the art assignment

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The Art Assignment is a weekly PBS Digital Studios production hosted by curator Sarah Green. We take you around the U.S. to meet working artists and solicit assignments from them that we can all complete.

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Art in Moscow: Museums, Galleries and Museum-Reserves

There is no strict dress code in Moscow museums. However, if you are going to explore ancient churches and holy places we recommend more conservative outwear. Women should have their heads covered.

All state museums and galleries are free every third Sunday of the month. Some of the Moscow museums are free on holidays, and during the «Museum days» and «Museum Night».

If you’re looking for great cultural tours around art points of Moscow, we have a great MOSCOW ART & DESIGN TOUR , available for you everyday except Mondays.

Moscow Museums

The Moscow Kremlin

Don’t miss a chance to see the very heart of Moscow, the Kremlin, the symbol of the Russian State, one of the greatest architectural ensembles in the world, a treasury of unusual relics and monuments of art. It is situated on a high Borovitskiy hill above the Moskva River, so you’ll be able to see a spectacular view of the city center. The famous Armory Chamber and the Diamond Fund are real treasure-houses, where you can see ancient Russian regalia, ceremonial tsar’s dress, church hierarchs’ vestments, arms, gold and silverware by Russian, European and Eastern masters. The Kremlin is the official President’s residence and remains a gorgeous political landmark. The UNESCO has included the ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin in the World Heritage List.

Site: http://www.kreml.ru/

The State Historical Museum

Ivan Zabelin, Aleksey Uvarov, and several other Slavophiles founded the State Historical Museum in 1872 to promote Russian history and national self-awareness. During its century-long history, the museum has collected more than 4.5 million of valuable items and over 12 million pages of documental archives. Its exhibitions range from relics of prehistoric tribes that lived in the territory of present-day Russia, through priceless artworks acquired by members of the Romanov dynasty. The museum’s historical building which was reconstructed and equipped to meet all the visitors requirements is on the Red Square.

Site: http://www.shm.ru/

The State Tretyakov Gallery

The State Tretyakov Gallery takes a special place among the national art museums of the world. Established with the efforts of one person, the dedicated collector Pavel Tretyakov, it possesses a unique collection of Russian art, more than 150000 masterpieces, created by famous Russian artists throughout the centuries. The historic building of the State Tretyakov Gallery at Lavrushinski Lane presents Russian art from the 11th through the early 20th century. The state Tretyakov Gallery at Krymsky Val has an excellent collection of Russian art of the 20th century, modern art and holds temporary exhibitions.

Site: http://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts is one the largest European museums of fine art. It has one of the most remarkable collections of fine arts in Russia that consists of artworks from ancient times to the present day. Visitors can see great paintings by world famous artists: Rembrandt, Botticelli, Canaletto, Tiepolo, along with the remarkable collections of Impressionists, Post-impressionists, modernists: Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Picasso and others. Moreover, the museum holds the private collectors’ galleries, many of were inaccessible to public for many years.

Site: http://www.arts-museum.ru/

Moscow Museum of Modern Art

Moscow Museum of Modern Art specializes in the modern art of 20th and 21st centuries. The famous Russian artist and sculptor Zurab Tsereteli has founded it. The museum is located in four historic buildings in Petrovka Street, Gogolevsky Boulevard, Ermolaevsky lane and Tverskoy Boulevard. The museum’s collection depicts the development of avant-garde. The largest part of the collection consists of masterpieces of Russian artists, but you can also find works by Anri Russo, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso and many others.

Site: http://www.mmoma.ru/

The Moscow Planetarium

The Planetarium in Moscow first opened its doors in 1929. After a global reconstruction, it was reopened in 2011. Now it is a multifunctional complex that combines scientific and educational resources: the interactive museum «Lunarium», the Museum of Urania, the Big Star Hall and the Sky Park, family recreation center, that focuses on different age groups. The Moscow Planetarium is one of the biggest planetariums in the world.

Site: http://www.planetarium-moscow.ru/

Moscow Galleries

Garage museum of contemporary art.

Exhibit on display during the opening of «Art Experiment»

The museum is a kind of independent platform aimed to disclose and reveal a new way of thinking. The Garage Center currently reflects the contemporary innovations of national and world’s culture. It invites you to the beautiful world of modern art, showing its best pieces. This center offers a great number of various exhibitions, educational projects for kids and adults, and publishing. The Garage Center is also called The Museum of Everything. It provides ways and reasons for public dialogue and the creation of progressive ideas.

Site: http://garageccc.com/

The Multimedia Art Museum

Fifty Years of Bond Style Exhibition

The Multimedia Art Museum opened in October 2010 at the base of the Moscow House of Photography. One of the main principles of MAMM s work is complete openness to the new forms of visual expression and for the fresh, innovative trends in the Russian and foreign media art and photography. There are seven floors of spacious exhibition halls and minimalist architecture that is a great font for modern art. The exhibition history of MAMM and Moscow House of Photography counts more than 1300 exhibitions in Russia and abroad. Moreover, Multimedia Art Museum has different educational programs and holds famous Moscow art festivals: Photobiennale, «Fashion and Style in Photography» and others.

Site: http://www.mamm-mdf.ru/

Lumiere Brothers Photography Center

This modern photo gallery is located in the very heart of Moscow, next to the Kremlin, Cathedral of Christ the Savior, big art galleries, design studios famous clubs and restaurants. The photography Center houses in an old and huge mansion at the Moskva River Embankment. Lumiere Brothers Photography Center has three huge exhibition rooms, lecture hall, library with an immense collection of rare books in photography and an independent bookshop. The Center is conducting research work, organizing educational projects, providing a base for the future Russian Museum of Photography.

Site: http://www.lumiere.ru/

Winzavod (Wine Factory) is the first and the biggest Center of Contemporary Art in our country. It unites all the areas of modern culture: exhibitions, festivals, lecture programs, cinema, concerts, theater premieres. You will find here a big amount of art galleries, artists’ workshops, designers and photographers studios, art cafes, fashion showrooms, a bookshop, children’s studio and many other things. The purpose of Winzavod is to support and to develop Russian contemporary art, art initiatives and help talented young people. Visiting Winzavod you will see the art that defines not only today’s but also tomorrow’s life.

Site: http://www.winzavod.ru/

The Manezh was built in 1817 in honor of the 5th anniversary of Russia’s victory in the 1812 war. Then it was called «Exerzierhaus», building, intended for military drills. The building has the unique construction – wooden structure trusses overlap the space of 44.86 square meters without any intermediate supports. After 1917, Manezh served as a garage for government vehicles. And since 1957 it has been continuously used for exhibitions and public events. In 2004, the building was severely damaged by fire. Renovated in 2005 the Manezh doubled its area. Nowadays it is one of the leading Moscow exhibition halls. There are two exhibition spaces, a conference room and a cafe on the third-floor observation deck. The Manezh hosts numerous fairs, festivals, and exhibitions.

Site: http://moscowmanege.ru/

Flacon Design Factory

Flacon Design Factory, located in the territory of a former glass factory, has become a pioneer in the revitalization of industrial zone outside the historic center of Moscow. Flacon has become a powerful launch pad for multiple cool projects, self-expression of creative individuals and carrying-out of sociocultural initiatives. No wonder that the atmosphere at Flacon entirely coincides with its motto: «Create as you please!» The Factory includes offices, co-working zone, shops, workshops, exhibition and creative projects spaces. Lectures, film screenings, fairs, design festivals, innovative exhibitions, presentations, concerts, limited actions and design community work days pass here weekly.

