JAMES WALSH is moved by a provocative and original take on the relationship between ecology and architecture, and a plea to work with, not against, the materials and minerals of our world
Well red
MICHAL BONCZA recommends a book celebrating the primary colour's use in architecture
Paper Bridge
An immersive, participatory display by a queer Australian Aboriginal performer, and a rebellious unravelling of traditional Scottish dance
EWAN CAMERON witnesses a political farce that lacks a clear message
EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
Red: Architecture in Monochrome
(Phaidon, £29.95)
THE COLOUR red has impacted on human creativity since time immemorial, from Palaeolithic cave painting in Spain, aboriginal Australian art and Pompeii’s villa frescos to the memorable El Lissitzky 1919 poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge.
Carminic acid, extracted from cochineal insects, was the dye used by Inca and Aztec elites and was worth its weight in gold to the conquistadors, who introduced it to Europe. They shipped 72 metric tonnes of it to Seville in 1587 alone.
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