Marcus Lyon’s photos from the future

The British image maker explains how his landscapes capture our globalised world at its most extreme

BRIC VII - Chongqing, China (2010) by Marcus Lyon

How Groovy Bob inspired Bacon and Basquiat

Immortalised in The Beatles song Dr. Robert and in Richard Hamilton's Swingeing London 67, a brilliant new show at Pace Gallery celebrates the huge importance and influence of legendary art dealer to the stars Robert Fraser

A Strong Sweet Smell of Incense A Portrait of Robert Fraser - installation photo courtesy of Pace London

The future according to Konstantin Grcic

German designer works with Vitra Design Museum to produce forward-looking, personal retrospective

A rendering of Room One, Life Space, by Konstantin Grcic

Massimo Bottura at the Berlin Film Festival

Last night The Phaidon chef joined screen stars at the festival, which this year places an emphasis on film and food

Chez Panisse chef, author and activist Alice Waters, the Berlinale's Thomas Struck, and Massimo Bottura

What happened the day Sargent painted Monet

As a new show opens, a look at the painting that marked the moment the portraitist opened up to Impressionism

Claude Monet Painting at the Edge of a Wood (1887) by John Singer Sargent

Three libraries that are changing our cities

As this latest Phaidon Atlas Focus shows, a change in book lending has also altered our urban environment

OMA's Seattle Library. Photograph by Philippe Ruault

Take a look inside Ellsworth Kelly's new 'chapel'

91-year-old artist is making a 'spiritually inspired' installation within the grounds of the University of Texas

Ellsworth Kelly, Austin, 2015 (model; interior view) © 2015 Ellsworth Kelly. Image courtesy the Blanton Museum of Art

Watch Sanford Biggers talk about breaking the rules

'I describe myself as an artist because I live in constant balance with mania – the maniacal desire to create!'

Sanford Biggers, as drawn by Phaidon's Creative Director Julia Hasting for AKADAMIE X

Sacred Stories - LJG Synagogue

How the Dutch practice SeARCH created what's only the second synagogue in the Netherlands since WWII

 LJG Synagogue, Amsterdam, by SeARCH

Brutalist icons go from concrete to cardboard

We love brutalist architecture so the thought of erecting some on our desk pleases us #SorryWorkMates

Brutal London - Zupagrafika

'Germany was like a vacuum' - Heinz Mack on Zero

The founder of the European art movement explains how he and his fellow artists created something from nothing

Heinz Mack in his studio. Photo by Ute Mack. Image courtesy of Ben Brown Fine Arts

Is that an Ed Ruscha in 50 Shades of Grey?

US pop pioneer's Brother Sister appears in the film alongside other works by contemporary artists

A screengrab from the new 50 Shades of Grey trailer, which appears to feature an Ed Ruscha painting in the background

Margarita launches new Jose Dávila Artspace edition

Multiple launched at Zona Maco Art Fair lunch created by the chef and author of Mexico: The Cookbook

Jose Dávila and Mexico The Cookbook chef and author Margarita Carrillo Arrant

Roman Signer's unconventional approach to art

He's attached rockets to chairs, blown up sacks of paper and lit fuses on railway lines. What's planned for London?

Roman Signer Kajak (Kayak), 2000 Rheintal/CH
Video still: Tomasz Rogowiec Courtesy the artist

Inside OMA's Super Theater

OMA's Inge Goudsmit explains how Taiwan's theatrical history led the team to push the limits of this new space

Exclusive images of the Performing Arts Theater, Taipei. Photograph by Chris Stowers. Image courtesy of OMA

The Guggenheim's Jeffrey Weiss talks On Kawara

Curator of new show Silence on how the reclusive artist's desire for privacy impacted his career and legacy

On Kawara -Telegram to Sol LeWitt, February 5, 1970 From I Am Still Alive, 1970–2000 LeWitt Collection, Chester, Connecticut © On Kawara. Photo: Kris McKay © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York

Sacred Stories - Prayer and Meditation Pavilion

How Studio Tamassociati accommodated two ancient religions in one striking, contemporary place of worship

Prayer and Meditation Pavilion, Sudan, by Studio Tamassociati

Watch Shirley Tse talk about her DIY ethic

The sculptor and Cal Arts tutor praises informality and amateurism in our new book AKADEMIE X

