermitage exhibition

Battles at Sea by Velimir Khlebnikov by Anselm Kiefer. Photo: Charles Duprat. Image courtesy of the Hermitage

David Lynch's art, architecture and photography influences

As Twin Peaks returns we take a look at how the director’s life-long appreciation of cool stuff affects his vision

David Lynch in the 2016 documentary David Lynch: The Art Life

Photos That Changed The World - Migrant Mother

Dorothea Lange's photo humanised the Great Depression and greatly influenced documentary photography

Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother (1936), Nipomo, California, USA

Grace Coddington’s part in Edward Enninful’s rise

Here’s how Grace Coddington encouraged the new British Vogue editor's progression to the top

Grace Coddington's drawing of Edward Enninful, British Vogue's new editor. Image courtesy of Grace's Instagram

You can see into North Korea from this very big wheel

But you'll have to have a really good head for heights - it's the biggest 'spokeless' one in the world

Bailing River Bridge Spokeless Ferris Wheel - China Construction Sixth Engineering Division - image courtesy Xinhuanet

On Araki’s birthday why not invest in a limited edition print?

The photographer is 77 today, here’s how you can own one of his beautifully nuanced, erotic photographs

Araki and his wife Yoko from Self, Life, Death

Amazon plants out its Spheres

The tech firm is bringing a little Amazonian-style biodiversity to Seattle as it propagates its new meeting space


How Apple’s 1984 ad rewrote George Orwell

As the Design Museum’s new California exhibition opens we look back at one seminal Apple Macintosh ad

A still from Apple's 1984 Superbowl commercial, as reproduced in California

Albert Adrià plans 'a surprising bath' for Ibiza

Chef, author and brother of Ferran returns to the party island with Cirque du Soleil for another mad season

Albert Adrià. Image via Wikimedia commons

Have you seen this new Wolfgang Tillmans video?

The acclaimed photographer has made a video with London producer Powell and will perform with him in August

A still from Wolfgang Tillmans' video for Powell's track Freezer

The ancient inspiration behind Peter Marino's Gagosian debut

Discover how a pre-Christian shipwreck led the architect and fine-art collector to create a series of beautiful boxes

Dragon Scale Commode (2017) by Peter Marino. Image courtesy of the Gagosian

A culinary guide to Donald Trump’s first foreign trip

His love of fries is well established, so how will he get on with Middle Eastern, Italian, Belgian and French cuisine?

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk down red-carpeted stairs, Saturday, May 20, 2017, on their arrival at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

The tank that inspired Cartier

A new Design Museum exhibition looks at the influence of heavy industry on one of the world’s finest jewellers

Renault FT-17 Tank

Korea joins The High Line club

The Dutch architecture practice MVRDV has created a linear park for the South Korean capital Seoul

MVRDV's Seoullo 7017 Skygarden. All images courtesy of MVRDV. Photograph by Ossip van Duivenbode. Copyright  Ossip van Duivenbode

In Production - Kerry James Marshall

Contemporary Art Editor Michele Robecchi gives us a sneak peek at a book about to leave our shelves for yours

Our Kerry James Marshall Contemporary Artist Series monograph in production in the Phaidon Light Room

The Pope guided Massimo Bottura to feed the poor

Here’s how divine intervention led the chef and Phaidon author’s philanthropic Food for Soul initiative

Massimo Bottura helping out at the Felix Project, London. Image courtesy of Food for Soul

Why John Pawson is the ideal Noguchi Award winner

Everyone from Ian Schrager to Deyan Sudjic thinks the architect is an apt Isamu Noguchi Award honouree

John Pawson (right) and fellow 2017 Noguchi Award winner Hiroshi Senju. Photo by Benjamin Lozovsky/BFA.com

Watch Lauren Greenfield at the Design Museum in London

See the photographer talk about why Generation Wealth is not just about the wealthy - but all of us

Lauren Greenfield talking at The Design Museum last night

Would you wear Tank Man on a t-shirt?

That’s the question photo-loving followers of fashion will be asking themselves at Dover Street Market


Lauren Greenfield - 'I want to photograph Trump!'

Our Generation Wealth photo author made a surprise revelation at last night’s Design Museum talk. . .

Lauren Greenfield at the Design Museum, London with Anne McElvoy, left

When Eve Arnold met Malcolm X

On Malcolm X Day, we look at the events surrounding an iconic shoot by the Magnum photographer

A spread of Eve Arnold's 1961 Malcolm X photographs from our book Magnum Stories.

