In It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia — specifically in season 11, episode 4, unofficially titled “The Art Critic” — the gang tries to scam the art world by passing off one of the character’s doodles as high-end modern art inspired by life’s tribulations. The episode also features the debut of Frank Reynolds’ iconic alter ego, the elite art critic and collector Ongo Goblogian. It was a fun exercise in art imitating art. 

What Kind of World is This? is not a retelling of Dante’s Inferno, exactly; rather, the two-part multimedia project — a concept album and a full-length feature film — serves as a "metamorphosed rebuke” of today’s world. Check it: the story follows a hero who transitions from a wistful reflection at home to a state of untimely possession by a nefarious prophet, eventually descending into a dark, fiery hell. Fair.

This lineage from engineering study to technical illustration eventually reached Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. In the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Space Station V serves as the cinematic successor to the Wohnrad. The film's rotating station follows the exact design logic Potočnik established: a wheel-shaped structure spinning to provide gravity for passengers, complete with observation decks and labs.