Oxford's biggest student newspaper, produced by and for members of the University of Oxford, since 1991.
ART – LITERATURE – FASHION – POPULAR CULTURE
Image description: people performing TikTok dances It’s the quarantine hobby we were too ashamed to pick up, but are now too entangled in to give up. It’s the source of those catchy songs ingrained our subconscious, whether we truly know the words or not. It’s TikTok. Let’s be honest, you know the name by now, […]
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Image description: The Guggenheim in Bilbao It was a pleasant sunny afternoon in Bilbao on the day I paid a visit to the Guggenheim. I’d been planning my trip to Spain for three months, and it would be a grave error for anyone remotely interested in art to skip one of the country’s largest, most […]
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Image description: Grimes live in Austin in 2012 You may have forgotten, but Grimes makes music. Now, a lot of her fans, myself included, have taken to viewing her recent affiliations with a side-eye. Contrary to what you find in the media, ever since her appearance at the 2018 Met Gala Grimes is more than […]
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Image Description: Jesus College Chapel, Oxford Jesus College Chapel intends to offer ‘Evensong by Email’ on all Sundays of Trinity term, in light of restrictions associated with Coronavirus which will make it impossible for chapel communities and choirs to come together. The aspiration to provide virtual worship is being led by Jesus College Chaplain, The Reverend […]
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Image description: Picasso’s portrait of Gertrude Stein Right now it’s hard to imagine Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce and Henri Matisse sitting in a room together, yet this was a common occurrence at 27 rue de Fleurus, Paris, in the 1920s and 1930s. They were united by Gertrude Stein, whose weekly […]
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Image description: Canvas with strokes of paint The last time I wielded a paintbrush with any intent was aged 13, during art lessons at school. Yet, a couple of weeks into quarantine, I was desperate for new ways to occupy my time and found myself participating in Noel Fielding’s Instagram Art Club with gusto. Each week, […]
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Image Description: Mural of a man and a woman kissing on a building In 2003, Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit famously called the city ‘poor but sexy’, sealing its reputation as the place-to-be for artists. East Berlin was practically abandoned after the fall of the Wall, rent was low, and it provided an empty canvas for […]
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Image description: Stack of books with a notebook next to them There seems to be a certain amount of snobbery within literary and artistic circles around whose opinions are valid when it comes to looking at, appreciating and analysing a work. To a certain extent, I agree that the academic debates around varying interpretations require […]
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Image Description: Paul Simon’s Graceland album artwork I confess I am a person liable to decide after a single listen that I have found my new favourite-ever song. But believe me when I say that Paul Simon’s 1986 masterpiece Graceland (an album recorded after Simon became intrigued by a bootleg cassette and ended up travelling to Johannesburg […]
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Image Description: Gallery space from the exhibition Whilst living in Rome in 2019, I had the pleasure of being a 15-minute walk away from the gallery. With a student admission fee cheaper than a cup of coffee, it became a ritual of mine, after finishing work, to leave behind the chaotic pace of Roman city […]
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Image Description: The four band members The music industry is a rapidly changing entity, a constant evolution facilitated by modern media. Platforms like Spotify mean we have thousands of new songs at our fingertips every day, infinite opportunities to find a band or a song we enjoy. Except, it doesn’t always work like that. The […]
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Image Description: Skeleton Statue near a tree The frustration of being cooped up is hitting hard. Netflix has lost its sparkle and you’re bored of staying in the house reading or squabbling with siblings. The one hour of state-mandated exercise isn’t enough to stop the cabin fever setting in. You might, as I felt, wish […]
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Image Description: Johnston’s “Hi, How Are You” mural in Austin, Texas. There is a quote by the legendary BBC Radio DJ John Peel which has been overused by many a budding music journalist attempting to create a unique think piece on music: ‘Somebody was trying to tell me that CDs are better than vinyl because […]
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Image Description: Dua Lipa on-stage at one of her performances Future Nostalgia is a clear attempt to break clean from tired pop stereotypes of recent years, replacing minimal electronics with full-bodied disco hooks. Naturally, it has generated a lot of praise from reviewers, recognising the step up from the ubiquitous One Kiss, but there is […]
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Being in the student bubble can be nice sometimes. Not having to come to terms with what’s going on across the country: coronavirus, brexit, another 5 years of Tory rule, and all the rest. All the same, I reckon I’m not the only one that has on occasion thought about my hometown with great fondness. […]
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Image description: Vintage signs from Nakano Broadway Out to the North-east of Shinjuku in Tokyo, amongst large suburbian highways and close to the somewhat neglected Nakano station, is Nakano Broadway, a seemingly typical Japanese merchant street. Far from the luxury of Ginza or the charm of Kyoto’s traditional markets, at first glance, Nakano broadway is […]
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Image description: Inside the Radcliffe Camera Ideas about environmental psychology are relatively new but nevertheless play into architects ideas about designing space. Fundamentally, the principle of this line of research is that our mental space stands in direct proportion to our perception of physical space. How, then, can we apply ideas about how the space […]
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Image description: A portrait of Frederico Colli against a grey background Adaptation is a contentious topic for early music audiences. Some say that musicians should play a Baroque piece in a manner loyal to the time in which it was written, replicating the atmosphere of the eighteenth century as best they can; others believe that […]
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Image description: A self-portrait of Rembrandt laughing The Oxford Student was fortunate enough to have been given an early preview of the new ‘Young Rembrandt’ exhibition, now open at the Ashmolean Museum. Speaking to the press preview, Xa Sturgis (director of the museum) informed us that the goal of this exhibition was not to present […]
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