JR and Agnès Varda’s small-town film comes to Cannes

The documentary Visages Villages follows the pair aboard JR’s mobile photo booth as they drive into rural France


How Walter Gropius made the modern age

On the anniverary of the Bauhaus founder's birth we look at how his school helped form modern functionalism

Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, 1947

Philip Guston versus Richard Nixon

On the 44th anniversary of the Watergate hearings a new show looks back at the artist's take on Tricky Dicky

Untitled (Poor Richard) (1971) by Philip Guston. Image courtesy of Hauser & Wirth

Paul Smith takes Martin Parr to the beach

The Magnum photographer lets the designer reproduce his beach photographs on a suitably summery range

Men's Martin Parr 'Beach' Photo-Print Silk Pocket Square by Paul Smith. Image courtesy of PaulSmith.com

How drinks with Erik Satie helped Man Ray make this 'gift'

On the 151st anniversary of the minimalist composer’s birth we look back at his little-known surrealist collaboration


Grace Coddington styles Elle Fanning for Vogue cover

Vogue’s creative director at large teams up with Annie Leibovitz for the June issue - two Phaidon authors!

Elle Fanning's Vogue cover debut, as styled by Grace Coddington. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz

How Aziz Ansari ended up at Massimo Bottura's place

"It was one of the greatest meals of our lives that we happened to capture on film!" says co-star Eric Wareheim

Aziz Ansari at Osteria Francescana in series two of Master of None. Image courtesy of Netflix

Art inspired by the Cultural Revolution

On the 51st anniversary how the generation it affected incorporated their experience into great artworks

Bloodline – Big Family No. 3, (1995)  by Zhang Xiaogang. As reproduced in Zhang Xiaogang: Disquieting Memories.

A pen fit for Peter Marino

The architect and art lover collaborates with Caran d’Ache to produce a new range of writing implements

Peter Marino signing his Phaidon book with his Varius pen. All images courtesy of Caran d'Ache's instagram

5 reasons to look again at Las Vegas architecture

Vegas was founded 112 years ago today. Here’s how to love it, even if you’re not a slots and Cirque du Soleil sort

Stephen Shore, Golden Nugget (27 June, 1978), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Nicholas Fahey on why he loves Lauren Greenfield

The respected LA photo gallerist on what to look for in a Lauren Greenfield picture, how she's turning on a new generation to photography and why he thinks she's a little bit like Henri Cartier-Bresson

Generation Wealth - Lauren Greenfield installation shot at Fahey Klein Gallery Los Angeles

What was the Target in Jasper Johns' paintings?

On the artist’s 87th birthday, we look into the hidden meanings in one of his best-known series of works

Target (1958) by Jasper Johns. As reproduced in our Phaidon Focus book

Joel Meyerowitz - in black and white and full colour

Witness the moment when the pioneering American photographer began depicting his world in two ways


A Movement in a Moment: The Pre-Raphaelites

On Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s birthday, we look back at the original band of revolting London art students

Christ in the House of His Parents (The Carpenter’s Shop) (1849–50) by John Everett Millais. As reproduced in Art in Time

JR’s mercy mission to Somalia

The artist and activist joins social media-stars Jérôme Jarre and Juanpa Zurita on their aid trip to East Africa

JR paste-up eye photos (taken by Yasin Osman) on the side of a a relief truck in Somalia. Image courtesy of JR's Instagram

Richard Tuttle's Critical Edge

Richard Tuttle first came to prominence in the 60s with a body of work that used mundane materials such as textile, paper, wire, and rope – materials he still works with today as a curent show of recent work at Pace London reveals

The Critical Edge V, 2015 - Richard Tuttle courtesy The Pace Gallery

Pentagram gives Margaret Howell a makeover

The London fashion designer's studio gets an interior refresh courtesy of the international design practice


Inside Mark Bradford's US pavilion at the Venice Biennale

Why the LA artist is drawing on classical mythology, Marilyn Monroe and prison reform in his installation

Installation view of Tomorrow is Another Day (2017) by Mark Bradford. Photograph by Joshua White. Image courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Ferran Adrià has just announced his first US venture

The elBulli chef will work with José Andrés to launch an Eataly-style Spanish food hall under the High Line

Ferran (left) and José Andrés. Image courtesy of Larry via Flickr. Creative Commons license.

Four ways of looking at Giacometti

Heading to the Tate show? Then here are a few tips for getting the most out of the great man’s art

Alberto Giacometti and his sculptures at the Venice Biennale, 1956. Archives of the Giacometti Foundation. Image courtesy of Tate

Massimo Bottura breaks bread with Obama in Milan

Food and climate change brought the chef and the former President together in northern Italy earlier today

Massimo Bottura and Barack Obama in Milan. All images courtesy of Massimo Bottura's Instagram

How Sottsass and Scarpa pushed back against modernism

A new ceramics exhibition sheds light on the ways these two Italians subtly rejected modernism’s restraints

Ettore Sottsass's ceramics on display at Carlo Scarpa's Negozio Olivetti building in Venice. All photographs by Matthieu Salvaing courtesy of FAI Italia.

