AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Good Morning
Today’s AJ highlights: The intersection of neuroscience and artistry is becoming increasingly literal. While we have long used the shorthand of “rewiring” to describe neuroplasticity, an essay in Aeon argues that this metaphor may be a misleading oversimplification that distorts our actual grasp of science. This dawning recognition about the limits of generative models is also fueling a workforce anxiety; the Christian Science Monitor reports that commercial artists and studio musicians increasingly fear being replaced by lab-grown creative products.
The Mellon Foundation, now the nation’s richest humanities funder, is facing an analytical reckoning over whether its outsized influence is the last best hope for American arts or a force that is inadvertently killing them by centralizing control. The National Gallery in London announces staff-wide buyouts to plug an £8.2 million deficit, while the BBC prepares to cut a tenth of its operating costs over the next three years.
In Minneapolis, the theater community is moving performances to clandestine locations to ensure the curtain rises despite the fear and violence in the streets. A similar spirit of subversion is evident at the New York City Ballet, where principal Taylor Stanley bypassed management to secure permission from the choreographer to become the first male dancer to play the evil fairy Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty.
All our stories are below.
- “Vinegar Valentines” — Send A Token Of Your Sentiment To The Ex You Despise
The name was given by present-day collectors and dealers; in their Victorian heyday, they were usually called mock or mocking valentines. They were very much intended to mock or offend their targets, and they did so with spirit. – The Conversation
- Does Making Art Require A “Writer’s Room”? Or Is It Something Else?
There’s no question that they’ve helped me write. And yet, if I look back over my career as a writer, the value I’ve derived from carefully controlling my environment has paled in comparison to my main source of motivation: scary e-mails from editors. – The New Yorker
- Coffee Poets: The 16th-Century Muslim World’s Culture War Over The Brew Was Fought In Verse
In the medieval period, poets had used “coffee” as a symbol (or euphemism) for wine (forbidden in Islam), so praising coffee in a poem was suspect. So was all the fun being had at coffeehouses. Yet both the drink and the establishments serving it had passionate defenders making their case in poetry. – History Today
- What Does It Mean To “Rewire” Your Brain?
Is it a helpful shorthand for describing the remarkable plasticity of our nervous system or has it become a misleading oversimplification that distorts our grasp of science? – Aeon
ISSUES
- London’s National Gallery, Facing $11.1 Million Deficit, Announces Staff-Wide Buyout Scheme And Cuts
“In the face of an £8.2 million deficit in the coming year, … initially there will be a ‘voluntary exit scheme’ available to all staff. … With regard to the exhibition programme, (there could be) fewer free exhibitions, not as many ticketed shows, less international borrowing of artworks, and more expensive tickets.” – The Art Newspaper
- Alleged Massive Ticket Fraud Scheme At Louvre; Police Arrest Nine Suspects
“The Paris prosecutor’s office on Thursday said that nine people were being detained as part of an investigation into a suspected decade-long, 10 million euro ($11.8 million) ticket fraud scheme at the Louvre.” – AP
- Artforum Editor Steps Down
Tina Rivers Ryan had stepped into the leadership role at Artforum after a tumultuous year. It had just fired David Velasco, at the time its editor in chief, after he had signed and published an open letter calling for Palestinian liberation. – The New York Times
- Proposed Jersey City Branch Of Pompidou Center Is Officially “Dead”
“After announcing last week that Jersey City is facing a $255 million deficit, Mayor James Solomon removed any doubt about where he stood on Centre Pompidou’s proposed satellite location in New Jersey’s second-largest city. ‘We will not be doing Pompidou, to be clear. It is dead.’” – NJ.com
- Permission To Star(e)
Depending on where you stand, the human face has become either a digital playground or digital battleground. Your Instagram feed can now produce a diaspora of thousands of faces that uncannily resemble but are not quite Kim Kardashian, a “cyborgian” look best achieved through plastic surgery and Facetune. – The Walrus
MEDIA
- Australia’s First New City In 100 Years
- America’s Richest Humanities Funder (And Its Implications)
Is the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation the last best hope for American arts and letters—or is it killing them? – The Atlantic
- AI Companies Are Eating Higher Education
A.I. companies are increasingly exerting outsize influence over higher education and using these settings as training grounds to further their goal of creating artificial general intelligence (A.I. systems that can substitute for humans). – The New York Times
