Kat Mustatea’s follow-up to Voidopolis , which was just released as an augmented reality book by MIT Press. Ambivaland traces the narrative of Dante’s Purgatorio, with new constraints and algorithms. See her postings on Instagram.
Hozier, Unreal Unearth (2023 album)
Hozier’s much-anticipated album Unreal Unearth was released on August 18, 2023. The album, which is comprised of songs mostly written during and immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic, is loosely constructed around Dante’s nine circles. Hozier is extremely eloquent in talking about how his songs take up Dante’s ideas, themes, and images, and his press and social media interviews are worth a listen for anyone interested in his adaptations of Dante!
“While keen to stress that the record is by no means a concept album, Hozier went on to explain how Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell had provided a handy framing device for the record. Specifically, the album reflects upon two of the nine circles of hell: gluttony and heresy.
‘There’s a subtle element and I wanted to be light and playful with it. The album can be taken as a collection of songs, but also as a little bit of a journey. It starts with a descent and I’ve arranged the songs according to their themes into nine circles, just playfully reflecting Dante’s nine circles and then an ascent at the end,’ he said.
‘Because I think everyone went on a little bit of a journey over the last two years, everybody went through something changed, something about their lives, something about their work, something about themselves and came out the other side, slightly changed in some way, shape or form and that, it was sort of, that was just, that’s just how the album is arranged.'” –Nick Reilly, “Hozier on new EP ‘Eat Your Young’ and how Dante’s ‘Inferno’ inspired him,” RollingStone UK (March 17, 2023)
See the official videos for “Eat Your Young” (Hozier’s take on gluttony),”All Things End” (heresy), and more on Hozier’s YouTube channel.
Contributed by many friends of Dante Today, including Aspen Foulk, Alyssa Granacki, Akash Kumar, Robert Alex Lee, Caleb Taylor, and Emily Yemington. Many thanks to all the contributors!
Brenda Clough, “Clio’s Scroll” (2023)
Brenda Clough’s science fiction novelette, Clio’s Scroll has Dante as a main character. Clarkesworld 202 (July 2023). Full piece available here.
“5 Things To Know About Schiaparelli’s Dante-Inspired SS23 Couture Show,” Vogue Article
“From divisive foam animal heads to Daniel Roseberry’s meditation on Dante’s Inferno, British Vogue’s fashion critic Anders Christian Madsen shares five things to know about Schiaparelli’s spring/summer 2023 couture show, which opened Couture Fashion Week this season.
[. . .]
“In his self-penned show notes, Roseberry cited Dante’s Inferno as the inspiration behind the collection, likening its protagonist’s uncertain journey into hell to the doubt that falls upon a designer like himself when he sits down to design. ‘This collection is my homage to doubt,’ he wrote. ‘I wanted to step away from techniques I was comfortable with and understood, to choose instead that dark wood where everything is scary but new.’ The feeling of the inferno appeared more as a spiritual reference than a direct one, unless your idea of hell is being trapped inside a massive faux taxidermy wolf, Midsommar style. (Naomi Campbell, who was given the honour, seemed typically unfazed.) Along with the lion and the snow leopard, it represented the animals Dante equates to lust, pride and avarice. A reference to the friendly giants he encounters in hell, a hammered brass and patina handmade giant’s head hit the runway with equal theatrical effect.
[. . .]
“Roseberry’s show notes finished on a sentimental key: ‘Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso,’ he wrote, referring to the three books that make up The Divine Comedy. ‘One cannot exist without the others. It is a reminder that there is no such thing as heaven without hell; there is no joy without sorrow; there is no ecstasy of creation without the torture of doubt. My prayer for myself is that I remember that always – that, on my most difficult days, when inspiration just won’t come, I remember that no ascension to heaven is possible without first a trip to the fires, and the fear that comes with it. Let me embrace it always.’ As a wise lion once said: Hakuna matata.” –Anders Christian Madsen, “5 Things to Know About Schiaparelli’s Dante-Inspired SS23 Couture Show”, Vogue, January 23, 2023
For more on the show (and the controversies it stirred), see the New York Times‘ coverage here and here.
Contributed by Caleb Taylor (Florida State University ’26) and others. Thanks to all who sent links!
