There is a good reason why the word Roomba has become synonymous with robot vacuum cleaners. Although we continue to see that capable competitors come to market at ever lower prices, the Roomba line of iRobot remains the brand to be defeated.

We have reviewed dozens of Roomba models to find out which perform best: our current favorite is the Roomba S9 +, which is almost as perfect as perfect, but also pricey. If you are looking for something more affordable, we have included our favorite iRobot models in every price range. We have even added our favorite non-vacuum robots from iRobot!

The latest addition to the iRobot line-up, the Roomba S9 +, builds on the innovations introduced in the Roomba i7 + last year. The S9 + received an Editors Choice Award from Digital Trends. Just like the i7 +, the S9 series is available with or without iRobots cool Clean Base charging station and self-draining garbage can. There is also a new D-shaped housing and an improved brush design that promises better edge and corner cleaning, while the suction is increased 40 times compared to the Roomba 600 series. You also benefit from smart cards that allow you to select individual rooms for cleaning (as well as entire floors) and a unique anti-allergen system a scoop for robot vacuum cleaners, according to iRobot designed to collect dust and pollen.

The Roomba 960 model stands in the middle between the functions of Roomba and the prices of Roomba, so you can get an intelligent cleaning bone at medium prices (well, middle class for Roombas). The model includes iRobots three-stage suction and brush system, equipped with rubber brushes designed to clean both hard floors and low carpets. The brushes bend to ensure that they are always at ground level and the extraction system is five times more powerful than older Roomba models. In the meantime, the filter retains 99% dust and allergens (although it is smart to always have a number of replacement filters on hand if you use your Roomba regularly).

Although the Roomba includes many smart features to navigate, including automatic charging for the 75-minute battery, it also comes with a virtual wall barrier that you can set to partition specific spaces if there is somewhere where you dont want the bot to Go . The planning via the advanced Roomba app is excellent, but you can also choose to give your Roomba a voice command if you have an Echo device at home.

The Roomba i7 + of 2018 won an Editors Choice Award from Digital Trends and remains a wonderful choice, despite the introduction of this years Roomba S9 +. It was the first robotic vacuum cleaner with a self-draining dustbin in addition to smart space mapping, an advanced motor with improved suction, durable brushes and an improved processor. Choose the Clean Base charging station and you must add iRobots replaceable dust bags to your shopping list every few months. But the i7 + is a valuable investment for those who want to fully automate vacuuming.

If you like the idea that Roomba roams your house but doesnt like the price of the leading iRobot models, dont worry theres a robot vacuum cleaner for you! The Roomba 614 costs more than $ 300 and offers a solid suite of functions. Keep an eye on the deals and you might be able to collect it for less than $ 200. Of course there are some compromises. Two multi-surface brushes and sensor navigation help this cost-effective model to autonomously clean your home, but suction is considerably reduced, which means that this bone may not be the best choice for thicker carpets or rugs. The entry level vacuum also lacks app control and Alexa / Google Assistant integration.

The Roomba 980 is no longer available, but it is possible that you can still find the store in certain stores. It is a more advanced version of the 960 with improved functions. At the launch, the price was considerably higher, but has fallen since our assessment. The extra large battery in this model lasts up to 120 minutes, making it well suited for larger spaces, and the cleaning system has twice the power compared to the 960 ideal for cleaning up larger spilled liquids or messy pets. Otherwise, the model includes the first-line smart features that you can expect from a Roomba bot, including speech detection, detailed app control, and dirt detection technology that helps Roomba spend more time in high-traffic areas.

The Roomba e5 is a solid mid-range pick. It is particularly good at picking up pet hair, with a combination of powerful suction and double rubber brushes that can work equally well on carpet or hardwood floors. It is equipped with a selection of innovative Roomba functions, including automatic charging, a full set of sensors and compatibility with both Alexa and Google Assistant. This is all the more impressive when you consider that it is very reasonably priced for a Roomba model. The battery will last approximately 90 minutes on a hard surface. If you have pets and lots of hardwood that you want to keep clean and free of dust hair with animal hair this is a great and affordable model to use.

The Braava 380t and entry-level Braava Jet 240 were iRobots first trip to autonomous mop and were positive additions, despite the need for regular fillings with cleaning solution and a little extra work to set up the corresponding NorthStar navigation blocks.

The Braava Jet m6 solves a number of problems and inconveniences that stopped these first-generation lines. There is a new design, improved maps and navigation technology with individual room selection, plus improved edge and corner cleaning. The Braava Jet m6 also detects when the battery is empty, returns to the charger and then resumes mopping from the same point. App control and support for both Alexa and Google Assistant are also included in the update, and if you also have a Roomba i7 or S9, you can set your robot army to vacuum and mop in order. Although the new model supports both wet mopping and dry sweeping, you still need to invest regularly in iRobots disposable cleaning pads for the best performance.

Although this guide focuses primarily on floor cleaning robots, we found this iRobot robotic lawnmower worth mentioning. The Terra Mower is easy to install and operate, using wireless beacons and Imprint Smart Mapping to teach your garden and then mow your grass in an efficient back and forth pattern.

It can avoid obstacles and you can create a boundary system without cables. This means that you can tell the mower where to mow and where not, without digging up your yard to install wire or boundary line systems. The Terra Robot Mower was for sale in 2019 as part of a beta program in the US and Germany, but you should (hopefully) be able to buy the robotic lawnmower later this year.

Recommendations from the editors

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The best Roomba Robovacs of 2020 - Mash Viral

Published 9:15am EST, Friday, January 3, 2020

LAS VEGAS (AP) A Nevada man who has lived in an abandoned mine shaft for seven years has been given 30 days to vacate his renovated, underground home.

Boulder City police delivered the eviction notice to Richard Roman Dec. 19, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Thursday.

City officials determined Roman, 68, was violating four city codes and two state laws and raising numerous health and safety concerns.

The mine is near U.S. Highway 93 in an undeveloped area of the city 26 miles (42 kilometers) southeast of Las Vegas.

Roman installed two swinging doors at the entrance of the mine shaft extending horizontally about 20 feet (6 meters) into a rocky ridge. The shaft leads to a cavern living area of about 160 square feet (15 square meters).

Roman has a customized mattress that fits into an elevated corner and an fan salvaged from a scrapped vehicle that maintains the temperature at 85 degrees (29 degrees Celsius) in the summer.

There is also a $2,000 solar panel that powers several LED lights and batteries, while the floor of the cavern is covered with a discarded carpet from a casino.

Members of poor and homeless advocacy group HELP of Southern Nevada accompanied Boulder City Police Sgt. Craig Tomao and Officer Guy Leidkie to meet with Roman.

HELP took Roman to look at several apartments where he qualifies for housing assistance, City Manager Al Noyola said in an email to the mayor and city council.

Mr. Roman understood the health and safety concerns, and confirmed that he will be leaving the site within 30 days," Noyola wrote, adding that HELP and the police showed expediency and empathy in addressing Roman's housing situation.