What to expect from Bruce Nauman in the Tate Turbine Hall

Nauman's 2004 sound piece Raw Materials returns to the Tate next week. Here are some key insights into the work

Bruce Nauman at Tate Modern, 2004. As reproduced in Bruce Nauman: The True Artist

René Redzepi has just cooked a Mexican wasps nest!

It was harvested on a full moon, in accordance with local tradition, and cooked whole over a bonfire

Redzepi's Mexican wasp nest. Image courtesy of René Redzepi's Instagram

Ellsworth Kelly’s last paintings meet his early plant art

Here's why the late artist's gallery chose to pair his final abstract works with his earlier botanical drawings

Blue Black Red (2015) by Ellsworth Kelly. Image courtesy of Matthew Marks

A Phaidon guide to Brad Pitt’s favourite sculptor

Here’s what you need to know about the British-born LA-based artist Thomas Houseago

Sprawling Octopus Man (2009) by Thomas Houseago. Photograph by Josh White. Image courtesy of Hauser & Wirth

Andrew Bird and Theaster Gates have written some songs!

The artist has teamed up with the singer to turn his poems into songs - watch them perform together here

Andrew Bird and Theaster Gates

Stefan Sagmeister puts a smile back on America's face

The legendary graphic designer tours his Happy Film across the US this month - here’s where you can catch him

Stefan Sagmeister in The Happy Film

When Keith Haring turned a men's room into art

On the anniversary of the artist’s birth, we look back on his site-specific work Once Upon a Time

Keith Haring painting in 1986. Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Giosetta Fioroni on her 2017 Frieze Project

The 60s art voyeur tells us about recreating The Optical Spy in New York - 50 years on from its Rome premiere

Giosetta Fioroni's Optical Spy (1968). As reproduced in Arte Povera

Magnus and Massimo take a trip to La La Land

The chefs joined Iron Man director Jon Favreau to talk about how they're becoming part of the entertainment world

David Gelb, Jon Favreau, Jonathan Gold, Massimo Bottura, Magnus Nilsson and Roy Choi in Los Angeles. Image courtesy of Massimo Bottura's Instagram

Why Frieze NY is all about collaboration this week

From Elmgreen & Dragset to a doom-filled perfume, collaborative art practices are all over the art fair

GCC: Inaugural Summit, Morschach 2013 4, 2013, digital C-print, 103 x 70 cm. Picture credit: courtesy and © GCC

Photos That Changed The World - The Lambeth Walk

On the anniversary of his birth, we look back on Bill Brandt’s pioneering social reportage

The Lambeth Walk. 1936. As reproduced in The Photography Book

What was it with Yves Klein and Blue?

On the anniversary of his birth, a look at the artist's preoccupation with the colour blue, courtesy of Chromaphilia

ikb - International Klein Blue, 1957

Ai Weiwei and Shepard Fairey give Trump the finger

The artists produce new anti-authoritarian skateboards to mark the first 100 days of the presidency

Study of Perspective decks by Ai Weiwei for The Skateroom

How Martin Parr stopped these guys looking at his camera

The inquisitive British Magnum photographer on Mormons, patience, and making a personal connection

Szechenyi thermal baths, Budapest, Hungary, 1997. All photographs by Martin Parr. Copyright: © Martin Parr, Magnum Photos, Rocket Gallery

Pentagram put The Handmaid's Tale on The High Line

Paula Scher and Abbott Miller hope their new installation will offer "glimpses of resistance for an uncertain age”

The Handmaid’s Tale installation on the High Line. All images courtesy of Pentagram

A Carlo Scarpa guide to Venice

Heading to La Serenissima for the art? Great! But don't forget to take a look at the city's architecture too

Fondazione Querini Stampalia renovations, Venice, 1961-63, view across water entry room from entrance hall, with the water gates (l) and radiator enclosure and glass wall (r). 
All pictures taken from our Carlo Scarpa book

Take a look at the dishes in our latest James Beard winner!

