Arts & Culture | Conversatori

When Museum Experiences Are Designed for Instagram

Instagram museums are designed with photo-taking in mind, rendering each cultural space into a curated backdrop idealized for social media visibility. These spaces speak to a larger cultural turn toward experiences that prioritize aesthetics, identity performance, and sharability over any appeal to depth or contemplation. In the end, the trend shows a modern culture that prizes first what can be captured, posted, and admired online. Once upon a time, museums were dimly lit sanctuaries where you tiptoed, whispered, and spent a suspicious amount of time staring at oil paintings you didn't totally understand. Today, however, the rise of the "Instagram museum" has flipped that script: now experiences are built not for contemplation, but for documentation—carefully engineered for perfect lighting, maximum color saturation, and instant virality. We've moved from absorbing culture to curating it.

Amanda Hicok

The Lost Intimacy of Pre-Digital Communication

Prior to the digital era, communication had an emotional weight to it because it required effort, time, and physical presence—from handwritten letters to ritualized phone calls. Instant messaging has now replaced the anticipation and intimacy of such communication with efficiency and abundance, making us connected at all times but seldom touched. And we can only hope to recover that lost depth by re-introducing intention and slowness into how we communicate, valuing words as acts of care rather than convenience.

Amanda Hicok

The Play Instinct: Why Adults Still Need to Pretend

Playing doesn't disappear in adulthood: it evolves into imagination, creativity, and social performance. Pretending lets adults rehearse courage, empathy, and innovation without real-world risk. The ability to play isn't childish; it's the secret architecture of resilience, invention, and emotional depth. We tend to think of play as something we grow out of, an activity confined to sandboxes, stuffed animals, and recess. But the impulse to play doesn't disappear with age; it just camouflages itself in adult disguises. The very impulse that led us to create worlds with blocks evolves into decorating homes, trying on identities in digital worlds, or getting lost in fantasy novels and weekend hobbies. Beneath the veneer of adulthood, the human imagination never stops asking the same question it did in childhood: What if?

Amanda Hicok

Why We're Drawn to What Disturbs Us

This essay explores the human penchant for discomfort-from disturbing art to tragic media. It does so by showing that unease acts like a mirror to truth, empathy, and growth that comfort suppresses. In a world obsessed with ease, discomfort is one of the last authentic experiences that keeps us emotionally and morally awake. Humans have an uncanny attraction to discomfort. We click on true crime documentaries, devour dystopian novels, and hang around tragic news headlines, as though some invisible hand compels us to do so. The paradox behind this—our fascination with what unsettles us—reveals something deep about our psychology: we seek disturbance for reasons not limited to feeling fear but to feeling alive. Discomfort is the shock that reminds us our emotions are still intact in an age dulled by convenience.

Amanda Hicok

The New Grammar of Global Romance

Globalization has remade love as felt and expressed, mixing languages, cultures, and emotional norms into a living global language of love. Technology facilitates cross-border intimacy but also transmits and markets it. Multilingual love encourages empathy, imagination, and self-understanding amidst misunderstandings and cultural incompatibilities. Ultimately, globalization makes romance an act of translation—testimony that love, as language, never stops evolving. In an age where dating sites come equipped with translators and "I love you" can be sent time zones apart, love is global. The age-old struggle of understanding one another in love has become an entirely new ball game—no longer just emotional but linguistic, cultural, and computational. Globalization has not merely made us diverse in whom we love, but in how we declare it. From emoji flirtations to blended slang born of multilingual couples, modern romance is a petri dish of linguistic change.

Amanda Hicok

The Afterlife of Ancient Myths in Pop Culture

Ancient myths don’t fade; they mutate into new forms across comics, films, games, and memes. Pop culture reshapes gods, monsters, and heroes into accessible archetypes while still preserving their core themes of identity, fate, and transcendence. Their afterlife shows that myths remain vital because they can be endlessly remixed without ever losing their power. There’s a peculiar immortality reserved for myths. While empires have crumbled and languages slipped into extinction, stories of capricious gods, heroic mortals, and vengeful monsters keep finding new breath. Ancient myths do not stay buried in dusty tomes; they rise, again and again, reborn in comics, blockbusters, video games, and even memes. Pop culture, with its ravenous appetite for familiar yet malleable material, thrives on these myths’ elasticity. They are ancient, but never outdated.

