THE MAGAZINE
Rave Culture in China
What happens when dancing becomes a threat to the state? China’s rave scene arrived in the 1990s with smuggled CDs, ecstasy and a promise of freedom from authority, only to be driven underground almost as quickly as it appeared. Read on to discover why the problem with raves may never have been the drugs at all.
Eat With Your Eyes: Japanese Food Replica Culture
Japan has been making food you can’t eat for more than a century. Shokuhin sampuru began as practical visual menus, helping diners see what they were ordering; today, these hyper-realistic replicas have become an art form of their own.
Are Orchestras in Need of an Update?
Is the symphony orchestra a doomed relic, or simply overdue for reinvention? As UK institutions confront funding cuts and shrinking audiences, ensembles like Aurora Orchestra and Manchester Collective are rewriting the rules of performance. With young listeners engaging with classical music in record numbers, the future may lie not in preserving tradition but in reshaping it.