Comment, Prose

Dwellings of Immortal Souls

by Harriet Strahl While walking in the park and reading the names engraved on the wooden benches along the path, I realized that there are not many things that Plato, Descartes and most religions agree upon. One of these rare beliefs is the immortality of the soul. Science has not yet even proven the existence […]

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Prose

Bodies on Display

by Kryssa Burakowski   The cultural fingerprints of the Austro-Hungarian Empire can still be found all over Zagreb, a city that was under the rule of the Habsburg monarchy for centuries. Its mark can be clearly seen in the traces of the fin-de-siècle Vienna Secession movement across Zagreb. Croatian architects of the period, many of […]

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Artwork

Kitty and the TV

Eve Finnie’s oil painting, “Kitty and the TV”, was recently announced as the winner to Oriel College’s Gower Memorial Prize. She says, “This is a painting of my little sister (Kitty) doing various activities after school layered over each other from the point of view of the television, which was playing throughout the evening.” You can download […]

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Artwork

Of Strange Folk and Monsters

  Charlie Willis’ collection of black and white drawings was recently announced as a runner-up of Oriel College’s Gower Memorial Prize. She says, ‘My inspiration for these pictures was the work of Arthur Rackham and traditional European fairytales. In these photographs of my original drawings I wanted to convey a thoughtful stillness and a sense […]

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Comment, Prose

Can a Film ever be as Good as its Book?

by Jacob Warn The translation of art from one medium to another is no new phenomenon. It begins at least as far back as Homer, who depicts tapestries in verse. It continues through the Latin Poets who versified statues, through Giotto who painted biblical frescoes, through the great opera writers who synthesised multiple mediums of […]

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Artwork

Oriel’s Artistic Renaissance

by Katherine Wood The new Oriel Art Society, founded by second-year Medicine student Frankie Satchwell, marks an important development in the university’s art scene. Providing an environment for students to mix with fellow art dilettantes, consummate artists and complete beginners will be brought together to produce, exhibit and discuss all manners of artistic endeavour. As […]

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Comment, Prose

The Cultural Costs of a Brexit

by Chloe Cheung ‘A heap of broken images, where the sun beats | And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief’. Thus wrote T.S. Eliot in The Wasteland – but would Britain become a similar cultural wasteland in the wake of a break with Brussels? Brexit doomsayers have long been stressing the financial and […]

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Artwork, Culture, Music, Prose

Oriel Arts Week 2015 – What’s On!

by Jacob Warn – Arts Rep. “In the undergraduate body alone, there is a phenomenal wealth of talent and an overflowing energetic drive in artistic fields.” The Oriel Arts Week is quite simply a week-long celebration of the arts. It is an opportunity to showcase and celebrate the wide-ranging artistic talents of Oriel students and […]

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Culture, Prose, Reviews

The Oxford International Art Fair – A Recommendation

by Jacob Warn You should consider going here. It’s the Oxford International Art Fair. There is, of course, a wealth of exhibitions, museums and showcases across Oxford, so all I’m doing is offering another suggestion. I hope for you too it’s still Sunday afternoon. If not, you’ll be too late to enjoy this event, and […]

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Prose

On the Poet’s 20th Birthday

Imagination! Lift up thyself, With crampons on the cliffs around (Hallowed, humble, vaporous mist!) Incline to scale, yourself unground. In some the sun’s low orb ignites The organ of an inspiration And then Apollo’s daily crossing Does burn out gold-streaming creation. While I – still orbless – bemoan at length The wintry dark of discontent, […]

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Artwork, Culture, Prose, Reviews

OAM & OPS present ‘The Body Electric’

One knows by now that entering a student art exhibition in Oxford is a move made at one’s own peril, as there is always the risk of leaving with a lingering awe-ache inspired by the talent it hosts. Tuesday night was no deviation from the norm. Collaborating to provide us with a tasteful mix of artistic […]

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Culture, Music, Prose, Reviews

A master class with visiting musician Tim Garland

As Christmas festivities gradually turn the academic battle in favour of the hardworking student, last week jazz musicians and enthusiasts alike welcomed reinforcement in the form of a delightful master class given by the college’s visiting musician, Tim Garland. Audience and performers gathered in anticipation of an evening of musical instruction and production that offered something to […]

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Artwork, Culture, Prose, Reviews

‘Sade: Attacking the Sun’

Our woman in Paris delves into the Musée d’Orsay’s exploration of the dark, sexual underworld of one of the West’s most perverted thinkers – and comes out disappointed, unsatisfied, and bored. ‘Sex Sells’ – that’s what we’re always told, and that’s clearly something that the Musée d’Orsay are eagerly aware of. The provocative promotional video […]

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Music

Original Music Compositions

Utterly provoking and lyrically fantastic – take a moment to check out some of Ed Wren’s original compositions. This is music that demands serious listening that simply can’t be missed!

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Culture, Music, Prose

Oxford Jazz: A ‘Comprehensible’ Survey

When our parents were young, and punk-rock had captured the hearts and minds of a generation, there must have existed at least one or two thoughtful individuals who would have mused at some point or other, disillusioned with the heady musical vogues of their own day; “whatever did happen to jazz anyway?” But these days, […]

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