AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Good Morning
The Met Museum’s first-ever Native American curator, Patricia Marroquin Norby, has resigned — a hire once celebrated as a watershed (ARTnews). Institutions rewriting their own stories is today’s quiet theme. A sharp piece argues that arts organizations are still governed by inherited structures that assume a centrality that no longer exists (ArtsHub). Australia is testing a new hybrid model leveraging donor capital against government funds (AAP). And Netflix just bought Ben Affleck’s AI firm, which promises to cut below-the-line production costs by 10–20% (Deadline).
Sculptor Melvin Edwards, who made chains and steel into some of the most politically charged art of the past half-century, has died at 88 (ARTnews). George Clooney, meanwhile, took home an estimated $9 million for 13 weeks on Broadway (Broadway Journal).
All of our stories below.
- Lego Set To Release Its Largest-Ever Set, Of Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia In Barcelona
News of the upcoming set, part of the company’s Architecture series, was leaked by a long-time leaker known as Chief Wiggum, whose predictions have proven true in the past. – Dezeen
- Compelling Video Games About Managing Stores???
Retro Rewind is the latest in a category called “store simulators”—games that basically create bottled versions of hourly-wage drudgery. Set in the ’90s, the game tasks players with such activities as stocking shelves, manning the checkout counter, and balancing the daily books. – The Atlantic
- 50 Years Ago, This Fairuz Song Became Lebanon’s Great Anthem Of Hope. Now The Lebanese Are Feeling Ambivalent About It.
Through year after year and decade after decade of turmoil, Fairuz’s “Bahebak Ya Lebnan” (“I Love You, Lebanon”) inspired hope and pride in the nation’s resilience. Now many Lebanese associate the song with tragedy, and younger people see the lyrics’ promises as a hollow fantasy. – The Guardian
- Ben Affleck’s Company (Which Netflix Just Bought) Says It Can Save “Millions” In Production Costs
The reductions made possible by InterPositive‘s technology would be “substantial” on below-the-line production, “conservatively” reaching at least 10% to 20%, the application said. – Deadline
ISSUES
- Lego Set To Release Its Largest-Ever Set, Of Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia In Barcelona
News of the upcoming set, part of the company’s Architecture series, was leaked by a long-time leaker known as Chief Wiggum, whose predictions have proven true in the past. – Dezeen
- Trump And The Golden Idol In His Proposed “Library”
There is one recent development upon which we really should all agree — erecting a gold statue of President Trump in the middle of his proposed presidential library is a No Good, Very Bad Idea. – Los Angeles Times
- You Can’t Sell Famous Stolen Art. So Why Steal It?
The items stolen are clearly valuable. But, as an expert in the governance of criminal markets, I can tell you acquiring the goods is only the first step. Turning this loot into cash is fraught with risk. – The Conversation
- Met Museum’s First-Ever Native American Curator Resigns
Patricia Norby had been hired to great fanfare, as both the first person to hold the role at the Met and the first Native American to be hired as a curator by the institution. Her appointment was seen as both a watershed and as a response to criticism from various Native American tribes. – ARTnews
- Dalí’s Largest Painting Acquired By Dalí Museum In Florida
The Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg paid $293,240 for his 13-panel, four-canvas, 65’x100’ set for Bacchanale, which he called his first “paranoiac-critical ballet” and which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1939. Dalí also designed costumes and wrote the scenario for the work; choreography was by Léonide Massine. – Artnet
MEDIA
- Growing Recognition: Our Arts Models Need Reinvention
We now operate in a landscape of cultural abundance – of content, of participation and of alternative platforms for meaning-making (if not direct investment). Yet many institutions continue to move at a different tempo, governed by inherited structures that assume a kind of centrality that no longer exists. The result is not just inefficiency, but misalignment. – ArtsHub
- Australia’s New Idea For Arts Funding
Creative Australia is testing a new model for financing organisations to be named the Creative Industries Impact Fund, by working with donors to raise capital against government funds. – AAP
- Judge Halts Construction Of Trump’s White House Ballroom
“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” Judge Leon wrote in a 35-page ruling issued Tuesday afternoon. – Washington Post
- This Canadian Province Is Increasing Arts Funding To An All-Time High
The Alberta government’s provincial budget includes a record C$40.1 million allocated to the arts, including C$38.1 million (up C$3.5 million from last year) to funding body Alberta Foundation for the Arts. – Calgary Herald
- New York’s Iconic Symphony Space To Get A Makeover
When the venue reopens in 2028, after a 15-month closure that begins at the end of this year, an updated version of its signature metal marquee will hang above Broadway again. But the interior will be completely renovated, and its many eccentricities addressed, in time for its 50th anniversary. – The New York Times
MUSIC
- How The Publishing World Works Systemically
Yes, literature is structured by institutions that serve their own self-interest, but that self-interest requires a lot of other people to give them their labor at a very low cost. And that can only happen if the business does enough to maintain this glow of prestige. – Woman of Letters
- Two Crucial Documents From U.S. History Placed With Declaration Of Independence In National Archives’ Rotunda
For the 250th anniversary of the USA’s founding document, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 19th Amendment to the Constitution (the one which gave women the right to vote) have been put on display with the original Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights. – The New York Times
- The Guardian Launches Its First Experiment With Substack
“(The paper) has decided to experiment with Substack by recreating its weekly food newsletter Feast on the platform. The Substack play is part of Project Berger, the multi-year transformation plan designed to make The Guardian ‘more visual, digital and experimental’.” … Feast has more than 100,000 subscribers and open rates of almost 70%.” – Press Gazette (UK)
- New York Times Drops Freelancer After He Used AI To Write Review
The New York Times launched an investigation, during which Preston admitted that he had used AI to assist writing the review and did not spot the sections that were pulled from the Guardian before submitting it. – The Guardian
- Finalists For This Year’s International Booker Prize
In a moment in which international relations are dominating news headlines around the globe, three of these shortlisted novels explore pivotal moments in world history: imperialist Japan-controlled Taiwan in the 1930s, Nazi-era Germany and the 1979 Revolution in Iran. – NPR
PEOPLE
- Good Morning
The Met Museum’s first-ever Native American curator, Patricia Marroquin Norby, has resigned — a hire once celebrated as a watershed (ARTnews). Institutions rewriting their own stories is today’s quiet theme. A sharp piece argues that arts organizations are still governed by inherited structures that assume a centrality that no longer exists (ArtsHub). Australia is testing a new hybrid model leveraging donor capital against government funds (AAP). And Netflix just bought Ben Affleck’s AI firm, which promises to cut below-the-line production costs by 10–20% (Deadline).