Amanda Hicok

From Track to Trend

Athletic wear has jogged far past the gym, sprinting into brunches, offices, and even luxury runways. What started as sweat-wicking practicality now doubles as social signaling, wellness branding, and status symbol. In the end, leggings and sneakers prove that fashion’s true finish line is comfort—dressed up just enough to look intentional. Athletic wear used to live strictly in locker rooms and gyms, its purpose as straightforward as a stopwatch: stretch, breathe, wick sweat, repeat. Yet in recent decades, sneakers have walked far beyond the treadmill, yoga pants have strolled into brunch, and track jackets have slipped effortlessly into office attire. The boundary between performance and polish has blurred so thoroughly that what once screamed “team practice” now whispers “street style.”

Amanda Hicok

Digital Collage: How Social Media Is Rewriting Visual Art

Digital collage has become the defining visual language of social media, thriving on speed, accessibility, and the endless archive of online images. It blurs boundaries between art and content, while raising fresh debates about ownership, authorship, and authenticity. Both a tool for protest and a marketing aesthetic, collage reflects our fragmented digital lives, where the scroll itself feels like an infinite artwork. In this way, social media hasn’t just hosted collage—it has transformed how we see, share, and make art. The art of collage has always thrived on remixing—taking fragments from one context and fusing them into another. In the analog days, this meant scissors, glue, and a keen eye for composition. Today, that same instinct lives online, but with far sharper tools: Photoshop, Canva, Instagram filters, TikTok edits. Digital collage, once a niche practice for graphic designers, has become the unofficial aesthetic of social media, where the cut-and-paste impulse has…

Amanda Hicok

Living the Exhibit

Experiential museums are transforming cultural spaces from hushed galleries into immersive environments where visitors can step inside the art itself. Fueled by technology, social media, and a growing desire for shared experiences, they blur the lines between education, entertainment, and spectacle. While critics question their seriousness, their popularity shows a cultural shift toward valuing sensation, play, and memory as much as tradition. Einsgoeins, Mobile-App-for-interactive-Installations, CC BY-SA 4.0

Amanda Hicok

The Lost Art of Marginalia

Marginalia, the practice of writing notes in the margins of books, once transformed reading into a conversation between author, text, and reader. Its decline reflects our fast-paced, digital-first culture, where efficiency trumps intimacy. Yet traces of marginalia persist in used books, academic studies, and even digital annotation platforms, reminding us of its enduring value. To revive marginalia is to reclaim reading as an active, personal, and communal art. Once upon a time, books were not pristine objects meant to be displayed in untouched perfection. They were living, breathing companions. Readers scrawled notes, circled phrases, drew arrows, and sometimes even argued with the author in the margins. These handwritten interventions—known as marginalia—were more than annotations; they were dialogues across time. A book without marks was incomplete, like a conversation that never left the throat.

Amanda Hicok

Architecture as Social Commentary

Architecture is not just functional but a form of social commentary, shaping and reflecting the values, ideals, and contradictions of its time. From Gothic cathedrals to modernist skyscrapers, from Brutalism to green design, buildings communicate political, cultural, and moral messages. They remind us that every city is not just built but argued into existence, a living dialogue between stone and society. Diliff, Wells Cathedral West Front Exterior, UK - Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0

Amanda Hicok

Fanfiction as Folk Literature

Fanfiction can be understood as a modern form of folk literature, thriving through communal authorship, archetypal storytelling, and participatory performance. Like folktales, it resists singular ownership and evolves through constant retelling across digital village squares. Far from trivial, fanfiction continues humanity’s oldest tradition of collective storytelling in new, democratic forms. Mingle Media TV, Shailene Woodley March 18, 2014, CC BY-SA 2.0 From the book and movie series Divergent.

