AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- No Bots Required
Good Morning,
More than a thousand people lined up before dawn arrayed in braids, vests, and gigantic water bottles, for an open call for an off-Broadway Spring Awakening revival (New York Times).
The New Yorker traces how bots now manufacture the froth of interest that passes for cultural conversation (The New Yorker), while grandparents ship AI-generated storybooks to their grandkids (Wired) — cheap calories, delivered with love. The musicians’ union is suing Universal and Warner for licensing members’ recordings to Suno and Udio without credit or payment (MusicBusinessWorldwide) — an attempt to make AI pay for its theft.
Institutions are reorganizing around the same thing. Dallas’s AT&T Performing Arts Center is absorbing Dallas Theater Center as its producing arm (KERA). And Interlochen has published a 97-page accounting of some 70 instances of faculty sexual misconduct across seven decades (Interlochen Public Radio).
Meanwhile, a university has informed its academics that books on shelves constitute “the unnecessary storing of combustible materials” (The Critic). Somewhere a bot is drafting the follow-up memo.
- Grandparents Are Giving Their Grandkids Personalized AI-Slop Children’s Books, Driving Parents Nuts
“If the odds are against parents who disapprove of artificial intelligence, it’s because there’s an entire ecosystem of AI services designed to insert real children into books … and some relatives can’t resist their ads for specially curated storybooks.” – Wired
- In Federal Trial Of Salman Rushdie’s Attacker, Defense Rests Without Presenting Testimony
As happened in defendant Hadi Matar’s New York state trial for attempted murder (for which he was convicted in February 2025), he declined to testify himself and his attorney called no witnesses. – AP
- Why Are University Administrators Trying To Get Academics To Get Rid Of Books?
The bureaucrat sent an email to him with a dread warning. The books must go, it decreed. There was nothing healthy nor wise in the practice, for the keeping of books on bookshelves is now “the unnecessary storing of combustible materials.” – The Critic
- Out, Damned Bot: How The Bots Took Over Our Lives
This strategy of manufacturing a froth of interest around a given subject, from Nicki Minaj’s political perspectives to Sydney Sweeney’s jean ads, has recently been especially effective, and has moved culture-war fights from the trenches of bot-infested social networks into more mainstream channels. – The New Yorker
ISSUES
- New York State Museum Accused Of Fraud
Federal investigators said high-ranking administrators at the New York State Museum in Albany directed a subordinate to falsify time sheets, allowing the state to improperly draw down $597,624 in federal grants from 2020 to 2022. – The New York Times
- Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, One Of Frank Gehry’s Last Buildings, Finally Has An Opening Date
“After a slew of delays and controversies, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has finally narrowed down its big debut to a single day: December 11. The winter inauguration keeps the museum (just about) on track to open in 2026, as previously promised, but arrives two decades after the mammoth museum project was first announced in 2006.” – Artnet
- A Chagall Etching Is Liberated After Languishing For 20 Years In Customs
The etching, L’Acrobate au violon (1924), and another work were confiscated from a shipment of art being taken from France to Switzerland in 2005 after French agents determined that the items weren’t authorized to leave the country. The pieces were rediscovered after two decades, and the Chagall is now on display in Besançon. – Artnet
- They’re Still Making New Discoveries At Pompeii
- After Decades Of Anonymity, One Of The Guerilla Girls Unmasks Herself
“The founding member of Guerrilla Girls known by the pseudonym Liubov Popova has revealed her true identity: she is 83-year-old US-based painter and sculptor, Joyce Kozloff, a major figure in the Pattern and Decoration movement of the 1970s.” – Ocula
MEDIA
- Italian Theatres, Mt. Olympus Added As World Heritage Sites
Meeting in Busan, South Korea, for its 48th session from July 19 to 29, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee inscribed 19 cultural sites, five natural environments, and one property exhibiting both cultural and ecological significance. – Artnet
- Two Of Dallas’s Largest Performing Arts Institutions Are Merging
The AT&T Performing Arts Center — which includes the Winspear Opera House, Wyly Theatre, Annette Strauss Square, and Sammons Park — and one of its five resident companies, Dallas Theater Center, plan to combine administration and many operations, with DTC becoming ATTPAC’s producing arm. – KERA (Dallas)
