AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Demystifying The Art Of Conducting
No, not by watching Tár. “The very act of conducting—waving a wand to summon ravishing or ethereal or earsplitting sounds—can look like either inexplicable magic or embarrassing nonsense, a kind of tuxedoed air guitar.” – The Atlantic
- What In The World Is The Met Museum Doing?
Why platform John Galliano, known for antisemitic tirades and more? “The fashion business has long been known to tolerate bad behavior; addiction, provocation and eccentricity are seen as normal, and at times necessary, elements of the creative process. Mr. Galliano’s comportment went way beyond all that.” – The New York Times
- How Many Broadway Shows Can Follow Hamilton And Hadestown To Success At The Movie Theatre?
“I want to see the eyes of the actors, I want to get closer to the emotion – which is what theatre can’t give you. It’s a different thing,” says the Hadestown pro-shot director. – NPR
- Britain Claims That Banksy Is Expensive For The British Public
“The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) says it has spent £50,000 trying to remove paint from the wall of the Grade II-listed building in Carey Street.” Er … a solution presents itself. – BBC
- The Young Artist Making The Last Of The Dummies
“To some people, these are just puppets. … To me, there’s so much to them. It’s sculpture, casting, painting, sewing, mechanics, history, research, performance design — all at once. They are like kinetic art objects.” – The New York Times
ISSUES
- Britain Claims That Banksy Is Expensive For The British Public
“The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) says it has spent £50,000 trying to remove paint from the wall of the Grade II-listed building in Carey Street.” Er … a solution presents itself. – BBC
- The Young Artist Making The Last Of The Dummies
“To some people, these are just puppets. … To me, there’s so much to them. It’s sculpture, casting, painting, sewing, mechanics, history, research, performance design — all at once. They are like kinetic art objects.” – The New York Times
- The Painter Who Uses Medieval Style And Techniques To Address The 21st Century
“Today (Malo Chapuy) paints religious scenes, altarpieces, and early Renaissance-style portraits that look like museum artifacts save for the proliferation of wind turbines, water towers, astronauts, and spaceships.” – Art in America
- London’s National Gallery Asked Citizens To Help Chart The Future. Some Are Angry They Asked
London’s National Gallery is facing backlash from conservative groups in the U.K. after convening a 50-citizen assembly to help shape its future planning. – Artnet
- Concern That IndyCar Race On The DC Streets Might Damage Museum Art
One of those institutions, the National Gallery of Art, has studied vibrations ahead of the race as it prepares for possible effects on its art — but it’s declining to say what it found. – Washington Post
MEDIA
- Study: Arts Orgs That Got More COVID Relief Funding Are Doing Better Than Those That Didn’t
From Sacramento and Seattle to New York City and Philadelphia, the study highlights diverging trends across cities — some rebounded from the pandemic and even exceeded their 2019 numbers, while others plummeted. – Hyperallergic
- Seven Smithsonian Museums Closed Due To HVAC Issue
The museums, all on the south side of the National Mall, share one of the General Service Administration’s HVAC plants; the chilled water supply at that facility was disrupted on Thursday, leaving the museums without air conditioning during a heat wave. The buildings will reopen once the issue is resolved. – Washington City Paper
- Do The People Of This Slovakian Village Really Want To Lose UNESCO World Heritage Status?
That’s what all the headlines said, but the people of the well-preserved medieval village of Vlkolínec say it’s not that simple. They want to protect their small, still-living community from the pressures of overtourism, which could easily overwhelm it. – Deutsche Welle
- Dallas’s Perot Museum Of Nature And Science Seems To Be Planning A Big Expansion It Hasn’t Announced
The news comes from a filing the museum made last week with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation; management has also filed with the city of Dallas for a construction permit. Work is expected to start early next year. – The Dallas Morning News (MSN)
- The Problem With Super-Flexible High-Tech Performance Venues
Justin Davidson on New York’s Perelman Arts Center and The Shed: “Now the boldest experimenters can take advantage of walls that move at the touch of a button, precision lifts, rooms that shrink and expand, projected images (on) moving surfaces. … Yet the revolution, now that it’s here, feels anticlimactic and overpriced.” – Curbed (MSN)
MUSIC
- Not Only Is Poetry Still Alive, But It’s Having A Hell Of A Moment
No, not just The Odyssey. “A new audience is finding poetry, particularly (though not exclusively) through social media: a new generation of poets, particularly but not exclusively performance poets, have come to prominence through Instagram, TikTok, and other short-form video formats.” – The Guardian (UK)
- When Did It Become OK To Stop Reading A Book In The Middle?
