Meer | English edition

Monday, July 20, 2026

Jean-Léon Gérôme’s The Slave Market, 1866

Antique illustration depicting a final gladiatorial combat between notable figures of the past

Early drawing of "The Death of Socrates" by Jacques-Louis David, created around 1782

Jean-Léon Gérôme, The Slave Market, 1866

A laurel wreath displayed at a reception commemorating the death of the ancient Olympic champion Ladas

Between war and theatre in "Glorious Exploits"

A study of class, ambition, and humanity in shifting social landscapes

An insightful compilation to guide passionate film lovers through the best and worst movies of the last few months

Six films to check out

Fascinating stories to explore fluid gender roles, intense romantic secrets, and corporate greed across multiple cultures

A highly realistic depiction of modern warfare’s new reality, where artificial intelligence, military command, and human judgment converge in the same room

Economy & Politics

The Pentagon’s new brain

The rise of military AI, the collapse of tech neutrality, and the urgent need for human moral judgment

In Lào Cai, Vietnam, a child helps harvest rice in the fields

Economy & Politics

Child labor in the modern world

Understanding the social, economic, and ethical forces that continue to push millions of children into work

On the Street

Borobudur lay hidden for centuries under layers of volcanic ash and jungle growth

Borobudur: an allegory in stone

True preservation means protecting purpose as well as structure

With every note she sings, Sabrina transforms the stage into a canvas, showcasing her unique style and the maturity reflected in her powerful new music

When fashion creates a star

How Sabrina Carpenter’s style conquered the world and shaped global trends

Chilling personification of a cyberattack

Science & Technology

The growing menace of cyber warfare

How cyber attacks are changing the world

Painting of person suffering from mental illness

My journey through OCD and therapy

From childhood innocence to healing

Fresh Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe

Flavours of Apulia: Fresh Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe

Chef Bonea's recipe

Better to let go, start fresh somewhere new

I just can’t say goodbye, not on my own

Architecture & Design

Rotterdam Centraal station is the main railway hub of Rotterdam, serving an average of 100,000 passengers each day. The current station building, located at Stationsplein, was officially inaugurated on 13 March 2014 by Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands

Rotterdam: Europe’s city of the future

Architecture, industry, and innovation in the Netherlands’ most modern metropolis

The Grand Theatre of Rabat set within expansive green spaces, reflecting Morocco’s commitment to creativity and sustainability

The vision behind the Grand Theatre of Rabat

How the Grand Theatre of Rabat in Morocco celebrates creativity, national pride, and cultural openness

Art

Installation view from the “Art of Manga” exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, featuring works from Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series. The exhibition showcases hundreds of original drawings and large-scale installations by major Japanese manga artists from the 1970s to the present, including Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Junji Ito, and Tite Kubo (Bleach). Araki’s featured artwork includes life-sized characters and their Stands, designed to align with viewers’ eye levels for an immersive experience, highlighting manga as a recognized art form in a museum setting. Photo: © İdil Burkutoğlu

Hirohiko Araki and color without rules

Rethinking identity, composition, and expression in "JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure"

Entangled roots and floating forms, solo exhibition, 2026. Courtesy of the artist

Yilin Rebecca Sun on Vessel

The artist and curator reflects on clay, collaboration, and the connections that shape our shared future

Culture

The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 were landmark international agreements established at two peace conferences in the Netherlands, helping to define the laws of war and war crimes. A planned third conference was cancelled after the outbreak of World War I

Geo-poetics and the origins of World War I

From Victor Hugo's vision of peace to the geopolitical rivalries that transformed Europe

A group of people stands near a blackboard, each focused on their phones instead of the board

Social media didn’t change us, it revealed us

A reflection on the digital age that exposed human nature in its truest form

Economy & Politics

Surrounded by noise and competing narratives, she pauses to think critically—separating information from assumption in a world that rarely slows down

Thinking clearly in the age of information

Why critical reasoning is the essential skill for navigating noise, bias, and fast-moving opinion

Azerbaijani refugees from Karabakh during the war, 1992

Agent of death: targeting civilians

From Baghdad and Gaza to Ukraine and Iran, how governments and military powers normalize civilian deaths as a strategy of war

Entertainment

Mad Men functions as a self-aware paradox, utilizing high art techniques to critique consumer capitalism while simultaneously perpetuating it

Mad Men and the blurred line between high and low art

Mad Men softens the distinction between high art and mass commerce, simultaneously critiquing consumer capitalism

The interior of Film Museum Pablo Ducrós Hicken in Buenos Aires, Argentina by Roberto Fiadone, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Who is protecting Argentina's film history?