Roman said in a text that he was looking for housing in Las Vegas and was ready to move forward and make this a good year.

Read more:
Nevada man ordered to move out of renovated mine shaft home - Thehour.com

Public art has been part of Charlestons rich history and culture for decades. Monumental sculptures in the city date back to the 1920s. Today we are experiencing a surge of public art activity that is transforming our city.

In 2017, the Office of Public Art was established to educate, conserve and create new works in public spaces. To date, the office has since been instrumental in the installation of more than 65 new pieces of public art.

In 2018, investment in the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center included an opportunity to establish a Public Art program. The City of Charlestons Office of Public Art acquired over 25 new pieces, including several large-scale sculptures that define the new space.

In 2019 this momentum continued, as 25 artists were commissioned to create 32 new works of public art. These pieces were diverse and gave new understanding of the impact that public art can make. While many murals were completed, parade pieces, art centered events, major conservation efforts and education made 2019 a truly unforgettable year for public art.

These are a few of the projects that highlight public art in Charleston in 2019:

Partners: Office of Public Art, Briar Hills Garden Club and Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center

Deep Roots Long Reach is a kinetic sculpture that was designed specifically for Charleston taking inspiration from the trees. Trees simultaneously reach into the earth and the sky, artist Harry McDaniel said. If they could speak, some could tell us of the early days of Charleston.

Artists: Rob Cleland, Jeff Pierson, Amanda Jane Miller, Staci Leech, Debra Rayhill, Kayleigh Phillips, Mallory Burka and Blake Wheeler

Eight artists designed site-specific pieces meant to integrate with their environment. These pieces become part of the Charlestons landscape as part of the Citys Team Up to Clean Up event.

Designers: Jeff Pierson and Jack OHearn

Partners: Office of Public Art, Charleston Main Streets, Sherwin Williams and the Red Carpet Lounge

Over 30 artists and volunteers came together to create a community mural on Charlestons East End. The piece featured colorful circles and showcased the East Ends vibrancy and community pride.

The Brawley Walkway Pop Up Mural Project

Artists: Luke Atkinson and Carlos Culbertson

Partners: Office of Public Art and CURA

Along Brawley Walkway, windows were transformed by Carlos Culberston and Luke Atkinson, who created two dynamic new murals.

Partners: Office of Public Art, South Hills Neighborhood Association and City National Bank

A sprawling mural located on the side of City National Bank depicts everyday life with wild colorful designs.

Project Title: The Dreamer

Partners: Office of Public Art; Dewayne Duncan, Bradley Harris, Paula Flaherty; Charleston Main Streets

The two red doorway awnings on Gardners Dry Cleaners create a red bench. As a working man eating his lunch daydreams, birds and pattern work become more and more colorful, wrapping around a second facade on the building.

Glow in the Park/Zoeys Butterfly

Partners: Office of Public Art and FestivALL

During the Makeshop Appalachia program, through the Charleston Boys and Girls Club and MESH design, Zoey, 12, created a design concept for a butterfly sculpture that glowed. The Office of Public Art worked with Zoey to make the sculpture a reality. Glow in the Park brought members of the community to Magic Island for a night of face painting, family art activities and the unveiling of Zoeys sculpture.

The Wonder Conservation Project

Partners: Office of Public Art, WTSQ and John and Tighe Bullock

Since its creation in 2016, the Wonder Mural has become an icon for public art and a symbol of the revitalization of the Elk City. Due to a water leak, the mural was damaged and the artist recreated the lower third of the mural adding new characters to his already colorful piece.

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Eye of the Beholder: Year in review of Charleston's public art in 2019 - Charleston Gazette-Mail

Oxford, Miss. | $750,000A newly built house with three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms, on a 0.31-acre lot

Adapted from Allison Ramsey Architects cottage plans, this home was constructed in 2019 by its owner, who is also the listing agent. It is 10 minutes on foot from the University of Mississippi campus and Courthouse Square, the historic heart of Oxford and the location of what is said to be the oldest department store in the South (Neilsons, founded in 1839). Stone Park, with its new activity center, and the Oxford Depot Trail, a biking and pedestrian thoroughfare that was once a stretch of the Mississippi Central Railroad, are two blocks away.

Size: 2,529 square feet

Price per square foot: $297

Indoors: The front door takes you into room with shiplap-clad walls and bleached engineered hardwood floors. On the left is the living area, which centers on a gas fireplace. On the right is the kitchen, which has an island with seating, quartz countertops and a Smeg oven and hood. Floating shelves and glass-fronted upper cabinets lend a clean feeling to this room and the adjacent dining area. Beyond it are a pantry, study and laundry room.

Straight ahead of the front door, beyond a staircase with metal cable railing, is a master suite. The bedroom is decorated with metallic cork wallpaper; the bathroom includes a natural-stone-trough double sink and a wet room: a glassed-in area with a soaking tub, rain shower head and hand-held sprayer. The walk-in closet is fitted with storage from the Container Store.

The second floor has two carpeted guest rooms, each with a walk-in closet with custom organization and an en suite bathroom. There is also a media room with a sliding barn door and climate-controlled storage, and a bonus room that could be put to any number of uses.

Outdoor space: The house has a covered front porch and a small rear deck that steps down to a brick patio and the yard. Garden beds surround a lawn and could be planted with evergreens for privacy in place of a fence. Parking is in a rear carport.

Taxes: $4,000 (estimated)

Contact: Betsy Patton, Matthews Real Estate, 662-801-4502; iproperty.com.my

This home is just a few blocks uphill from Country Club Plaza, a historic shopping center with Spanish-style buildings, whose holiday-season lights are visible from the propertys roof deck. The nine-acre Westwood Park is a five-minute walk west, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is a mile and a half east. The owners recently freshened all the interior paint and installed new carpet.

Size: 3,632 square feet

Price per square foot: $203

Indoors: The three-story house puts social and private spaces on the main level, minimizing the number of stairs occupants need to climb. The open-plan layout centers on a living-and-dining room with a floor-to-ceiling window, a white-painted brick wood-burning fireplace and a beamed ceiling. A partial wall of bookshelves blocks the view of the staircase; beyond it is an eat-in kitchen lined in floating wood lower cabinets with cultured-stone countertops and laminate upper cabinets. Penny-round tile covers the backsplashes. The breakfast area opens to a backyard deck built around an oak tree. The floors throughout these rooms are stained hardwood.

The three carpeted bedrooms on this level include a master with direct access to the backyard deck. The master bathroom has double sinks in a concrete-and-wood vanity. There is also a laundry room.

Upstairs is an office with red linoleum flooring and access to the roof deck. On the walkout lower level, the owners removed one of two garages and created a bedroom, a full bathroom and a rec room. This section has a private exterior entrance and could be rented.

Outdoor space: The spacious roof deck has wood fencing around the perimeter and built-in benches. Parking is in the remaining two-car garage at the homes base.

