Ian Sansom

1 week ago | the-tls.co.uk | Ian Sansom |Tim Parks |Irina Dumitrescu |Regina Rini

On a bright, chilly morning in Cambridge, England, a few weeks ago – as a New Yorker “Talk of the Town” piece might have it – about 150 people gathered at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, a place not nearly as exciting as it sounds, for a one-day symposium to celebrate the life and work of Ross Anderson, FRS FRSE FREng and, until his untimely death last year, professor of security engineering at the university.

1 month ago | thespectator.com | Julian Spalding |Adrian Brune |William Newton |Ian Sansom

There’s more than a grain of truth in the popular caricature of a curator as a mother hen clucking frantically if anyone gets too near her nest — not that her eggs are about to hatch, let alone run. The recent threat of the British Council to “deaccession” — to put it more bluntly, sell — its 9,000-piece-strong collection of British art has caused a predictable flurry in the curatorial world.

2 months ago | thespectator.com | William Newton |Adrian Brune |Sean Thomas |Ian Sansom

Barcelona is one of the world’s great cities; happily, it seems to be waking up from a lengthy nightmare of its own conjuring. During the anti-everything leadership of its previous mayor, failed actress Ada Colau, empty storefronts, open-air drug markets and sidewalks reeking of urine proved unconducive to outside investment. A deal to establish a local branch of the Hermitage Museum fell through, thanks to political virtue-signaling by local officialdom.

2 months ago | thespectator.com | Adrian Brune |William Newton |Ian Sansom |Catriona Olding

John Myatt held his breath as the bidding began in the Christie’s auction room. His drawings were selling, one by one. He had dreamed of having his work on the block since the beginning of his career. He felt a tingle of adrenaline as the paddles went up… and victory as he strolled through the city streets with a wad of money in his back pocket afterward. But the feeling didn’t last long. Eventually, Myatt started to feel empty and disappointed.

2 months ago | thespectator.com | Amelia Butler-Gallie |Alexander Larman |Philip Hensher |Ian Sansom

Atop the Almaden Tower in downtown San Jose — the world headquarters of Adobe Systems Inc. — sits a singular art installation. Four amber wheels rotate every few seconds in a seemingly innocuous and frankly nonsensical digital display. The installation, known as the “San Jose Semaphore,” is the brainchild of the data-driven media artist Ben Rubin and first appeared — or began transmitting — in August 2006 to the mass bamboozlement of passersby. What was going on, they cried?