Wasn’t there a compact, for a while, that if you started a book, you’d damn well finish it? “Even lifelong DNFers often feel bad about closing the book — that it’s a sign of a quitter, or that they’re too stupid.” – The New York Times
- Exploding Myths About The English Language
If languages had all been getting ever easier over all of that time, humans worldwide would just be yelling “ah,” pointing at things and gesturing frantically. Despite occasional appearances otherwise, we are doing better than that. – The New York Times
- When Today’s Slang Leaves You Behind
I knew the context. I knew who was using it. I knew when it should be used. I knew when it was already embarrassing to use it. I wasn’t speaking the language but I was fluent. Now, I’m joining the ranks of the bamboozled elderly and Googling “quiet on the creek”. – The Guardian
- Readers Prefer AI-Generated Stories To Human-Written Ones — As Long As They Don’t Know About The AI Part: Study
“Readers gave AI-generated stories they believed to be written by humans the highest ratings in a new study published by Cambridge University Press, … with researchers noting that ‘participants generally seemed to have poor instincts about how to tell which story was AI-generated’.” – The Bookseller (UK)
PEOPLE
- Demystifying The Art Of Conducting
No, not by watching Tár. “The very act of conducting—waving a wand to summon ravishing or ethereal or earsplitting sounds—can look like either inexplicable magic or embarrassing nonsense, a kind of tuxedoed air guitar.” – The Atlantic
- What In The World Is The Met Museum Doing?
Why platform John Galliano, known for antisemitic tirades and more? “The fashion business has long been known to tolerate bad behavior; addiction, provocation and eccentricity are seen as normal, and at times necessary, elements of the creative process. Mr. Galliano’s comportment went way beyond all that.” – The New York Times
- How Many Broadway Shows Can Follow Hamilton And Hadestown To Success At The Movie Theatre?
“I want to see the eyes of the actors, I want to get closer to the emotion – which is what theatre can’t give you. It’s a different thing,” says the Hadestown pro-shot director. – NPR
- Britain Claims That Banksy Is Expensive For The British Public
“The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) says it has spent £50,000 trying to remove paint from the wall of the Grade II-listed building in Carey Street.” Er … a solution presents itself. – BBC
- The Young Artist Making The Last Of The Dummies
“To some people, these are just puppets. … To me, there’s so much to them. It’s sculpture, casting, painting, sewing, mechanics, history, research, performance design — all at once. They are like kinetic art objects.” – The New York Times
PEOPLE
- Demystifying The Art Of Conducting
No, not by watching Tár. “The very act of conducting—waving a wand to summon ravishing or ethereal or earsplitting sounds—can look like either inexplicable magic or embarrassing nonsense, a kind of tuxedoed air guitar.” – The Atlantic
- What In The World Is The Met Museum Doing?
Why platform John Galliano, known for antisemitic tirades and more? “The fashion business has long been known to tolerate bad behavior; addiction, provocation and eccentricity are seen as normal, and at times necessary, elements of the creative process. Mr. Galliano’s comportment went way beyond all that.” – The New York Times
- How Many Broadway Shows Can Follow Hamilton And Hadestown To Success At The Movie Theatre?
“I want to see the eyes of the actors, I want to get closer to the emotion – which is what theatre can’t give you. It’s a different thing,” says the Hadestown pro-shot director. – NPR
- Britain Claims That Banksy Is Expensive For The British Public
“The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) says it has spent £50,000 trying to remove paint from the wall of the Grade II-listed building in Carey Street.” Er … a solution presents itself. – BBC
- The Young Artist Making The Last Of The Dummies
“To some people, these are just puppets. … To me, there’s so much to them. It’s sculpture, casting, painting, sewing, mechanics, history, research, performance design — all at once. They are like kinetic art objects.” – The New York Times
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Prediction Markets Are Wrecking Civil Society
Monetizing the full gamut of reality, platforms have opened Pandora’s box. Basic tenets of liberal society—democratic integrity and respect for human life—are being corroded. Regulators need to step in. – The Walrus
- As AI Overwhelms The Web: What Was The Internet?
Despite valiant efforts by activists and reformers, it’s been the dystopians’ world—or at least the realists’—for some time now: an age of techno-feudalism, digital colonialism, the new Jim Code. – Boston Review
- What’s Behind Gen Z’s Dark Humor?
In my assessment, Gen Z’s dark and nonsensical humor does not show a lack of moral values, but it’s instead the product of its desire to engage in more authentic conversations about what they believe. – The Conversation
- Rise Of The Neo-Luddites
The label of “neo-Luddism” or “digital Luddite” is also being reclaimed by people concerned about labour conditions, society and democracy in an era of AI expansion twinned with personal profit. – The Conversation
- The Edinburgh Fringe Is Huge. But Is Success Just Getting Bigger?
Edinburgh has wrestled with for years: what is tourism actually for? If the answer is simply “more visitors, more spending”, the city will keep winning by numbers while residents feel they are losing by experience. – The Conversation