Taxes: $2,333

Contact: David Costello, RE/MAX Premier Realty, 816-591-3186; remax.com

This one-story stucco-clad house with a clay-tile roof is in West Sedona, less than a mile below stores, services and entertainment along Route 89A. The property of more than three-quarters of an acre is planted with mature trees and has red-rock views. The house is unusual in the area, as it is not governed by a homeowners association; a casita could be added and rented out for any length of time.

Size: 2,601 square feet

Price per square foot: $279

Indoors: A living room with a vaulted ceiling and travertine floor includes a wall of glass, providing access to a rear patio. In a corner is a kiva fireplace with a granite-topped travertine hearth. A dining area flows off the opposite side of this room, with French doors opening to another patio. It connects to an upgraded kitchen with oak cabinets, granite countertops, a mobile island and a windowed breakfast bay. Among the appliances are a double wall oven and a Viking cooktop.

The master suite includes a walk-in closet and a private terrace with a trellis woven with wisteria vines. The master bathroom has double sinks, a jetted soaking tub and a glass-walled shower. The two guest bedrooms are on the opposite side of the home and share a hall bathroom. There is also a laundry room between the attached two-car garage and the kitchen.

Outdoor space: The four patios, one on each side of the house, open the living space to the surrounding nature and the wildlife that wanders by: Elk, deer, javelina and more than 30 bird species have been observed by the owners.

Taxes: $4,100

Contact: Denise Thomas Garlan, Russ Lyon Sothebys International Realty, 928-399-9616; russlyon.com

For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.

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$750,000 Homes in Mississippi, Missouri and Arizona - The New York Times

Editor's note:A few weeks ago, the Tribune provided readers with what we believe are the most important Crawford County-area stories of 2019. We then asked our readers to rank the stories from No. 1 (most important) to No. 15 (least important).

Today, we present the top story of the year. Nos. 15-11 ran Friday, followed by 10-7 Saturday, 6-4 Sunday and 3-2 Monday.

The top story of 2019 is an epic whopper of a tale, but this time its not the size of the fish thats likely to increase with each retelling but the length of the dry spell in between fishing expeditions on a beloved body of Crawford County water.

Year after year after year, the news was a chorus no one loved: Tamarack, Tamarack, youre always a year away.

No more: 2020 is the year for Tamarack Lake, the year it ceases to be the lake that got away and becomes the lake that returned.

Its not quite fully there yet, but the water level is steadily, if slowly, inching its way up.

It's nice seeing the new dams in place and the water returning, West Mead Township Secretary-Treasurer Jill Dunlap said in mid-December. There is a lot more water in itthan at this time last year and we are being told that by spring, it should be at normal levels.

Officials at the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which maintains the lake, confirmed the anticipated completion date.

The lake will continue to refill over winter and we expect to fully reopen in spring 2020, Communications Director Mike Parker said. Its definitely one of our success stories in the region because of all the local involvement and everyone being engaged.

And water isnt the only thing returning to Tamarack.

Fish are returning as well. PFBC began restocking the lake over the summer: 11,000 golden shiners and 28,000 fathead minnows were released to provide forage for larger fish and 5,500 largemouth bass fingerlings, each about 6 inches long, were released in the lake this year, according to Parker.

In all likelihood, some unwanted carp also remain among the forage fish and bass that were added, according to Parker, since small pools of water remained in the lake even years after it was drained. Adding the largemouth bass fingerlings is an attempt to jump-start the predator-prey relationship and eliminate some carp still existing in there, Parker said.

The forage fish are expected to reproduce rapidly next year, when more panfish will be added. Over the next three years, sunfish, crappies and eventually muskies will be released. During that time, and likely for another year or two after, fishing will remain strictly catch and release as the fish populations are established.

Empty since 2012, Tamarack Lake began its resurgence in 2018 with the construction of two new dams at either end of the reservoir. The comeback continued throughout 2019 as construction wrapped up and refilling began. In June, a ceremonial valve-turning took place with state and local officials, neighbors and the media gathering to mark the symbolic end of $12.2 million rehabilitation project.

Students from Cochranton Junior-Senior Highdepart after completing work in preparation for aquatic vegetation exclosures that they helped to install this fall at Tamarack Lake.

Later in the summer, dry hydrants for use by area fire departments were installed and by August the first batch of bass fingerlings had been released.

In early fall, work on the docks and parking areas was finished. Enhancements continued in the fall with students from Cochranton Junior-Senior High and members of the Friends of Tamarack Lake, the grassroots organization that helped spur the dam rehabilitation project, joining personnel from PFBC and Crawford County Conservation District.

The students built installed fishing line recycling stations at the Springs Road boat launch at the northern end and at one launch on the eastern side of the lake. The stations will be maintained by the Friends of Tamarack Lake, with more stations planned for next spring around the time the refilling process is complete.

In addition, the students participated in a project that is the first of its kind for PFBC and CCCD, according to Brian Pilarcik, watershed specialist with the conservation district.

At this point its a demonstration project to see if we can get it to work, Pilarcik said of the installation of exclosures in areas adjacent to three launch sites around the lake.

For now, the exclosures are on dry land, but by spring they should be underwater, with the pens installed by students keeping out animals like turtles and waterfowl that might otherwise eat the native aquatic vegetation that Pilarcik hopes will thrive inside the fenced areas.

Without such exclosures, growing such plants would be almost like putting out a salad bar for things that eat aquatic plants, he said.

With Tamarack empty for seven years, the bottom of the lake is a blank slate, according to Pilarcik, but as soon as its covered with water, boat traffic and waterfowl are likely to introduce invasive nonnative species like hydrilla, a vexatious weed that grows quickly and aggressively, forming a dense covering like a shag carpet that leaves no room for fish and no food for waterfowl, according to Pilarcik.

To prevent such an outcome, the Cochranton students will return to the exclosures in the spring to plant eelgrass, water willow, pickerel weed and arrow arum, species that are much more beneficial to fish and waterfowl as well as to the stability of the lakeshore banks, in hopes that the plants will take hold before invasive species have a chance to. Pilarcik said the plan is modeled on similar efforts in Texas, where it has worked well in already-full lakes.

The fact that Tamarack was being refilled it was like everything was lining up for it, Pilarcik said. Its a first for Fish and Boat. Were cautiously optimistic, but were pretty excited about trying to get this off the ground.

Mike Crowleycan be reached at 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.

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Tribune's Top Story of 2019: Tamarack Lake is on the rise - Meadville Tribune

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A seemingly impossible event has occurred that many thought theyd never see at one of the states beloved historic gems.

The Strand Theatre of Louisiana will enter the new year debt-free and with funds available to invest in longoverdueand necessary renovations.

Its a miracle, said Jodie Glorioso, The Strands outgoing president of the board of directors.

Jodie Glorioso - File Photo(Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)

The Strand Theatre of Louisiana is the states official theater, opened in 1925 at the corner of Louisiana Avenue and Crockett Street in the heart of downtown Shreveport. Its the flagship theater of the Saenger Brothers, who went on to construct more than 300 theaters across the South.

