AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- “The Muppet Show” Is Now 50. It Almost Didn’t Happen At All.
After the success of Sesame Street, Jim Henson badly wanted to make a his own show. But there were two failed pilots for ABC and development plans at CBS stalled. Things looked hopeless — until producer Lew Grade came along. (One perhaps-surprising fact: all five seasons of the show were shot in England.) – Variety
- Meghan O’Gieblyn On The Limits And Opportunities Of Knowing Ourselves
When we read her work, we come to understand her in part through her acts of self-discovery, how, not unlike Montaigne, she comes to know herself by reckoning with the ways in which she may have remained unknown to herself. – The Point
- Daniel Weiss Is A Mr. Fix-It. Can He Fix The Philadelphia Museum Of Art?
He has been fixing institutions for his entire career, from his very first job, at the Kennedy Center’s gift shop, to the Metropolitan Museum, which, when he became CEO, had issues not dissimilar to those at the PMA when he became director last year. So far, the staff appears to be happier. – ARTnews
- The Art Trafficker Who Flooded LA Museums
The Stendahl Art Galleries were a key driver in the illegal looting, smuggling, and sale of these objects to its Los Angeles clientele. The Galleries’ archive is now housed at the Getty Research Institute (which published this book), allowing for a deep investigation into the shady dealings of an art dealer. – Hyperallergic
- LA Opera’s New Music Director: Making LA Opera Distinctly LA. But How?
“LA Opera should be an identity, unmistakably, just be L.A. Never imitate any other opera capital in the world. We are not New York, Buenos Aires, Paris, Berlin, Vienna. So, what is L.A.? It’s creativity. It’s cinema, theater, visual art, technology, and all these together, that makes the LA Opera.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
ISSUES
- Daniel Weiss Is A Mr. Fix-It. Can He Fix The Philadelphia Museum Of Art?
He has been fixing institutions for his entire career, from his very first job, at the Kennedy Center’s gift shop, to the Metropolitan Museum, which, when he became CEO, had issues not dissimilar to those at the PMA when he became director last year. So far, the staff appears to be happier. – ARTnews
- The Art Trafficker Who Flooded LA Museums
The Stendahl Art Galleries were a key driver in the illegal looting, smuggling, and sale of these objects to its Los Angeles clientele. The Galleries’ archive is now housed at the Getty Research Institute (which published this book), allowing for a deep investigation into the shady dealings of an art dealer. – Hyperallergic
- Getty Images Is A Giant. It Was Worth $4.8B A Few Years Ago. Now It’s In Bankruptcy. What Happened?
Getty Images is preparing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after years of financial struggles, a failed merger, and growing competition from technology that can create images in seconds. – Fast Company
- Indivisible: Lee Krasner And Jackson Pollock
The blockbuster that just opened at the Met, “Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous,” is probably, canvas for canvas, the best painting show in America this year. It does something I thought impossible, which is make Abstract Expressionism—the most fossilized of American art movements—seem new again. – The New Yorker
- Sculptors’ Favorite Plaster Is Being Discontinued, And They’re Freaking Out
“The specialty plaster is a type of gypsum product known as Hydrocal, which … is durable enough for metal casting but soft enough for direct sculpting. In addition to artworks, it is used in architectural restoration projects, dental molds, orthopedic molds and the customization of prosthetic limbs.” – The New York Times
MEDIA
- Bayeux Tapestry Exhibition Has Spectators Flocking To Battle Of Hastings Re-Enactment
“Each fall, about 1,000 history enthusiasts gather in Battle, a town in southern England, to recreate the Battle of Hastings (the main event depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry) … on the very landscape where the conflict unfolded on Oct. 14, 1066. This year … the crowds have been more teeming than usual.” – The New York Times
- Why King Arthur Still Resonates In Our Popular Culture
Arthur and the chivalric culture he evokes remain part of our cultural lexicon, as shown by his continued reimagining in popular media. – Jstor
- Seattle Artists Make A Case For Funding From City’s Public Safety Budget
What matters most is how they made the case. They didn’t ask Seattle to support the arts because culture enriches a city. They asked the city to treat arts and culture as public safety infrastructure. – Return on Art (LinkedIn)
- Two SC Arts Commission Members Resign Following Denial Of Grants To LGBTQ+ Groups
Russell Parks, the board member who led the effort to deny funding to two Greenville-based LGBTQ+ performing arts groups, and board chair Flavia Harton (who didn’t vote on the issue) are both leaving the Commission before their terms expire. Neither gave any reason other than time constraints. – The Post and Courier (Charleston) (Yahoo!)
- “Coolest Market In Paris” Has Burned Down
The Marché des Enfants Rouges, a covered food market in the Marais neighborhood which dates back to 1615, was “totally destroyed” in a blaze which broke out at about 3 am Monday. – The Guardian
MUSIC
- The Essential Anne Carson: Fragments Across Time
Fragmentation is frequently associated with the crisis of representation in 20th-century literature. Carson reveals that the ancient textual tradition already contains discontinuities that resist the modern desire for completeness. – The Conversation
- 80 Books Were Banned In Minnesota Last Year. They Were All At One School.
