Tessera

Bobby Jewell@bobbyjewell.bsky.social · last wk.

The doors of culture shall be opened ... and sold off to the highest bidder. So depressing. www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/auctio...

Terrible update this, looks like CCA Archive is now just selling off all of it's archive, furniture and materials. It takes such effort to be this disrespectful to Glasgow's art community. A real shame. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2641379...

The Booker Prizes@thebookerprizes.com · last wk.

It has to be Gwendoline Riley (ie I haven’t read the others).

Presenting the Booker Prize 2026 longlist. Find out more about the books and authors that make up this year's Booker Dozen: thebookerprizes.com/bp2026

The Booker Prize 2026 longlist in full:

- The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis
- Switzy by Emma Cline
- Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman
- The End of Everything by M. John Harrison
- The Disappearers by Marlon James
- Black Bag by Luke Kennard
- The Renovation by Kenan Orhan
- May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry
- The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley
- The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
- John of John by Douglas Stuart
- All Them Dogs by Djamel White
- The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams

James Wolcott in the @lrb.co.uk on the time that John Updike helped put Philip Roth into a psychiatric hospital and break up his marriage with a caustic book review.

Authors, being incorrigible, can't resist getting into mischief, and Updike sank the
Bismarck when he panned Roth's Operation Shylock (1993) from his pulpit at the New Yorker.
Given that Updike had told Roth that he liked the title and was looking forward to the
novel ('Keen to read fresh Roth, red in tooth and claw'), Roth was blindsided when
Updike meted out a headmaster's caning. 'Roth ... has become an exhausting author to
be with. His characters seem to be on speed, up at all hours and talking until their
mouths bleed.' Roth was more than miffed; he was undone and unstrung. Updike's
imperious dismissal, sprinkled with a few of the usual grace notes kept in the petty cash
drawer, helped send Roth into a tailspin that landed him in Silver Hill Psychiatric
Hospital and fissured his marriage to the much put-upon Claire Bloom. Updike's hit job
wasn't the sole cause of Roth's breakdown. Chronic back pain, a knee operation and
insomnia landed him in the clutches of the sedative Halcion. When Bloom later
published her memoir Leaving a Doll's House (1996), chronicling the dissolution of the
marriage with the wounded stoicism of Lady Marchmain, Updike noted with a shrug:
'And to think that my friendly little review broke it up. Well, you never ...'

New Glasgow Society @newglasgowsociety.bsky.social · 2w ago

The graphic design of crisp packets. antennebooks.com/products/u-k...

Curated by NGS, ‘I Wish I Was in Glasgow’ is an exhibition considering the cultural and collective memory of #Glasgow through work which spans photography, painting, film, poetry, textiles and sculpture. 📆 July 27th - August 4th ⏰ 12-5pm 📍 NGS community space 🎉 Opening event on July 26th, 6pm

Katherine Mackinnon @kamack.bsky.social · 2w ago

What a treat to hear such a beautiful range of voices expertly woven together by Flora Zajicek to tell the story of Govanhill Baths, inc @lucyjanes.bsky.social & Niall Murphy, the mighty @damedenisemina.bsky.social and loads of local organisers and residents. Also me! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, The People's Pool

One Glasgow swimming pool reveals the story of public baths and wash houses in Britain.

bbc.co.uk

Will Jennings @willjennings.bsky.social · 2w ago

Bbc online arts coverage is just a joke. It doesn't have to be this way, but for the state broadcaster to only perceive culture as a silly story kind of thing is so tiresome

Neil Scott @neilscott.substack.com · 2w ago

Unreliable Tour Guides are back! @momuspda.bsky.social

A man allegedly posed as a museum tour guide and confidently led visitors through the galleries, despite having no official connection to the museum.
During the tours, he reportedly invented dramatic stories and completely false explanations about the paintings.
His unusual act eventually caught the attention of museum staff, who realized the "guide" was not an employee. Authorities were contacted, and the man was arrested-turning his fake art history tour into a story almost as unbelievable as the ones he told.

Gair Dunlop @gair.bsky.social · 2w ago

Good Morning fellow #MDANT people! I haven't done this before- I'm asking for your help to make a book and exhibition. "IT'S a SIGN!" will be a journey through notices, hoardings and public messages- debased, deranged, altered and inexplicable. More here: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/its-a-sign THANKS!