Keeping The Strand Theatre up to its original grandeur and in operation has been a constant struggle over the decades with a major factor being lack of money for repairs and maintenance. The current board members and staff stayed diligent tofind ways to keep the doors open.

It was going to be a challenge, but I will say weve had the most cooperation from our board members and the staff, Glorioso said, whos served as president for three years. She will remain on the board as vice president of programming as of Jan. 1.

Jenifer Hill, the executive director of the nonprofit arts organization, has played an integral part in the theaters fiscal revival since she stepped into the role five years ago.

At that time, The Strand Theatre was in a state of deep financial hardship a maxed-out $100,000 line of credit, two liens, and a $75,000 debt owed to the stagehands union (IATSE Labor Union). Overall, the theater was more than $275,000 in the hole and the board discussed closing the doors, Hill said.

I had just taken over and I asked them to please, give me a chance, Hill said. Give me until the first of the year to see what I can do and see what we could do.

The board was supportive and together they worked to find a solution. It was a slow, long, and daunting task. However, at the end of 2019, they received what they needed to carry The Strand Theatre in the new decade stable and able to serve the community for many more years to come major donations from generous community members.

The Strand is totally out of debt and all of our bills are paid and that is not something I thought I would see, ever, Hill said.

The Strand Theatre of Louisiana will enter the new year debt-free and with funds available to invest in longoverdueand necessary renovations.(Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)

The Strand Theatrerelies heavily on grants, government funding, sponsorships, and patron donations which is then invested in areas such as general operations, programming, and building preservation.

Also, the administrators areobligated to stay within certain guidelines as the theater operates asa nonprofit organization and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

(For) a lot of nonprofits, the last quarter of the year is horrific and frightening, Hill said. We never know if were going to have enough money to make it through the end of the year. We always seem to scrape by."

Unexpected charitable givings large and small are credited to bring The Strand into a secure fiscal position.

This place is blessed because somehow we always seem to make it through, Hill said. This year, we paid off that line of credit and going to make it through the end of the year without touching it. All of our bills are paid. Im blown away.

In 2018, the board of directors launched an aggressive fundraising campaign. They set up a matching fund nicknamed the Magic Fund in which every dollar donated by the public would be matched byindividual and honorary board members.

In the first year, the goal was to raise $25,000 which would be matched up to $50,000.

We blew past that and had $62,000. That was a big deal for us, Hill said.

Related: Riverview Theater and Hall is redone and open for business, entertainment

The 2018 Magic Fund was used for essential improvements, such as replacing one of the three sump pumps to prevent basement flooding, which could ruin the building's electrical system if they go out.

The Strand Theatre of Louisiana will enter the new year debt-free and with funds available to invest in longoverdueand necessary renovations.(Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)

Additional improvements included:

In 2019, the Magic Fund campaign returned with the new, higher goal set at $50,000 for donations, which would be matched to a total of $100,000. The administrators reached the goal, thanks to an unnamed old and dear friend of The Strand who donated a large monetary gift, Hill said.

Among the renovations at The Strand Theatre of Louisiana are the faded carpets on the stairs.(Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)

The $100,000 will be used for building renovations, which must be compliant with historic regulations. Additional large monetary donations allowed for clearing the two liens off and paying off the line of credit.

While its not enough to finish all of the needed renovations, its a good start to get the more urgent needs addressed, Hill said.

Upcoming improvements will include:

Since The Strand Theatre opened in 1925, limited work has been done due to lack of money and time, Glorioso said.

In the mid-1970s, The Strand Theatre closed until it was donated by the ABC-Interstate Theatres to the newly-formed Strand Theatre of Shreveport Corporation. It reopened in 1984 after a massive restoration project.

More: New season lineup announced for The Strand Theatre in Shreveport

Dec.21, 2019marked the 35th year anniversary since The Strands reopening. The work was enough to sustain the building for a short time, but it was a temporary fix and incomplete.

Among the renovations at The Strand Theatre of Louisiana are the faded carpets on the stairs.(Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)

Money ran out and construction was halted for a year before enough money was raised to restart. Money was still short in supply so manythings were left unfinished or never done. However, the venuehad to reopen or risk losing tax credits.

They were not finished but it had to come to an end, Hill said. For the past 35 years, weve still been putting Band-Aids on things. Weve never been able to finish.

Ongoing fundraising efforts provednot to be enough to keep up with the growing list of needs, thus thedebt grew deeper.

Meanwhile, the things that were on that list we have had to suck it up and remain. There are things that just have to be done, Hill said.

And several years ago, a substantial government grant fell that would have allowed for restoration of the roof. The roof had never been fully replaced and had about five layers of patchwork on the roof.

In 2015, a local donor presented a surprising offer. The deal stated that funds to complete the roofs replacement would be provided under the stipulation that the administrators clean up their act, which included getting the liens off the building.

The boardagreed and received a check for $560,000. The complete restoration of the roof was completed that year.

The fact that we have this new roof it preserves the magnificence of this plasterwork, Glorioso said. There was always leaks, moisture accumulation and things like that that caused the paint to peel and the plaster to deteriorate.

The Strand Theatre leaders resolutions for 2020 is to stay debt-free, on the right fiscal track, and to keep moving forward with matching funds so they can continue to do work on the building.

Also, they are devoted to finding ways to stay at the forefront of the communitys mind.

The key is to never let them forget Glorioso said.

Were always challenged to come on this stage each show and ask them (the audience) for their support and their help with the understanding that because of you, were still here, Glorioso said. Its been a challenge, but its been so rewarding in many ways.

File Photo(Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)

The board implemented committees to develop new, engaging, and diverse stage show lineups for upcoming seasons to appeal to broader demographics. For the 2020-21 season, a concert series will be announced aimed to attract a younger audience.

Providing programming to entertain and engage all age groups is an investment to create future supporters and donors who will be dedicated to preserving the historic site for future generations.

Enjoy live theater, live performance because theres nothing like it, Glorioso said. You can have your digital whatever on YouTube, but to see the human create in front of you every performance is just great. Thats what you get when you come here.

The Strand Theatre of Louisiana is located at 619 Louisiana Avenue in Shreveport. To learn more about The Strand Theatre's history and current season lineup and to donate, visit atthestrandtheatre.com.

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Strand Theatre clears debts, preps for renovations in Shreveport - Shreveport Times

Chanukah just ended and Christmas now feels like a distant memory, so all the best deals in retailers year-end sales must be gone too, right? Well, it might surprise you to learn that big stores across the country are still offering some of the lowest prices of 2019 on popular products across all categories. Today alone, top daily deals include an $11 cable that charges your Apple Watch and iPhone at the same time, the best-selling TP-Link Wi-Fi range extender out there for only $14.95 or the upgraded faster versionfor $21.99, a best-selling Roomba robot vacuum for only $199.99, so many discounts on Bose headphones and speakers, Black Friday pricing on AirPods 2, Alexa and Google enabled Wi-Fi smart plugs with extra USB ports for just $7.17 each with coupon code LDWIS2EA, Sonos wireless speakers starting at just $149, the Echo Dot for cars for just $14.40, more than $15 off the Roku Streaming Stick+, and plenty more.

