Visual Arts Commentary: John Singer Sargent — A Particular Sort of Loner - The Arts Fuse

Research in New Phytologist reveals a gene that regulates tea plants' flavor and cold tolerance, providing insights on how to expand the potential for better-tasting tea to be grown in a wider variety of locations.

Since soaring on screen 20 years ago, this Disney Channel favourite has cemented itself as a squeaky clean, painstakingly earnest but no less beloved descendant of Grease. Like Danny and Sandy, Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez share a holiday romance and wind up at school together the following term, where the social pecking order initially keeps them apart. Driven by a shared love of singing, they defy conventions to end up together. This new stage production, first seen at Salford’s Lowry, is directed by Hope Mill theatre founders Joseph Houston and William Whelton. No, it can’t escape the limitations of the story’s spectacularly two-dimensional characters, who are siloed into the camps of jock, brainiac or drama kid, and whose stock traits are indulged in the book by David Simpatico, but it’s bright and buzzy nonetheless. Bright and buzzy … Tobias Turley and Leonor Correia in High School Musical.

in this chapter, we journeyed from underground nightclubs to cinematic illusions, wearable architectures, and sculptural mirrors, exploring how spectacle can challenge our perceptions and experience the world. Iñaki Laguardia October 21, 2026 8 min prefer designboom on googleWHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE STOP JUST WATCHING? When Sofia Lekka Angelopoulou opened SPECTATOR AND SPECTACLE, she posed a question that challenged our relationship with the world around us: ‘What if we are not overwhelmed by spectacle, but starved of it?’ In her opening editorial, The Haçienda Must Be Built, she traced the history of the night, from radical discotheques to the increasingly measured and optimized rhythms of contemporary life, asking what happens when experiences become predictable and images lose their capacity to surprise us. Over the weeks that followed, the chapter explored how architecture, art, fashion, and design might recover that sense of wonder. Again and again, spectacle emerged not simply as something to observe, but as an experience capable of unsettling our habits, changing our behavior, and dissolving the boundary between those who watch and those who perform.

the british furniture brand gives old pieces a new lease of life through a circular initiative and a chair built to last. belen afonso October 21, 2026 4 min prefer designboom on googleBoss Design’s The Loop revives discarded furnitureWhen planning a space, Boss Design knows that an interior design studio considers more than its architectural characteristics. The furniture used to populate that room is as much a part of the design as the walls surrounding it. Yet we often encounter the dilemma of interior designs that systematically discard existing pieces to create a space better suited to current needs. Whether due to natural wear from use or changes in furniture trends or personal tastes, hundreds of recoverable pieces are discarded every year in favor of new furniture. This behavior generates a carbon footprint that is both significant and avoidable.renewing the upholstery all images courtesy of Boss DesignBoss chooses most effective way to protect environmentToday’s society expresses its interest in protecting the planet through the way it consumes.