ArtsJournal Classic

AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only

DANCE

    IDEAS

    • Good Morning

      Today’s AJ Highlights: At The TK Center, the cultural exodus continues as the Martha Graham Dance Company becomes the latest major troupe to cancel performances, citing no specific reason for the withdrawal (The Daily Beast ). This comes as the National Endowment for the Humanities has announced a defiant $71 million in new grants, including nearly $40 million for classical humanities institutes often promoted as conservative counterweights to liberal-dominated higher education (The New York Times; The Art Newspaper ).

      Matt Damon says that Netflix now encourages writers to restate plots multiple times in dialogue simply because viewers are too distracted by their phones to follow along (Variety ). This erosion of focus is a core mechanism of the modern attention economy, which continues to hijack and monetize consumer attention through increasingly addictive channels (The Observer ).

      Internationally, the lines between art and advocacy are hardening. South Africa’s culture minister has pulled a Palestinian-themed exhibition from the Venice Biennale (Hyperallergic ), and conductor Zubin Mehta has cancelled all performances in Israel to protest policies toward Palestinians (Moto Perpetuo ). In St. Petersburg, a play called The Kholops remains a packed sensation, surviving nearly two years of Russian censorship fears (The New York Times ).

      Finally, we note the passing of theater pioneer Tina Packer (The New York Times ) and a declaration from author Julian Barnes that his latest book will be his last (The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!) ).

      All our stories below.

      • A Brief History Of The Word “Hello”

        The greeting’s first known appearance in print happened 200 years ago this week in a Connecticut newspaper, but its roots go back at least two centuries further, probably more. – BBC

      • Our Connection Between Athletics And Writing

        The intensity of the workout was necessary to take her out of her head, so that she could write from a different place—“an embodied place, because writing is not just intellectual; it’s emotional connection, sensual connection,” she explained. “We exist in the world.” – The Atlantic

      • The Virtuosic Female Musicians Who Attracted Rapt Listeners From All Over Europe

        The women of 18th-century Venice’s ospedali (homes for the destitute, the sick, and orphans) are remembered largely because Vivaldi composed music for them. History has mostly overlooked them in favor of the famous men around them, but we now know that they were highly trained, ferociously talented, and deeply ambitious. – Early Music America

      • London’s Gallery Commune Proves Sharing Is Caring

        Ten years in, Condo’s cooperative model has emerging dealers singing Kumbaya while actually making money. Who knew that playing nice could be the art world’s best-kept business secret? — Artnet News

      ISSUES

      MEDIA

      MUSIC

      • A Brief History Of The Word “Hello”

        The greeting’s first known appearance in print happened 200 years ago this week in a Connecticut newspaper, but its roots go back at least two centuries further, probably more. – BBC

      • Our Connection Between Athletics And Writing

        The intensity of the workout was necessary to take her out of her head, so that she could write from a different place—“an embodied place, because writing is not just intellectual; it’s emotional connection, sensual connection,” she explained. “We exist in the world.” – The Atlantic

      • Author Julian Barnes Says He Has Written His Last Book

        “I won’t stop writing, because I’ve been a journalist all my life, before I became a novelist. So I shall do journalism, reviews and things like that. But in terms of books, this” — Departure(s) — “is my last.” – The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)

      • The Private Museums Grappling With America’s Real History

        The Legacy Museum, which opened almost eight years ago, is perhaps the closest thing America has to a national slavery museum. Crucially, however, it is completely privately funded, receiving no state or federal financial support. – The Atlantic

      • The Poverty Of Being A Novelist

        I’m a novelist, and I was paid £1,000 and £500 respectively for my last two books. The latter was shortlisted for an international literary award. That’s £1,500 earned in 10 years. – The Guardian

      PEOPLE

      • Good Morning

        Today’s AJ Highlights: At The TK Center, the cultural exodus continues as the Martha Graham Dance Company becomes the latest major troupe to cancel performances, citing no specific reason for the withdrawal (The Daily Beast ). This comes as the National Endowment for the Humanities has announced a defiant $71 million in new grants, including nearly $40 million for classical humanities institutes often promoted as conservative counterweights to liberal-dominated higher education (The New York Times; The Art Newspaper ).

        Matt Damon says that Netflix now encourages writers to restate plots multiple times in dialogue simply because viewers are too distracted by their phones to follow along (Variety ). This erosion of focus is a core mechanism of the modern attention economy, which continues to hijack and monetize consumer attention through increasingly addictive channels (The Observer ).

        Internationally, the lines between art and advocacy are hardening. South Africa’s culture minister has pulled a Palestinian-themed exhibition from the Venice Biennale (Hyperallergic ), and conductor Zubin Mehta has cancelled all performances in Israel to protest policies toward Palestinians (Moto Perpetuo ). In St. Petersburg, a play called The Kholops remains a packed sensation, surviving nearly two years of Russian censorship fears (The New York Times ).

        Finally, we note the passing of theater pioneer Tina Packer (The New York Times ) and a declaration from author Julian Barnes that his latest book will be his last (The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!) ).