Of all the sales out there right now, theres one in particular thats in the process of wrapping up and youll definitely want to check it out before it disappears. Its over at Walmart, where more than 1,000 different products are on sale at deep discounts in the retailers end of the year clearance sale. Shop the entire sale right here on Walmarts site, and youll find our 10 favorite deals of the day on Monday listed below.

Apple AirPods with Charging Case: $139.00 (reg. $159.00)(more AirPods deals available on Amazon)

Lightning USB Cable Charger Cord (6 feet): $7.81 (reg. $24.99)

iRobot Roomba 670 Robot Vacuum: $244.00 (reg. $329.99)(MUCH lower price available on Amazon)

Farberware 3.2 Quart Digital Air Fryer: $49.00 (reg. $69.00)

The Perfect Appliance: introduce your children to the thrills of 3D printing or moonlight and develop your own 3D creations when the kids are in bed. Weighing a measly 17lb, the da Vinci Mini Series is light and small enough to easily move around the home, no matter what project your working on.

Get and Create 3D Models Easily: Looking to fix that broken bathroom fitting? Well browse through thousands of free 3D models on our online 3D gallery. Just download the files you like, open them in XYZmaker our 3D modelling and print-file preparation software and print. Better yet, XYZmakers easy-to-use interface makes it easy to create your own 3D model, letting you customize everyday household items, quickly and easily.

Play. Make. Learn: The da Vinci miniMaker is a great entry-level desktop 3D printer. Create household items or toys for your children quickly and easily with this innovative and lightweight printer.

Lightweight and Transportable: Weighing less than 18lb, the da Vinci miniMaker is light enough to easily move around your house. Small Size, Big Print Volume: With a 5.9 x 5.9 x 5.9 aluminum print bed, print bigger and higher quality objects on a smaller printer. Stress-free Maintenance: Comes fully assembled with auto-leveling software, making setup, calibration and maintenance simple. Perfect Prints First Time: All of our print materials are quality checked and pre-tested so that when you print a model using our 3D software XYZmaker, all the print settings have been calculated for you. Simply load your model and press print to get greats results every time

XYZprinting da Vinci Mini Wireless 3D Printer: $169.95 (reg. $279.00)

Home Door Ring WiFi Wireless Visual Camera: $39.99 (reg. $129.99)

Microsoft Xbox One S 1TB All Digital Edition 3 Game Bundle: $149.00 (reg. $249.00)

Sceptre 50 Class 4K Ultra HD (2160P) LED TV: $189.99 ($399.99)

RCA 65 Class 4K Ultra HD (2160P) HDR Roku Smart LED TV: $429.99 (reg. $749.99)

HP 14 Laptop, Intel Core i3-1005G1, 4GB SDRAM, 128GB SSD: $299.00 (reg. $469.00)

Image Source: Anton Gvozdikov/Shutterstock

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Walmarts year-end clearance sale is almost over here are todays top 10 deals - BGR

Home is a feeling. It is an emotion that always keeps you attached to your family. It is an emotion that is always aiming at uniting you with your family and your friends. It is a place where you live with your family for a long time.

What DOES Home Improvement MEAN?

Home improvement is your effort towards making your home your dream home. It is the sum of all your activities, all your ideas, all your tasks that you do to improve the interior and exterior design of your home. It always adds to the beauty of your apartment/home.

Many websites are working on it. They can give you information about 2020 home improvement ideas. Along with magazines, websites, there are lots of YouTube channels, TV shows, etc. to give you many ideas for home improvement.

IDEAS FOR HOME EXTERIOR IMPROVEMENTS:

The exterior part of any home should be the attraction center for viewers. You must go through all these ideas, and you must try them to renovate your home exterior.

1. Greenery All-Around: Plants are beneficial for health as well as beautify the surroundings with their beauties. So, try to plant more and more to make your home exterior attractive.

2. Pools, Ponds, and Waterfalls: Anyone having pools, ponds, or waterfalls can attract more and more popularity easily. It can also prove to be a better idea to improve your exterior home.

3. Exotic Colours: One can be easily mesmerized with the paintings of one's home. And exotic colors are in trend among the home improvement ideas.

4. Huge Driveways: To avoid congestion, you should go with the idea of building bigger driveways.

5. Best Surveillance system: You should install high-exterior cameras so that you can easily control it with your phones, laptops as per your convenience.

Ideas For Home Interior Improvements:

We always love to have our home decorated always. So, there are some ways given below through which you can decorate the interior part of your home.

1. Decorate your Walls: Decorate your wall with hanging pendant lines, art displays, photo clips, paintings, decorating materials which one can easily find on shopping sites like Amazon, Flipkart, etc

2. Floor design: Make your floor eye-catching with colorful carpets. For kitchen and bathroom., choose that one which is cleanable and oil resistant.

3. Go Green: Install some decorating plants and flowers. It can be very impressive to decorate one's home interior with environmental pieces.

4. Colour: Always choose colors that can inspire you. Go for exotic colors.

Name of Some Websites, Magazines, and Tv Shows to get more Home Improvement Ideas

Websites: My Decorative, Angies List, Houzz, DIY or NOT, DIY Network, One Project Closure, etc.

Magazines: Better Homes & Gardens, This Old House, The Family Handyman, Fine Home-building, Old House Journal, etc.

Read the original here:
2020 Home Improvement Ideas For New Homeowners What is Home? - The African Exponent

SPRINGFIELD You may not notice the latest addition to MGM Springfield because its on the eighth floor of the casinos parking garage.

A trip to the top floor not only provides a great view, but soon a solar canopy that covers most of the floor will be generating electricity.

Jason Rosewell, the vice president for facilities at the casino, explained to Reminder Publishing the solar canopy had been in the plans all along and the parking garage was designed and built to carry the additional weight load.

We always knew we wanted to do it, he said.

The solar array should be on-line early in 2020, he added.

In May 2019, MGM Springfield was awarded with the worlds first United States Green Building Councils Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) New Construction Platinum level certification for a casino resort.

This solar array is expected to generate more than 1,600 megawatt hours of electricity, helping reduce the propertys annual carbon footprint by approximately 410 metric tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent).

The design of the canopy has not eliminated any parking space, Rosewell added.

The solar facility is part of the companys overall effort to be energy efficient and sustainable. Among other innovations are:

Rosewell said the company has placed an emphasis of bettering the community in which we operate.

