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Abstract expressionism — Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning — was literally a Cold War weapon. The CIA secretly bankrolled exhibitions, galleries, and critics through front organizations to prove American culture was superior to Soviet realism. The artists never knew.
Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost town, is being relocated building by building because the iron mine beneath it is causing the ground to collapse. They're moving the church, the town square, 3,000 homes — everything. It's still happening.