Persepolis 2.0

Iranian Comic-Book Artists Seek a Unique, Local Identity – NYTimes.com. Many young Iranian artists admit to a passion for comic books from the United States and Europe. They can be purchased in Tehran, though they are expensive and often covered with the censors’ black ink. But local artists say they are trying to stamp their work with an Iranian identity.

Seven Stories, and Loads of Ideas, in Brooklyn – NYTimes.com. Here a dozen ecological and technology entrepreneurs work in constant collaboration. Amanda Parkes, a co-founder of a biofuel start-up called Bodega Algae, also designs what she calls “parasitic energy costumes” that capture energy generated by the body in motion. So when a Parisian dance company commissioned costumes for a performance this winter, Ms. Parkes solicited the help of James Patten, an interactive designer, and Jessica Banks, a roboticist, who sit 15 feet away.

Metropolitan Museum’s Moroccan Courtyard Takes Shape – NYTimes.com. Almost 30 years later the museum was embarking on the most ambitious rethinking and rebuilding of its Islamic art galleries in its history, a $50 million endeavor. At the heart of those galleries, which will open in the fall after being closed six years, it dreamed of showcasing the defining feature of Moroccan and southern Spanish Islamic architecture: a medieval Maghrebi-Andalusian-style courtyard, which would function in much the same way such courtyards still do in the traditional houses and mosques of Marrakesh or Casablanca, as their physical and spiritual center.