- More Kennedy Center Woes: Fundraising Is Reportedly A Mess
According to several staffers (speaking anonymously), senior vice president of development Lisa Dale — best friend of Kari Lake and a former TV host — has skipped meetings with potential high-level donors and sometimes gives fundraising figures to Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell which are higher than the money which actually comes in. – Politico
- Kennedy Center Boss Warns Of Job Cuts During Shutdown
In a Tuesday memo obtained by The Associated Press, Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell told staff that ‘departments will obviously function on a much smaller scale with some units totally reduced or on hold until we begin preparations to reopen in 2028,’ promising ‘permanent or temporary adjustments for most everyone.’” – AP
MUSIC
- “Vinegar Valentines” — Send A Token Of Your Sentiment To The Ex You Despise
The name was given by present-day collectors and dealers; in their Victorian heyday, they were usually called mock or mocking valentines. They were very much intended to mock or offend their targets, and they did so with spirit. – The Conversation
- Coffee Poets: The 16th-Century Muslim World’s Culture War Over The Brew Was Fought In Verse
In the medieval period, poets had used “coffee” as a symbol (or euphemism) for wine (forbidden in Islam), so praising coffee in a poem was suspect. So was all the fun being had at coffeehouses. Yet both the drink and the establishments serving it had passionate defenders making their case in poetry. – History Today
- The Art Of Literary Subversion
The unique power of literary tradition, unlike philosophy or science, is that literature can respond to its predecessors without invalidating them, can contradict them without competing with them. – Aeon
- The “Heated Rivalry” Language Coach Explains How She Taught Connor Storrie Such Good Russian
Storrie, who plays hockey star Ilya Rozanov in the hit miniseries, comes from West Texas and studied Russian only briefly in high school, yet his Russian accent in English and his fluent delivery of Russian-language dialogue are very impressive. Storrie’s language coach, Kate Yablunovsky, explains how she helped him do it. – Scientific American
- Study: Reading To Children Improves Their Social Skills
I’m a neuroscientist with four children, and I wondered whether children might be losing more than just the pleasure of listening to books read aloud. In particular, I wondered whether it affected their empathy and creativity. – The Conversation
PEOPLE
- Good Morning
Today’s AJ highlights: The intersection of neuroscience and artistry is becoming increasingly literal. While we have long used the shorthand of “rewiring” to describe neuroplasticity, an essay in Aeon argues that this metaphor may be a misleading oversimplification that distorts our actual grasp of science. This dawning recognition about the limits of generative models is also fueling a workforce anxiety; the Christian Science Monitor reports that commercial artists and studio musicians increasingly fear being replaced by lab-grown creative products.
The Mellon Foundation, now the nation’s richest humanities funder, is facing an analytical reckoning over whether its outsized influence is the last best hope for American arts or a force that is inadvertently killing them by centralizing control. The National Gallery in London announces staff-wide buyouts to plug an £8.2 million deficit, while the BBC prepares to cut a tenth of its operating costs over the next three years.
In Minneapolis, the theater community is moving performances to clandestine locations to ensure the curtain rises despite the fear and violence in the streets. A similar spirit of subversion is evident at the New York City Ballet, where principal Taylor Stanley bypassed management to secure permission from the choreographer to become the first male dancer to play the evil fairy Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty.
All our stories are below.
- “Vinegar Valentines” — Send A Token Of Your Sentiment To The Ex You Despise
The name was given by present-day collectors and dealers; in their Victorian heyday, they were usually called mock or mocking valentines. They were very much intended to mock or offend their targets, and they did so with spirit. – The Conversation
- Does Making Art Require A “Writer’s Room”? Or Is It Something Else?
There’s no question that they’ve helped me write. And yet, if I look back over my career as a writer, the value I’ve derived from carefully controlling my environment has paled in comparison to my main source of motivation: scary e-mails from editors. – The New Yorker
- Coffee Poets: The 16th-Century Muslim World’s Culture War Over The Brew Was Fought In Verse
In the medieval period, poets had used “coffee” as a symbol (or euphemism) for wine (forbidden in Islam), so praising coffee in a poem was suspect. So was all the fun being had at coffeehouses. Yet both the drink and the establishments serving it had passionate defenders making their case in poetry. – History Today
- What Does It Mean To “Rewire” Your Brain?
