Man Ray immortalised the small band with this camera before returning to the arms of Kiki. The Adventures of Modern Art V: Libertad!
Salvador Dali explored the dark side of his unconscious and was sidelined by the Surrealists as a result. ibid.
1st May 1937 Picasso set to work … By early June the work was completed … On July 12th 1937 Guernica was exhibited … He decided not to return to Spain so long as freedom had not been restored. ibid.
In the early ’30s the rise of fascism in Europe pushed artists to become politically engaged. The Adventures of Modern Art VI
All of the country’s national treasures were being moved out. ibid.
Santiago Calatrava: he’s given us a world full of spectacular bridges, airports, railway stations, and other public buildings all instantly recognisable by their white fins and wraparound sinuous shapes. The Art of Architecture s1e1, Sky Arts 2020
The World Trade Centre transportation hub delivers them to lower Manhattan; it surfaces near the memorial. ibid.
‘A great thing when an architecture can draw freehand … He is trained as engineer and architect … He’s taken modernism in a new direction.’ ibid. Marcus Binney, author Bridges Spanning the World
35 years after it was left for dead Battersea Power Station is being restored. Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the man who created the red telephone kiosk, this London landmark was being rescued by a Malaysian consortium which selected architects Wilkinson Eyre to give it new life. The Art of Architecture s1e2: Battersea Power Station
Battersea Power station survived the Blitz, was doubled in size in the 1950s – two chimneys became four – and exactly fifty years after opening, it was decommissioned. ibid.
In the six months after the new V&A museum in Dundee opened, half a million people walked through its doors … a signature building by the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma on Dundee’s waterfront could trigger the regeneration of this city spoiled by insensitive development in the 1960s. The Art of Architecture s1e3: Kengo Kuma ***** Sky Arts 2020
[Shackleton’s] Discovery came home to Dundee in 1986 around the time Kengo Kuma first visited Scotland. His impression of the landscape particularly in the cliffs stayed with him and 30 years later would influence his design of Scotland’s newest building. ibid.
In New York one of the biggest developments in American history has chosen British designer Thomas Heatherwick to create the centrepiece inspired by the stepwells of India, the vessel has been built in Italy, shipped across the Atlantic, and erected on Manhattan’s West Side. It’s cost $150 million dollars. It’s been a hit with the selfie-generation, and it goes nowhere, just as its designer intended. The Art of Architecture s1e4: Thomas Heatherwick
Built over the unlovely train tracks on Manhattan’s west side, Hudson Yards is a $25 billion development – the brainchild of Stephen Ross: it’s a mixture of office, shops and apartments … At its heart is a structure hard to classify. ibid.
Modernism in Vienna brought together science and culture in a new way to create an Age of Insight that emphasized a more complex view of the human mind than had ever existed before. Eric Kandel
Many sorts of inanimate object were manufactured during the fascist era … Such potent symbols of modernity and the fast life. Jonathan Meades, Ben Building, Mussolini, Monuments and Modernism, BBC 2016
In time, the buildings made in fascist Italy will be purged of their fascist links. ibid.
William of Orange was Dutch rather than Norman ... The Dutch conquest of 1688 would also have profound consequences, and not just for England but arguably for the whole of the rest of the world. For the revolution in government that it ushered in transformed England from a feeble imitator of the French absolute monarchy ... The Dutch conquest invented a modern England, a modern monarchy, perhaps even modernity itself. Monarchy by David Starkey s3e2: The Glorious Revolution
We are living through a golden age of technology. Our homes and our pockets are full of inventions and gadgets that 20 years ago would have been the stuff of science fiction. Hannah Fry, The Secret Genius of Modern Life s1e1: Bank Card
The Bank Card: How an ancient piece of jewellery led to chip and pin. Why a man ironing in the 1960s revolutionised how data is stored on our cards. And why we have Russian spies to thank for contactless payments. ibid.
We are at the biggest hub for bank card transactions in Europe: the Visa data centre. ibid.
The bank card era is coming to an end. ibid.
Contactless was introduced in the UK in 2007. ibid.
The future of payments is biometric. ibid.
The food delivery app on your phone … Four crucial pieces of tech: from the mapping system to the delivery rider’s display. And it all starts with the first thing we see when we open up the app: the order screen. Hannah Fry, The Secret Genius of Modern Life s1e2: Food Delivery App
This is more sophisticated than I was expecting. ibid.
The mapping technology the drivers depend on … GPS. ibid.
The satellites are spread about the planet. ibid.
GPS: A little bit of everyday genius. ibid.
More and more of us now have devices that allow us to control things in hour home using just our voices. Hannah Fry, The Secret Genius of Modern Life s1e3: Virtual Assistant
Alexa isn’t alone. There’s now a virtual assistant in about half of UK homes. ibid.
The days of the internal combustion engines are clearly numbered. The future of driving is clearly electric. Hannah Fry, The Secret Genius of Modern Life s1e4: Electric Car
The beating heart of every electric vehicle: the motor. ibid.
The first commercial car with an electric motor was invented in 1884. ibid.
When it comes to the car battery it’s all about energy density – what gives you the most bang for your buck. ibid.
Lithium iron batteries are the lifeblood of every modern electric car. ibid.
Are electric vehicles really the environmentally friendly car they are often held up as? ibid.
More and more of us are wearing these devices that are tracking our every movement. But these things are also getting increasingly sophisticated. The Secret Genius of Modern Life s1e5: Fitness Tracker
More than a third of the UK population owning a fitness tracker. ibid.
The accelerometer is the thing that tracks your movement. ibid.
The trainer: these food-shaped miracles of engineering are packed full of some of the most innovative tech on the planet. The Secret Genius of Modern Life s1e6: Trainer
We are a nation of trainer lovers. We spent almost £3 billion on them last year. ibid.
‘We try to be as minimal and as precise as possible of where we place the out-sole.’ ibid. Adidas researcher
The passport: some of the most extraordinary experiences are documented in here … So what does it take to make one of the world’s most secure documents? The Secret Genius of Modern Life s2e1: Passport
The polycarbonate page … embossed seals … hologram … biometric chip … sophisticated technical marvels. ibid.
It’s the vacuum cleaner … These things definitely made our lives more easier. The Secret Genius of Modern Life s2e2: Vacuum Cleaner
The dust collector … The filter … The suction motor … ibid.
The smartphone … a supercomputer, we’re got this one single device that all your life goes through. The Secret Genius of Modern Life s2e3: Smartphone
Samsung: this brand actually begun before the electronic age. ibid.
Car phones: They actually rolled on to the scene in the 1940s. ibid.
Building a massive antennae infrastructure wasn’t that easy. ibid.
Antenna-gate: iPhone 4. ibid.
There is a box in your kitchen that uses high-end particle physics to beam invisible radiation around. The Secret Genius of Modern Life s2e4: Microwave
So what does it take to make a microwave? … Four key components from the turntable to the timer ... [and] the cavity magnitron … Faraday Cage … The microwave needs a turntable. ibid.
In 1947 Raytheon launched the world’s first commercial microwave oven. ibid.
Headphones: These things are nothing short of a minor miracle of science and engineering. It’s the story of an electrocuted opera singer, helicopter pilots in the Korean War, and a 1960s jazz trumpeter. The Secret Genius of Modern Life s2e5: Headphones
The bit that turns electricity into sound – the speaker. ibid.
It’s the lift … You are standing in a metal box that is suspended from the sky. But the thing is behind those metal walls there is actually an entire labyrinth of mechanical complexity that is working to make your ride as smooth and as safe as possible. The Secret Genius of Modern Life s2e6: Lift
They are actually the safest mode of transport there is. ibid.