A road sign at Skiag Bridge, Assynt, in 1993. It has been altered and re-written. Someone has taken the letter s out of the word WEST so that It says WET- and someone else has written the S back in again, badly. The other direction, NORTH has had 'is shit' added underneath. also rather badly. In the picture it's a beautiful day, with sunlight on Quinag.

Magnetic North @magnorththeatre.bsky.social · 4w ago

We've got a shiny new website! 🎉 We've refreshed the design and made it easier to explore our work, artist development opportunities and productions. A huge thank you to Neil Scott for bringing it all together. Take a look: magneticnorth.org.uk

Neil Scott @neilscott.substack.com · 3w ago

I saw this last night. It was a welcome reminder of what is possible in comedy but I was left with a lot of questions about the Iceman himself. Photos from the Q&A.

Victoria Redfern@victoriaredfern.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Fans of the 80s/90s comedy scene near Hastings/St. Leonards! Do you remember the Iceman?The film Melt It! tracks him down, features Stewart Lee, Jo Brand, @markthomasinfo.bsky.social, @robinince.bsky.social, Simon Munnery & on Sun 19th July 2pm is at the Kino-Teatr.Trailer! youtu.be/54J_1Be63q4?...

Neil Scott @neilscott.substack.com · 3w ago

The closest I come to being interested in the Commonwealth Games is to check out all the weird flags. Look at the all! www.neil-scott.com/flags

Flags of the Commonwealth — Games Edition

neil-scott.com

Happened to be in the Mitchell Library and took a look at a cubicle where Andrew O’Hagan may have had his one and only panic attack.

crop.photography/p/all-is-van...

crop.photography/p/a-journey-...

A Journey to the Underworld

From the Clyde Tunnel to the Wall of Death

crop.photography

Martin Amis rather unconvincing as "Martin Amis" in a short dramatisation from Money, with Mel Smith as John Self.

The area around Lochgilphead is mysterious, full of mossy woodland and ancient inscriptions. crop.photography/p/deep-scotl...

Deep Scotland

An attempt to recover the vital spark

crop.photography

London by Patrick Keiller is of the great films of the nineties. Today, I am delighted to present an interview with the great man himself. crop.photography/p/an-intervi...

Gair Dunlop@gair.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This conference at my local Wall of Death looks good. Through a series of conversations and performances, participants will explore these 'missing layers', considering how culture is shaped not only by what remains, but also by what has been lost. www.eventbrite.com/e/unconformi...

UNCONFORMITY. Gaps, absences and erasures in cultural history

Soapbox sessions. 30 artists, writers and performers. 10 minutes each. The Revelator in partnership with The Royal Scottish Academy.

eventbrite.com

2 weeks to go!

London by Patrick Keiller is of the great films of the nineties. Today, I am delighted to present an interview with the great man himself. crop.photography/p/an-intervi...

John Self@john-self.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I want to get the top 10s from all the people I like and then generate a top 100 based on those responses. Much as I enjoyed White Teeth, it isn't the 63rd Best Novel Ever and would be good to filter out the people who put it in their top 10.

I think the best way to enjoy this list, which contains lots of predictable choices (made as it was by committee), is to find a book you like, click to see who voted for it, and then look at the voters' other top 10 choices. You might find something else you like that you haven't read.

Bravo to the picture editor. www.theguardian.com/football/liv...

Mike Bonsall@mbonsall.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Some of this conference sounds amazing: - Bowie, Burgess, Ballard and the Suburban Experiment - Terminal Ambience: Brutalist YouTube Audiovisuals and Ballardian Psychogeography - A Walk Around Heathrow Airport - Optional visit to Shepperton to see Ballard's House and a Pub Lunch

Just setting off for this conference which starts tomorrow. Say hello if you see me! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/terminal-f...

Should not feel like 8° in the middle of May.

Fraser MacDonald@frasermacdonald.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Weird Scotland in the 70s: a 100-foot concrete sculpture of Lemuel Gulliver made by a former gangster.

I went to check in on Gulliver’s foot and ankle this afternoon – one of the most interesting listed ruins in Edinburgh. c20society.org.uk/news/remnant...

A concrete foot, nine feet across, nestles in grassland on a sunny May afternoon. It looks odd, inexplicable.

A review of Mark Power's FASHION. crop.photography/p/a-piece-of...

A Piece of Work

Review: FASHION by Mark Power

crop.photography