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Richard Mille and Ferrari reveal the RM UP-01 Ferrari, the world’s thinnest watch.
“It feels like only months ago that Bulgari unveiled the new record-holder for the world’s thinnest watch. And that’s because it was just a few months ago – in March, to be exact. That’s when the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra clocked in at 1.80mm in thickness, making it the thinnest watch ever made. Well, there’s a new champ in town, courtesy of a partnership between Richard Mille and Ferrari. The RM UP-01 Ferrari, announced today, is the new standard by which razor-thin watchmaking is measured. This new ultra-thin timepiece is a mere 1.75mm in thickness beating out Bulgari by a walloping 0.05mm.” [H/T Hodinkee]
Beset by controversy and delays, the Hong Kong Palace Museum opens to acclaim.
“The Hong Kong Palace Museum started off on the wrong foot, amid political tensions and suggestions the costly project was foisted on the city by mainland China. Then its original opening date of July 2, meant to coincide with this year’s 25th anniversary of the handover of the control of Hong Kong from Britain to China, was disrupted by a typhoon. Despite these setbacks, the museum’s opening this past weekend attracted an enthusiastic local audience eager to see the vast amount of Chinese national treasures on display for the first time in the city. Newly created multimedia works by homegrown contemporary artists are shown alongside valuable ancient works of art on loan outside of Beijing for the first time, forging an entirely distinct identity for the new space.” [H/T Artnet News]
The Philadelphia Museum of Art acquires a lecture room designed by Siah Armajani.
“The Philadelphia Museum of Art has acquired a Siah Armajani–designed lecture room from the Fleisher Art Memorial, a community center and art school in the city. Titled the Louis Kahn Lecture Room, the space was designed by Armajani and commissioned as a gift for the Fleisher from the Association of Public Art in 1982. Armajani, who immigrated from Iran to the United States in 1960 and died in 2021, is known for work that blurred the boundaries between sculpture and architecture. In 2018, his work was the subject of a Walker Art Center retrospective that later traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” [H/T ARTnews]
Foster + Partners unveils a curvy skyscraper that stands as one of Kuwait City’s tallest.
“Foster + Partners has created a distinctive supertall skyscraper for the National Bank of Kuwait Headquarters in Kuwait City. Designed to be a landmark in Kuwait’s capital city, the 300-meter-high skyscraper has a rounded form that culminates in a pointed peak. The National Bank of Kuwait Headquarters becomes the second tallest building in the country and is officially a supertall skyscraper—defined as being over 300 meters [984 feet] tall. The skyscraper is wrapped in a series of concrete fins that extend the full height of the tower to provide solar shading for the sixty-three floors of office space.” [H/T Dezeen]
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that rebuilding war-battered Ukraine will cost $750 billion.
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday the reconstruction of his war-battered country is the “common task of the entire democratic world,” as his prime minister laid out a $750 billion recovery plan once the guns of Russia’s invaders fall silent one day. As Russian forces continued their crushing advance in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, Zelenskyy spoke by video message to the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Switzerland about the needs of the country that has been on an up-and-down march toward democracy since the end of the Cold War and now faces widespread devastation.” [H/T The Washington Post]
A preservation group vies for New York’s neglected Titanic Memorial to be restored.
“On a landlocked street corner at the entrance to the South Street Seaport stands a shabby, rust-streaked old lighthouse, its lantern dark, dwarfed by modern towers to its south and west. Passed with scarcely a glance by most people heading to the shops and bars on Fulton Street, this is the 109-year-old Titanic Memorial Lighthouse, which once presided over the East River waterfront from a far prouder height, shining its fixed green beacon miles out to Sandy Hook, at the southern entrance of Lower New York Bay. A fledgling preservation group, which includes descendants of Titanic passengers, has been urging the restoration of the lighthouse for more than two and a half years, while the South Street Seaport Museum, which owns the structure, has been focused on the more immediate, existential struggle of simply staying solvent.” [H/T The New York Times]
Today’s attractive distractions:
Jessica Nabongo has become the first Black woman to visit every country.
Joey Chestnut ate 63 hotdogs to win this year’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Contest.
A graphic designer recreates a Banksy artwork at his home after it was sold.
AI Spacefactory reveals the design for the first human foothold on the moon.
