Osaka’s Long-Overdue Luxury Hotel Moment Has Arrived
After years of playing second fiddle to Tokyo and Kyoto, Osaka is welcoming a wave of luxury hotels.
Francesco Bonami’s Case Against Trend-Chasing in the Museum Business
Under Bonami’s direction, By Art Matters in Hangzhou, China, has embraced a curatorial model that favors instinct, experimentation and intellectual risk.
Why Bill Ackman Is Making a $2B Bet on Mark Zuckerberg’s A.I. Vision
Ackman is betting that Meta’s heavy A.I. spending will ultimately outweigh Wall Street’s short-term fears.
Business
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Fei-Fei Li and Andrej Karpathy Back a New A.I. Use Case: Simulating Human Behavior
Backed by Fei-Fei Li and Andrej Karpathy, Simile raises $100 million to use A.I. simulations that predict analyst questions and business outcomes.
From Soil to Still: The Master of Botanicals Rethinking Sustainability in Premium Spirits
Alessandro Garneri has spent nearly two decades shaping the botanical foundations of some of the world’s most recognized spirits. In this Expert Insights Q&A, Garneri explores why soil health, traceability and climate resilience are not separate from craftsmanship, but essential to preserving the character and continuity of iconic spirits for generations to come.
The A.I. Boom Is Stress-Testing America’s Power Grid
MaC Venture Capital’s Marlon Nichols explores how the rapid growth of A.I. data centers is straining America’s power grid. As A.I. accelerates energy demand, the next wave of innovation will center on building a more adaptive, distributed and intelligent energy system.
Elon Musk Loses Half of xAI’s Founding Team—Where They’ve Gone Next
Multiple founders and executives have left Elon Musk’s xAI, raising questions about leadership and stability ahead of its next phase.
Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch’s $1.4B Data Center Push Powers Europe’s A.I. Autonomy
Arthur Mensch is scaling Mistral AI’s European infrastructure with $1.4 billion investment in Sweden, fueling the region’s bid to rival OpenAI and Anthropic.
Art
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In Qatar’s Zekreet Desert, Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani Welcomes All
Rahaal is a transitory desert museum grounded in Qatari traditions of spontaneous hospitality, nomadic movement, shared spaces and collective experiences.
Mia Westerlund Roosen’s Ongoing Material Inquiry
Challenging boundaries between form, expression and emotion, her tactile, organic and sometimes disturbingly sensual sculptures invite deep engagement.
Masterpieces from Agnes Gund’s Collection Will Headline Christie’s May Marquee Auctions
The sale of works by Rothko, Twombly and Joseph Cornell posthumously continues her legacy of charitable giving.
One Fine Show: “Michael Rakowitz, Proxies for Poets and Palaces” at the Stavanger Art Museum
At the center of the exhibition are eight reliefs conceived for the show as part of his ongoing series ‘The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist’—his attempt to recreate the over 7,000 objects looted from Baghdad’s Iraq Museum in 2003.
London School Icons from the Lewis Collection Will Headline Sotheby’s March Sales
Two pivotal Lucian Freud works, a landmark painting by Leon Kossoff and a 1972 self-portrait by Francis Bacon, painted in the emotional aftermath of George Dyer’s death, will go on the block.
Lifestyle
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A First Safari in the Serengeti, Where Every Drive Is a Game Drive
From lions mating in the road to baboons knocking at my door, a first safari in Tanzania delivers.
The Best Men’s Snow Boots for a Winter That Refuses to End
From NASA-grade insulation to Italian suede built for salt-stained sidewalks, these are the boots worth buying while the polar vortex still has us in a headlock.
L.A.’s Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of February
As the city continues to ride its culinary high, amplified by Bad Bunny’s Villa’s Tacos feature at the Super Bowl, let’s take a look at what’s to come this February.
Steep Slopes and Silver Dollars: The Insider’s Guide to Jackson Hole
Whether line dancing at The Wort Hotel or skiing off-piste in the towering Teton Mountains, the Old West spirit prevails in Jackson Hole.
The Enduring Appeal of John F. Kennedy Jr.’s All-American Style
As Ryan Murphy’s ‘Love Story’ brings America’s most photographed couple back to screen, a style retrospective proves John F. Kennedy Jr.’s wardrobe was always the real plot.
Interviews
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In Chicago, Yoonshin Park Explores the Boundaries of the Book
The artist’s latest exhibition dismantles the idea of the book, reconstructing it as a site where legibility, form and materiality negotiate meaning.