Site: http://flacon.ru/

Artplay is near Winzavod in the former industrial space in the area Kurskaya metro station and occupies an area of 75,000 square meters. Artplay, providing a new life to carefully reconstructed factory buildings, has become an important part of the contemporary cultural landscape of the city. Artplay unites designers, architects, furniture, lighting, ceramics, decorative materials shops, involving them in cooperation with each other. Young Moscow galleries, artists’ studios, cafes, bars, bookstores, music club, school of design, theater, children’s art studio are also situated here. Three exhibition halls regularly host contemporary art exhibitions, festivals, video art, alternative music concerts, performances, film screenings, lectures and master classes.

Site: http://www.artplay.ru/

CCI Fabrika

The Center For Creative Industries «Fabrika» is an art space for non-commercial creative projects. Today it is the example of peaceful coexistence of art business, operating enterprise, production, and workplaces for talented people in Moscow. CCI Fabrika is a member of the international network of non-profit cultural centers – Trans Europe Halls. This project is a typical umbrella-center. It is developing in both ways: creating and exhibiting its cultural projects and offering workspaces for other creative groups. Here you can find art studios and workshops of design, architecture, cinema, theater, cartoon animation and contemporary music studios.

Site: http://www.proektfabrika.ru/

Moscow Museum-Reserves

Tsaritsyno State Museum-Reserve

Tsaritsyno State Museum-Reserve is one of the largest historical, cultural, recreation and touristic complexes. Its total area is more than 700 hectares. It is an excellent combination of nature – marvelous rivers, ponds, streams, forests – and scientifically restored and renovated architectural and landscape monuments. The museum’s collection of historical items, exhibitions, and educational programs will be attractive for both national visitors and foreign tourists.

Site: http://www.tsaritsyno-museum.ru/

Arkhangelskoye Country Estate

Russian cultural monument is a good sublimation of the stunning beauty of a green space and luxurious collection of paintings, sculptures, unique books and pieces arts and crafts. During its long history, the estate was used as a recreation place for emperors, politicians, famous writers and poets. Today it is the finest place to have an enjoyable walk and to see the richest collection Russian art.

Site: http://www.arhangelskoe.su/

Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve

A unique historic place – Kolomenskoe – is situated in the picturesque surrounding over the Moscow River banks. A magnificent country estate has appeared at the lands full of legends. Archeological discoveries state that the first settlements appeared here in the VIII century. It is an ancient and uniquely formed place. Today this is a unique complex of cultural monuments of high historical value.

Site: http://mgomz.ru/kolomenskoe

Sergiev-Posad City

Sergiev Posad Museum-Reserve

Museum of Sergiev-Posad is a historical and art reserve. It is located within the unique wall of the St. Sergius Trinity Lavra. This ancient monastery gathered its treasures during centuries from the tsars, princes and boyars donations. Moreover, many art and craft items were made at Lavra’s workshops. Now, the collections of Sergiev-Posad Museum-Reserve include rare, ancient icons, Cyrillic alphabet books, medieval manuscripts, visual art items, gold and silver showpieces.

Site: http://www.stsl.ru/

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Afternoon Edition: Would you invest $1K in your neighborhood?

Plus: cso’s new millennial music director, outdoor dining confusion and more..

Community residents have a chance to own the Roseland Medical and Retail Center strip mall on West 111th Street.

Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶

In today's newsletter, we're looking into one organization's attempts to open up the commercial real estate business to more Black Chicagoans — and how that could play out in Roseland. 

Plus, we've got reporting on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's new millennial music director, why you might soon see some plaster cicadas around, a Bridgeport restaurant rec and more community news you need to know below. 👇  

⏱️: A 7-minute read

— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter ( @MattKenMoore )

TODAY’S TOP STORY

Roseland residents are given a chance to co-own a strip mall, reporting by esther yoon-ji kang | wbez.

Owning the mall : Chicago TREND Corp., a social enterprise-oriented organization, recently purchased the Roseland Medical and Retail Center strip mall on West 111th Street. The plan? Persuade neighbors to invest and own a piece of the retail center with investments that start at $1,000 — and open up the commercial real estate business to more Black owners.

The pitch : "If people have a little ownership stake [in the center], they will patronize it and protect it and respect it in a different way," said Chicago TREND CEO Lyneir Richardson. "We want people to … financially benefit from it as the neighborhood gets stronger and as the shopping center gets stronger."

The property : The 27,000-square-foot strip mall is occupied by an urgent care center, a primary care clinic, a pharmacy, some restaurants, a nail salon and other businesses. There’s also a vacant parcel available for development.

Community investment : This month Richardson launched the campaign on the real estate crowdfunding platform Small Change. The total purchase price is $6 million, with $2.5 million funded by equity from Chicago TREND and community investors. Those smaller investors will cover up to $1.25 million of the deal, with the remainder of the $2.5 million coming from Chicago TREND.

Baltimore example : Chicago TREND has completed two other shopping center crowdfunding projects in Baltimore. Garrick Hines of Baltimore is one of 200 community investors at the Edmondson Village Shopping Center there. "It [was] a no-brainer — I own here. I shop here, and I could be part owner of something that I'm actually a part of each and every day," Hines said.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Klaus Mäkelä, new director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, last month in New York.

Frank Franklin II/AP

• CSO’s new music director : Klaus Mäkelä, a 28-year-old conducting wunderkind who has garnered stellar reviews and considerable success in his short, meteoric career, will become the 11th music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the ensemble announced.
• Remembering Joe Flaherty : The comic actor, who rose from the ranks of Chicago's Second City to acclaimed roles on television's "SCTV" and "Freaks & Geeks," died Monday at age 82, family said.
• How O’Neill Burke won : While Eileen O'Neill Burke’s overall margin of victory in the primary for state’s attorney was incredibly small — about 1,500 votes or 0.3 percentage points — the results were anything but close in most precincts across Cook County, according to a WBEZ analysis of election returns.
• Outdoor dining confusion : A stretch of Clark Street between Grand Avenue and Kinzie Street has been a hotbed for Chicago’s outdoor dining program, but its future remains uncertain.
• 3 stars for ‘Wicked Little Letters’ : Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, two brilliant actors, lighten up in a period-piece comedy about poison-pen letters from a mysterious culprit, writes Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper.

SUN-TIMES SUGGESTS 🍽️

The steak ribeye plate at Han 202 in Bridgeport.

Mitchell Armentrout/Sun-Times

Eat at Han 202

For a delicious meal on the South Side, my colleague  Mitchell Armentrout  — staff reporter here at the Sun-Times — recommends stopping by  Han 202 in Bridgeport .

A neighborhood gem: "Han 202 is an unfussy fine dining gem tucked in a nondescript storefront in Bridgeport. I finally made it there after years of walking by without paying it any mind, and boy am I mad at myself for the delay," Mitchell tells me.

What to order: "It’s Chinese cuisine with a French twist, as the owners bill it, and you can taste every bit of both worlds in the shrimp toast."

Date night material: Generous cocktails and an upscale but reasonably priced prix fixe menu — this is prime date night material, Mitchell says.

📍 Han 202, 605 W. 31st St.

BRIGHT ONE ✨

Nina Salem (from left), Autumn Godwin and Heather Christie show off decorative cicadas that were painted as part of the Cicada Parade-a project.

Mary Norkol/Sun-Times

Avondale’s Insect Asylum celebrates historic cicada season with public art project

Reporting by mary norkol.

More cicadas are set to join the millions expected to emerge from years underground this spring in Illinois, and while they won't make a sound they'll add to the buzz of this natural phenomenon that hasn't been seen in centuries.

A local museum and Chicago artists will adorn the city with giant decorative versions of the bugs, thanks to a public art project called the "Cicada Parade-a" run by the Avondale-based Insect Asylum and Baltimore artist Michael Bowman.