Sculptor Melvin Edwards, who made chains and steel into some of the most politically charged art of the past half-century, has died at 88 (ARTnews). George Clooney, meanwhile, took home an estimated $9 million for 13 weeks on Broadway (Broadway Journal).
All of our stories below.
- Lego Set To Release Its Largest-Ever Set, Of Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia In Barcelona
News of the upcoming set, part of the company’s Architecture series, was leaked by a long-time leaker known as Chief Wiggum, whose predictions have proven true in the past. – Dezeen
- Compelling Video Games About Managing Stores???
Retro Rewind is the latest in a category called “store simulators”—games that basically create bottled versions of hourly-wage drudgery. Set in the ’90s, the game tasks players with such activities as stocking shelves, manning the checkout counter, and balancing the daily books. – The Atlantic
- 50 Years Ago, This Fairuz Song Became Lebanon’s Great Anthem Of Hope. Now The Lebanese Are Feeling Ambivalent About It.
Through year after year and decade after decade of turmoil, Fairuz’s “Bahebak Ya Lebnan” (“I Love You, Lebanon”) inspired hope and pride in the nation’s resilience. Now many Lebanese associate the song with tragedy, and younger people see the lyrics’ promises as a hollow fantasy. – The Guardian
- Ben Affleck’s Company (Which Netflix Just Bought) Says It Can Save “Millions” In Production Costs
The reductions made possible by InterPositive‘s technology would be “substantial” on below-the-line production, “conservatively” reaching at least 10% to 20%, the application said. – Deadline
PEOPLE
- Good Morning
The Met Museum’s first-ever Native American curator, Patricia Marroquin Norby, has resigned — a hire once celebrated as a watershed (ARTnews). Institutions rewriting their own stories is today’s quiet theme. A sharp piece argues that arts organizations are still governed by inherited structures that assume a centrality that no longer exists (ArtsHub). Australia is testing a new hybrid model leveraging donor capital against government funds (AAP). And Netflix just bought Ben Affleck’s AI firm, which promises to cut below-the-line production costs by 10–20% (Deadline).
Sculptor Melvin Edwards, who made chains and steel into some of the most politically charged art of the past half-century, has died at 88 (ARTnews). George Clooney, meanwhile, took home an estimated $9 million for 13 weeks on Broadway (Broadway Journal).
All of our stories below.
- Lego Set To Release Its Largest-Ever Set, Of Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia In Barcelona
News of the upcoming set, part of the company’s Architecture series, was leaked by a long-time leaker known as Chief Wiggum, whose predictions have proven true in the past. – Dezeen
- Compelling Video Games About Managing Stores???
Retro Rewind is the latest in a category called “store simulators”—games that basically create bottled versions of hourly-wage drudgery. Set in the ’90s, the game tasks players with such activities as stocking shelves, manning the checkout counter, and balancing the daily books. – The Atlantic
- 50 Years Ago, This Fairuz Song Became Lebanon’s Great Anthem Of Hope. Now The Lebanese Are Feeling Ambivalent About It.
Through year after year and decade after decade of turmoil, Fairuz’s “Bahebak Ya Lebnan” (“I Love You, Lebanon”) inspired hope and pride in the nation’s resilience. Now many Lebanese associate the song with tragedy, and younger people see the lyrics’ promises as a hollow fantasy. – The Guardian
- Ben Affleck’s Company (Which Netflix Just Bought) Says It Can Save “Millions” In Production Costs
The reductions made possible by InterPositive‘s technology would be “substantial” on below-the-line production, “conservatively” reaching at least 10% to 20%, the application said. – Deadline
THEATRE
VISUAL
- A Short History Of Pedantry
The academic humanities today broadly maintain the same basic sense of what history is and of the value of studying it that Renaissance humanists developed in their polemics against medieval scholasticism. – Hedgehog Review
- How To Build A Diagnostic Brain
Some research suggests that many, if not most, diagnostic errors arise from failures in thinking—cognitive bias, premature closure, insufficient reflection. Accordingly, some researchers frame diagnostic error as largely a problem in clinical judgment. – The Atlantic
- Artists Cast Themselves As Humanity’s Last Stand
A flamenco guitarist and juggler explain why they’re the antidote to our tech-flattened souls. Because apparently what civilization really needs is more passionate strumming and flying objects to remember we’re human. – Aeon
- Horror Tropes Are Starting To Feel Like They’ve Reached The End Of Their Useful Lives
But the movies keep on coming. – Salon
- The Accidental Creation Of Project Hail Mary’s Breakout Star
No, we’re not talking about Ryan Gosling. We’re talking about puppetry, and voices. – The New York Times
