January 24, 2025
Art
Social Issues
Kate Mothes
Detail of “MEADOWS.” Photo by Ineta Armanavičiūtė. All images courtesy of Severija Inčirauskaitė
On the sides of rusted barrels or crushed steel spheres, Lithuanian artist Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė (previously) applies delicate reminders of resilience. Using cotton thread, the artist cross-stitches vibrant flowers and butterflies onto facets of corroded metal, merging materials that appear to have little in common.
Where metal is rough, strong, and utilitarian, embroidery is tender, soft, and decorative. Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė taps into these diametric characteristics in her continuing examination of war. A large metal ball titled “OFFSIDE,” for example, represents the world’s cumulative conflicts. “It is like a huge disaster with a small embroidered butterfly that is like a small, fragile sign of hope,” she says.
“Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)” (2023), metal and cotton thread. Photo by Modestas Ežerskis and Ineta Armanavičiūtė
Lithuania is not far from Ukraine, where the impacts of the ongoing Russian assault reverberate across the region. “The war is very close to us,” the artist tells Colossal, “so we can’t relax and just think about life.” She emphasizes that her motifs symbolize Ukraine’s victory and the end of the suffering of the Ukrainian people. […]
“Offside” (2024), metal, and cotton threads. Photo by Enrika Samulionytė
More: Flowers and Butterflies Stitch Messages of Hope into Crumpled Metal and Corroded Barrels
24 Jan 2025 #CNBC #AI #DeepSeek
A little-known AI lab out of China has ignited panic throughout Silicon Valley after releasing AI models that can outperform America’s best despite being built more cheaply and with less-powerful chips. DeepSeek, as the lab is called, unveiled a free, open-source large-language model in late December that it says took only two months and less than $6 million to build. The new developments have raised alarms on whether America’s global lead in artificial intelligence is shrinking and called into question big tech’s massive spend on building AI models and data centers. In a set of third-party benchmark tests, DeepSeek’s model outperformed Meta’s Llama 3.1, OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 3.5 in accuracy ranging from complex problem-solving to math and coding. CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa has the story. This video also includes Bosa’s full interview with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas.
Chapters:
00:00 – 00:47 Introduction
00:47 – 5:33 DeepSeek’s triumph
5:34 – 10:53 America undermined
10:54 – 15:04 Necessity is the mother of invention
15:05 – 40:16 Full interview with Perplexity CEO, Aravind Srinivas
Anchor: Deirdre Bosa
Produced by: Jasmine Wu, Laura Batchelor, Drew Troast
Edited by: Matt Soto
Senior Director: Jeniece Pettitt
[…]
Garance Pineau, Rod Dreher, Paul Lynch and Francesco Boldizzoni discuss the obstacles to freedom in today’s liberal democracy. Become a member of the Nexus Institute and check out the entire debate at https://nexus-instituut.nl/en/activit….
Excerpt from the Nexus Conference 2024, ‘The Quest for Vision in the Era of Confusion, Corruption and Foolishness’ in Amsterdam.
[…]
And a little magic … in Germany.
— ✨ Melonie 🌿 (@everythread.bsky.social) 2025-01-25T08:09:22.126Z
msamba 