The art project, which Bowman launched in Baltimore when 17-year cicadas emerged there in 2021, involves creating hundreds of giant plaster cicadas for artists and the public to paint and display. 

The decorative cicadas will be on display across the city starting in May and running through the summer. Artists can adopt a cicada for free in exchange for decorating it and displaying it publicly. Others can purchase the cicadas for $75.

Two broods — or breeding groups — of cicadas that emerge every 13 and 17 years, respectively, will coincide for the first time since 1803. To Bowman and the Insect Asylum staff, that's cause for celebration and reflection.

"For us, it's spiritual," said Nina Salem, founder of the Insect Asylum.

YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️

What makes someone a real Chicagoan?

Email us (please include your first and last name).  To see the answers to this question, check our Morning Edition newsletter . Not subscribed to Morning Edition? Sign up here so you won’t miss a thing!

Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Afternoon Edition.  Got a story you think we missed?  Email us here.

Editor : Satchel Price Newsletter reporter : Matt Moore Copy editor : Angie Myers

The Art Assignment is a production of Complexly.

Complexly is the production company for Crash Course, SciShow, and a dozen other education video channels and podcasts. Founded in 2012 by Hank and John Green, Complexly has a worldwide audience of 20 million subscribers and 2.4 billion views on YouTube, making it one of the largest global online educational companies. Complexly makes content that reflects their enthusiasm for understanding and imagining the world complexly. Learn more at complexly.com .

From 2014 to August 2020, The Art Assignment was produced in partnership with PBS Digital Studios, a network of series that bring you fresh and insightful content through the familiar lens of PBS. Since 2012, PBS Digital Studios has been an innovator in digital-first educational programming.  Learn more at pbs.org/digital-studios/ .

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Rome’s Future Is a Walk Through Its Past

City officials kicked off a new project to create a monumental, pedestrian-friendly, archaeological area downtown, but some critics worry the plans puts tourists before residents.

By Elisabetta Povoledo

Conscious of the weight of its illustrious history, Rome has managed to preserve an impressive number of archaeological monuments in its city center. The Colosseum, the Circus Maximus and the Roman Forum and Imperial Fora are just a few of the sites clustered in the city’s heart.

As Rome, which will celebrate its 2,777th birthday on April 21, moves toward its fourth millennium, city leaders are promoting a new vision of this area as a giant, pedestrian-friendly public space that supporters say will promote Rome’s ancient past.

“Italy is working to make the most of what is arguably the most important concentration of history, archaeology, art and nature in the world,” Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said on Tuesday at a news conference announcing that Labics, a Rome-based architectural and urban planning practice, had won a competition to revamp the area.

Normally, the area is also crawling with tourists and those who cater to them, including tour guides, street vendors and street artists. Some streets in the area are already closed to traffic besides buses and cabs, but others are busy thoroughfares that link various neighborhoods with the downtown or with the road that winds alongside the Tiber River.

Some critics say the plan could turn the center of Rome into an open-air Disneyland.

When the project was first announced last year, Mario Ajello, a journalist, wrote in Il Messaggero , a daily newspaper in Rome, that it was tailored to those who visited Rome for a few hours or days, not those who lived and worked there, and that it would transform the downtown into “an amusement park for tourists.” City hall had not sufficiently considered that removing traffic from that area of the city center would only shift congestion to adjacent neighborhoods, he added.

Another critic of the project, the Italian historian Giordano Bruno Guerri, told the newspaper that city hall leaders should instead tackle some of the problems plaguing tourist sites, like illegal tour guides, street vendors hawking overpriced water bottles or ersatz gladiators demanding money for selfies.

The project will link Rome’s Imperial Fora to other archaeological sites by what city officials have described as an extensive “archaeological walk.” The area will branch out from the Colosseum to include the Palatine Hill, the Circus Maximus and the Capitoline Hill, with roads in between. (A later phase will expand the area to the Baths of Caracalla and the beginning of the Appian Way.)

When finished, it will be the largest urban archaeological area in the world, officials say. Nearly 19 million euros, or $20.5 million, have been earmarked for this first phase of the project.

People visiting the area will see more pedestrian areas, new public spaces and walking paths. Bike paths will be installed and trees and gardens will be planted. Public transportation will be rearranged. Terraces will be built so that some parts of the archaeological areas can be seen from above, giving a “better sense of the stratification of Rome,” Mr. Gualtieri said.

The idea of creating a monumental archaeological area downtown dates back to the end of the 19th century, soon after Rome became capital of Italy, but it never materialized. And many Romans were up in arms a decade ago when Ignazio Marino, then the mayor, decided to limit traffic on the Via dei Fori Imperiali, the broad avenue that joins the Colosseum to the central Piazza Venezia, to public transportation. However, the chaos that many feared would result never really occurred.

Under the current plant, the Via dei Fori Imperiali will permanently close to traffic in about a decade, keeping pace with the construction of a new subway line that crosses downtown Rome and the opening of a station in Piazza Venezia expected in 2033.

Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy’s culture minister, said Tuesday that the Via dei Fori Imperiali, which was built a century ago, during Mussolini’s time, would be preserved as a monumental thoroughfare.

City officials said Tuesday that once the project goes through the necessary administrative hoops, work on the archaeological walk could begin by September.

“We can’t wait to start the next phase,” the mayor said.

Francesco Isidori, one of the principals of Labics , the architectural and urban planning firm that won the contest to lead the project, said the plan is to make the archaeological area more understandable to people the world over. And the hope is that it will draw suburban Romans downtown to better appreciate what attracts millions of tourists to the Eternal City each year.

“We have tried to create a welcoming place where Romans can stroll, sit and linger in the shade, and meet with others,” Mr. Isidori said of the plans. “We wanted to give the heart of Rome back to Roman citizens and to the broader community.”

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to Rome’s age. It is approaching its fourth millennium, not its third.

How we handle corrections

Elisabetta Povoledo is a reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years. More about Elisabetta Povoledo

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U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich has now spent a whole year jailed in Russia

Charles Maynes

U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich looks out from inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his extended pretrial detention, at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, on Feb. 20. Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

MOSCOW — Friday marks one year since Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained by Russian security forces on spying allegations — the first such detention of an American journalist on espionage charges in Russia since the latter days of the Cold War.

The Journal — which vehemently rejects the charges — observed the somber anniversary with an #IStandWithEvan tribute.

Family, friends and journalists across the media landscape took part in a marathon reading of Gershkovich's articles — penetrating vignettes of contemporary Russia that highlighted his deep knowledge of the country, its politics and its people.

Wall Street Journal's Emma Tucker on Gershkovich detention

Gershkovich, 32, the son of Russian Jewish émigrés who was born and raised in New Jersey, had grown up in a dual-language household absorbing American and Russian cartoons, books and pop culture.

Whether that background, his sharp reporter's eye or something else may have played a role in his arrest remains unclear.

What is certain is that his detention is yet another irritant in U.S.-Russian relations already at Cold War-like lows following the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Biden administration has said securing Gershkovich's freedom is a priority.

His arrest has only further highlighted Western suspicion of a growing pattern of "hostage diplomacy" in Moscow — one in which Russian authorities are accused of ensnaring Americans on spurious legal charges to see what deals emerge.

A journalist detained

Gershkovich was on a reporting assignment in Russia's Ural mountain city of Yekaterinburg in March of last year when he was detained by agents from Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, at a downtown steakhouse.

The U.S. condemns Russia's arrest of a Wall Street Journal reporter

Witnesses at the Bukowski Grill reportedly had little time to even see who was the target when government agents suddenly stormed the restaurant. Within seconds, they had pulled Gershkovich's sweater over his head and frog-marched him out into an unmarked van.