Read the rest here:
MGM further invests in casino with construction of solar canopy - Reminder Publications

Picasso and Paper

Paper wasnt just something to draw on for Picasso it was yet another material he could manipulate. That effortless creativity started with sticking newspapers on to early cubist canvases to invent collage and evolved into his own style of playful origami sculpture yet he also found time to create some of the greatest etchings ever, including the wondrous Vollard Suite, with its minotaurs, bullfights and voluptuous lovers.Royal Academy, London, 25 January to 13 April

Ghent honours the greatest painter of the early northern Renaissance with numerous exhibitions and side-events, from the scholarly to the daft including floral displays, themed food events, a Van Eyck shop, and even the Jan van Eyck Marathon. The main event however is Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution, featuring at least half of the known works by the artist and including the outer panels of Hubert and Van Eycks astonishing Ghent Altarpiece, following six years of restoration, and also including more than 100 works by Van Eycks contemporaries from across Europe.Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, 1 February to 30 April

By the end of the last century, painting had been buried but it turns out the funeral was premature. The young 21st-century artists exhuming its oily corpse in this survey include Michael Armitage, whose subtle, complex paintings draw on memories of Kenya, and Ryan Mosley, whose art is a grotesque Dada carnival of bulbous humanoid forms. This is figurative painting, but not as we know it. Whitechapel Gallery, London, 6 February to 10 May

Bringing together artists, civil rights photographers, makers of quilts, guitars (one fashioned with wood from a hanging tree), assemblages, expansive archive material, music and much more besides, We Will Walk focuses on African-American artists from Alabama and the surrounding states. The work dates from the civil rights period and its aftermath to the present day and also features the work of contemporary artists and thinkers, including Kerry James Marshall and Angela Davis, who both migrated from Alabama. It is a story that isnt over, and not told enough.Turner Contemporary, Margate, 7 February to 3 May

In his film Hunger, perhaps his finest work, McQueen homes in on the dying, emaciated body of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands in a way that evokes both Christian paintings of the passion and Sandss identification with them. Its typical of the way he brings high art into cinemas as well as film-making into the gallery. How will this retrospective capture the unique achievement of the only person to win both an Oscar and a Turner prize?Tate Modern, London, 13 February to 11 May

Performance artist, zine maker, musician, documentary-photographer, Linder is known primarily for her post-punk Dadaist photomontages. This extensive show gives full reign to Linders expanded practice. Using the Kettles Yard Archive she will also evoke the elusive presence of Helen Ede, wife of Jim Ede, founder of Kettless Yard. Staging interventions throughout Kettles Yard and a new performance, at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, Linder will shake things up.Kettles Yard, Cambridge, 15 February to 16 April

Victorian Britains kinkiest reprobate gets a well-deserved airing of his refined and beautiful yet utterly sordid prints. Beardsley portrayed himself as a self-confessed monster hiding in his four-poster bed and illustrated Lysistrata by Aristophanes with sumptuously pornographic images of bottoms. He also created a darkly beautiful illustrated edition of Oscar Wildes Salome. This will be wicked.Tate Britain, London, 4 March to 25 May

Tacita Deans portraits of ancient yew trees in English churchyards, their branches propped up with crutches as their gnarled trunks send roots down the centuries, are among the most moving art works of our time. Her arboreal meditations are among the many reveries in this survey of contemporary arts relationship with trees. It starts with the arte povera movement that brought the forest into the gallery in the 1960s and brings us to the present with Peter Doigs painted firs and Anya Gallaccios pastoral installations.Hayward Gallery, London, 4 March to 17 May

In his lifetime Warhol was dismissed as shallow but the further we get into a century he never lived to see, the more uncanny his insights into modern life appear. There are so many sides to his apparently simple pop art. The last Tate retrospective emphasised his dark view of America this one discovers him as the forerunner of identity politics. He is our mirror, to quote his protege Lou Reed.Tate Modern, London, 12 March to 6 September

This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition reunites the greatest mythological paintings ever created a cycle Titian called his poesie in which the loves and transformations of the gods become subtle feasts of sensual paint and rich emotion. Venus begs Adonis to stay, Jupiter as a bull carries off Europa and Perseus rescues Andromeda in canvases that match the dramatic heights of Shakespeare (and that Shakespeare may have been influenced by).National Gallery, London, 16 March to 14 June

The gallery becomes an outsized graphic novel in this Nigerian-American artists first British show but the story is far from straightforward. Powerfully delineated figures are lost in contemplative stillness. Line-drawn landscapes enfold their inaction in a mysterious limbo that could be a park or alien planet. These intense drawings illustrate a myth invented by Odutola herself. She believes drawing and writing have the same root. This is art as inspired daydream.Barbican Curve, London, 26 March to 26 July

The first feminist artist ever, born in Rome in 1593, gets her long-awaited due. Raped as a teenager by the painter Agostino Tassi, Gentileschi spent a lifetime fighting back. In her great canvas Judith Slaying Holofernes, two women hold a man down on his bed so they can cut his head off he is her rapist. This and just about all her other paintings will be in this raw and bloody blockbuster. National Gallery, London, 4 April to 26 July

To mark its 50th anniversary, the Serpentine Galleries have invited more than 50 leading artists, musicians, architects, poets, film-makers, scientists, thinkers and designers to propose artworks and projects in response to the climate emergency. Participants and collaborators include Brian Eno, Black Quantum Futurism collective, Judy Chicago, Olafur Eliasson, actor and activist Jane Fonda, indigenous Australian film collective Karrabing, Ed Ruscha, Tomas Sarraceno and many others. Imagining the future, the unthinkable and the possible, this promises to be a daunting, necessary show.Serpentine Galleries, London. Dates to be confirmed.

Alec Baldwin and Julianne Moore bring a Hollywood touch to the plight of refugees by reading out their words. Wait its not as glib as it sounds. This installation by South African artist Breitz questions why we take celebrities more seriously than the suffering millions. Moore and Baldwins polished performances are meant to send you to the second part of the show that gives migrants a direct voice.Tate Liverpool, 9 April to 7 June

No one forgets the myths and monsters this genius of art and cinema created. Harryhausens animated masterpieces, from the army of skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts to Sinbads swordfight with a Hindu goddess, have an imaginative power that lodges in your mind. He was equally at home creating flying saucers, giant crabs and Harpies. This blockbuster survey of his stop-motion menagerie should be a delight.Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 23 May to 25 October

The Arctic is not just a natural wonder but a human home. Peoples including the Smi of Scandinavias far north and the Inuit in Canada, Alaska and Greenland preserve ways of life superbly adapted to ice and cold. Their cultural creations include ingenious hunting and fishing gear, icebound legends and works of art. Their achievement has been to live in harmony with nature at its most extreme but as climate change destabilises the Arctic, what will become of this extraordinary heritage?British Museum, London, from 28 May

The maquette for The End, Phillipsons forthcoming commission for Trafalgar Squares fourth plinth, shows a gigantic ice-cream cone with a cherry on top. A fly climbs the swirl of ice-cream and theres a drone, ready for take off. Its a tawdry monument to national hubris, the feelgood factor turning sickly before our eyes. Phillipsons work churns with humour, autobiography, knockabout asides and a poets sense of the unlikely and surprising conjunction. Then in June, the artist fills Tate Britains Duveen galleries with the next Tate Britain commission. What will she do?Trafalgar Square, London, March, and Tate Britain, London, 16 June to 18 October