Is it a helpful shorthand for describing the remarkable plasticity of our nervous system or has it become a misleading oversimplification that distorts our grasp of science? – Aeon
PEOPLE
- Good Morning
Today’s AJ highlights: The intersection of neuroscience and artistry is becoming increasingly literal. While we have long used the shorthand of “rewiring” to describe neuroplasticity, an essay in Aeon argues that this metaphor may be a misleading oversimplification that distorts our actual grasp of science. This dawning recognition about the limits of generative models is also fueling a workforce anxiety; the Christian Science Monitor reports that commercial artists and studio musicians increasingly fear being replaced by lab-grown creative products.
The Mellon Foundation, now the nation’s richest humanities funder, is facing an analytical reckoning over whether its outsized influence is the last best hope for American arts or a force that is inadvertently killing them by centralizing control. The National Gallery in London announces staff-wide buyouts to plug an £8.2 million deficit, while the BBC prepares to cut a tenth of its operating costs over the next three years.
In Minneapolis, the theater community is moving performances to clandestine locations to ensure the curtain rises despite the fear and violence in the streets. A similar spirit of subversion is evident at the New York City Ballet, where principal Taylor Stanley bypassed management to secure permission from the choreographer to become the first male dancer to play the evil fairy Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty.
All our stories are below.
- “Vinegar Valentines” — Send A Token Of Your Sentiment To The Ex You Despise
The name was given by present-day collectors and dealers; in their Victorian heyday, they were usually called mock or mocking valentines. They were very much intended to mock or offend their targets, and they did so with spirit. – The Conversation
- Does Making Art Require A “Writer’s Room”? Or Is It Something Else?
There’s no question that they’ve helped me write. And yet, if I look back over my career as a writer, the value I’ve derived from carefully controlling my environment has paled in comparison to my main source of motivation: scary e-mails from editors. – The New Yorker
- Coffee Poets: The 16th-Century Muslim World’s Culture War Over The Brew Was Fought In Verse
In the medieval period, poets had used “coffee” as a symbol (or euphemism) for wine (forbidden in Islam), so praising coffee in a poem was suspect. So was all the fun being had at coffeehouses. Yet both the drink and the establishments serving it had passionate defenders making their case in poetry. – History Today
- What Does It Mean To “Rewire” Your Brain?
Is it a helpful shorthand for describing the remarkable plasticity of our nervous system or has it become a misleading oversimplification that distorts our grasp of science? – Aeon
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Does Making Art Require A “Writer’s Room”? Or Is It Something Else?
There’s no question that they’ve helped me write. And yet, if I look back over my career as a writer, the value I’ve derived from carefully controlling my environment has paled in comparison to my main source of motivation: scary e-mails from editors. – The New Yorker
- What Does It Mean To “Rewire” Your Brain?
Is it a helpful shorthand for describing the remarkable plasticity of our nervous system or has it become a misleading oversimplification that distorts our grasp of science? – Aeon
- Where The Power Lies: Institutions Versus Networks
Institutions foster cooperation by rewarding good behaviour and punishing rule-breakers. Yet they themselves depend on cooperative members to function. We haven’t solved the cooperation problem – we’ve simply moved it back one step. So why do institutions work at all? – Aeon
- Scientists Look Inside The Brain Of A Musician While He’s Playing
What happens in a performer’s brain while playing? Traditional brain-imaging tools like functional m.r.i. (f m.r.i.) require subjects to lie motionless in a scanner. Newer wearable technologies, including EEG (electroencephalography) caps fitted with electrodes, make it possible to study musicians in more natural settings. – The New York Times
- What Happens When We Fill Every Waking Moment With Information
From the jarring morning alarm to the podcast we listen to on the way to work; from the constant murmur of the office to the background music in the café; from the endless information on our smartphones to the television that’s on just to have “something” playing. – 3 Quarks Daily