The next day, Gershkovich reappeared in a Moscow court and was formally charged with trying to obtain state secrets — a penalty for which he faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

A journalist, not a spy

Gershkovich and the Journal immediately rejected the spying allegations, saying Gershkovich was working in Russia with official press accreditation from the Foreign Ministry.

In fact, he'd been reporting on the country since 2017 — initially for The Moscow Times and then the Agence France-Presse (AFP) before taking a job with the Journal in 2022. His credentials had been subject to repeat security reviews by the Russian government.

Yet none of that appeared to matter. The Russian government insisted Gershkovich was guilty of the espionage charges — without providing any evidence. Instead, they saw his journalist status as possible proof of his guilt.

Journalists watch a TV screen broadcasting a hearing on Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich's case from a courtroom at the Moscow City Court on April 18, 2023. Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP hide caption

Journalists watch a TV screen broadcasting a hearing on Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich's case from a courtroom at the Moscow City Court on April 18, 2023.

"Unfortunately, it's not the first occasion when the status of a 'foreign correspondent,' a journalist visa and accreditation have been used by foreigners in our country to cover up activities that aren't journalism," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote on social media shortly after Gershkovich's arrest.

"It's not the first famous Westerner we've caught red-handed."

The U.S. government moved quickly to label Gershkovich "wrongfully detained" — a designation that makes him a hostage in the eyes of the U.S. government.

Cold War replay

Gershkovich's arrest echoed Moscow's detention of another American reporter — decades prior in what seems like a different era.

In 1986, Nicholas Daniloff, a correspondent with U.S. News & World Report , was arrested in a KGB sting operation in Moscow. Like Gershkovich, Daniloff was of Russian heritage. He and his publication, too, rejected the charges as a sham.

The American spent 14 days in Moscow's Lefortovo Prison before negotiations between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev — then the USSR's new reform-minded leader — cut a deal to set him free.

The Case Of Paul Whelan Draws Parallels To U.S. Journalist's 1986 Arrest In Moscow

"Time in Lefortovo was mental torture," Daniloff wrote in an article later, recalling his repeat sessions with a KGB interrogator.

"He played with my emotions, posing alternatively as a 'good cop' and a 'bad cop.' He controlled all information that reached me. He controlled my food, my exercise, my life. [By] the time I was freed, he had made me feel guilt where there was none."

There are also Daniloff's accounts of conditions in a cell "measured five-paces long, three-paces wide."

U.S. reporter Nicholas Daniloff after his release from being detained in Russia. Cynthia Johnson/Getty Images hide caption

U.S. reporter Nicholas Daniloff after his release from being detained in Russia.

"There were three steel cots painted blue, a small table for each prisoner, a washbowl and primitive toilet with a wooden cover just high enough to be uncomfortable. The place was clean, but there was a distinctive smell," Daniloff wrote.

Nearly four decades later, recent prisoners say little has changed .

Life on hold

The past year has seen a continuous loop of closed-court hearings in which judges have extended Gershkovich's pretrial detention time and again.

The judges have rejected cash bail offers by the Journal's parent company, Dow Jones. They have also denied appeals to move him to house arrest pending a trial, whose date never seems to come.

A Moscow court has rejected 'WSJ' reporter Evan Gershkovich's detention appeal

Yet Gershkovich's family and friends say he remains strong — with his letters full of his trademark optimism and humor.

"We currently have a joke going back and forth about this framed photo of him," his sister, Danielle Gershkovich, said in an interview with NPR's All Things Considered last October.

"And I'm joking about where I should put it in the apartment, and he recently suggested, put it directly in front of the TV so you can see his face," she said.

Journalist Evan Gershkovich tells family he's 'not losing hope' in Russian detention

Evan Gershkovich has also taken advantage of one of Lefortovo's few benefits: a decent library collection of Russian classics by the likes of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky and other literary giants.

"He's read a lot of books. And he told us maybe he will write some good novel at the end of this story, about himself," his Russian lawyer Tatiana Nozhkina told NPR following a hearing last April.

Evan Gershkovich awaits trial in Russia, but his family finds hope in his letters

But there's no denying the slow grind of a year spent awaiting trial with no immediate court date in sight.

This week, a judge extended his detention by another three months — until late June. Again, no indication of when Gershkovich might expect trial.

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy called the latest ruling "particularly painful" — noting the journalist had spent a year awaiting charges that were "fiction" from the outset.

The Independent Association of Publishers' Employees and Wall Street Journal journalists rally in Washington, D.C., on April 12, 2023, calling for the release of reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been held in Russia since March 29, 2023. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The Independent Association of Publishers' Employees and Wall Street Journal journalists rally in Washington, D.C., on April 12, 2023, calling for the release of reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been held in Russia since March 29, 2023.

"Evan's case is not about evidence, due process, or rule of law. It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends," the ambassador said in a statement Tuesday.

Tracy specifically pointed to the case of Paul Whelan , another American the U.S. has designated "wrongfully detained."

Russia charges Radio Free Europe editor with failing to register as a 'foreign agent'

But there are others languishing in Russian prisons, including Alsu Kurmasheva , a Russian American journalist with the U.S.-government funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty news service, and Marc Fogel , an American schoolteacher.

Marc Fogel's family hopes they are closer to seeing him after Brittney Griner release

Prisoner trade rumors.

If there's an upside amid the current situation, it's that prisoner exchanges between Moscow and Washington remain possible despite current hostilities.

Trevor Reed, a former Marine who says he was wrongly convicted of assaulting a Russian police officer, was released by Russia in April 2022.

Brittney Griner , a WNBA basketball star sentenced to nine years on drug possession, was freed later that same year.

In each case, the price was steep: The Biden administration released Viktor Bout, a convicted arms dealer, for Griner. Reed was traded for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot convicted of narcotics smuggling.

White House officials defended the moves as difficult — but necessary — decisions.

Detractors argued the trades merely encouraged more detentions. Perhaps even that of a Wall Street Journal reporter.

Either way, few, including the U.S. government, expect much from a Russian justice system in which over 99% of all criminal cases end in conviction.

And so the Biden administration says it continues to make offers aimed at securing the release of Gershkovich and others.

Evan Gershkovich stands inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his extended pretrial detention at the Moscow City Court on Sept. 19, 2023. Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Evan Gershkovich stands inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his extended pretrial detention at the Moscow City Court on Sept. 19, 2023.

In turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated Moscow is open to a swap provided circumstances are right.

Asked about the Gershkovich case in a February interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Putin was even more explicit. The Russian leader strongly suggested he would be willing to trade Gershkovich for Vadim Krasikov, a suspected FSB assassin currently serving a life sentence for murder in Germany.

Further muddying the picture: Multiple news reports allege that German authorities had tied Krasikov's potential release to the Kremlin leader agreeing to free the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Neither U.S. nor German officials have verified those accounts. And Navalny died under still unexplained circumstances in a remote Arctic prison last month, making any potential deal impossible.

In the meantime, Gershkovich remains in Lefortovo prison, reading, writing, waiting — his story like one he himself would report on in ordinary times.

"Evan has displayed remarkable resilience and strength in the face of this grim situation," said Ambassador Tracy in her statement this week.

"But it is time for the Russian government to let Evan go."

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20 Moscow metro stations ranging from beautiful to absolutely breathtaking

Mayakovskaya metro station

20. Vorobyevy Gory

This station was built in 1959 on a bridge spanning the Moskva River – the first station of its kind in Russia. In the 1990s the station was renovated, and since 2010 it has been used as an exhibition hall for porcelain, dolls, animal sculptures and period costumes. If you are lucky, you might have the chance to see a seasonal exhibition dedicated to Russian achievements in sports or space exploration.