Shirley Tse, as drawn by Phaidon's Creative Director Julia Hasting for AKADAMIE X

Walter Liedtke RIP

Renowned Curator of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art killed in train crash on Tuesday

Walter Liedtke

Sacred Stories - Bruder Klaus Field Chapel

How did Pritzker laureate Peter Zumthor come to build this tiny, rural chapel? Our book, Sacred Spaces, explains

The Brother Klaus Field Chapel, Mechernich, Germany by Peter Zumthor. Photography by Hélène Binet

Marlene Dumas on her incredible Tate retrospective

'Putting a show like this together evokes all kinds of different emotions. Sometimes you think, oh it’s lovely to see you again, other times you think, oh I still don’t know if I ever should have made this!' the painter tells Phaidon

The Image as Burden (1993) Marlene Dumas, courtesy Tate Britain

The New York Times loves Enrique Olvera

The Mexican chef and Phaidon author’s NYC restaurant receives a glowing review from the paper’s Pete Wells

Cosme, New York

How Pentagram helped Shake Shack top $1.6bn

When the design agency oversaw branding for an NY burger stand, little did they know how much it would be worth

Examples of Shack Shack branding, courtesy of Pentagram.com

Celebrity restaurateur Mr Chow debuts art in China

The Shanghai-born restaurateur stages his first Chinese art show, with a little help from Warhol and Keith Haring

Mr. Chow as Green Prawn in a Bowl of Noodles (1986) by Keith Haring, as part of  Michael Chow: Voice of My Father

Noma Japan's tableware is up for grabs!

In advance of the Tokyo pop-up restaurant's closure, Redzepi and co have put its bespoke items up for sale

Noma Japan's tableware collection

Was this the best advert of the Super Bowl?

Lauren Greenfield's ad for Always was a blow out win because it will change attitudes - not just buying habits

Like a Girl - Lauren Greenfield

Scholten & Baijings and the Eindhoven alumni

The Dutch Design Academy spawned a generation of great designers - Stefan Scholten was always a little different

Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Stefan Scholten (right) with his partner, Carole Baijings

Lost Alvar Aalto classics reissued by Vitra

Artek and Vitra trawl the Alvar Aalto back catalogue and come up with a number of great finds

Alver Aalto for Artek

Sarah Sze on how to make sense of your life

The US artist on why her new self-titled Victoria Miro show is like a series of short poems

Sarah Sze, installation view, Still Life with Desk, 2013-2015; 30 January – 28 March 2015; Victoria Miro, 16 Wharf Road, London, N1 7RW. Courtesy the Artist and Victoria Miro, London © Sarah Sze

Luc Tuymans' disquieting David Zwirner show

The Belgian painter's new show draws on ISIS murder videos, Goya and a little known British B-movie

Luc Tuymans - Jonas Lampens, 2014
Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London

Join David Doubilet in an amazing underwater world

The legendary photographer and Water Light Time author surfaces for a National Geographic talks tour

A traditional fisherman and his son in the waters of Kimbe Bay in Papua New Guinea - David Doubilet

How Picasso and Klee ushered in outsider art

As the Outsider Art Fair opens in NY, we look at how big name artists opened us up to looking at art differently

The King (2013) Manuel Bonifacio - image courtesy Henry Boxer Gallery, Richmond

Coop Himmelb(l)au's Flying Garden Tower

The Austrian practice designed this centrepiece tower for Frankfurt’s new airport

Coop Himmelb(l)au's Flying Garden Tower - photo courtesy Coop Himmelb(l)au

Psst! Want to know about The Art of Forgery?

Then watch this great Phaidon video, shot with Noah Charney in the Italian capital, Rome

Dr Noah Charney. Photograph by Urska Charney

A Movement in a Moment: Dada

'It was total pandemonium. The people around us were shouting, laughing and gesticulating.' Relive the incredible few months during which a short-lived Swiss nightclub gave rise to the first artistic assault on modern culture, Dada

Do you want to go to war or hang out in Switzerland with this guy? Hugo Ball reciting the poem Karawane at the Cabaret Voltaire, 1916

Smithsonian to open on London Olympics site

First opening anywhere outside of the US will be a site in the British capital called Olympicopolis

The culture and university district of 'Olympicopolis' will be created on this triangular site marked (4.5 acres). Kevin Allen/London Legacy Development Corp. (LLDC)

When snow fell on the Adriatic

Mario Giacomelli's photos of young priests playing in the snow are as beguiling today as they were in 1961

There Are No Hands To Caress - Mario Giacomelli

5 ways Scholten & Baijings do it differently

From craftsmanship to prototyping, cars to teapots, here's how these Dutch designers are innovating the industry

Woven Willow by Scholten & Baijings

Will this sci-fi city get off the ground?