The Paris-based American artist has used weaving as the basis of her work for more than 50 years. Drawing on wildly different weaving traditions and indigenous textile practices, and working on both small woven drawings she creates on a hand-held frame and large scale installations that respond to the architecture of the gallery, this show follows major retrospectives in the US and Europe. Including more than 70 works, it promises to be as ravishing as it is overdue. The Hepworth is a perfect venue for her art. The Hepworth, Wakefield, 24 June to 7 October

Lewis Carrolls Victorian masterpiece of surreal nonsense has inspired art and cinema ever since Punch cartoonist Sir John Tenniel created its brilliant original illustrations with their solid renditions of the fantastic. Jan Svankmajer and Tim Burton are among the modern visionaries to have fallen down this rabbit hole. The V&A isnt just showing the history of Alice, its giving Carroll the Bowie or Pink Floyd treatment with an immersive spectacular where you can ask Alice what the Dormouse said.V&A, London, 27 June to 10 January 2021

Now in its 11th outing, the Liverpool Biennial thinks about the city and a wide range of interrelated exhibitions as a fluid organism that is continuously shaped by and shaping its environment. The curatorial premise talks about three entry points the stomach, porosity and kin. Make of this what you can. Many of the art works include sound, shun direct representation, destabilise gender binaries or look at intense forms of contact. There will be dance, music, all kinds of interdisciplinary shenanigans from a roster of international artists. If you have the stomach, pass the port. Various venues, Liverpool, 11 July to 25 October

The craggy hard mind of Paul Czanne found its mirror in the rugged rock formations of his native Provence. One of his close friends as a boy in Aix grew up to be a geology professor and their conversations about rocks and fossils informed his understanding of landscape. His paintings of lonely sun-bleached stony hillsides and voids cut into the earth are among his most forceful, profound and unforgettable works. This is where modern art begins.Royal Academy, London, 12 July to 18 October

Weve come a long way from British arts past. By which I mean the 1990s, when shock and celebrity were everything. Politics, identity and social media matter more than elephant dung these days or will that cliche about 21st-century British art be disrupted in turn by this latest instalment of the biggest and most ambitious survey of the scene? Kicking off in Manchester before touring, this promises to unveil a new creative generation and state of feeling.Manchester Art Gallery and the Whitworth, from September

The worlds most charismatic performance artist has become part of 21st-century pop culture but here is a chance to explore the real story of Abramovis art in a retrospective of her career. Born in communist Yugoslavia in 1946, she insists in her early work on individual experience, including personal endangerment and pain and this self-exposure is still the essence of her art even if the risk now is emotional rather than physical. A blazing star, and thats not just a reference to the one she lay in for a death-defying 1974 performance.Royal Academy, London, 26 September to 8 December

The first major UK exhibition of the French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) in over 50 years. Provocateur and founder of art brut, or raw art, Dubuffet began to collect what became known as outsider art in postwar Paris. One gallery focuses on Dubuffets extensive collection of this. Immersed in French intellectual and artistic life, and in the waning idea of an avant garde, Dubuffet embraced the arbitrary and irrational. Using crude materials and working with an ironic rejection of skill and finesse belied his sophistication. A complex, fascinating man. Barbican, London, 30 September to 17 January 2021

Visitors will be able to ride reflective-wheeled bikes round the main gallery of this extensive exhibition by the Folkestone-born artist, who works in Brussels. Janssens immersive installations bathe viewers in light. Her ephemeral, perceptually arresting works often feature tinted fogs and densely coloured smoke. But theres more to her work than smoke and mirrors. Janssens can make light appear solid and make solids melt into air. This will be the first opportunity to experience the full range of her compelling and often joyous art. She tunes our eyes. South London Gallery, September.

This good-looking as well as gifted Renaissance wonder died in 1520, at the age of 37, after exhausting himself with a nights arduous lovemaking or so claimed his biographer Vasari, perhaps romanticising syphilis. The National Gallery honours his 500th anniversary with a blockbuster survey of an artist who stands alongside Leonardo and Michelangelo at the apex of the canon, and whose art is just as beguiling as theirs when you surrender to its sweet harmonious musical beauty.National Gallery, London, 3 October to 24 January 2021

Possibly the most innovative, daring and influential of American artists. However familiar his art seems to be, he has constantly reinvented himself in his long career, always giving something new. Mending fences on the ranch, watching cats in the barn, evoking interrogations, domestic strife, slapstick and Samuel Beckett theyre all in there.Tate Modern, London, 6 October to 17 January 2021

This paradoxical 19th-century titan invented modern sculpture by returning to the Renaissance. In an age of sculptural vapidity, Rodin rediscovered the expressive power of Michelangelo. His icons of passion and pain start in hell all his famous statues evolved from the anguished swarming figures in his unfinished masterpiece The Gates of Hell. Out of this giant illustration of Dantes Inferno, he conceived The Thinker, The Kiss and his other visions of the agony and ecstasy of modern life.Tate Modern, London, 21 October to 21 February 2021

In our age of tinpot tyrants, prepare to meet their prototype. The Roman emperor Nero made people listen to his awful singing, killed Christians for fun and set Rome on fire - or so the historian Tacitus said. But did he exaggerate Neros madness to prove his theory that absolute power absolutely corrupts? And will we get to see the booby-trapped boat with which Nero attempted to drown his mother Agrippina?British Museum, London, November

Emin is creating a colossal statue, The Mother, for the new Munch Museum (see below) that opens in Oslofjord in the spring. This exhibition explores their artistic intimacy. Her recent giant selfies showing her face exhausted by insomnia are homages to an insomniac Munch self-portrait, while her entire truth-telling confessional project emulates his terrifying honesty. Read our interview with Emin about the project.Royal Academy, London, 15 November to 28 February 2021

At the age of 75, the radical Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas is bored of the city. His next frontier? The countryside. Almost a decade in the making, this ambitious research-driven exhibition promises to confound your every preconception about the great outdoors, tackling leisure, climate change, migration, rural preservation and digitised agriculture in a multifaceted portrait of the 98% of the Earths surface not occupied by cities.Guggenheim Museum, New York, 20 February to 14 August

Staged in the newly refurbished crypt of St Mary Magdalene in Paddington, west London, this thoughtful exhibition will examine the way that social and economic pressures have changed the nature of faith spaces in the UK over the past decade. It will feature 20 diverse projects, from the stunning new Cambridge Mosque, to a floating church designed to ply Londons waterways, and a proposal for a Finchley synagogue with a striking geometric roof.From 22 February

Standing as a great bulging sphere on Miracle Mile in Los Angeles, the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures looks like an arrival from a Hollywood sci-fi movie. Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, it is an appropriate guise for what promises to be a dazzling new mecca for film buffs, bursting with movie memorabilia and offering a behind-the-scenes look into how films are made. Los Angeles, early 2020