19. Spartak 

Construction began on this station in the 1970s, but the project was eventually frozen due to mismanagement. It opened anew on Aug. 27, 2014, the same day as the nearby stadium of Spartak Moscow. The station is decorated with soccer-themed panels, and the main colors are white and red – the colors of Spartak.

The USSR’s focus on health and sports was the main theme in the decor of the Dinamo station, which is named after the nearby stadium. The design of the above-ground pavilion pays homage to Ancient Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic Games. Marble Corinthian columns are decorated with friezes and bas-reliefs depicting sports and competitions.

Underground, the decor is more restrained and includes seven types of marble. The walls are decorated with porcelain medallions that show scenes featuring different athletes.

17. Okhotny Ryad

Opened in 1935, it was the world’s longest underground station at the time, but it has since lost that title. (The longest station is now Vorobyovy Gory.) Marble was used to decorate Okhotny Ryad, and it covers the grey polyhedral columns, as well as the grey and white floor that is decorated as a chessboard. This station is the closest to Red Square and also leads to one of Moscow’s main downtown streets – Okhotny Ryad.

This station brings you to the famous Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (VDNKh) that showed off the USSR’s greatest industrial successes. The multiple thematic pavilions have been renovated and offer a wide range of entertainment: museums, sports, aquarium and restaurants. A huge ceramic in the Old Russian style of Gzhel was in fact only made in 1997. It depicts a 19th century market, as well as several Russian monasteries.

15. Arbatskaya (Blue Line)

This station was designed by Leonid Polyakov, the architect who built one of the seven Stalinist skyscrapers. The station’s floor is made of multicolored granite slabs that form a distinctive carpet pattern, and its pillars are decorated with white ceramic bouquets. The chandeliers are made of gilded bronze. Since Arbatskaya is next to the Defense Ministry headquarters there is an urban legend that it was designed so that in case of a major war it could be quickly converted into an emergency bunker for military officials.

14. Aviamotornaya

The decoration and name of this station are dedicated to aircraft engine designers. The metal sculpture at the end of the hall shows Icarus flying over ascending airflows.

The station’s roof is styled to look like a magic carpet, consisting of numerous gold anodized pyramids with two types of images: sun rays and night stars.

13. Tretyakovskaya

This station leads to the famous State Tretyakov Gallery, the foremost repository of Russian fine art in the world. The station walls are decorated with bronze bas-reliefs that celebrate Russian artists, sculptors and icon painters. Above the portal on the way to the escalators you’ll see a large image of the Tretyakov Gallery.

11. Park Pobedy (Blue Line)

The interior is an ode to the great victories of the Russian people, including the War of 1812 against Napoleon and World War II. Designed by the famous Soviet and Russian artist, Zurab Tsereteli, the southern and northern halls each celebrate the two victories.

10. Park Kultury (Circle Line)

This station leads to Moscow’s main park, Gorky Park, and includes five types of marble, from veined light gray to black. Other features include chandeliers and marble bas-reliefs that depict the labor and leisure activities of the Soviet people, as well as activities at Gorky Park, including flying model planes, dancing and playing football and tennis.

9. Slavyansky Bulvar

This modern station was opened in 2008. Nevertheless, it follows the aesthetic standards set by older stations. Inspired by the works of famous French architect Hector Guimard, Slavyansky Bulvar is peculiarly decorated with metal trees, branches and leaves. It’s clearly reminiscent of the sophisticated metro in Paris.

8. Ploschad Revolutsii

Ploschad Revolutsii is devoted to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and has 76 bronze statues that depict its main participants: soldiers, peasants, sailors, workers, engineers, students and many others. Due to the limited space in the alcoves where the statues reside, many of the figures are either sitting down, kneeling, or crouched. Don’t forget to rub a dog’s nose for good luck!

7. Taganskaya (Circle Line)

Medieval architecture is the main theme of this station's design. Intersections of the arches create a kind of cross vault similar to those found in medieval Russian boyar chambers. The pillars are decorated with majolica panels in the style of the studio of Andrea della Robbia, the famous 16th century Florentine sculptor.

Instead of images of the Madonna on the walls, you’ll find profiles of heroes of the Soviet Army, such as sailors, tank operators and pilots, who bask in glory with victorious banners and bayonets that are painted with enamel and gilding.

6. Novokuznetskaya

Despite being built during World War II, the station is luxuriously decorated. Enormous marble benches with Renaissance-style sculpted armrests line the platforms. Above this are bronze decorative medallions with pictures of flags, shields and guns, as well as portraits of Russian military commanders.

The ceiling in the middle of the hall is decorated with giant brass chandeliers and six mosaics with motifs designed by Alexander Deineka that depict daily life in the USSR.

5. Kievskaya (Circle Line)

This station on the Circle Line was built under the personal supervision of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. With its elegant decor and multiple mosaics, Khrushchev wanted to pay tribute to his Ukrainian homeland. Following the station’s opening, the Soviet leader fought excesses in architecture, thereby ensuring the unrivaled glory of this underground “palace.” The lobby, like those at other stations, is decorated with marble and granite, and the columns are decorated with 18 mosaic panels in the Florentine tradition. The bas-relief panels tell the history of relations between Russia and Ukraine, from the time of the Pereyaslav Rada in 1654 when the Cossacks swore an oath to the Russian Tsar, to the October Revolution in 1917. 

4. Teatralnaya

This station leads to the Bolshoi Theater, Red Square and the Kremlin, so it’s no surprise that its rich ornamentation was designed to impress both Russians and foreigners. The space is decorated with giant porcelain reliefs that depict the dances and music of the peoples of the USSR. These dancing figures and musicians, who are wearing traditional costumes, represent just seven of the Soviet republics – Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

3. Mayakovskaya

This Art Deco masterpiece opened in 1938 and was designed by architect Alexey Dushkin. During construction the most modern techniques of the time were used. Instead of heavy pillars, there are high, slender columns made of aircraft steel that create the feeling of a large hall. There are also numerous mosaics based on the sketches of Alexander Deineka. Their theme is “24 Hours in the Land of the Soviets,” and they depict popular Soviet themes with titles such as Two Airplanes, Grain Harvesting, Airship over the Spassky Tower, and more.

2. Novoslobodskaya

This station is best known for its 32 stained-glass panels designed by artist Pavel Korin. There is an urban legend that before its opening the architects were afraid that the station would resemble a Catholic church. Today, Muscovites liken it to an incredible underwater world.

Six of the stained-glass panels depict people from different professions including a musician, an agronomist and an architect. The remaining 26 panels contain intricate geometric patterns and stars.

1. Komsomolskaya (Circle Line)

This station represents the high point of the Stalinist Empire style, with elegant bronze chandeliers, marble arcades and monumental mosaics made from smalt. 

Today, the station is adorned with eight mosaic panels designed in the style of ancient church architecture. They depict famous Russian warriors, commanders, and revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, who is depicted giving a speech on Red Square.

Read more: Moscow FAQ: Here are answers that you won’t find in tourist guides

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Nick Cave on love, art and the loss of his sons: ‘It’s against nature to bury your children’

In the past nine years, the musician and artist has lost two sons – an experience he explores in a shocking, deeply personal new ceramics project. He discusses mercy, forgiveness, making and meaning

N ick Cave has a touch of Dr Frankenstein about him – long, white lab coat, inscrutable smile, unnerving intensity. He introduces me to his two assistants, the identical twins Liv and Dom Cave-Sutherland , who are helping to glaze his ceramics series, The Devil – A Life. The twins are not related to Cave. His wife, the fashion designer Susie Cave , came across them one day, discovered they were ceramicists and thought they would be able to help him complete his project. It adds to the eeriness of it all.

