AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Broadway Theaters’ Cleaning Workers Reach Contract Agreement, Avoiding Strike
“The cleaners, represented by 32BJ of Service Employees International Union, reached a tentative deal that includes $5 an hour wage increases, a 21% increase from the current rates, by the end of the new four-year contract, as well as improved paid leave and protection for its employer-paid family health care.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- The Bacteria That Causes Legionnaire’s Disease Has Been Found In The Guggenheim’s Cooling Tower
But, er, don’t freak out, New York. “The building remains safe for employees and visitors, according to both the museum and the union that represents its workers.” – The Art Newspaper
- The Groundbreaking Dance Trio A Turns Sixty
“By eschewing music and narrative in favor of seemingly pedestrian motions—toe taps, limbs folding and unrolling—that don’t repeat, challenged dance tradition when it premiered in 1966. It requires performers to maintain what [Yvonne] Rainer describes as an ‘uninflected continuity.’”- Dance Magazine
- Dinaw Mengestu Resigns As President Of PEN America After Only Seven Months
“Mengestu declined to provide further details. PEN America confirmed that he had resigned and also declined to say more. The organization has been on shaky ground in recent years because of backlash from writers and activists over its response to the war in Gaza.” – The New York Times
- Why So Many US English-Speakers Are Watching World Cup Matches In Spanish
“The math is simple. Census figures show that about 20% of the U.S. is Hispanic, yet Telemundo points to Nielsen ratings to show that roughly half the World Cup viewers in the U.S. have watched at least some portion of some matches in Spanish.” There are a number of reasons for this. – AP
ISSUES
- The Bacteria That Causes Legionnaire’s Disease Has Been Found In The Guggenheim’s Cooling Tower
But, er, don’t freak out, New York. “The building remains safe for employees and visitors, according to both the museum and the union that represents its workers.” – The Art Newspaper
- Bayeux Tapestry Arrives Safely At British Museum
“The secretive operation was the result of years of negotiations, tricky logistical planning and multiple technical studies to ensure the integrity of the 70-metre-long (230ft) medieval artwork.” – The Guardian
- Have Two English Preservation Societies Been Exaggerating About ‘Witch Marks’ On Old Buildings?
One architectural historian might go even farther: “Anything on a stone building that looks like a design gets picked up as these damn things now. There’s absolutely no evidence they were ever used like that.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Artist Mickalene Thomas Sued For Copyright Infringement
“Mickalene Thomas, an artist known for her popular paintings and photo-based installations centering Black women, is facing a lawsuit from the photographer Barbara Karant, who alleges that Thomas used her pictures without attribution or permission in works that appeared at an array of museums and blue-chip galleries.” – ARTnews
- British Businessman Fined In First Russia Art Sanctions Conviction
“The U.K. banned the export of luxury items such as cars, jewelry, art, and antiques valued over £250 ($330) to Russia in April 2022. Breaching the law is considered a criminal offense,” but the businessman was fined $37,000 instead. – Artnet
MEDIA
- New York Times, Ziff Davis, The Intercept, Others Accuse OpenAI Of Possible Obstruction Of Justice
As part of their broader lawsuits against OpenAI for copyright infringement for training its software on their media products without consent or compensation, the plaintiffs filed a motion accusing the company of lying during discovery by deliberately hiding evidence that its training datasets and output logs are searchable. – Variety
- Will The Kennedy Center Survive This ‘Open,’ Empty Time?
“What’s left has the air of a ghost ship, as the center’s board prepares to reconsider to what degree the building will remain open. The Kennedy Center declined to comment.” – Washington Post
- Smithsonian Chief Rebuts Trump Administration Report Accusing American History Museum Of Extremism
In a staff-wide email, Lonnie Bunch wrote that “there will always be room for improvement,” but the report “is not a fair characterization of … the National Museum of American History. At the Smithsonian, our work is driven by scholarship, accuracy, and an uncompromising commitment to tell the fullness of America’s story.” – The Washington Post
- Ukrainian Troops Get Handbook On Protecting Cultural Property
“The handbook sets out Ukrainian soldiers’ main obligations under international humanitarian law, the different levels of protection afforded to cultural property, the precautions to be integrated into operational planning, and the procedures for identifying, reporting and documenting attacks against heritage.” – The Art Newspaper
- Trump’s Name Must Stay Off Kennedy Center While Appeals Proceed, Rules Panel
“A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit … rejected the administration’s argument that the removal was damaging the arts institution’s finances.” – The Guardian
MUSIC
- Dinaw Mengestu Resigns As President Of PEN America After Only Seven Months
“Mengestu declined to provide further details. PEN America confirmed that he had resigned and also declined to say more. The organization has been on shaky ground in recent years because of backlash from writers and activists over its response to the war in Gaza.” – The New York Times
- Emily Wilson Knows From Angry ‘Odyssey’ Bros
“Wilson’s translations of The Odyssey and The Iliad are some of the best-known pieces of contemporary translation, and they’ve turned the University of Pennsylvania professor into both a star and a specter of controversy.” – Vulture
- Man Sentenced For Theft Of Rare Chinese Manuscripts From UCLA Library
Jeffrey Ying, a 39-year-old resident of Fremont, Cal., gets a year of house arrest and three years of probation for a scheme in which he reserved and checked out, under false names, several 17th-century manuscripts, then returned fake dummy copies. – San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