Among the titles involved were The Handmaid’s Tale, The Kite Runner, and a cookbook. Outraged students protested. And, mind you, this was after Minnesota passed a law forbidding book bans in public schools. – The Minnesota Star Tribune
- Author Of France’s Hit Novel Of The Fall Denies Using AI But Admits To Past Plagiarism
“The novel by Thélyson Orélien, C’était ça ou mourir, which translates to ‘It was either that or dying,’ came under scrutiny last month over allegations of AI use. This was followed by other news reports that raised questions about passages in the author’s previous work.” – The Canadian Press
- Think You Can Spot AI Writing? Probably Not
A question that is turning us all into different kinds of readers—skeptical, antagonistic, and less willing to give our fellow humans the benefit of the doubt. Trying to figure out what AI writing looks like is turning writer and reader into adversaries. And I’m going to tell you why. – The Walrus
- Non-Fiction Is In Trouble?
What if, like a thumb on the scales tipping debut novels toward more favourable outcomes, nonfiction’s bleaker fate was also a product of accumulated choices—choices about where the money goes and how the story of these books gets told? – The Walrus
PEOPLE
- “The Muppet Show” Is Now 50. It Almost Didn’t Happen At All.
After the success of Sesame Street, Jim Henson badly wanted to make a his own show. But there were two failed pilots for ABC and development plans at CBS stalled. Things looked hopeless — until producer Lew Grade came along. (One perhaps-surprising fact: all five seasons of the show were shot in England.) – Variety
- Meghan O’Gieblyn On The Limits And Opportunities Of Knowing Ourselves
When we read her work, we come to understand her in part through her acts of self-discovery, how, not unlike Montaigne, she comes to know herself by reckoning with the ways in which she may have remained unknown to herself. – The Point
- Daniel Weiss Is A Mr. Fix-It. Can He Fix The Philadelphia Museum Of Art?
He has been fixing institutions for his entire career, from his very first job, at the Kennedy Center’s gift shop, to the Metropolitan Museum, which, when he became CEO, had issues not dissimilar to those at the PMA when he became director last year. So far, the staff appears to be happier. – ARTnews
- The Art Trafficker Who Flooded LA Museums
The Stendahl Art Galleries were a key driver in the illegal looting, smuggling, and sale of these objects to its Los Angeles clientele. The Galleries’ archive is now housed at the Getty Research Institute (which published this book), allowing for a deep investigation into the shady dealings of an art dealer. – Hyperallergic
- LA Opera’s New Music Director: Making LA Opera Distinctly LA. But How?
“LA Opera should be an identity, unmistakably, just be L.A. Never imitate any other opera capital in the world. We are not New York, Buenos Aires, Paris, Berlin, Vienna. So, what is L.A.? It’s creativity. It’s cinema, theater, visual art, technology, and all these together, that makes the LA Opera.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
PEOPLE
- “The Muppet Show” Is Now 50. It Almost Didn’t Happen At All.
After the success of Sesame Street, Jim Henson badly wanted to make a his own show. But there were two failed pilots for ABC and development plans at CBS stalled. Things looked hopeless — until producer Lew Grade came along. (One perhaps-surprising fact: all five seasons of the show were shot in England.) – Variety
- Meghan O’Gieblyn On The Limits And Opportunities Of Knowing Ourselves
When we read her work, we come to understand her in part through her acts of self-discovery, how, not unlike Montaigne, she comes to know herself by reckoning with the ways in which she may have remained unknown to herself. – The Point
- Daniel Weiss Is A Mr. Fix-It. Can He Fix The Philadelphia Museum Of Art?
He has been fixing institutions for his entire career, from his very first job, at the Kennedy Center’s gift shop, to the Metropolitan Museum, which, when he became CEO, had issues not dissimilar to those at the PMA when he became director last year. So far, the staff appears to be happier. – ARTnews
- The Art Trafficker Who Flooded LA Museums
The Stendahl Art Galleries were a key driver in the illegal looting, smuggling, and sale of these objects to its Los Angeles clientele. The Galleries’ archive is now housed at the Getty Research Institute (which published this book), allowing for a deep investigation into the shady dealings of an art dealer. – Hyperallergic
- LA Opera’s New Music Director: Making LA Opera Distinctly LA. But How?
“LA Opera should be an identity, unmistakably, just be L.A. Never imitate any other opera capital in the world. We are not New York, Buenos Aires, Paris, Berlin, Vienna. So, what is L.A.? It’s creativity. It’s cinema, theater, visual art, technology, and all these together, that makes the LA Opera.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
THEATRE
VISUAL
- We’re Losing Our Skills As We Lean Into Technology
We have fallen into habits that are steadily deskilling the human body, eroding capacities honed by evolution to support our wellbeing as we move through the world. Some of these capacities are weakening through disuse: we have come to rely on our phones, for example, and now, increasingly, on AI. – Aeon
- Complicating The Morality Of Colonialism?
“My pessimism is reinforced by the zero-sum view of economics that typically accompanies the zero-sum view of moral agency around colonialism. A major piece of evidence for the ‘colonisation explains everything’ thesis is economic.” – 3 Quarks Daily
- Sorry, But The Reading “Crisis” Isn’t One
The practice of using our eyes to create and absorb systems of language instead is so difficult and so weird, in fact, that, as best as we can tell, and as Marriott reminds us, it’s been invented no more than four times in our 300,000 years as a species. – The New Republic
- American Retirees Aren’t Spending Down Their Savings. This Is A Problem
A survey of older adults with at least $100,000 showed that only 28 percent were comfortable watching their savings taper off to cover living expenses, ostensibly exactly what the money was saved for in the first place. This is a problem—not just for retirees but for the country. – The Atlantic
- A Three-Year Arts Launchpad In Boston Provides A Path For Smaller Arts Groups
The Boston Center for the Arts Launchpad “is meant to provide both an anchor and a resource without restricting what each company might create.” – Boston Globe