Not the State, not the universities, and not a national archive—just a handful of individuals fighting against oblivion

Fashion

Glenn Martens is a Belgian fashion designer who began his career as a junior designer at Jean Paul Gaultier, working on the women’s pre-collection and the menswear line G2

Diesel and the aesthetics of ruin

How shredded denim, industrial decay, and Glenn Martens redefine success, identity, and beauty in a post industrial fashion landscape

An Allegory of the Tudor Succession: The Family of Henry VIII

Power, spectacle, and the Tudor silhouette

How the theatrical fashion of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I continues to shape modern ideas of authority, excess, and visual dominance

Feature

A solitary figure stands silhouetted by a window in an abandoned house, surrounded by fading light and quiet decay

Broken into a better shape

Poems of suffering, resilience, and the long journey toward becoming

A father and son sit across from each other in silence, their tension shaped by control, performance, and the unseen weight of being watched

Puppets without strings

In a world without scripts, the truth becomes the most dangerous act

Food & Wine

Whey and plant-based protein sources displayed together, highlighting differences in composition, texture, and nutritional origin in a natural, realistic setting

Whey protein versus plant-based protein

A scientific comparison of protein quality, digestibility, and muscle outcomes

An elderly man wearing denim overalls and a hat, examining fresh vegetables

How Italians redefine sustainable food

From organic farming to packaging innovation and waste reduction

Science & Technology

An American astronaut working outside the International Space Station, highlighting the exterior structure and the presence of ISS astronauts in orbit

Samantha Harvey’s "Orbital and the Anthropocene sublime"

A study of cosmic distance, human hubris, and the ethical tensions at the heart of Anthropocene consciousness

A doctor studying an interactive three-dimensional human anatomy display, reflecting the transformation of medicine through data-driven innovation

The Internet of Bodies is already here

How biotechnology could reshape human communication and monitoring

Sport

A clear view of AT&T Stadium, representing the benchmark for fan experience among 2026 FIFA World Cup venues

Top 10 World Cup venues for fan experience

Review-based rankings reveal which stadiums delight supporters and which face criticism

A young footballer silhouetted against the evening sky with a ball at their feet, representing dreams that reach far beyond the horizon

A 12-year-old's road to the World Cup

Your roadmap from wherever you are right now to the Saudi Arabia 2034 Football World Cup

Travel

A sweeping view of Almora’s ridgelines, where layers of mountains fade softly into the Himalayan horizon

In the lap of the Kumaon Himalayas

A journey through Almora, sacred peaks, and timeless villages in search of yoga, stillness, and spiritual renewal

Statue of Saint Stephen standing in Budapest as a tribute to Hungary’s first king, overlooking the historic skyline and the Danube River, Budapest, Hungary

Between Buda and Pest

Along the Danube, a city divided by water reveals how history survives in silence and reconstruction

Wellness

An older man resting one hand on his chest and the other on his abdomen as he breathes deeply, symbolizing awareness of the body's natural rhythm

Discover the hidden power of breath

How simple breathing patterns can influence stress, focus, and emotional balance

A couple hugs beside an orange train, sharing an emotional moment in a long-distance relationship

The dynamics of long-distance relationships

A study of communication, trust, and emotional resilience in modern partnerships

Discover our authors

Ijaz Ahmad

Bhavanya Mohan

Stephen Kaindo

Nadia Yannuzzi

Danai Gkorla

Walden Bello

Daryssia Yu

Maheeka Ranawaka

Maheeka Ranawaka

Efosa Edokpayi

Greg Styan

Explore the Calendar

Worldwide Mexico City Lucca Linz Hamburg Frankfurt am Main London Dresden Sao Paulo Seoul Cambridge Pittsburgh Amsterdam Paris Vilnius Denver Munich Antwerp Málaga Québec Cambridge Ljubljana Sidney

Naminapu Maymuru-White, Miljniyway, 2025. Courtesy of Sullivan+Strumpf

Miḻŋthun ŋayi yukurra ŋilimurruŋgala (...)