Starting in the Dominican Republic, Elsa Maldonado and Nicole Bainov Are Forging Global Pathways for Caribbean Art
As Caribbean artists gain global visibility, Heliconia Projects bridges the gap at home by connecting local artists to international networks and nurturing a sustainable regional scene.
Charlotte Edey Creates Mesmerizing Portals Linking Body, Psyche and Environment
Her latest works, now on view at James Cohan in New York, examine the relationship between micro and macro systems, tracing how structural patterns repeat across different layers of reality.
Hugging Face’s Monetization Chief Jeff Boudier Isn’t Interested in Chasing Money
Hugging Face’s Jeff Boudier reveals a contrarian approach to growth, profitability and trust in an A.I. industry obsessed with scale.
John Kelly Ponders the Day His Art Nearly Crippled Him
In 182 illustrated panels on view at PPOW in New York, the artist recalls the traumatic 2002 accident that prompted him to reconsider the meaning and direction of his practice.
Power Lists
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Wall-to-Wall Cultural Capital: Inside Observer’s Art Power Index Party
Under the dim lights of the Lower East Side’s Maison Nur, art world luminaries gathered to celebrate Observer’s Art Power Index—and each other. From the impassioned speeches to the sharp tailoring and Damien Hirst over the bar, the evening embodied our legacy of chronicling power with style.
2025 Nightlife & Dining Power Index
Humanity is still the most vital ingredient in hospitality, and that isn’t changing anytime soon.
Observer’s 2025 Art Power Index: The Art Market’s Most Influential People
Their acquisitions, affinities and approbations move the needle on valuation and redefine how art is made, shown and sold.
100 Leaders Shaping the Future of Artificial Intelligence
They write the script that the rest of us follow.
The Top PR Firms in 2025
This year’s PR Power List celebrates the agencies bold enough to lead the charge and smart enough to reflect the world they’re shaping.
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Oura’s Marketing Chief Doug Sweeny Brings Smart Rings to the Olympics
Oura’s chief marketing officer Doug Sweeny details the company’s Olympics partnership and how wearable data is reshaping elite sports performance.
Four Astronauts, One Giant Test: What’s at Stake for NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission
More than 50 years after Apollo 17, NASA’s Artemis II will send four astronauts on a 10-day loop around the Moon to test the agency’s deep-space hardware.
A.I.’s Environmental Impact Is Testing Corporate Climate Commitments
Trilateral Research’s Dr. Rowena Rodrigues and Amelia Williams examine the widening gap between corporate sustainability claims and the measurable environmental impacts of A.I. Without integrated, lifecycle-based impact assessments, they argue, even well-intentioned organizations risk unintentional greenwashing.
Ali Gass On ICA San Francisco’s Shift to a Nomadic Model
The institution is rethinking what a museum can be by prioritizing experimentation, artistic production and public engagement over collection building.
Don’t Miss: “Lee Miller” at Tate Britain
Some of the show’s most powerful images are from Miller’s travels around the Middle East, following her marriage to Egyptian businessman Aziz Eloui Bey.
Dana Walden Faces Disney’s Franchise and Streaming Reckoning
As Bob Iger exits and Josh D’Amaro ascends, Dana Walden becomes the key figure shaping Disney’s stories, franchises and streaming future.
Jonathan Carver Moore Is Rewriting the Gallery Playbook
“I don’t see limits when I’m trying to do something, and I don’t think anyone should. If I had gone through the so-called proper channels, I don’t think I would have done things the way I have.”
MrBeast Expands His Business Empire With Gen Z Banking App Acquisition
MrBeast is buying Step, a popular fintech app for teens, marking his first major push into digital banking and financial literacy.
On-Chain Banking and the Next Phase of Financial Infrastructure
WeFi CEO Maksym Sakharov examines the rapid emergence of on-chain banking as decentralized finance evolves into real-world financial infrastructure. The future of global finance, he contends, will depend on scalable, transparent systems that can deliver banking functionality without traditional intermediaries.
The Volvo XC 60 T8 AWD Plug-In Hybrid Is a Modern Relic
Something about this vehicle feels trapped in amber, as if it’s from another time.
New York City’s Essential Puerto Rican Restaurants
The city’s essential Puerto Rican restaurants trade flash for value, pork-centric menus and unapologetic authenticity.
With a New U.S. Flagship, Bonhams Bets Big on Cross-Category Collecting
The auction house has transformed New York City’s historic Steinway Hall into four stories of state-of-the-art auction rooms, enhanced galleries and client reception areas that can support cross-category engagement.