And read the charming childhood story behind our hit meat-free Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook

A selection of dishes from The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook, winner of the best book in the Vegetable Cooking category of The 2017 James Beard Foundation Book Awards

Annabelle Selldorf shows us her new London gallery

Architect says she has added 'minor interventions' to an 18th century London house for Thaddaeus Ropac

Ely House, 2016. Photograph by Hugo Glendinning. Image courtesy of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

A Movement in a Moment: Romanticism

On Delacroix's birthday we look at how a literary movement went on to shape European art history

The Death of Sardanapalus (1827) by Eugène Delacroix

How DNA undermined Darwin

On the anniversary of DNA's discovery, we look at how the double helix called into question a few of his claims

The original model created by James Watson and Francis Crick illustrates the double-helix structure of DNA. Photographed by Robert Clark, as featured in Evolution: A Visual Record

Wilhelm Sasnal has painted Marine Le Pen

As French elections begin, the far right leader appears alongside Angela Merkel and Hillary Clinton in new show

Marine Le Pen (2012) by Wilhelm Sasnal. All images courtesy of the artist and Anton Kern gallery

How a watchmaker changed Willem de Kooning’s life

We look back at one early encounter that spurred him on to become an artist

Willem de Kooning in his Fourth Avenue studio with drawings related to Woman I in the background, 1950; photograph by Rudy Burckhardt.

In Production - Ornament Is Crime

Architecture & Design Editor Virginia McLeod gives us a sneak peek at a book about to leave our shelves for yours

Ornament Is Crime in production in the Phaidon Light Room

What’s JR doing on top of that Louise Bourgeois spider?

The artist and activist, fresh from a Paris opening, heads south to France's leading public art vineyard

JR on top of Crouching Spider (2003) by Louise Bourgeois. Photograph by Diego Osorio. Image courtesy of JR's Instagram

Eve Arnold and the story of The Unretouched Woman

On the anniversary of her birth, how the photo legend waited until she was in her sixties before making a book

Eve Arnold in London 1963 photographed by Robert Penn on the set of Becket staring Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole and John Gielgud - © Eve Arnold/Magnum Photos

Cindy Sherman, Kerry James Marshall in Time's 100

Here’s why the painter and fine art photographer are among Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People 2017

untitled (painter) (2009) by Kerry James Marshall

Lauren Greenfield is in conversation at the Design Museum

Don't miss the Economist’s Anne McElvoy interviewing the Generation Wealth photographer next month

Xue Qiwenin, 43, Shanghai, 2005. © 2017 Lauren Greenfield. From Generation Wealth

How to get a seat at Noma Mexico

René Redzepi's pop-up is completely booked-up but there is a way to taste his take on Mexican cuisine

The entrance to Noma Mexico. All images courtesy of René Redzepi's Instagram

A Movement in a Moment: Symbolism

Understand how a poetic movement spurred painters on to express inner truths, not subjective realities

Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel), 1888 by Paul Gauguin. As reproduced in Art in Time

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles last night. . .

A well-dressed crowd came to the Getty Residence to help us launch our new book London Uprising

From left: London Uprising co-author Tania Fares, Phaidon CEO Keith Fox and Hala Achkar

If you want to get ahead get a hat

For baseball cap wearing On Vegetables chef Jeremy Fox it’s crucial kitchen apparel - and a reminder of his roots

On Vegetables chef and author Jeremy Fox - in a baseball cap

Sarah Sze explains her 2nd Avenue subway art

Here’s why the artist and Phaidon author drew on the Futurists and Constructivists for her NYC commission


5 designs that could only come from Japan

To celebrate Japanese Invention Day (us neither!) here are some designs that are super modern yet traditional

The Cabbage Chair - Nendo

Steve McCurry at Angkor Wat on World Heritage Day

The entire history of a great civilisation in one place - photographed by one great Magnum photographer

Angkor Wat - Steve McCurry - from Steve McCurry: Sanctuary The Temples of Angkor

Jeremy Fox - from cold turkey to hot property

The chef opens up about his early career struggles and newfound happiness in WSJ Magazine

Jeremy Fox by Rick Poon

5 Artworks you possibly didn't realise were religious

It's Easter - take a brief moment to educate yourself about the unseen messages within these iconic artworks

Chicago Board of Trade II 1998 - Andreas Gurksy

How Yuri Gagarin inspired Soviet design

56 years ago today the Cosmonaut became the first man in space and launched a new era of Soviet design

USSR Vostok (East) Rocket Tin for Sweets - Moscow Design Museum

How to sound smart when talking about Kanye’s collection

Kim Kardashian's husband goes old skool with new line inspired by the Italian Renaissance

One of the Renaissance-inspired pieces from Kanye West's new Yeezy jewellery collection at yeezysupply.com

How to love, lunch and dream at the Venice Biennale

Here's why the 2017 Venice Art Biennale will be filled with pleasure and leisure (as well as a bit of politics)

(still), Lake Valley, 2016. HD Video, 8:25 min by Rachel Rose. Courtesy of the artist, Pilar Corrias Gallery, London and Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York/Rome.