GoT, art thief confessions, alien Instagram filters: The week in arts and culture

Hello! You're reading the CBC Arts newsletter, and if you like what you see, stick around! Sign up here, and every Sunday we'll send you a fresh email packed with art, culture and a metric truckload of eye candy, hand-picked by our small and mighty team. Here's what we've been talking about this week.

Hi, art lovers!

We've been hearing a lot of the same feedback from readers recently, and maybe you can relate. They've been telling us how these emails help them catch up on all the stories and videos they've missed during the work week. That's pretty fantastic to hear. (You're welcome!)

But it also made us realize how there's so much more that the folks in the office are reading and watching and talking (and ranting) about every day — stuff that we could be sharing here. So if you're up for tripping down about eight dozen rabbit holes, here goes.

What are we reading?

"The Secrets of the World's Greatest Art Thief" is a true-crime confessional unlike anything else we read this week, a story that's basically the next great Wes Anderson movie waiting to happen. So if you've passed on this long-read from GQ, don't sleep on it any longer. (I only wish they'd included photos of the tiny bedroom where this dude stashed his mountain of loot.) Another arty link that's been making the rounds: this study that suggests the real path to art stardom is making friends — loads of them — which suddenly makes the pressure to grow those Instagram followers even more real. On the subject of Instagram, head to The Verge to read up on how the folks building custom AR filters are creating a whole new way to think about the beauty standard. (Montreal's FvckRender gets a mention.)

What's blowing our minds?

Montreal duo Fecal Matter are definitely leading that alien, post-beauty Instagram aesthetic we were talking about, and while their account blows millions of minds on a daily basis, we're mentioning them now because they're included in this all-Quebec fashion exhibition that opened at the Musée des beaux-arts Montréal last weekend. As for feel-good sci-fi vibes, we'll keep reading about Disneyland's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge until we're there for real, attempting a 12-parsec Kessel Run. We're also fangirl/guy-ing over the Game of Thrones Season 8 trailer, and making sense of the hype and backlash surrounding Captain Marvel. Extra special mention to the CM review on Vulture because it references Starcrash, a Star Wars rip-off featuring Canada's own Christopher Plummer as some kind of space ghost and/or hologram. (We're not sure — we're still tracking down a copy of the movie.) Googling it was the best/weirdest history lesson we had all week. Oh, and more fashion! Toronto's Mustafa the Poet just did a collab with Valentino, a story that should serve as a reminder to us all: always check your DMs.

What are we listening to?

Robyn, Rosalía, Marie Davidson — and all the other artists included in The New York Times Magazine's annual cornucopia of a music feature, "The 25 Songs That Matter Right Now." Be warned: "Baby Shark" is among this year's featured tracks. (This, by the way, is the office's fave remix.)

And because we promised you eye candy

Put a trip to El Alto, Bolivia, on your bucket list. Packing a wallop of psychedelic form and colour (both inside and out), these buildings by architect Freddy Mamani Silvestre are worth checking out.

Shell yes. Get a closer look at Rowan Mersh's Asabikeshiinh (dreamcatcher), an installation made entirely out of seashells.

This is what happens when you air-dry your laundry in early March. Art by Vancouver's Nicole Dextras.

You've got to see this

Why is this art? - Fair question. Tough, but fair. And it's a question you've probably heard — and asked — plenty of times before. That's why Professor Lise (not really a professor) will show you how to tackle it on the new episode of Art 101. (Bookmark this link before your next family trip to the museum.)

This dancer's father had schizophrenia. She choreographed a show about his life - Acclaimed Quebec dancer Anne Plamondon first performed Les mêmes yeux que toi, or The Same Eyes as Yours, in 2012 — and during a recent remount of the show, we joined her in rehearsal to hear how the project's evolved. As Plamondon says in the video, the show's been especially powerful for those who've been affected by the mental illness. "When it got in front of an audience, people would come up to me after and say, 'This is my brother.' 'This is my sister.' 'This is my uncle.' 'This is my grandfather.' 'This is me.'"

Would you ever get a tattoo to rep your province? - A lot of Jessica Coffey's clients ask her for Newfoundland tattoos, stuff like icebergs and cod...and Purity-brand snacks. Go ahead and zoom in on that photo. It's a bulletin board plastered with Jessica's flash art, and there are loads of maritime-y designs hiding in there. You might spy a few drawings that reflect Jessica's Inuit identity, too, and for this episode of Art Hurts, we head to St. John's, where Jessica reveals why her mixed cultural background informs what, and how, she tattoos.

Follow this artist

Lana Filippone (@lanafilippone) - One of Lana's sculptures features in our profile pic this month (squint and you'll see a porcelain eyeball staring right back at you), and the Toronto artist is inspired by a mix of natural imagery and mystical symbolism. "There's usually quite a lot going on in each piece," she told us over email a few weeks back. Follow her for more.

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Until next week!

XOXO, CBC Arts