It might not sound like a Bowie-level blockbuster, but the V&As forthcoming foray into bags will delve deep into the duffle, probe the purse and scrutinise the sack, shining a spotlight into every velcrod pocket and zipped compartment of the ultimate accessory. From rucksacks to despatch boxes, Birkin bags to Louis Vuitton luggage, the exhibition will showcase 300 objects from the 16th century to today.V&A, London, 25 April to 3 January 2021

Can you tell your Air Jordans from your Air Force 1s? The Design Museum gets down with street style next year, with an exhibition that will track the influence of trainers from high-performance sportswear to cult objects and red carpet attire. It will look at how 3D-printing, self-lacing and recycled materials are changing footwear, and give visitors a chance to design their own pair of superfly kicks.Design Museum, London, 6 May to 6 September

Housed in an enigmatic aluminium mesh tower that leans forward at the top, as if craning its neck out over Oslos harbour, the new Munch Museum is a controversial new addition to the Norwegian capitals waterfront. The building will finally provide an adequate home for the collection of 28,000 paintings, sketches, photographs and sculptures that the artist bequeathed to the city, arranged over 13 floors, making it one of the largest museums in the world dedicated to a single artist.June (to be confirmed)

A rippling dune-like structure rising out of the desert in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, one of Zaha Hadids last posthumous buildings will open next year. This lithe headquarters for the emirates waste management company is one of her most futuristic works, billed as the worlds first AI-powered office building. From visitor arrival to energy consumption, every aspect of the buildings performance will be tracked by an omniscient digital brain.Summer (to be confirmed)

Architect Junya Ishigami said his client asked for something like a wine cellar, but the result couldnt be more strange. Burrowed into the ground, as if excavated by gigantic worms, this grotto-like residence and restaurant will be one of the most unusual buildings to open next year. Formed by digging a series of holes into the ground, casting concrete into the spaces, then carving out the earth beneath, it promises to be a gnarled, primitive place like no other.Yamaguchi, Japan, autumn

Looking like something the pharaohs might have summoned into being, the Grand Egyptian Museum rises out of the landscape near the Great Pyramids as a chiselled, geometric form. Designed by Irish practice Heneghan Peng, the building is wrapped with a veil of translucent stone, covering a series of sunken halls that will contain almost four football pitches of permanent exhibition space, where the Tutankhamen collection will be displayed alongside innumerable other treasures.Giza, Egypt, October (to be confirmed)

A veritable transformer of a building, the Taipei Performing Arts Centre will finally realise the architects holy grail of a truly flexible and adaptable performance venue. It combines a 2,000-seat auditorium, a 1,500-seat theatre and a black box space, each of which can function separately and be combined into an enormous multi-sided events space, while a public loop meanders its way through the building, giving enticing backstage glimpses.Autumn (to be confirmed)

Including work from visual artists in Palestine and Israel as well as Britain, this show explores how images are used to manage peoples ability to live or move freely, particularly in contested regions where the boundaries between civilian and military ways of seeing are constantly and intentionally blurred. Artists include Hagit Keysar, who experiments with aerial photography in Israel and Palestine, and Argentinian-born Miki Kratsman, who has documented the harshness of daily life in the Palestinian territories.Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, 16 January to 22 March

This underrated pioneer of the visual novel (fictional storytelling combined with photographs) travelled through the US in the immediate aftermath of the Great Depression, producing three books that form the basis of this show. Unlike more celebrated contemporaries like Walker Evans, Morris never made portraits, instead photographing everyday objects and landscapes to create a haunting depiction of human struggle and decline.Foam Amsterdam, 24 January to 5 April

A provocative response to the often anonymous trolls who responded to Morris-Cafieros work on social media. Following the publication of her previous series, The Watchers, she became the focus of a sustained wave of body-shaming. She has responded by dressing up like her most vociferous detractors, whom she tracked down online, and posing alongside representations of their most abusive comments. Selfies, but not as we know them.TJ Boulting, London, 13 February to 14 March

Created in Mexico in 2018 and 2019, and named after a well-known Spanish folk song, La Cucaracha mixes arresting portraits and mysterious still-lifes made by the South African photographer on various visits to Mexico City, Oaxaca de Jurez, Juchitn and Hermosillo. Alongside the flamboyance and high-pitched register of this series, there is the ordinariness of the everyday, Hugo has said. I am drawn to the fabulousness of the banal and the banality of the exotic.Huxley-Parlour, London, 18 February to 14 March

An ambitious and timely group exhibition exploring the changing nature of masculinity through the work of 50 artists. Addressing complex themes patriarchy, power, queer identity, race, sexuality, class, fatherhood it will show how photography and film have been crucial in shaping masculinity in its many forms. Includes work by Richard Avedon, Peter Hujar and Annette Messager. Barbican, London, 20 February to 17 May

Art without snobbery didnt interest him, said Tom Wolfe of Beaton, making it a tricky moment to celebrate this photographer. This exhibition of portraits of the famous and the privileged of the 1920s will do nothing to sway sceptics. Expect glamour aplenty, though, and a cast of characters that includes socialites (Diana Mitford), film stars (Tallulah Bankhead) and the supposedly brightest of the bright young things (Stephen Tennant).National Portrait Gallery, London, 12 March to 7 June

Tate Modern hosts the first major survey of the work of Zanele Muholi, the photographer-activist whose massive archive of South African black lesbian and trans people, Faces and Phases, is one of contemporary photographys great documentary projects. The exhibition will also include a more recent series of dramatic self-portraits, Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness).Tate Modern, London, 29 April to 18 October

Having drawn huge crowds to Tate Britain in 2019, this retrospective of the revered war photographer opens in Liverpool this summer. Alongside his iconic images from the Vietnam war and famine-stricken Biafra, the show will also include an added selection of photographs depicting everyday life and the industrial landscapes of northern towns and cities during the 1960s and 70s. Among the wealth of ephemera is his Nikon camera that was struck by a bullet in Cambodia. Tate Liverpool, 5 June to 27 September

Spanning the years between the end of the second world war and the election of Margaret Thatcher, this exhibition maps out a defining period for British photojournalism and documentary photography. It will include iconic images by the likes of Bert Hardy, Lee Miller, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Don McCullin. An intriguing visual portrait of another Britain, both familiar and impossibly distant.Tate Britain, London, 30 June to 27 September

One of the greatest American street photographers, Helen Levitt began shooting in New York in the 1930s. Her work is quieter and more socially aware than that of the mainly male counterparts who followed in her wake, with children appearing often in her photographs. Her colour tones are richly hued and her eye for gesture second to none, bodies crouching or stretching in a wonderful choreography of the commonplace. The exhibition includes many rarely seen images and short films. The Photographers Gallery, London, 10 July to 11 October

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Palette cleansers: our photography, art and architecture picks for 2020 - The Guardian