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Culture

Madison’s broader landscape of art, literature, and more.

A simple image collage that is split in a vertical orientation. The left image shows a poster light box for Luc Besson's "Dracula" that features the AMC logo in white text on a red-bar background at the top. The surrounding wall is painted a golden-brown color. The right image shows the poster for Brett Ratner's "Melania" in a similar light box. The wall surrounding the poster is painted black.

Stop spotlighting new films by known abusers

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Microtones
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February 6, 2026

Madison boasts a dynamic movie culture, yet still needs programmers and community voices to facilitate change.

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Latest in Culture
A long shot photo of Lake Mendota at either dawn or dusk time, in limited light. The sky has a pretty mix of dark and light blue colors amid the yellow-orange of the sun near the horizon line. A large budding tree stands in the middleground next to an illuminated lamppost.
USRowing’s trans-exclusionary policies only divide us all
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Politics
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January 28, 2026

Amid institutional erasure of their autonomy, trans athletes deserve to be openly embraced by their teammates and representatives.

Photo of slenderly sliced pieces of medium-done steak sitting on a wooden cutting board. A kitchen knife sits on the board behind the steak with the blade facing away from the camera. Bordering this photo is a red and white checkered tablecloth illustration. In the lower left corner of this illustrated frame is a small chef with an oversized mustache standing on a spoon. The chef's speech bubble reads "Small Bites."
Small Bites: The moral cost of meat
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Small Bites
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January 23, 2026

How a bad dream prompted more intentional eating in the new year.

A still taken from Nicholas R. Wootton's experimental short "Liking This Angle" shows a woman holding up a plaster mold of a human arm on an angled wooden structure in an art studio. A second image of water streaking down a windshield is superimposed over it.
“Liking This Angle” finds artistic inspiration in degrees of the edit
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Film
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January 19, 2026

Nicholas R. Wootton's experimental short, featuring sculptor Christina A. West, premieres at Art Lit Lab as part of Project Projection on January 21.

A photo of a winding road leading up to the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin, with a heavy, obfuscating black-and-white filter applied.
Coliseum renovations should proceed with caution
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Politics
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December 23, 2025

Dane County should apply strict scrutiny of its partnership proposal with FPC Live, even if it's the only bidder.

Photo of a museum gallery with several works of art on display.
Could an exhibition like “Guiding Ethos” find a home in Madison?
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Culture
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December 22, 2025

A group show at Appleton's Trout Museum stands up for "political" art in an era of cowardice and compliance.

A close-up photo of several cloves of garlic, haphazardly peeled and scattered on a dark surface. Bordering this photo is a red and white checkered tablecloth illustration. In the lower left corner of this illustrated frame is a small chef with an oversized mustache standing on a spoon. The chef's speech bubble reads "Small Bites."
Small Bites: How much garlic is too much garlic?
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Small Bites
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December 19, 2025

With "double the garlic" dominating social media, it's time to reevaluate your recipes.

A simple image collage of a book jacket on the left and author portrait on the right. The jacket reads "Hemlock A Novel Melissa Faliveno" in white chalk-like lettering over an impressionistic painting of splintered branches and wood on the ground. The author, Faliveno, wears a dusty grey button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up past her elbows. She folds her arms and looks squarely at the camera lens with a faint but confident smile.
Fear and queer hunger in the Northwoods of Melissa Faliveno’s “Hemlock”
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Culture
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December 15, 2025

The new novel from the author of the "Tomboyland" essay collection finds its footing in the dark corners of Wisconsin's forests.

An illustrated poster for the Madison Alternative Comics Festival is centered in a larger rectangular image with an aubergine-colored background. The poster playfully shows a female artist sitting in a studio, while leaning the side of her face against the glass of a photocopier. The tray below the copier is spitting out golden copies of comic pages and issues.
Madison Alternative Comics Fest showcases a rising art form through diverse voices
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Culture
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December 11, 2025

Madison's answer to the alternative comic festival circuit debuts at Aubergine on December 13.

A photograph shows a medium close-up of different sizes of two t-shirt designs hanging on a clothing rack. The leftmost one is "Blade Runner" and the rightmost one is "The Thing." The "Blade Runner" tee prominently features Deckard's face (Harrison Ford) as well as text from the film in yellow and white, while "The Thing" tee includes small portraits of the cast arranged in two long rows with blue text and the iconic alien monster design rendered in black and white.
Movie tee envy
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Microtones
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December 5, 2025

Pondering a shirt collection, and stumbling upon Cosmic Cabin, which has the goods—at least niche ones for cinephiles.