Culture

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

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.

Latest in Culture
A simple, vertically split image collage on a black theater stage. The left photo shows a figure in a black velvet suit curled up on the floor staring at a phone attached to a red cord directly in front of their face. On the right, a closer photo of a dancer in white face paint gesturing out with her hands mid-motion. She wears a white undergarment and a semi-transparent red gown overtop.
The semi-improvised parameters of “Inertia Follies” engender its subtly and radically transformative scenes
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Culture
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November 19, 2025

The avant-garde performance-art showcase, which involves six local artists, runs for a final weekend—November 20 through 23—at Broom Street Theater.

A photograph at a slightly angled long shot of an all-women panel at the MDEV games conference at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. The hall is rather dimly lit except for the spotlit stage where five women are sitting on elevated chairs. A large screen to the far right of the stage displays the names and photos of the people involved as well as the title "Game Changers: Women Defining The Industry."
Amid industry tumult, the 2025 MDEV conference captured Madison as an impending game-development hotspot
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Culture
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November 17, 2025

On the ground with indie developers and industry representatives at the annual, bustling, two-day showcase of video games.

Overhead view of a mixed salad in a grey-green bowl on a dark marble countertop. The bowl contains slices of roasted squash, walnuts, arugula, and croutons. 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: To make it through the fall, roast your vegetables
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Small Bites
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November 14, 2025

A low-effort guide to bringing maximum flavor to your table when seasonal produce is limited.

A rectangular graphic to promote the Black Film Festival in Madison shows several different images with thin black border outlines in each corner. These include a poster for the narrative film "Miss Juneteenth" in the upper left and archival black-and-white photos from the documentary film "Fresh Dressed" in the upper right above the festival text and logos for both Madison Public Library and Justified Anger: Courses. The lower part of the image contains images from video essays—a Black couple sitting in a living room (at the bottom left) and Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime performance (at the bottom right)—that are included as part of the festival.
In its third year, the Black Film Festival commits to deeper regional representation
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Film
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November 11, 2025

The Nehemiah Center and Justified Anger partner with Madison Public Library to honor Black lives and culture November 12 through 15.

A close-up of a basketball hoop at Windom Way Park in Madison, WI. The hoop takes up the center of the image. The sky is blue and the sun is positioned behind the backboard, providing a glow that helps illuminate the image. The rim is rusty and the net is metal chainlink. The backboard's an aged off-white with fading paint splatter. In the bottom left corner of the image, some treetops are visible, but out of focus.
Basketball is back, but it never really left
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Microtones
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November 7, 2025

Madison's basketball courts are reflective of endurance, persistence, and Wisconsinites' growing embrace of the sport.

An illustration shows a nondescript man actively drumming in the center of a stage with a blue backdrop and red curtains above. Five women stand on both sides of the stage to the drummer's left and right, surrounding him. The women convey negative, upset emotions through their arm gestures and body language.
As a musician stages his comeback, his accusers ask where the accountability is
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Music
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November 5, 2025

Four years after allegations of grooming and sexual misconduct, David Henzie-Skogen is back on the road with Youngblood Brass Band.

An angled photo at an art gallery shows a large crowd of seated people, who are all looking forward and listening to a male speaker with a microphone at the front corner of the room (who is centered in this photo). To the speaker's right is a projection screen that displays a promotional collage of stills from short films in the forthcoming program.
Local open-mic cinema
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Microtones
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October 31, 2025

Project Projection at Arts + Literature Laboratory is assembling all facets of Madison's DIY and more professional film culture alike.

A simple collage of four photographs showing animal skeletons that are arranged like a museum key or label. The skeletons are separated into different containers. At the top left is a turtle at letter "(A)." To its immediate right, at letter "(B)," is a giraffe. At the bottom left, "(C)," is an owl. And at the bottom right is "(D)," a bat. An additional number for the bat is tied to a piece of string for cataloging. The edges of human fingers or hands can be seen holding the skulls or containers in photos "(B)" and "(D)."
Oddsconsin: Flesh-eating beetles
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Culture
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October 28, 2025

Touring the dermestid beetle colony home at UW Zoological Museum.

A brown bat hangs from a dirt ceiling in a dark space.
Bats in the bedroom
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Culture
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October 22, 2025

Spooky season coincides with increased human-bat encounters.