Artists Plan To Recreate 1914 ‘Human Zoo’
“Norway celebrates the 200th anniversary of its constitution this year, and, the artists Mohamed Ali Fadlabi and Lars Cuzner plan to re-enact one of the main attractions from the centenary in 1914: ‘The Congo Village’, in which 80 Africans were put on display, living in cabins with palm roofs surrounded by African artefacts.”
Edward J. Sozanski, 77, Longtime Philadelphia Inquirer Art Critic
“Over three decades [he] became a major figure in describing and documenting the city’s cultural transformation from regional byway to the national main stage.”
The Louvre Gets Its 18th-Century Groove Back
“The Louvre Museum is preparing to reopen its 18th-century galleries on 6 June, after nearly a decade of renovation work.”
What’s Wrong With The Metropolitan Opera? No, It’s WHO’S Wrong
In part three of a series on what’s ailing America’s flagship opera company and how to cure it, Dawn Fatale looks at engaging the public and at casting – and says the Met must stop casting five to six years in advance.
An Artists’ Boycott Of Putin’s Russia Could Backfire
Judith Mackrell: “[If] artists move towards the blanket boycott [Jonathan] Jones has advocated, life can only get harder for all those artists opposed to Putin and his politics. It can only restrict their dialogue with the wider art scene and push them back towards the old cold war-era isolation.”
The Ten Best Documentaries Of All Time, Per The New Yorker’s Film Blogger
Richard Brody: “I’m the first to admit that it’s a somewhat tendentious list, with an odd preponderance of French movies. This isn’t merely the result of a personal affinity for an adoptive cinematic homeland but, rather, the crystallization of an idea.”
Hilary Mantel Says Political Debate Has Been Replaced By Bullying And Abuse
Responding to the pounding she took in the media last year for misunderstood remarks about the former Kate Middleton, Mantel says, “I do think the level of public debate is debased. To know how far it is debased – well, you have to be on the receiving end of a hate campaign like that to know how bad it is.”
Adam Gopnik And Elizabeth Gilbert On The G.A.N. (Great American Novel)
“On this week’s Out Loud podcast, Gopnik and the writer Elizabeth Gilbert … join newyorker.com’s literary editor, Sasha Weiss, to discuss how the concept of the G.A.N. has evolved over the years and how it has influenced the aspirations of American writers.” (audio)
‘Love Is Something You Do’: Jamaica Kincaid And Lawrence Weschler On James Baldwin
The two authors – novelist/essayist Kincaid and longform journalist Weschler – join scholar Rich Blint and radio host Brian Lehrer to talk about Baldwin’s life and his ideas on love and race. (audio)
Ballet’s Most Difficult Moves, Dissected
“What can pass in just a few musical beats during a performance – the corkscrew jumps, the ballerina who seems to fly apart in the air only to land with perfect poise – is dissected here for the speed, timing and calibrated force that audience members might miss if they blinked.” (video)
Studying Ballet In Iraq
“In American and European cultures, ballet is typically viewed as a respectable art form, and you wouldn’t think twice about teenage girls taking lessons.” In Iraq, ballet lessons might get a girl killed. (includes video clip)
New La Scala Scandal: Incoming Boss Buys Productions From His Current Employer
“Alexander Pereira, who is scheduled to take over the Milan opera house on Oct. 1, signed an agreement to buy four productions for La Scala from the Salzburg Festival, where he is the director, without the approval of the Italian authorities.”
A Tour Of British Isles Accents In One Unedited Take
Professional accent and dialect coach Andrew Jack covers a dozen or so accents from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and even the Isle of Man – all in 1’25″. (video)
Is America Suffering A Brain Drain?
“For many years, the United States has benefited from a kind of reverse brain drain, which is that the best and brightest from all other countries would come to the United States to do research because we had for a very long time the most generous support for basic science. But I have seen, especially recently, the trend is starting to reverse a little bit.”
Seattle Theatres Talk About Raising Wages
“Despite the outcry from some restaurant and bar owners in the past few weeks, not everyone running small and midsize businesses with razor-thin margins is panicking about the prospect of a $15 minimum wage. Arts organizations large and small say they will do what it takes to increase wages.”
Why We Shouldn’t Trust People Who Predict The Future
“Why? Because there’s money in it; money and faith. I don’t just mean the few millions to be made from book sales; nor do I mean the simple geek belief in gadgetry. And I certainly don’t mean the pallid, undefined, pop-song promises of politicians trying to turn our eyes from the present – Bill Clinton’s “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow” and Tony Blair’s “Things can only get better”. No, I mean the billions involved in corporate destinies and the yearning for salvation from our human condition.”
A Wide Open Race This Year For Tonys’ Best Musical
“The 12 shows are such a mixed bag that this year’s race for the top prize, the Tony Award for best musical, is wide open for the first time in recent memory. In question is not just that award, but also (and this is truly rare) the four or five nominations for that category, which will be announced on April 29.”
Study: Some Parts Of Our Brains Deteriorate Significantly After Age 24
“Using a piecewise regression analysis, we find that age-related slowing of within-game, self-initiated response times begins at 24 years of age,” the authors write. In other words, older players took longer to respond to new visual playing conditions before taking action. And, according to the study, it was “a significant performance deficit,” which likely has consequences even outside abstruse digital space wars.
Study: What Country Music Says About Our Economy
In an analysis of the most popular country songs over six decades, Jason Eastman and Terry Pettijohn II of Coastal Carolina University finds top hits are “lyrically more positive, musically upbeat, and use more happy-sounding major chords during difficult socioeconomic times.”
Close San Diego Opera? It Might Not Be As Simple As That
“They may need the buy-in of more than 800 members of the opera association, people who donate at least $100 to be part of the company.”
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Serves as Center’s strategic communications and marketing expert, member of leadership team. Helps develop and manage communications and brand strategies, manages marketing consultations for grantees. … [Read More...]
Man Crowbars A Banksy Out Of A Wall, Sets Off Storm Of Protest
“It was removed by crowbar by the leader of a nearby youth club within hours of being found. Dennis Stinchcombe said he hoped to raise £100,000 for the struggling Broad Plain Boys’ Club by auctioning it. But Bristol mayor George Ferguson asked for the work to be put back on the city council-owned wall.”
Music As Collectible (One In Ten Young People Are Buying Cassette Tapes)
“There’s definitely a novelty value with cassettes at the moment, particularly as we suspect a high proportion of them are collectibles sitting on a shelf and never played.”
How Do You Archive The Entire Internet? (That’s Our History We’re Talking About)
“The potential is vast. But the pitfalls are significant too. Not only could it change the way history is told but there are wider questions about who has the rights to guard the web’s past and, inevitably in these post-Snowden leak times, what the availability of this data means for individual privacy. So what is the best way to make history from the internet?”
A Fund For Public Art In Los Angeles That Has Been Locked Up Tight
“Los Angeles officials are starting to get serious about freeing up $7.5 million or more in city government funds that are earmarked for visual art, performances or other cultural events, but have been wrapped tightly for years in legal red tape.”
How Can You Be Against World Literature?
What does a critic oppose, exactly, when she takes a stand “against world literature”?