Link About It: This Week’s Picks

America's secret society branding, original designs for Super Mario Bros on graph paper and more in this week's look around the web

1. Japan’s Ongoing Nuclear Clean-Up, Five Years Later Five years after a catastrophic earthquake and its resulting tsunami hit Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, workers continue to tirelessly clean up radiation. Ahead of the disaster’s 3.11 anniversary, National Geographic traveled to Fukushima to document remediation efforts. Where fertile farmlands once produced many of the regions crops, mountains of black sacks filled with contaminated soil …

Feelings: Soft Art

With contributions from the likes of Tracey Emin, John Baldessari, Ryan McGinley and more, experimental book “Feelings: Soft Art” explores contemporary art with a focus on emotions and sensual, gut reactions. Via interviews, short essays and (of course) plenty of imagery, readers are reminded that art isn’t always purely intellectual—rather it’s meant to evoke very human, personal emotions.

Kalliopi Lemos: In Balance at Gazelli Art House

Haunting studies in pressure and freedom at the London-based artist's new show

On a video screen in a gallery in London’s upmarket Mayfair area, a woman trapped in a spheric metal cage rolls across a floor, fruitlessly attempting to break out. It’s one image of many in Kalliopi Lemos’ latest exhibition, “In Balance,” looking at the individual’s relationship with the world surrounding us. The unifying theme of the fascinating show is balance, and the pursuit of freedom …