        All our stories below.

        • A Brief History Of The Word “Hello”

          The greeting’s first known appearance in print happened 200 years ago this week in a Connecticut newspaper, but its roots go back at least two centuries further, probably more. – BBC

        • Our Connection Between Athletics And Writing

          The intensity of the workout was necessary to take her out of her head, so that she could write from a different place—“an embodied place, because writing is not just intellectual; it’s emotional connection, sensual connection,” she explained. “We exist in the world.” – The Atlantic

        • The Virtuosic Female Musicians Who Attracted Rapt Listeners From All Over Europe

          The women of 18th-century Venice’s ospedali (homes for the destitute, the sick, and orphans) are remembered largely because Vivaldi composed music for them. History has mostly overlooked them in favor of the famous men around them, but we now know that they were highly trained, ferociously talented, and deeply ambitious. – Early Music America

        • London’s Gallery Commune Proves Sharing Is Caring

          Ten years in, Condo’s cooperative model has emerging dealers singing Kumbaya while actually making money. Who knew that playing nice could be the art world’s best-kept business secret? — Artnet News

        PEOPLE

        • Good Morning

          Today’s AJ Highlights: At The TK Center, the cultural exodus continues as the Martha Graham Dance Company becomes the latest major troupe to cancel performances, citing no specific reason for the withdrawal (The Daily Beast ). This comes as the National Endowment for the Humanities has announced a defiant $71 million in new grants, including nearly $40 million for classical humanities institutes often promoted as conservative counterweights to liberal-dominated higher education (The New York Times; The Art Newspaper ).

          Matt Damon says that Netflix now encourages writers to restate plots multiple times in dialogue simply because viewers are too distracted by their phones to follow along (Variety ). This erosion of focus is a core mechanism of the modern attention economy, which continues to hijack and monetize consumer attention through increasingly addictive channels (The Observer ).

          Internationally, the lines between art and advocacy are hardening. South Africa’s culture minister has pulled a Palestinian-themed exhibition from the Venice Biennale (Hyperallergic ), and conductor Zubin Mehta has cancelled all performances in Israel to protest policies toward Palestinians (Moto Perpetuo ). In St. Petersburg, a play called The Kholops remains a packed sensation, surviving nearly two years of Russian censorship fears (The New York Times ).

          Finally, we note the passing of theater pioneer Tina Packer (The New York Times ) and a declaration from author Julian Barnes that his latest book will be his last (The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!) ).

          All our stories below.

          • A Brief History Of The Word “Hello”

            The greeting’s first known appearance in print happened 200 years ago this week in a Connecticut newspaper, but its roots go back at least two centuries further, probably more. – BBC

          • Our Connection Between Athletics And Writing

            The intensity of the workout was necessary to take her out of her head, so that she could write from a different place—“an embodied place, because writing is not just intellectual; it’s emotional connection, sensual connection,” she explained. “We exist in the world.” – The Atlantic

          • The Virtuosic Female Musicians Who Attracted Rapt Listeners From All Over Europe

            The women of 18th-century Venice’s ospedali (homes for the destitute, the sick, and orphans) are remembered largely because Vivaldi composed music for them. History has mostly overlooked them in favor of the famous men around them, but we now know that they were highly trained, ferociously talented, and deeply ambitious. – Early Music America

          • London’s Gallery Commune Proves Sharing Is Caring

            Ten years in, Condo’s cooperative model has emerging dealers singing Kumbaya while actually making money. Who knew that playing nice could be the art world’s best-kept business secret? — Artnet News

          THEATRE

            VISUAL

            • How We Lost The Art Of Paying Attention

              Most of us are by now familiar with the broad mechanisms of the “attention economy” – the hijacking and monetising of consumer attention through addictive channels. The ravages of this system are ever more apparent. – The Observer

            • The Death Of The 20th Century Mono-Culture (And What It Means)

              The implications for the battered-and-bruised entertainment industry are obvious. The impacts on our culture are just starting to fully materialize, but will be more significant. Instead of pulling us together, pop culture is another force dragging us apart. – The Wall Street Journal

            • We Think Time Always Moves Forward. This Is A Relatively New Concept

              This picture of time is not natural. Its roots stretch only to the 18th century, yet this notion has now entrenched itself so deeply in Western thought that it’s difficult to imagine time as anything else. And this new representation of time has affected all kinds of things, from our understanding of history to time travel. – Aeon

            • What If AI Changes The Very Nature Of Our Attention?

              What if the next wave of artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t designed to feed that addiction — but to fundamentally change it? What if the future of AI demands young people’s attention, curiosity, and creativity in ways we haven’t experienced before? – Big Think

            • Research Paper: How AI Is Destroying Institutions

              If you wanted to create a tool that would enable the destruction of institutions that prop up democratic life, you could not do better than artificial intelligence. Authoritarian leaders and technology oligarchs are deploying AI systems to hollow out public institutions with an astonishing alacrity. – Gary Marcus

            WORDS