Suspended over a quarry, Asymptote's Hunan eco city boasts hi-tech transport and robot-delivered takeouts

Changsha Eco Tech City scheme, Hunan Province, China - Asymptote

Meet the artist who reworks Francis Bacon

Why does Michel Platnic create film-set style copies of the late painter's best-known works?

After “Three Studies of Lucian Freud, 1969” (2013) by Michel Platnic

4 Dishes for a Healthier, Happier and Wealthier Chinese New Year #3 Stir-fried Shanghai Noodles

Could these long noodles lead to a long life as folklore suggests? Our China The Cookbook co-author thinks so!

Stir-fried Shanghai noodles, as featured in China: The Cookbook

Dieter Rams classics meet contemporary graphics

The Systems exhibition in Paris pairs posters by today's best designers with Braun's classic, 20th century products

From left: Dieter Rams' ET66 Braun calculator; Studio Job's Systems poster

'Let's split this!' Theaster Gates shares £40k prize

The winner of the Artes Mundi extends his practice by sharing winnings with his fellow short-listed artists

Theaster Gates beside his work, A Complicated Relationship between Heaven and Earth, or When We Believe

5 buildings making power production look good

Latest Phaidon Atlas Editors' Focus looks at power plants that please the eye

Power Heat Plant – Dok Architecten

The mechanised world of Francis Picabia

On the anniversary of his birth we take a look at what made the reluctant Dada pioneer tick

Fille Née sans Mère 1916-18 - Francis Picabia

This library shows how beautiful bricks can be

A young Finnish practice used an old building material to construct the country's biggest university library

Helsinki University Library by Anttinen Oiva Architects

How Tomi Ungerer became an outcast in America

In the second part of this exclusive essay Tomi recalls the moment his love affair with New York soured

Tomi Ungerer, 2012

Cally Spooner's Muse Music

The filmmaker and artist on how Lou Reed, Puccini, and Katy Perry inspire her pop-influenced performance art

Cally Spooner (top right); Radio Ethiopia by Patti Smith (top left), and stills from Regardless, it's still her voice (2014) and It's About You (2014) by Cally Spooner

Niki de Saint Phalle's joie de vivre - and violence

First Spanish retrospective for pioneering feminist artist opens at the Guggenheim Bilbao next month

Niki de Saint Phalle

Joel Meyerowitz on Edward Weston and invisibility

Watch the brilliant American photographer describe how street photography is informing his latest still life work

Teatrino, (2013) by Joel Meyerowitz

Where will Obama read his Phaidon books?

Snøhetta, Allied Works and Mos Architects battle it out for presidential library seal of approval in Hawaii

Barack Obama Presidential Library, Hawaii - Snøhetta and WCIT Architecture

Get to know Scholten & Baijings in 5 great products

Introducing the Dutch design duo via some of their most eye-catching work


'Whatever you're up to, make yourself noticed!'

Artist, illustrator and author Tomi Ungerer remembers his wild, early years in NYC in this exclusive essay

Tomi Ungerer beside the Longfellow House in Cambridge Massachusetts, 1956

The critical bite of Hans Haacke’s Gift Horse

Why has the controversial artist put a stock exchange ticker on a horse's leg in London?

Hans Haacke, Gift Horse (2013); bronze and electroluminescent film (model)

Christian Marclay makes music at White Cube

The Clock artist collaborates with Vinyl Factory and the London Sinfonietta later this month

Christian Marclay

From Selma to Montgomery with Dr. King

As Martin Luther King Day approaches The New-York Historical Society hosts a poignant new show

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking to 25,000 civil rights marchers in Montgomery, 1965 - Stephen Somerstein

Take a look at the new wave of Mexican architecture

From funerary bunkers to wineries, the latest Atlas Focus offers sharp insight into some innovative buildings

Parque Biotecnologico - Tatiana Bilbao

Wilhelm Sasnal's sinister art history show

During the installation of his new London show, the painter talks Degas, Cezanne and his fears for a new war

Untitled (after Stubbs) (2014) by Wilhelm Sasnal. Copyright the artist, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London

Rocks and plants festoon new Tapei Tower

'Housing project is a fusion between local nature and primitive rocks,' says architect Fernando Menis

Agora Garden, Tapei, Taiwan - Menis

NASA designers create stellar tourist posters

Not planning a trip to the newly discovered exoplanet Kepler 186f? Perhaps these posters might persuade you. . .


