Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · 3d

Colourising classic photos is a travesty, especially in a serious newspaper. Today’s Observer has a review of the latest Tennyson bio, with an uncredited colour photo of the poet, “photographed in 1869”. The original is by Julia Margaret Cameron, of course, and it’s in black & white.

Observer review of Tennyson biography, with large colourised photo of the poet

2 8

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · 20d

Great to catch up with Adrian Wilson, Kim Mannes-Abbott and Micha Riss at the British Art Fair today. Adrian and his colleagues are doing a fantastic job of promoting the importance of the Quantel Paintbox in the history of digital art! @quantelpaintbox.bsky.social

2

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · Sep 10

And this from ARTnews - Christie’s Reportedly Closes Digital Art Department www.artnews.com/art-news/mar...

Christie’s Reportedly Closes Digital Art Department

Christie's is closing its digital art department, and has let go of Vice President of Digital Nicole Sales Giles, according to reports.

www.artnews.com

4

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · Sep 10

Christie’s Quietly Deletes Digital Art Department -Artnet News news.artnet.com/market/chris...

Christie's Quietly Deletes Digital Art Department | Artnet News

Christie's has closed its digital art department after several years of shaping the growing market for the category.

news.artnet.com

1 5

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · Jul 27

Kelly - Bronze - well done!

Photo of England women football players Kelly and Bronze, celebrating winning Euro 2025

5

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · Jul 23

I’ve passed this stunning building near Selkirk many times, hoping that someone would finally restore it. Designed by Peter Womersley for Bernat Klein, the studio is now in a bad way. At last, a coalition of heritage organisations are hoping to buy it at auction. Please donate if you can!

docomomoscot.bsky.social @docomomoscot.bsky.social · Jul 23

Support Scottish heritage organisations to buy Bernat Klein Studio, near Galashiels

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/qr/7nPrRvgl

The late-Modernist building of 1972, designed by architect Peter Womersley, is to be auctioned on 30 July. Listed and vacant, this architectural marvel needs urgent saving!

3

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · Jun 19

Interesting idea! Seems to me the V&A’s accession numbers aren’t fit for purpose any more - a year followed by a running number for the entire museum would be much easier to handle. We could have introduced a new system from say 2000 onwards, but didn’t…

1 2

Reposted by Douglas Dodds

Emanuel Maiberg @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social · Jun 17

AI bot scrapers are hitting every site on the web in search of training data. This report is the first good attempt to evaluate the impact of these AI scrapers, especially on smaller institutions that are trying to make their collections open to the public www.404media.co/ai-scraping-...

AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums

"This is a moment where that community feels collectively under threat and isn't sure what the process is for solving the problem.”

www.404media.co

14 270 520

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · Jun 16

Edwin Heathcote on the revamped Chelsea Hotel, where “Rooms start at $605” - a night that is. You could have stayed for about 3 months in the ‘60s. @edwinheathcote.bsky.social

John Earls @johnearls.bsky.social · Jun 16

“Can you gentrify punk, drugs and the lives of countless failed bohemians and alcoholics? Of course you can. This is New York. Commoditisation of culture is its point.” Enjoyed reading @edwinheathcote.bsky.social m on the renewed Chelsea Hotel.
on.ft.com/407ATjF

From punk to posh: inside the Hotel Chelsea’s second act

Can you gentrify sleaze, drugs, bohemia and the lives of countless artists? FT architecture critic Edwin Heathcote returns after 35 years to find out

on.ft.com

1 5

Reposted by Douglas Dodds

Phil Dodds @phildodds.bsky.social · Jun 4

There are still five days left to submit something for SOUND+PURPOSE hosted in Lund in November. Some really great proposed contributions so far showcasing the strength and variety of research in sound. Come and join our discussions of the *why* of sound and the *purpose* of sound research!

lmc-lu.bsky.social @lmc-lu.bsky.social · Jun 4

Call for Participants!
Join us for the inaugural conference of the new international SOUND+ network for transdisciplinary research in sound 20–21 Nov 2025. Even if sound isn’t your main focus, we’d still love to hear what you’re working on.

Deadline is June 9.

Info ▶️ www.lmc.lu.se/en

In the background tangled cassette tape. Over it the text Sound+Purpose. Inaugural conference of the SOUND+ Network for Transdisciplinary Research in Sound.

2 5

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · May 30

Wonderful visit to V&A East Storehouse - an amazing project that really transforms public access to the Museum's stored collections. It's great to see some old favourites back on display too.

Huge congratulations to everyone involved in making all of this happen - quite an achievement!

Interior of the V&A’s new Storehouse, with many objects stacked on shelving over several floors

View of part of an office designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for Edgar Kaufmann. The orange and brown room is filled with wood arranged in horizontal and vertical lines

Installation view of a huge stage backdrop designed by Pablo Picasso, showing two figures in a blue and green landscape

Interior shot of many museum objects stacked on shelving

7

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · May 28

The National Museum of Absolutely Everything… an architectural delight, by Oliver Wainwright www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

‘The national museum of absolutely everything’: new V&A outpost is an architectural delight

Poison darts, a dome from Spain, priceless spoons and Frank Lloyd Wright furniture … our architecture critic is wowed by how the V&A East Storehouse lets visitors ‘breathe the same air’ as its 250,000...

www.theguardian.com

1

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · May 28

Great review of the V&A’s new Storehouse in the Guardian, plus an excellent write-up by their architecture critic too. I’m looking forward to visiting the Museum’s collection at the Olympic Park on Friday! www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Fancy a masterpiece? Just pop one in your basket! V&A’s new open-access outpost will thrill art-lovers

The Victoria & Albert’s new warehouse boasts a mind-boggling 250,000 artefacts. Our art critic tries its ‘order an object’ service and gets intimate with some national treasures – including ‘the bigge...

www.theguardian.com

1 1 7

Reposted by Douglas Dodds

Tim Waterman @tim-waterman.co.uk · May 11

If I were a museum anywhere that had loaned anything to anyone in the US I would ask for it back immediately and I would already have ceased any upcoming loans. Not as a punitive measure, merely pragmatic.