- The UK’s New Children’s Laureate Is Neither White Nor Dead
Patrice Lawrence “has a practical vision for her laureateship. ‘To change policy you need evidence,’ she says. ‘We say stories work, let’s show how they work.’” – The Guardian (UK)
- In Pamplona With The Bulls As Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” Turns 100
“Hemingway is etched into the landscape of Pamplona. Hotels and bars have busts of him or signs up that he was once there. Outside the Pamplona bull ring, … a huge banner hangs in honor of the novel, including a quote that shows how the festival left the writer speechless.” – AP
PEOPLE
- Broadway Theaters’ Cleaning Workers Reach Contract Agreement, Avoiding Strike
“The cleaners, represented by 32BJ of Service Employees International Union, reached a tentative deal that includes $5 an hour wage increases, a 21% increase from the current rates, by the end of the new four-year contract, as well as improved paid leave and protection for its employer-paid family health care.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- The Bacteria That Causes Legionnaire’s Disease Has Been Found In The Guggenheim’s Cooling Tower
But, er, don’t freak out, New York. “The building remains safe for employees and visitors, according to both the museum and the union that represents its workers.” – The Art Newspaper
- The Groundbreaking Dance Trio A Turns Sixty
“By eschewing music and narrative in favor of seemingly pedestrian motions—toe taps, limbs folding and unrolling—that don’t repeat, challenged dance tradition when it premiered in 1966. It requires performers to maintain what [Yvonne] Rainer describes as an ‘uninflected continuity.’”- Dance Magazine
- Dinaw Mengestu Resigns As President Of PEN America After Only Seven Months
“Mengestu declined to provide further details. PEN America confirmed that he had resigned and also declined to say more. The organization has been on shaky ground in recent years because of backlash from writers and activists over its response to the war in Gaza.” – The New York Times
- Why So Many US English-Speakers Are Watching World Cup Matches In Spanish
“The math is simple. Census figures show that about 20% of the U.S. is Hispanic, yet Telemundo points to Nielsen ratings to show that roughly half the World Cup viewers in the U.S. have watched at least some portion of some matches in Spanish.” There are a number of reasons for this. – AP
PEOPLE
- Broadway Theaters’ Cleaning Workers Reach Contract Agreement, Avoiding Strike
“The cleaners, represented by 32BJ of Service Employees International Union, reached a tentative deal that includes $5 an hour wage increases, a 21% increase from the current rates, by the end of the new four-year contract, as well as improved paid leave and protection for its employer-paid family health care.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- The Bacteria That Causes Legionnaire’s Disease Has Been Found In The Guggenheim’s Cooling Tower
But, er, don’t freak out, New York. “The building remains safe for employees and visitors, according to both the museum and the union that represents its workers.” – The Art Newspaper
- The Groundbreaking Dance Trio A Turns Sixty
“By eschewing music and narrative in favor of seemingly pedestrian motions—toe taps, limbs folding and unrolling—that don’t repeat, challenged dance tradition when it premiered in 1966. It requires performers to maintain what [Yvonne] Rainer describes as an ‘uninflected continuity.’”- Dance Magazine
- Dinaw Mengestu Resigns As President Of PEN America After Only Seven Months
“Mengestu declined to provide further details. PEN America confirmed that he had resigned and also declined to say more. The organization has been on shaky ground in recent years because of backlash from writers and activists over its response to the war in Gaza.” – The New York Times
- Why So Many US English-Speakers Are Watching World Cup Matches In Spanish
“The math is simple. Census figures show that about 20% of the U.S. is Hispanic, yet Telemundo points to Nielsen ratings to show that roughly half the World Cup viewers in the U.S. have watched at least some portion of some matches in Spanish.” There are a number of reasons for this. – AP
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Does Worldwide Modernization Lead To Reduction In Cultural Differences? Not Necessarily
“When researchers have actually tried to document the size of cultural differences over time, the picture is far more complicated – and more interesting.” – Psyche
- Who Makes Choices When We ‘Choose’?
“The brain initiates voluntary action unconsciously: our conscious sense that we have decided to act is actually the result of this brain activity.” It’s possible that our only choice is in deciding not to do something. – 3 Quarks
- The Effective-Altruism Movement Is About To Make A Comeback, Powered By AI Titans And Their Money
“Since the (Sam Bankman-Fried/FTX) scandal, the movement’s organizations have shied away from the limelight and become extremely concerned with PR. For several years, their growth has been severely curtailed. But they survived. And the new AI money has given EA a chance to come back larger than ever before.” – New York Magazine
- Do We Listen/See/Read Differently When The Name Of The Artist Is Changed?
Why should a name matter so much? Psychologists have a term that might help explain what’s happening here: prestige bias. Developed by the cultural evolution theorists Joseph Henrich and Francisco J Gil-White, the concept describes the human tendency to preferentially attend to, learn from, and value the outputs of high-status individuals. – Psyche
- When Innovation Scrambled Everything At The Turn Of The 20th Century
At the time, Americans did not understand that they were living through the largest energy transition in human history. Instead, they perceived a series of disconnected events. Unable to discern or conceptualize an underlying cause, they often declared the transformations around them were “kaleidoscopic.” – MIT Press