Photos that changed the world #9 Law of the Gun

George Silk’s gangland slaying shot marked the beginnings of photography’s relationship with TV

George Silk's Law of The Gun photograph, 1957, as it appears in The Photography Book

Did you spot JR at the Charlie Hebdo march?

The eyes of murdered cartoonist Stéphane Charbonnier appeared on placards created by the artist

JR's Charb placards at last Sunday's march in Paris

A surprisingly natural form inspired this hospital

Two Australian practices ditched the tower-and-podium model to create this great new Brisbane paediatrics facility

Lady Cilento Children's Hospital, Brisbane - Lyons/ Conrad Gargett

Barber Osgerby upgrade airline dining

Duo’s well-designed dining system for Virgin Atlantic breaks meals into courses and saves weight

MAP's new coffee pot, with its dial indicator, for Virgin Atlantic

Recreating Henry Moore’s studio

Next month the Gagosian will recreate the sculptor’s studio at its London gallery, with help from a Phaidon author

Henry Moore working on a plaster in the Maquette Studio, Perry Green, c. 1960. Photo: John Hedgecoe. Reproduced by permission of The Henry Moore Foundation.

“Houseplants are like caged animals” - Dan Pearson

The British designer and contributor to The Gardener's Garden on vision, mistakes, and his own 'corner of shame'

Dan Pearson. Photo by Sir Paul Smith

The first reviews of Noma Japan

Waiter, is that an ant on my shrimp? No, its Noma's stunning seafood dish that opens restaurant’s new menu

Botan ebi with flavours of Nagano forest at Noma Japan. Image courtesy of kayoubidesu.com, instagram.com/kayoubidesu

Noma Japan serves its first dinner

Take a look at the first pictures from behind the scenes as the chefs and front of house staff prepare for work

Two hours to go!

Fox Talbot and the Decisive Moment

New Tate Britain show reveals how the photographic pioneer's work led shutterbugs to capture fleeting moments

Roger Fenton, Captain Mottram Andrews, 28th Regiment (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot, 1855© Wilson Centre for Photography

Zhang Huan's Buddha arrives in Sydney

The artist has spent three years collecting 20 tonnes of incense ash to compound into a temporary sculpture

The Sydney Buddha (2015) - Zhang Huan

How anyone can fake a Banksy for under 10 dollars

Art forgery expert Noah Charney on how to recreate a forensically identical street-art classic for next to nothing

Do I hear £6? - Banksy's Morons

'I feel like they killed me' - Tomi Ungerer

The French-born artist, activist and illustrator on yesterday's Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris

Tomi Ungerer

René Redzepi hosts MAD evening in Tokyo

As part of our countdown to the Noma chef's opening in Japan this Friday check out our new MAD video

René Redzepi - another night, another award

Monotype's makeover for digital text

19th century type firm’s Spark technology, unveiled at CES, solves 21st century textual problem

Monotype Spark can reproduce many foreign characters quickly and clearly, even on cheap, small devices

Zaha Hadid makes a splash on Copacabana Beach

Architect's Casa Atlântica sees her squeezing spine like apartment building into Burle Marx Promenade

Casa Atlantica - Zaha Hadid Architects

Watch René Redzepi at work in the Noma kitchen

As we count down to Friday's opening in Tokyo, we film the chef at one of his infamous Saturday Night Projects

Oh, René, you are terrible. Redzepi finds new 'ingredients' on the Australian leg of his global book tour

What on earth has John Waters done to himself?

The filmmaker's cosmetically enhanced LA alter-ego features among the trashy exhibits in a new show

Beverly Hills John (2012) by John Waters

Warhol’s Giant Size bequest

More Andy art will be seen in 2015 thanks to his foundation’s recent donation of 14,000 works

 Photograph of Tama Janowitz, stitched together, part of Andy Warhol's 'stitched-unstitched' series

Sou Fujimoto strikes the right note again

The Japanese architect has won an anonymous competition to design the House of Hungarian Music in Budapest

House of Hungarian Music - Sou Fujimoto

The Store Detective: May Books, New Orleans

In our new series we speak to the people behind some of the best fine-art bookshops in the world

Émilie Lamy of May Books, New Orleans. Photograph by Claire Bangser

What's cooking at Noma Japan?