Cave, 66, is one of the world’s great singer-songwriters – from the howling post-punk of the Birthday Party and the Bad Seeds to the lugubrious lyricism of his love songs ( Into My Arms , Straight to You and a million others I adore) and the haunted grief of recent albums such as Skeleton Tree , Ghosteen and Carnage . He is also a fine author (see his apocalyptic novel And the Ass Saw the Angel), thinker (his book of conversations with the Observer journalist Sean O’Hagan, Faith, Hope and Carnage ), agony uncle (at his website, the Red Hand Files ), screenwriter ( The Proposition ) and now visual artist. Which is where he started out half a century ago.

Cave studied art in Melbourne in the mid-70s before being chucked off his degree course. He reckons he was too fascinated by the subject for his own good. He spent all his time talking about art to the older students and didn’t find the hours to do the actual work. Now, he is making up for lost time.

‘These losses are incorporated into the artistic flow’ … Cave’s sculptures go through the glazing process. Photograph: courtesy of Liv & Dom

We are at the headquarters of Susie’s business, where she makes and stores the beautiful dresses she designs as The Vampire’s Wife. For now, it’s doubling as Cave’s studio. He gives me a tour of the 17 ceramic figurines, which will be exhibited at Xavier Hufkens in Brussels next month. The pieces are stunning in a creepy, Cave-esque way, all blood-curdling pastoral idylls. But it’s as a series that they are most powerful. The sculptures, inspired by Staffordshire “flatback” ceramics from the Victorian era, forge a shocking and deeply personal narrative.

Initially, we see the devil as a child – a cute little lad, dimple-cheeked in a white jumpsuit sitting next to a red monkey. “Look at his little face,” Cave says, lovingly. We see the devil getting up to erotic mischief with a sailor, then ecstatic with his first love. “I’m extremely happy with this one,” Cave says. “His impish pleasure and her just drained of life.”

We see the devil going to war in a field of flowers, wading through a field of blood and skulls on his return, getting married. Then the series takes a traumatic turn. “This is The Devil Kills His First Child,” Cave says. “It’s a little Isaac and Abraham thing. Then he’s separated from the world. Life goes on. Then he dances for the last time.” And now we are at the final piece. “He bleeds to death. He’s found washed up and the child is forgiving him, leaning out to him with his hand.”

It’s impossible to know how to respond when Cave reaches the story’s conclusion other than to gulp or weep. After all, this is a man who has lost two sons over the past nine years. In 2015, 15-year-old Arthur died after taking LSD for the first time and falling from a cliff near his home in Brighton. In 2022, 31-year-old Jethro, who had schizophrenia, died in Melbourne . Death and grief have informed all of Cave’s work since Arthur died. But this takes it to another level.

‘The child is forgiving him’ … Devil Bleeds to Death, the final piece in the collection. Photograph: courtesy of Liv & Dom

We say goodbye to the Cave twins, who continue painting pubic hair in gold lustre on the devil’s first love. “We’ll see you, guys! Slave away, my children!” Cave says.

Liv smiles.

“I’m already dressed like a Victorian child’,” Dom says.

“A pint of stout for lunch!” Cave says.

We move into Susie’s office to chat. It’s dark, gothic, a dream home for bats. He whips off his lab coat to reveal an immaculate three-piece suit and sits behind the desk. Before I sit down, I ask if I can do something I have wanted to do for the best part of a decade. I reach over the desk and clumsily hug him.

“Aaah, man! Here, let me stand up.” The last time we talked was 16 years ago. He was making a video that featured Arthur and his twin brother, Earl, who were then seven, gorgeous and already musical (Arthur was playing drums, Earl guitar).

Cave became famous as one of the bad boys of rock – a ghoulish junkie with a feral live act, equally fixated by the Bible and Beelzebub. But he is one of the nicest people I have met. In 2008, I turned up knowing sod all about him. I tell him that he was so generous with his time and nonjudgmental about my ignorance. “Really?” he says, surprised. “That’s good to know. I tend to have a low opinion of myself back then. I see a cutoff point around the death of my first son of a change of character. But it’s not as black and white as I thought.”

In the studio. Photograph: courtesy of Liv & Dom

Every Cave story seems to begin with a death. Take the origin of the figurines. He went into the studio to start work on them the day his mother, Dawn, died. He had planned to start on that date – 15 September 2020 – for a while. “Susie made me go. She said: ‘Get there and do your work.’” He adored Dawn – she had always stood by him, no matter what trouble he was in. (The day his father died in a car crash, she was called to the police station to bail out 19-year-old Cave after he had been charged with burglary.)

Did he have any idea what he wanted to create in the studio? No, he says, but there was an inevitability about the subject. “Even when I’m trying to use art to escape certain feelings and sorrows I have, everything just seems to fall into the slipstream of the loss of my son. And even when I was glazing these, Jethro died, so it’s like …” He comes to a stop. “What I’m trying to say is these losses are just incorporated into the artistic flow and they move in a direction that is beyond your capacity to rein in. They’re just sitting at the end of everything you do. In the end, the ceramics are a story about a man’s culpability in the loss of his child, and addressing that in a way I wasn’t really able to do with music. That’s what happened without any intention.”

Does he feel culpable for the death of his sons? “I think it’s something that people who lose children feel regardless of the situation, simply because the one thing you’re supposed to do is not let your children die.” He comes to another abrupt stop, almost as if he is dictating notes. “Forget that. The one thing you’re supposed to do is protect your children.”

He returns to the final figurine. “You have this hollowed-out old man with a little child, possibly a dead old man, dead in a pool of tears – a biblical flood of tears, shall we say – and the little child is reaching down in forgiveness. It’s called The Devil Forgiven.” He smiles. “I hope this isn’t too abstract, too woo-woo. Art has a way of bringing to you the things you need to know. It feels to me that art knows what’s going on more than the artist knows what’s going on.”

Does he feel culpable because drugs were involved in Arthur’s death? “There could be some element of that, yep. Look, these things are in our DNA, they’re inherited. I don’t want to make any assumptions about Arthur, who was just a young boy. It’s not like he was into drugs … On a fundamental level, it’s against nature to be burying your children. And there can’t help but be feelings of culpability.”

Cave believes he is emerging from his losses a different man. He has a point. It is hard to imagine the old Cave curating the Red Hand Files, a website in which he invites fans to ask questions about anything they want, many of them profoundly personal.

Soon after Arthur’s death, the family moved to Los Angeles for a couple of years: “We were triggered too much by things. We were just down the road from where it happened.” Everybody seemed to know what had happened to Arthur, because it was so widely reported, but he says that ended up being a positive. “I was forced to grieve publicly – and that was helpful, weirdly enough. It stopped me completely shutting the windows and bolting the doors and just living in this dark world.”

He was overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers. “I had letter after letter addressed to ‘Nick Cave, Brighton’. It was a really extraordinary thing. And that attention, and sense of community, was extremely helpful to me. I think people are usually just on their own with these sorts of things. Susie met somebody whose son had died seven years previously and she still hadn’t spoken to her husband about it. These people are utterly alone and maybe full of rage. So I can’t overstate that I’ve been in an extraordinarily privileged position in that respect.”

Susie and Nick Cave at Milan fashion week in 2023. Photograph: Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Gucci

Did his experience of bereavement help after Jethro died? “Yes. It really helped, because I knew I could get through. I’d been through it.” Did he feel cursed? “No. No, I don’t feel cursed, no.” He says it would be wrong to talk publicly about Jethro – he didn’t meet Jethro till he was seven and their relationship was complex; although they became close, it would be disrespectful to his mother, who brought him up. (Cave’s first two children, Luke and Jethro, were born 10 days apart to different women.)