Amanda Hicok

Meet the Philosopher: Epicurus

Epicurus, often misunderstood as a hedonist, taught that true happiness comes from simplicity, friendship, and freedom from fear. He sought to dissolve humanity’s greatest anxieties—death, the gods, and desire—through reason and moderation. His philosophy remains a timeless reminder that contentment lies not in abundance, but in learning to value less. Agostino Scilla, Agostino Scilla. The philosopher Epicurus, CC BY-SA 4.0

Amanda Hicok

Classic Book — Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote is both a parody of medieval romances and a profound meditation on human imagination. The story follows Alonso Quixano, who rebrands himself as Don Quixote and sets out as a knight-errant with his squire, Sancho Panza, blurring the line between folly and vision. Through satire, metafiction, and unforgettable characters, Cervantes critiques a world that has outgrown chivalry yet still longs for ideals. More than four centuries later, Don Quixote endures as a symbol of both the madness and necessity of dreaming against reality. Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, first published in two parts (1605 and 1615), is often considered the first modern novel. Written in Spain during the waning years of the Golden Age, it follows the misadventures of Alonso Quixano, a middle-aged man who, after reading too many chivalric romances, reinvents himself as the knight-errant Don Quixote de la Mancha. Armed with outdated armor, a scrawny horse named Rocinante, and…

Amanda Hicok

Who is Banksy?

Banksy is an anonymous street artist whose politically charged stenciled works and high-profile stunts have made him a global cultural icon. His refusal to reveal his identity has fueled speculation and myth-making, shifting focus to the power of his art rather than the artist himself. By blending satire, spectacle, and secrecy, Banksy has become less a person than a phenomenon, embodying both rebellion and paradox within the art world. Dominic Robinson from Bristol, UK, Banksy Girl and Heart Balloon (2840632113), CC BY-SA 2.0

Amanda Hicok

Opera’s Comeback

Opera, long dismissed as elitist and outdated, is staging a surprising comeback by embracing technology, contemporary themes, and global audiences. From live HD broadcasts to reimagined productions tackling modern issues, the art form has found new relevance while courting younger, more diverse crowds. Its revival is less about nostalgia and more about proving that opera’s mix of spectacle and raw human emotion remains timeless. Anastasiia Mantach, NOVA OPERA Artists after performance of opera-requiem IYOV in National Opera House of Ukraine, CC BY-SA 2.0

Amanda Hicok

Monuments, Memory, and Meaning

Public monuments are civic narratives cast in stone, bronze, or glass, shaping what societies choose to honor and remember. Their artistry lies in symbolism, scale, and placement, yet their permanence often collides with shifting cultural values. The most enduring monuments are those that remain open to reinterpretation, serving as mirrors of evolving collective memory. Dean Franklin, Dean Franklin - 06.04.03 Mount Rushmore Monument (by-sa), CC BY 2.0

Amanda Hicok

The Death and Rebirth of the Vinyl Record

Vinyl records, once the dominant music format, declined sharply after the rise of CDs and later digital streaming, becoming nearly obsolete by the early 2000s. Their recent revival stems from a cultural craving for tangibility, ritual, and design, alongside a rejection of the frictionless digital experience. Today, vinyl thrives as a niche luxury and statement of identity, blending nostalgia with contemporary marketing. Its rebirth underscores the enduring appeal of formats that demand time, attention, and physical presence. BorisCarter1980, Record cabinet designed to play more vinyl, CC BY-SA 4.0

Amanda Hicok

The Politics of Book Covers

Book covers are powerful political objects, shaping a reader’s expectations and the market’s reception long before the first page is read. From racial whitewashing to gendered packaging, covers often reinforce societal biases under the guise of marketing. They are also shaped by global politics, digital aesthetics, and even acts of deliberate rebellion by small presses. Ultimately, the politics of book covers reveal that design is never neutral—it’s a negotiation between cultural forces, commercial pressures, and the identities at stake. Book covers, those glossy or matte shields guarding the first page, are rarely neutral. They are miniature billboards, cultural messengers, and subtle propagandists, each one quietly lobbying for a reader’s attention. The politics of book covers lie in their ability to shape how we interpret a text before even opening it—an interplay of marketing, design, and ideology. They sell not just stories, but entire identities, lifestyles, and…