René Redzepi's latest venture opens for six weeks this Friday and everyone wants to know what's on the menu

Fish cuts for Noma Japan. Image courtesy of Réne Redzepi's Twitter feed

How was 2014 for Zhang Xiaogang?

The major Chinese artist looks back at last year’s Korean show, and forward to his Prague retrospective

Zhang Xiaogang. Photo by Fu Chun Lai

How was 2014 for Danny Lyon?

The year the legendary photographer and activist turned his attention towards climate change

Danny Lyon (brown cap, second from right) greets Climate Marchers to Albuquerque, summer 2014.

How was 2014 for Laura Carlin?

The author of our new book for younger readers made a tile wall in East London and prepared for her solo show

Laura Carlin

How was 2014 for Gerry Badger?

The co-author of The Photobook: A History enjoyed Italian documentary photographers and met Josef Koudelka


How was 2014 for Joe Warwick?

He worked on an expanded Where Chefs Eat, readied himself for a stint at Noma Japan and stuck up for Soho

Where Chefs Eat editor Joe Warwick

How was 2014 for Yin Xiuzhen?

Environmental change, bewilderment at human greed and a new art language all played a part in her work

Yin Xiuzhen beside her work Black Hole (2010)

How was 2014 for Hans Eijkelboom?

The Dutch photographer found enlightenment in Portuguese poetry and British shopping centres

Hans Eijkelboom

Gombrich Explains Christian Iconography

The art historian charts the primitive and sophisticated methods that created Christian imagery

Detail from Madonna and Child on a curved throne (c.1280) altar painting from Constantinople, reproduced in The Story of Art

How was 2014 for Joel Meyerowitz?

Late period Matisse proved an inspiration, and working with film maker Ralph Goertz helped him find himself

Joel Meyerowitz

How was 2014 for Steve McCurry?

He focused his lens on Syrian refugee camps, the plight of domestic servants and the lives of coffee growers

Steve McCurry

How was 2014 for Ferran Adrià?

The elBulli 2005-2011 maestro on Ibiza, art and the circus

Ferran Adrià poses in front of ElBulli 2005-2011 photo by Scott Rudd

How was 2014 for Roger Ballen?

Dreams, nature, and hearing the word 'Ballenesque' used to describe another piece of art all made it a great year

Roger Ballen

Jane Hornby’s quick and easy Christmas cake recipe

Did you forget to bake one? Don't panic! With this recipe you can have your cake and eat it in just a few hours

Jane Hornby's Festive Fruit Cake

How was 2014 for Massimo Bottura?

Pretty spectacular as you'd expect! Our skinny Italian chef recalls the highpoints of a year that saw him become a household name and looks forward to a 2015 that will see him cooking all over the world - for a great cause

Massimo Bottura - First we take Manhattan

How was 2014 for JR?

He choreographed a ballet, created an installation at Ellis Island and hung out with Spielberg, Lucas and De Niro

JR (sunglasses, near right) talking art and ideas with Steven Spielberg, Georges Lucas and Robert De Niro. (The artist says De Niro photobombed the pic!)

How Kandinsky helped create abstract art

On his birth date we look at how in trying to reconcile music and painting the artist invented a new form

Several Circles (1926) by Wassily Kandinsky. As reproduced in Art in Time

Gombrich Explains Katsushika Hokusai

Some good reasons to catch the Grand Palais show - the last time many prints will be seen outside Japan

Katsushika Hokusai, Behind the Waves at Kanagawa Bay (c.1830-1832)

Think you know about Nobuyoshi Araki?

There's more to the photographer than bondage and sex says Zippora Elders, curator of a new show

qARADISE, 2014 © Courtesy Nobuyoshi Araki in collaboration with Galerie Alex Daniëls – Reflex Amsterdam

How was 2014 for Bob Nickas?

The great New York critic and curator delighted in the Optical Unconscious but despaired in Cooper Union

Bob Nickas beside Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, Utah. Photograph by Jason Metcalf