Abandonment Art

The Great Abandonment

Tess McClure | Guardian | 28th November 2024

Hundreds of villages have been deserted across Bulgaria, offering a glimpse of the natural world unimpeded by humans. After communism, people moved to cities for work. The country's population has declined by almost a third since 1989. Bramble vines are swallowing buildings whole. Invasive species create temporary monocultures, until tree canopies expand and wildflowers appear (4,100 words)

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Nomido

Nomido is the Browser's daily word game. Play today's before it's gone!

The Art And Mathematics Of Genji-Kō

Oran Looney | 26th November 2024

Genji-kō is a parlour game played with incense, invented by Japanese nobles of the Muromachi period (14C-16C) and named for a literary classic that describes an incense appreciation party. Guests smell five samples and then guess which are the same scent, using a notation formed from vertical lines — Genji-mon — to express their answers. These symbols shed light on art, but also equations (4,300 words)

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