Amanda Hicok

Lip Sync as an Art Form

Lip sync is far more than a performance shortcut—it’s a precise, expressive art form that fuses acting, dance, and illusion. Rooted in film dubbing and later embraced by drag culture, it transforms pre-recorded voices into living, breathing theatrical moments. Beyond technical mastery, lip sync serves as a cultural archive, a subversive tool, and a democratized medium in the age of TikTok. In its paradox of borrowed voice and original embodiment, it reveals the essence of performance itself. Sven Mandel, Milli Vanilli - 2024335 203830 2024-11-30 Sunshine Live - Die 90er Live on Stage - Sven - 1D X MK II - 0267 - B70I0939, CC BY-SA 4.0

Amanda Hicok

The Lies of Lifestyle Minimalism

Lifestyle minimalism markets itself as a path to freedom, but often disguises new forms of consumerism under the guise of owning less. It oversimplifies the roots of unhappiness, ignoring systemic issues while glamorizing a privilege not accessible to everyone. The movement can replace physical clutter with mental pressure, turning personal choice into public performance. By reducing life to aesthetics and subtraction, it risks stripping away meaning and becoming just another product to sell. Minimalism sells itself as a cure for modern malaise: a sleek, serene answer to the chaos of consumer culture. On Instagram, white-walled apartments with a single ceramic mug are framed as freedom. In books, minimalist gurus promise that throwing out half your closet will clear your mind, your calendar, and your soul. But beneath its polished veneer, lifestyle minimalism often carries contradictions that undermine its own philosophy. The pursuit of “less” can, paradoxically, become just…

Amanda Hicok

The Language of Ritual: Why We Need Ceremony

Rituals may seem outdated in our fast-paced world, but they remain essential to how we understand and mark life’s transitions. Far from meaningless, rituals act as powerful languages of symbolism, connection, and transformation. They adapt with culture, offer psychological comfort, and provide grounding in times of change. Even in secular contexts, we continue to seek the structure, meaning, and unity that ceremonies provide. In a world increasingly obsessed with speed, efficiency, and minimalism, rituals may seem like unnecessary relics of the past—long-winded, symbolic, and oddly theatrical. But scratch beneath the surface of modern life, and you’ll find that we still crave ceremony. From weddings and graduations to mourning rites and presidential inaugurations, rituals remain the glue that binds individuals to something greater: community, history, and meaning. They are not empty gestures, but rich, embodied languages that express what words alone cannot.

Amanda Hicok

The Great Books: Why We Still Read Them

The Great Books are a curated collection of influential texts that have shaped Western thought across literature, philosophy, science, and history. Popularized by Adler and Hutchins in the mid-20th century, they represent a “Great Conversation” of ideas spanning centuries. While the canon has been criticized for its lack of diversity, its enduring value lies in the deep, unresolved questions these works pose. More than relics, the Great Books remain tools for reflection, debate, and intellectual growth. rdsmith4, Great Books, CC BY-SA 2.0

Amanda Hicok

Artists Who Predicted the Future

Some artists throughout history have astonishingly predicted future technologies, social dynamics, and existential dilemmas. Writers like Jules Verne and Philip K. Dick, musicians like David Bowie, and filmmakers like Fritz Lang tapped into a future no one else had yet imagined. Their work often serves as early warnings, not just of what might happen, but of how it might feel. As we race toward tomorrow, we’d do well to listen not just to scientists—but to the muses who saw it coming. Throughout history, artists have been dismissed as dreamers, their work relegated to metaphor and whimsy. But time has a way of revealing the seers among them. From painters to playwrights, musicians to filmmakers, some artists didn’t just reflect their era—they anticipated what was to come. Whether they predicted technological advances, societal shifts, or uncanny cultural developments, their work seems less like speculation and more like premonition.

Amanda Hicok