Six New Art and Culture Books: From Chernobyl to Artist Breakfasts

Key facts

• Chernobyl Herbarium by Michael Marder and Anaïs Tondeur (Mimesis, 2021) marks the 35th anniversary of the disaster.
• Marder was in Rostov-on-Don on April 26, 1986, prescribed to escape Moscow's pollution, heading toward the catastrophe.
• Tondeur used the ancient contact photography technique (photogram) to image plants grown in the Chernobyl exclusion zone by Martin Hajduch.
• 'tina #36 (Storielibere, 2021) is a hardcover book collecting 11+1 short stories, curated by Matteo B. Bianchi.
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Étienne Friess, is published by Rizzoli (2021) with updated language for younger readers.
• Il codice Maimonide by Gino Famiglietti and Micaela Procaccia (Castelvecchi, 2021) recounts the 2013 dispute over a medieval manuscript of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed.
• US collector Jay Schottenstein offered $1.9 million for the manuscript; it remained in Italy after Ministry intervention.
• Colazioni d'artista by Valeria Arnaldi (Ultra, 2021) includes a recipe inspired by David Datuna, who ate Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian banana at Art Basel 2019.