This Week In The Arts - Youtube and Nationalism
Weekly Edition - Art and Culture Newsletter - Thursday, February 18, 2026
Good morning everyone, happy Thursday. A major topic today is about how citizens perceive the arts in their respective countries. US is second to last, can you guess which country is last? And which is first? Let us know in the comments.
YouTube’s first video is now in a museum
After 382 million views, the world’s first YouTube video, a grainy 19-second clip of co-founder Jawed Karim at the zoo, has officially traded the digital void for a permanent home in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. This landmark acquisition immortalizes the moment that launched the global revolution of user-generated content.
Read more here, or watch the video itself here.
Architecture studio BekArch converts an old bakery building into an apartment in Prague, Czech Republic
This once forgotten bakery in an older part of Prague has been transformed into a light-filled apartment. This redesign showcases how repurposing can breathe new life into forgotten spaces.
Read the redesign here.
Where in the world are people proud of their country’s culture and lifestyle?
Pew Research Center released a new study on what factors people are proud of in their country, when it comes to arts and culture. The US ranks second to last, which begs the question why? This weeks article answers that question.
Read more here.
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The USA is a global leader in the arts, research says we aren't proud of it
But the thing is that we know this. Americans know that we create some of the best art. But we aren’t proud of it. In fact, when looking at the survey as a whole, Americans aren’t really proud of anything related to their country. I myself seem to understand that people are only proud of things related to those who look like them or come from the same community as them. Joe Shmo in Utah could care less that Tyler, the Creator is playing at the Grammys or that a flurry of American artists are being represented at Art Basel. Or on the contrary, I probably myself am not paying much attention to which country artist is making headlines, as I am not particularly interested in that genre, and although I am from Texas, I don't have an affinity for country music. Simply put, I believe we are...
This is an excerpt “The USA is a global leader in the arts, research says we aren't proud of it” by our CEO and independent writer Wolfgang Burst. Read the full story here.
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Wolfgang Bakari Burst
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