I have sometimes thought about what, for once, I might call “the oneiric substance,” if only to steer the question into less sinister territory: do dreams arise from experiences not fully processed, or are they autonomous energetic structures, detached from various material or temporal sources, that pass through the mind in search of the lost warmth of emotions? The question has its beauty.

The Economist, in its October 17 issue, devotes a page of its United States section to a woman in Peachtree City, Georgia, who trains sumo wrestlers. Katie Hardeman is a combat veteran. She calls her boys the Black Dragon boys, though they are closer to middle-aged men.

The Roman historian, senator, and politician Cassius Dio loved a front-row seat. To tell how Commodus, that son of Marcus Aurelius who liked to rule Rome dressed as Hercules, went down into the amphitheatre arena one afternoon and beheaded an incredulous ostrich. With the creature’s head in his left hand and the wet sword in his right, he climbed to the stands where the senators were sitting. He said nothing.

In encounters with certain works of contemporary visual art, perception activates modes of association that situate aesthetic experience in territories where matter, gesture, and time intertwine. Elizabet Cerviño’s (Manzanillo, Cuba, 1986) exhibition The Rhythm of Resilience, recently presented at Gallery 114 in Ybor City, Florida, unfolds within this horizon.

Whenever I take part—as a curator or a viewer—in an exhibition bringing together several artists, seven women in this case, any number of men or any combination of the two sexes, I try to imagine the reasons, the implicit mystique that such a combination requires.

On Saturday, September 12th, The Annex Gallery brought together some forty people for an evening of celebration and fundraising dedicated to advancing the education of children living in some of the world's poorest communities.

Beyond I.T.I.N.E.R.A.T.I.O.N.S., at The Annex Gallery, The Most Merciful Thing in the World, by renowned American artist Trevor Paglen, was the first exhibition I visited in the current FotoFocus Biennial at its main venue. Open since October 1, it held its official reception only yesterday, on the 3rd, following a performance-lecture by Paglen.