There’s a bit in Ibn Battuta’s Rihla (see this month’s Eternal Returns text for more info on him and that) where he talks about how travelling first leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller. He’s talking about the impact of wonder...
Born in what is now Morocco (but was then known in Islamic circles as part of the Maghreb – meaning ‘Western’ in Arabic), Ibn Battuta (1304–1368/69 or 1377) was the most prolific premodern explorer (a profession now largely reframed as...
0. PROGRESS Colombo is a city obsessed with the future. Itsskylinerisesinglassandsteel;itsbillboardspromiseluxury,efficiency,progress.plannersspeakof‘world-classliving’, as if the city could reinvent itself in the image of Dubai or...
On a Thursday morning in early February, Thailand’s caretaker prime minister stood on the steps of Bangkok’s Government House and declared the country to be a ‘land of opportunity’ – and not, as a recent Financial Times article claimed,...
The image I took away from the opening of the 57th CIMAM Annual Conference, held for the first time in Turin, was that of all 300 lanyard-wearing members gathered tightly around the perimeter of a square traced on the floor: the stage for a...
First came the New Taipei City Art Museum, with its striking aluminium-clad facade designed by homegrown architect Kris Yao. Opened in April 2025 in Yingge, New Taipei City – the municipality that surrounds Taipei – it has already attracted...