Colleen [Redacted] @librarycolleen.bsky.social · May 11

Netherlands museum rethinks lending works to US amid Trump arts cuts 📜
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Netherlands museum rethinks lending works to US amid Trump arts cuts

Mauritshuis in The Hague says guarantees would be needed of artworks’ safety amid uncertainty caused by US funding cuts

www.theguardian.com

12 35

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · May 8

I knew next to nothing about his life in wartime until I found his records in the National Archives recently. Thankfully he survived, and the records did too!

2

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · May 8

Dad was in charge of a detachment at the Oflag VI-C PWX camp at Osnabrück - Eversheide from April - May 1945, but he may have been at Lüneburg on 8 May.

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · May 8

On #VEDay80, remembering my father Albert Dodds (right), a sergeant in the British Army's Pioneer Corps. He was evacuated from France 3 weeks after Dunkirk, then took part in the Sicily, Salerno & Normandy landings. Most of his company was at Lüneburg in May 1945, when the Nazi forces surrendered.

Four sergeants in the British Army's Pioneer Corps 73 Company, including Albert Dodds (right). The photo was probably taken in Lüneburg or Lübeck, Germany, in mid to late 1945.

2 1 4

Reposted by Douglas Dodds

Harald Klinke @harald-klinke.de · May 7

New CFP: What Do (Digital) Images Want? Join us in exploring a decade of data, power & visual knowledge!
dahj.org/cfp/11

CFP: What Do (Digital) Images Want? A Decade of Data, Power, and Visual Knowledge in Art History — DAHJ

The International Journal for Digital Art History (DAHJ) marks its 10th anniversary at a crucial moment when digital images are not only omnipresent in daily life, but are generated by active agents...

dahj.org

3 12 23

Reposted by Douglas Dodds

Led By Donkeys @ledbydonkeys.org · May 7

TANK vs TESLA

"We've crushed fascism before and we'll crush it again"

- ⁠WW2 veteran Ken, 98, in the tank

2.3K 20K 56K

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · May 5

In other news, rubber ducks are migrating to Canada, where they won’t be subject to Trump’s tariffs on Mandarin goods

🇨🇦🇨🇦 Proud Canadian 🇨🇦🇨🇦 @beppil007.bsky.social · May 5

‘the Rubber Duck Museum, is relocating just over the border to the town of Tsawwassen. That’s because of the decline in tourism & because most of the rubber ducks sold in the gift shop come from China & would be subject to US tariffs that would have more than tripled their price’
#BoycottUSA #NoMAGA

Bloomberg Business headline:

US Border Towns Are Being Ravaged by Canada’s Furious Boycott
Economically dependent on their northern neighbor, business owners in Washington state are laying off employees and shutting their doors.

Another Point Roberts attraction, the Rubber Duck Museum, is relocating just over the border to the town of Tsawwassen. That’s because of the decline in tourism and because most of the rubber ducks sold in the gift shop come from China and would be subject to US tariffs that would have more than tripled their price, according to co-owner Neil King.

5

Reposted by Douglas Dodds

amoeba @amoebadesign.bsky.social · May 3

1 11 60

Reposted by Douglas Dodds

Pete Orford @peteorford.bsky.social · Apr 18

Last night I had the pleasure of hearing @annagk.bsky.social talk to our Dickens postgraduates about www.dickensnotes.com - a fantastic open access resource showing Dickens's working notes for his novels. Highly recommended!

Digital Dickens Notes Project

The Digital Dickens Notes Project is an exploration of Charles Dickens's Working Notes

www.dickensnotes.com

1 7 19

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · Apr 16

Another beautiful art deco pool ticked off my to-do list! This is Mounts Baths, Northampton - a water-filled cathedral for swimming worshippers

Sunlit swimming pool with bright blue water, art deco arches and clerestory windows above

1 9

Douglas Dodds @douglasdodds.bsky.social · Apr 13

That’s me, bottom right

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · Apr 13

My cartoon for this week's @newscientist.com

A Caroll diagram consisting of four rectangles arranged in a square.
The Y axis is labelled MOVE and split into FAST and SLOW.
The X axis is labelled THINGS and split into BREAK and FIX

Top left image: (Move Fast and Break Things) Tech Bro
Bottom left image: (Move slow and break things) Runaway Steamroller
Top right image: (Move fast and fix things) Emergency Plumber
Bottom left image: (Move slow and fix things) Grandpa with a toolbox

6

Reposted by Douglas Dodds

Richard Ovenden @richove.bsky.social · Apr 11

The deletion of websites and other government data is a dangerous attack on knowledge, harming democracy. My colleague @nannathylstrup.bsky.social & I contribute a guest essay in @nytimes.com today: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/o...

Opinion | The Trump Administration’s Data Purges Weaken America

The Trump administration has started purging the government’s digital memory. Democracies die without proper archiving and public records.

www.nytimes.com

2 21 58