- Interlochen Center Issues Report On History Of Sexual Misconduct By Faculty
“The 97-page report spells out some 70 instances of sexual misconduct by multiple former faculty and staff spanning seven decades. … None of the 47 people accused in the report is currently employed by Interlochen. And owing to the amount of time that has passed, about a third of those accused are now dead.” – Interlochen Public Radio
- Performing Arts Centers In Australia’s “Second Cities” Form A Network
Four of Australia’s leading regional performing arts organisations have joined forces to establish a new national pathway for developing and presenting large-scale Australian theatre, backed by funding from Creative Australia. – Limelight
- At The Empty Kennedy Center, A Volunteer Tour Guide Soldiers On
“In a dogged demonstration of love and loyalty for an institution that has elevated life for her and millions of visitors, (Sandy Weisswasser) still arrives every Monday for her tour day, knowing she may soon find the doors locked.” – The New York Times
MUSIC
- Grandparents Are Giving Their Grandkids Personalized AI-Slop Children’s Books, Driving Parents Nuts
“If the odds are against parents who disapprove of artificial intelligence, it’s because there’s an entire ecosystem of AI services designed to insert real children into books … and some relatives can’t resist their ads for specially curated storybooks.” – Wired
- Why Are University Administrators Trying To Get Academics To Get Rid Of Books?
The bureaucrat sent an email to him with a dread warning. The books must go, it decreed. There was nothing healthy nor wise in the practice, for the keeping of books on bookshelves is now “the unnecessary storing of combustible materials.” – The Critic
- Why Writing Feels So Difficult
Every time you sit down to write, you’re doing something your brain registers as socially risky. Translating private thoughts into language means exposing yourself to judgment and for most of human history, judgment wasn’t just uncomfortable, it was dangerous. – LitHub
- Authors Have Mixed Feeling About Anthropic “Win”
One possible way for authors to get a fairer shake in the age of AI could be through the licensing of their work to AI companies. – NPR
- The Return Of “Tamizdat”: Why So Many New Russian Books Are Being Published Abroad
“Freedom Letters … (is) one of a growing number of cultural organizations that have joined forces with bookstores, wholesalers and book-fair organizers to build a literary resistance among the Russian diaspora. Together, they publish, sell and distribute books that can’t get through Russia’s restrictive new censorship laws.” – Bloomberg
PEOPLE
- No Bots Required
Good Morning,
More than a thousand people lined up before dawn arrayed in braids, vests, and gigantic water bottles, for an open call for an off-Broadway Spring Awakening revival (New York Times).
The New Yorker traces how bots now manufacture the froth of interest that passes for cultural conversation (The New Yorker), while grandparents ship AI-generated storybooks to their grandkids (Wired) — cheap calories, delivered with love. The musicians’ union is suing Universal and Warner for licensing members’ recordings to Suno and Udio without credit or payment (MusicBusinessWorldwide) — an attempt to make AI pay for its theft.
Institutions are reorganizing around the same thing. Dallas’s AT&T Performing Arts Center is absorbing Dallas Theater Center as its producing arm (KERA). And Interlochen has published a 97-page accounting of some 70 instances of faculty sexual misconduct across seven decades (Interlochen Public Radio).
Meanwhile, a university has informed its academics that books on shelves constitute “the unnecessary storing of combustible materials” (The Critic). Somewhere a bot is drafting the follow-up memo.
- Grandparents Are Giving Their Grandkids Personalized AI-Slop Children’s Books, Driving Parents Nuts
“If the odds are against parents who disapprove of artificial intelligence, it’s because there’s an entire ecosystem of AI services designed to insert real children into books … and some relatives can’t resist their ads for specially curated storybooks.” – Wired
- In Federal Trial Of Salman Rushdie’s Attacker, Defense Rests Without Presenting Testimony
As happened in defendant Hadi Matar’s New York state trial for attempted murder (for which he was convicted in February 2025), he declined to testify himself and his attorney called no witnesses. – AP
- Why Are University Administrators Trying To Get Academics To Get Rid Of Books?