Cave says one way in which he has changed is that he appreciates life more. In the past, he has described learning to live again, refinding happiness, as an act of defiance. But he no longer thinks it’s an appropriate word. “Defiance has a fuck-you element to the world; we’re not going to let it get us down. That sounds a little too heroic now. I’m pretty simple-minded about things. It says something to my children who have died that I can enjoy my life now. It’s what they would want. I think it’s a softer relationship we have to the world now.”

Rather than a two-fingered salute to fate, it goes back to culpability and his Christian (if questioning) faith. “Look, this is extremely difficult to talk about, but one of the things that used to really worry me is that Arthur, wherever he may be, if he is somewhere, somehow understands what his parents are going through because of something he did, and that his condition of culpability is not dissimilar to mine. And I think that’s the reason behind a lot of what I do. It’s to say it’s OK. I mean it’s not OK, but we’re OK. We’re OK. I think Susie feels that, too.”

He stresses that he is not just talking about his personal tragedies. “What’s it saying to all those who’ve passed away in their multitudes if we lead lives where we’re just pathologically pissed off at the world? What does it say to those who have left the world to be in a perpetual state of misery and fury and depression and cynicism towards the world? What legacy are they leaving if that’s how we manifest the passing of that person?”

He thinks people sometimes misunderstand what he is saying about loss. It’s not that there is more joy in his world than there was – far from it. But when it comes, it tends to be more intense. “Joy is something that leaps unexpectedly and shockingly out of an understanding of loss and suffering. That’s how Susie and I are. That’s in no way saying we’re not affected, or we’ve somehow gotten over it, or we’ve had closure or even acceptance. I think closure is a dumb thing. Even acceptance is, like: ‘Just give it a few years and life goes back to how it was.’ It doesn’t happen. You’re fundamentally changed. Your very chemistry is changed. And when you’re put back together again, you’re a different person. The world feels more meaningful.”

He knows plenty of people disagree with him. “I get people, mothers particularly, occasionally saying: ‘How dare you suggest there is joy involved in any of this?’ People are so angry, and they have every right to be enraged by the fucked-up cosmic mischief that goes on, and it’s deeply unfair. But it’s not personal. It feels like it is, but it’s just the vicissitudes of life.”

At work. Photograph: courtesy of Liv & Dom

Cave feels he is misunderstood in another way, after saying recently that he has always been “temperamentally” conservative and attacking the “self-righteous belief” and “lack of humility” of woke culture . This has led some to assume he is supping with the “alt-right”, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Conservatism is a difficult word to talk about in Britain, because people immediately think of the Tories. But I do think small-C conservatism is someone who has a fundamental understanding of loss, an understanding that to pull something down is easy, to build it back up again is extremely difficult. There is an innate need in us to rip shit down, and I’m personally more cautious in that respect without it being a whole political ideology that surrounds me.”

Is he a Tory? “I’m not a Tory, no.” Has he ever been? “No. No, I’ve never voted Tory.” And is he really anti-woke? “The concept that there are problems with the world we need to address, such as social justice; I’m totally down with that. However, I don’t agree with the methods that are used in order to reach this goal – shutting down people, cancelling people. There’s a lack of mercy, a lack of forgiveness. These go against what I fundamentally believe on a spiritual level, as much as anything. So it’s a tricky one. The problem with the right taking hold of this word is that it’s made the discussion impossible to have without having to join a whole load of nutjobs who have their problem with it.”

He hates dogma, whether religious or political. His work has always embraced uncertainty. “People don’t like me to say this, but I do feel it’s in my nature to constantly be redressing the balance of my own ideas about things. My mother was exactly the same – she always saw the other side. It was incredibly frustrating. You’d be angry about something and she’d go: ‘Yes darling, but …’”

Like his mother, he has never shied away from the trickiest “buts”. When he talks about his appalling loss, he also knows he has been lucky. Not only has he been able to express his grief in his work, but it has also fed his creativity. Even at its bleakest, he has found it cathartic. “Making art is in itself the great expression of joy and optimism, in my view. That’s why we need it. Music, art, reminds us of our fundamental capacity to create beautiful things out of the fuckeries of life. Even when I’m making The Devil Kills His First Child, I’m not depressed, I’m like: ‘Wow! Look at the head!’ It’s a joyful occupation, no matter what. And when I’m singing a very sad lyric, it doesn’t mean I’m sad inside.”

The forthcoming Bad Seeds album is the first thing he has created since Arthur’s death that isn’t “set through a lens of loss”. He is funny when talking about his work – so angsty and uncertain early in the process, almost messianic by the end. “The new album is really good. It’s really strong. Great songs,” he says.

Similarly with The Devil – A Life. He has got over the doubts and now he is buzzing with self-belief. Is he nervous about the exhibition? “No, I’m excited. I think the ceramics are really good and really strange.” But he feels unusually protective towards his figurines and the story that they tell. “These guys feel extraordinarily vulnerable. They are vulnerable little things, and they are saying something deeply personal.”

Nick Cave: The Devil – A Life is at Xavier Hufkens in Brussels from 5 April to 11 May

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Nick Cannon’s son is diagnosed with autism: ‘Our beautiful boy experiences life in 4D’

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Nick Cannon and Abby De La Rosa just revealed that Zillion, their 2-year-old son, has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

“Our beautiful boy experiences life in 4D and teaches us something new everyday! His love, strength and brilliance light up every room he enters!” the parents wrote on Instagram on World Autism Awareness Day, which was Tuesday.

“We are blessed that God had placed such an amazing spirit under our guardianship and we have accepted this assignment wholeheartedly!”

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The post’s accompanying video depicts the host of “The Masked Singer” dressed up as the Easter bunny playing with Zillion, his twin, Zion, and their younger sister, Beautiful. As they run around hunting for eggs and opening Easter baskets, the family poses for photos and celebrates the spring holiday.

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Autism Awareness Month takes place every April. It helps spread awareness of the disorder and uplift the neurodivergent community. Autism, as defined by Autism Speaks , “refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , 1 in 36 children are diagnosed with the disorder, and it is four times more common in boys than in girls.

“On this World Autism Awareness Day, we extend our embrace to families worldwide, acknowledging shared challenges and championing understanding,” the pair ended their post. “Together, let’s create a world of acceptance and compassion.”

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Cerys Davies is a spring reporting intern in the De Los section of the Los Angeles Times. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she focuses her writing on the Latinx experience within the context of the city. Often looking to art and music as tools and sources of inspiration, she finds her passion for the arts, writing and her community all come together within the context of journalism.

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'What is clean water worth?' Long-awaited Montgomery Drain project nears $50M, completion

LANSING — Pat Lindemann strolled past a series of fountains, "bio ditches," catch basins and other structures nestled on a slice of property east of the Frandor Shopping Center, occasionally stopping to note where sculptures will stand and how things will work “when we turn the water on.”

“You can spend all day out here and not see everything,” the Ingham County drain commissioner said on a recent March afternoon, pausing in the northern end of Ranney Park where an expanded sledding hill and a waterfall now stand. "School teachers can bring busloads of kids here. It will be a learning tool for non-source-point pollution."

The source of Lindemann's excitement is the Montgomery Drain project, a once-controversial, often-delayed and hugely expensive stormwater management and pollution control system. It collects runoff from a one-square-mile area stretching from neighborhoods north of Saginaw Street along U.S. 127 to south of Michigan Avenue, including the sprawling Frandor Shopping Center and the former Red Cedar Golf Course.

Construction began in 2019, shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and if everything goes as planned, it will be finished by late July. Lindemann now estimates the total bill will be $45 million to $50 million − $15 million to $20 million higher than expected as recently as seven years ago.

