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A person views paintings in a gallery under a large red arch. The gallery has wooden floors, dark walls and various artwork.

Altered states

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A touch of absurdity can help to wrap your mind around reality

And now for something completely different: how a dose of the surreal or absurd helps to make sense of our place in the world

by David Robson

Black-and-white photo of a pensive woman in a herringbone coat and cloche hat, holding a handkerchief to her lips.

Personality

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Dietrich showed how adopting a persona can reveal one’s true self

Kaloprosopia – the art of crafting a persona, as Marlene Dietrich and David Bowie did – can help us access a truer self

by Sam Mills

A man and a woman sitting at a café table, both looking off to the side, with a glass of wine and ashtray on the table.

Film

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How to find great films to watch

Bored with Hollywood and Netflix? Becoming an adventurous and informed explorer of the cinema world is in everyone’s grasp

by Geoff Andrew

Person in headphones creates sound effects in a cluttered studio, watching a TV screen.

Creativity

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Meet the artists who create sounds for movies – and have so much fun doing it

A film by Jeremy Benning

A woman in a period dress with pearls watches over a sleeping child in bed, against a historical maritime painting.

Rituals and celebrations

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In the cinema, my father’s unspeakable childhood finally surfaced

Not too distant and not to close: how rituals help us process trauma, and why watching Anna Karenina helped heal my father

by Christiana Spens

A young couple in handcuffs lean against a 1950s police car beneath a brooding prairie sky

Mind and brain

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What films and literature reveal about the voice in your head

Inner speech is mysterious and hard to study. But movie voiceovers and introspective novels offer fresh ways to understand it

by Shayla Love

Abstract painting with flowing black, white, and red colours, creating a dynamic, wave-like pattern resembling a fluid motion.

Artists and art history

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An artist’s serene moving paintings probe the surface of reality itself

Films by Susi Sie

Three men stand around a computer, with one holding a mouse and speaking into it, and one wearing an “I Quit Smoking” badge.

Technology and media

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What the journey from Star Trek to Siri says about our culture

The talking computer in Star Trek takes the culture and technology of the present and dreams up future possibilities

by Liz W Faber

Still from a film showing Ralph Fiennes in the role of Voldemort, a pale, bald character with a serpentine nose and blue eyes, in a dark, misty environment.

Personality

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Immersion in fictional worlds allows us to own our dark side

Our liking for fictional villains such as Voldemort tells us something about the dark side of our own personalities

by Rebecca Krause-Galoni

Abstract human head with anatomical elements and surreal landscapes blending together on a black background with geometric lines.

Music

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Science, emotion and electronica fuse to form propulsive digital art

Music by Max Cooper