The bureaucrat sent an email to him with a dread warning. The books must go, it decreed. There was nothing healthy nor wise in the practice, for the keeping of books on bookshelves is now “the unnecessary storing of combustible materials.” – The Critic
- Out, Damned Bot: How The Bots Took Over Our Lives
This strategy of manufacturing a froth of interest around a given subject, from Nicki Minaj’s political perspectives to Sydney Sweeney’s jean ads, has recently been especially effective, and has moved culture-war fights from the trenches of bot-infested social networks into more mainstream channels. – The New Yorker
PEOPLE
- No Bots Required
Good Morning,
More than a thousand people lined up before dawn arrayed in braids, vests, and gigantic water bottles, for an open call for an off-Broadway Spring Awakening revival (New York Times).
The New Yorker traces how bots now manufacture the froth of interest that passes for cultural conversation (The New Yorker), while grandparents ship AI-generated storybooks to their grandkids (Wired) — cheap calories, delivered with love. The musicians’ union is suing Universal and Warner for licensing members’ recordings to Suno and Udio without credit or payment (MusicBusinessWorldwide) — an attempt to make AI pay for its theft.
Institutions are reorganizing around the same thing. Dallas’s AT&T Performing Arts Center is absorbing Dallas Theater Center as its producing arm (KERA). And Interlochen has published a 97-page accounting of some 70 instances of faculty sexual misconduct across seven decades (Interlochen Public Radio).
Meanwhile, a university has informed its academics that books on shelves constitute “the unnecessary storing of combustible materials” (The Critic). Somewhere a bot is drafting the follow-up memo.
- Grandparents Are Giving Their Grandkids Personalized AI-Slop Children’s Books, Driving Parents Nuts
“If the odds are against parents who disapprove of artificial intelligence, it’s because there’s an entire ecosystem of AI services designed to insert real children into books … and some relatives can’t resist their ads for specially curated storybooks.” – Wired
- In Federal Trial Of Salman Rushdie’s Attacker, Defense Rests Without Presenting Testimony
As happened in defendant Hadi Matar’s New York state trial for attempted murder (for which he was convicted in February 2025), he declined to testify himself and his attorney called no witnesses. – AP
- Why Are University Administrators Trying To Get Academics To Get Rid Of Books?
The bureaucrat sent an email to him with a dread warning. The books must go, it decreed. There was nothing healthy nor wise in the practice, for the keeping of books on bookshelves is now “the unnecessary storing of combustible materials.” – The Critic
- Out, Damned Bot: How The Bots Took Over Our Lives
This strategy of manufacturing a froth of interest around a given subject, from Nicki Minaj’s political perspectives to Sydney Sweeney’s jean ads, has recently been especially effective, and has moved culture-war fights from the trenches of bot-infested social networks into more mainstream channels. – The New Yorker
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Out, Damned Bot: How The Bots Took Over Our Lives
This strategy of manufacturing a froth of interest around a given subject, from Nicki Minaj’s political perspectives to Sydney Sweeney’s jean ads, has recently been especially effective, and has moved culture-war fights from the trenches of bot-infested social networks into more mainstream channels. – The New Yorker
- The Depressing Notion Of AI Art
The point is that art is linked to dialectical movement. In most societies at most points in time, art is decoration or religious offering — the lyric is also possible. But to actually have artistic evolution, you really need a movement of historical forces that art, essentially, is keeping pace with. – Castalia
- The Bullshit Jobs We Do To Make Possible Our Real Work
“Utilizing a bullshit job to pursue other projects isn’t easy. It requires judgment and determination to take time that’s been first flattened and homogenized … then broken randomly into unpredictably large fragments.” – Arrowsmith Press
- The Ancient World Beyond Greece, Rome and Egypt
The de facto equation of ‘ancient history’ with ancient Mediterranean history, at least in most of the Anglosphere, has endured for many generations. But we are on the cusp of a dramatic shift in perspective that is producing a much bigger, broader and more exciting view of ‘the ancient world’. – Aeon
- What If More Intelligence Doesn’t Make Us Better?
If we think of intelligence as the ability to extract information from data, then even an infinitely advanced model endowed with infinite compute will be limited by the fact that there’s a limited amount of information that can be extracted from the data. – Noahpinion