The development features 2½ miles of paved walking and biking trails, numerous holding ponds, rain gardens, fountains, weirs, waterfalls and other infrastructure that comprise the "treatment train," a system designed to clean stormwater before it ends up in the Red Cedar River. Eventually, ecology-themed art pieces, interpretive signs and numerous trees and wildflowers will adorn the site.

Lindemann said the overhauled drain is capable of storing all of the rainfall from a two-year, 24-hour storm − about 2.5 inches worth − and will eliminate 90% to 95% of the pollution the drain historically has sent into the Red Cedar River. That figure is somewhere around 50,000 to 75,000 pounds of pollutants a year, making the old drain the biggest polluter among the river's 236 inlets, he said.

In the new system, runoff that collects in retention ponds near the river gets pumped back uphill and sent back down through a series of waterfalls, weirs and other fixtures made of concrete, limestone blocks, rocks, gravel, sand and vegetation. Those features are designed to purify the water by filtering and oxygenating it.

All told, there will be about 1,500 trees and 150,000 to 200,000 wildflowers, Lindemann said.

'What is clean water worth?'

The project, first conceptualized nearly 30 years ago, has been beset by lawsuits, cost increases and pandemic-related delays. The lawsuits were eventually dismissed. Cost estimates have grown from around $30 million in 2016 to about $35 million in 2020 to up to $50 million this year. In early 2021, the drain was expected to be finished by the end of that year. But the completion date was later pushed back to late 2022, then to late 2023.

Lindemann said pandemic-related factors account for about $14 million to $18 million of the total cost of the project. For example, the resin used to make PVC pipe comes from China and "nearly dried up" during the pandemic, and contractors also had to deal with soaring labor costs, he said.

The massive drain project involved five or six main contractors and another 10 or so subcontractors and was broken into 14 divisions that operated separately, Lindemann said.

"We did everything we could to save money, and then COVID came along and blew that right out of the water," Lindemann said. "We tried to rebid a couple of divisions, and they all came in higher."

The Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce and Lansing Mayor Andy Schor called for pausing the project or scaling it back because of the financial impact of the pandemic, but Lindemann persisted, saying any delay would end up costing more in the long run.

"You can't just stop in the middle of the stream and just come back to it," Lindemann said in early 2020, noting the drain infrastructure was "totally dilapidated" and needed a complete overhaul.

His perspective hasn't changed. The longer you wait to fix the drain, the more it will cost, he said. And if you stopped the project, you'd have to pay start-up costs on top of the COVID-related costs, he said.

Lindemann also maintained the revamped drain adds economic value, working in synergy with the new development along Michigan Avenue. That includes the massive, mixed-use Red Cedar development along a main corridor connecting Lansing and East Lansing.

"All of that leads to more tax revenue for the city, more ability to manage the drain cost, and it puts in place a methodology that all of those elements put together leads to a cleaner river," he said.

During his walking tour of the project on March 11, he posed the question, "What is clean water worth?"

Lindemann said the drain work was done in concert with the 35-acre Red Cedar development on the site of the former golf course south of Michigan Avenue and the ongoing rebuild of U.S. 127 at the western edge of the drain area.

As part of their agreement with the city, the Red Cedar developers built the Jack and Susan Davis Amphitheater at the southern end of the drain project and donated it to the city's parks department, Lindemann said. Developers also contributed to the project in other ways, including by building to certain standards in coordination with the city and drain commission, he said.

The drain project officially got off and running in 2014, after the city of Lansing and Ingham County petitioned for improvements and a drainage board determined them necessary. The drain had failing pipes and too little capacity, and it was pouring a large quantity of polluted stormwater into the Red Cedar. Lindemann said.

He settled on a "targeted low-impact design" over six other alternatives, including building a new wastewater treatment plant.

The public costs are being shared according to a formula set years ago. The city of Lansing has the largest share, at about 64%, followed by Lansing Township at 14% and the Michigan Department of Transportation at 9.9% . East Lansing's share is 7.2%, while Ingham County is responsible for 4.6%.

Each municipality determined how it would pay its share.

Lansing decided to split its cost equally between an assessment on property owners who live in the area served by the drain and a 0.26-mill property tax levied on all property owners in the city. East Lansing decided to pay its share from its general fund. Lansing Township officials have not discussed the project with the State Journal, but Lindemann said it is paying its share with a township-wide special assessment.

If the project ends up costing $50 million, Lansing's share would be about $32 million, followed by $7 million for Lansing Township, $4.9 million for MDOT, $3.6 million for East Lansing and $2.3 million for the county. The county was able to use some federal grant money for the project.

The municipalities had no choice but to pay their share of the cost but had input into how the project was done. Lindemann coordinated the drain work with sewer separation work done by Lansing and East Lansing.

"No one wants to pay for it, but we all want to benefit from it," said Scott House, East Lansing's public works director. House described the nearly finished drain as "pretty impressive" and said it will help clean up the river.

Said Lindemann: "I used the advice of everybody, and we decided on a method. It's hard to spend that much money, but when you have something that's wrong, you have to fix it. It could cost billions to clean up the river."

Using art to teach people about ecology

The nearly finished project looks a lot like what Lindemann described when he publicly shared his vision for it in 2016.

The system is operable, but Lindemann doesn't expect to turn on the pumps until late April or early May.

"We still have sidewalks to put in, some piping to do in various areas and some highway pipes to be fixed so they are connected properly," he said. "There is a lot of vegetation to plant yet. We have a group coming out to plant wildflower seed. There is capping for the fountains that have to go in, weirs that have to be made and installed."

The miles of paths winding through the development also are access roads for maintenance crews and were built to support trucks, he said. The access roads needed to be there, anyway, so Lindemann decided to make them double as hiking and biking paths open to the public.

The expanded sledding hill in Ranney Park was built with soils excavated for the drain project, a measure that saved nearly $3 million, he said.

Lindemann's nonprofit, Art in the Wild, is raising money to help pay for the sculptures, which include an abstract eagle figure dubbed the 'Wind Lord," which will sit atop a fountain in the median of Michigan Avenue. The sculpture will be owned by the city of Lansing, he said. The plan is that artists will obtain grants to build their pieces.

The total monetary value of the art component of the project was unclear.

"The mission statement (of Art in the Wild) is, 'we promote clean water through art,'" Lindemann said.

"We're using art to reach people about clean water," he said. "We can avoid these high prices of cleaning water if we don't pollute it. The only way to do that is to change people's attitudes about clean water and get them to live a more ecological life."

The process of cleansing runoff contaminated with rubber, road salt, oil, fertilizers and other pollutants is complex and entails more than 150 elements, Lindemann said. In essence, the configuration was designed to mimic natural processes that cleanse ground water.

"The reason there are so many waterfalls is because they add oxygen to the water," Lindemann said, noting that oxygen helps in the composting of bio pollution. Limestone helps neutralize pH, he said.

Two weirs connect the retention ponds at the southern edge of the drain to the river itself, so water can flow either way, if necessary, to help manage localized flooding, Lindemann said.

Some of the 15 or so waterfalls will be lit at night, and the walking paths also will be illuminated. Lindemann said the lights will go off at designated times to leave the area dark most of the night. That will help promote a natural ecosystem amenable to turtles, snakes, frogs and other wildlife, he said.

Spotting the drain commissioner walking in the northern part of the development on a March day, Nathaniel DuPhene of Holt walked up to ask a nagging question.

"My oldest daughter is 9 now," DuPhene said. "Is this park going to be done before I get grandkids?"

A chuckling Lindemann assured him it will done this year.

Contact Ken Palmer at [email protected] . Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.