23 Jul — 22 Aug 2026 at Sullivan+Strumpf in Sydney, Australia

Grant Stevens, Forest view 7, 2026. Courtesy of Sullivan+Strumpf

In morning light

23 Jul — 15 Aug 2026 at Sullivan+Strumpf in Sydney, Australia

Sam Cranstoun, To live in clover (detail), 2026. Courtesy of the artist and Sullivan+Strumpf

Those cold and timid souls

23 Jul — 15 Aug 2026 at Sullivan+Strumpf in Sydney, Australia

Lambda members and allies perform a skit based on
the popular TV quiz show, Hollywood Squares, at the
2002 Lambda Network at Kodak's Annual Education
Event with Management (detail). Courtesy of George Eastman Museum

Picturing equality: the Lambda Network at Kodak

27 Jul — 8 Nov 2026 at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, United States

Jivan Lee, Quartzite. Morning (detail), 2026. Courtesy of LewAllen Galleries

31 Jul — 12 Sep 2026 at the LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe, United States

Farah Billah, The table, with friends (detail), 2026. Courtesy of Ogden Museum of Southern Art

Louisiana contemporary

1 Aug 2026 — 14 Feb 2027 at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, United States

Gwen John, Girl with a blue scarf (detail), c.1923. Courtesy of National Galleries Scotland

Gwen John: strange beauties

1 Aug 2026 — 4 Jan 2027 at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Ines Katamso, Hyphaeahpyh 5 (detail), 2026. Courtesy of the artist and Sullivan+Strumpf

The places we carry

6 — 30 Aug 2026 at Sullivan+Strumpf in Sydney, Australia

W. Max Thomason, Do you ever feel everything you have could disappear in an instant (detail), 2026. Courtesy of Pulse Visual Arts

Falling away from prime

7 Aug — 27 Sep 2026 at Pulse Visual Art in Denver, United States

Catherine Opie, Flipper, Tanya, Chloe & Harriet, San Francisco, 1995 © Catherine Opie. Courtesy of the artist, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, London, and Seoul, and Thomas Dane Ga

8 Aug — 1 Nov 2026 at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Lara Merrett, Ripple (detail), 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Sullivan+Strumpf

20 Aug — 12 Sep 2026 at Sullivan+Strumpf in Sydney, Australia

Gregory Hodge, Overgrowth (detail), 2026. Courtesy of the artist and Sullivan+Strumpf

27 Aug — 26 Sep 2026 at Sullivan+Strumpf in Sydney, Australia

Billy Schenck, Gratuitous violence (detail). Courtesy of JoAnne Artman Gallery

Technicolor west

1 Sep — 31 Oct 2026 at the JoAnne Artman Gallery in Laguna Beach, United States

Ali Cherri, still from The sentinel (detail), 2026. Courtesy the artist and
Almine Rech Gallery

5 Sep 2026 — 4 Jan 2027 at WIELS in Brussels, Belgium

Ellen Bradshaw, Spring fever, 10th Ave and 25th Sta (detail). Courtesy of Pleiades Gallery

Every street has a story

8 Sep — 3 Oct 2026 at the Pleiades Gallery in New York, United States

Irfan Hendrian, C===Ɔ, 2026. Courtesy of the artist and Sullivan+Strumpf

10 Sep — 31 Oct 2026 at Sullivan+Strumpf in Singapore, Singapore

Various artists, Celebrating the icons of art, exhibition view. Courtesy of Voorlinden Museum

Celebrating the icons of art

12 Sep 2026 — 7 Mar 2027 at the Voorlinden Museum in Wassenaar, Netherlands

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