Welcome to August, deep into summer. Today is August 12, 2025. On this day, Christopher Columbus arrives in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World (1492); American inventor Thomas Alva Edison makes his discovery of the phonograph (1877); Henry Ford’s company builds the first Model T car (1908); William Somerset Maugham’s acclaimed Of Human Bondage by is published (1915 ); A dedication of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Home as a national shrine is held (1922); East Germany begins construction of the Berlin Wall serving as a symbol of the Cold War and separating East Berlin from West Berlin for 28 years (1961); Echo 1, the first communications satellite, is launched by NASA (1960); Last American combat ground troops leave Vietnam (1972); IBM introduces its first Personal Computer (1981); Swiss banks agree to pay $1.25 billion as restitution to World War II Holocaust victims (1998); Eight years ago today, “Unite the Right” rally takes place in Charlottesville, Virginia, leading to the deaths of 3 and injuring nearly 50 others; Donald Trump during his then first term, hails the phrase “very fine people on both sides,” provoking widespread protests and resulting in the resignation of members of the Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (Art & Politics in America). Spa, or not Spa.
Earlier this summer we celebrated Our 8th Year Anniversary. And on this day August 12 was born German artist Hans Haacke (1936), and died Jean-Michel Basquiat (1988). Welcome to the 163rd edition of Prescriptions. Here is our guide to current events in the arts.
