AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Who owns what, anyway?
Good Morning,
Three stories today circle the same question: who has standing to control the use of cultural assets — likenesses, artworks, infrastructure — and what happens when that standing is contested.
Dua Lipa is suing Samsung for $15 million, alleging the company used her image to sell TVs without permission (Variety). Several national pavilions at the Venice Biennale closed Friday in protest of Israel’s inclusion (The Guardian). And nearly 9,000 universities had Canvas — the platform that runs their assignments and grades — held hostage by a ransomware crew demanding payment by Tuesday (Wired).
The Musée d’Orsay is trying an experiment — embedding unresolved Nazi-provenance cases physically inside the museum, in public view (Salon). Acknowledgement as a kind of policy.
Elsewhere: Cannes opens this week with the Hollywood studios mostly on the sidelines (Seattle Times), Broadway is positively crawling with celebrities (CBC), and Billie Eilish isn’t sure another Billie Eilish is structurally possible anymore (Wired).
All of our stories below.
- When It’s Time For A Revival, But The Musical’s Book Really Needs A Rewrite
“I think of book writing as analogous to screenwriting: It’s a craft more about structure than dialogue, about setting the scene for the central activity, which … in the case of a musical is singing and dancing.” – American Theatre
- Xia De-Hong, The Main Character In Her Daughter’s Memoir Of Mao’s Cruelty, Has Died At 94
“The story of Ms. Chang’s stoic mother holding the family together while battling on behalf of her husband, a functionary who was tortured and imprisoned during Mao’s regime, was the focus of Wild Swans.” – The New York Times
- New From MolokoTake a Ride with A. Robert Lee’s Travel Painting
<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/05/new-from-molokotake-a-ride-with-a-robert-lees-travel-painting.html" title="New From Moloko
Take a Ride with A. Robert - The Art That Nazis Stole, Still Waiting To Go Home, Wherever Home May Be
“What makes the Orsay initiative notable is not simply that it acknowledges this history, but that it embeds it physically inside a major national museum — placing unresolved provenance cases in direct view of the public.” – Salon
ISSUES
- The Art That Nazis Stole, Still Waiting To Go Home, Wherever Home May Be
“What makes the Orsay initiative notable is not simply that it acknowledges this history, but that it embeds it physically inside a major national museum — placing unresolved provenance cases in direct view of the public.” – Salon
- Several Country’s Venice Pavilions Closed On Friday In Protest Of Israel’s Inclusion
“The Belgian, Dutch, Austrian, Japanese, Macedonian and Korean pavilions were closed for the day. The British, Spanish, French, Egyptian, Finnish and Luxembourg entries were either closed and then reopened, or opened and expected to close early.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Why This 80-Year-Old Korean Artist Is Suddenly Everywhere
Park Daesung: “I came from nothing, and I’ve accomplished some fame and a lot of good opportunities, but this feels very overwhelming.” – The New York Times
- More Mayhem At Venice Biennale: Artist Strike Closes Several Pavilions
“The Biennale was disrupted on Friday morning as some of the major artists at this year’s event shuttered their exhibitions in protest over Israel’s participation. … Some of the buzziest exhibitions at this year’s event, including those by artists representing Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea, were shut.” – The New York Times
- Is This Why The Venice Biennale Jury Resigned En Masse?
The jurors had clearly stated, a few days before they quit, that they would not consider the entrants from Russia and Israel. The Israeli artist in the event then threatened lawsuits, and the Biennale warned jurors that they could be personally liable for damages. – Hyperallergic
MEDIA
- Is It OK For Samsung To Use A Musician’s Face To Sell TVs?
She says no: “Dua Lipa has filed a $15 million lawsuit against Samsung, alleging that the electronics manufacturer used her likeness to sell TVs without paying her and without permission.” – Variety
- Nearly Nine Thousand Institutions Of Higher Learning Had Their Grades And Assignments Held Hostage For A Ransom
This seems fine: “The message from attackers ‘urged schools included on the affected list to consult with a cyber advisory firm and contact the group privately to negotiate a settlement before the end of the day on May 12.’” – Wired
- Some Folks Really Could Not Deal With Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Show
And their reactions (or some astroturfing, perhaps) had them calling the FCC to complain. – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- The All-Seeing Eyes In Our Pockets
“Mixed in the flour that bakes digital technology sit two original sins pervading most gadgets, apps and platforms alike: surveillance and prediction; more specifically, surveillance at the service of prediction. Both lead to social control.” – Aeon
- Portland, OR Has An Arts Tax. Now It’s Time To Reform It
“Without this much needed arts tax reform, including indexing it to inflation, we risk losing the very institutions that make Portland vibrant, and we also risk losing the next generation of arts lovers by failing to sustain arts education in our schools.” – KATU
MUSIC
- Best First Sentence In Literature?
Well, best opening, anyway. Maybe Lauren Groff? – The Atlantic
- Now Writers Who Are Children Of Other Writers Are Being Called ‘Nepo Babies,’ And That Seems Iffy
“Does having a novelist for a parent make it likely that a child will be inspired to follow? Or is it easier for children of writers to get published? I spoke to some novelists who have kept it in the family to find out.” – The Guardian (UK)
- This Bookstore Has Wheels, And More Than One Hundred Thousand Miles
“While there are library bookmobiles and other bookstores housed in trucks, … Collins believes hers is the rare traveling bookstore. She wishes there were more, pointing out that there is little overhead and a lot of freedom to open and close at will.” – The New York Times
- Is Substack The New Book Tour?
Some experts say Substack’s rise fits into a longer arc in publishing, one shaped by the early wave of self-publishing tools like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords in the late aughts. Those platforms opened the door for self-published authors, but didn’t solve the marketing problem. – Fast Company
- Report: Twice As Many Books Banned This Year From Libraries And Classrooms
PEN America’s report released Thursday called “Facts & Fiction: Stories Stripped Away by Book Bans” found that 3,743 unique titles were removed from school libraries and classrooms between July 2024 and June 2025. This included 1,102 nonfiction titles. – The Hill
PEOPLE
- Who owns what, anyway?
Good Morning,
Three stories today circle the same question: who has standing to control the use of cultural assets — likenesses, artworks, infrastructure — and what happens when that standing is contested.
Dua Lipa is suing Samsung for $15 million, alleging the company used her image to sell TVs without permission (Variety). Several national pavilions at the Venice Biennale closed Friday in protest of Israel’s inclusion (The Guardian). And nearly 9,000 universities had Canvas — the platform that runs their assignments and grades — held hostage by a ransomware crew demanding payment by Tuesday (Wired).
The Musée d’Orsay is trying an experiment — embedding unresolved Nazi-provenance cases physically inside the museum, in public view (Salon). Acknowledgement as a kind of policy.
Elsewhere: Cannes opens this week with the Hollywood studios mostly on the sidelines (Seattle Times), Broadway is positively crawling with celebrities (CBC), and Billie Eilish isn’t sure another Billie Eilish is structurally possible anymore (Wired).
All of our stories below.
- When It’s Time For A Revival, But The Musical’s Book Really Needs A Rewrite
“I think of book writing as analogous to screenwriting: It’s a craft more about structure than dialogue, about setting the scene for the central activity, which … in the case of a musical is singing and dancing.” – American Theatre
- Xia De-Hong, The Main Character In Her Daughter’s Memoir Of Mao’s Cruelty, Has Died At 94
“The story of Ms. Chang’s stoic mother holding the family together while battling on behalf of her husband, a functionary who was tortured and imprisoned during Mao’s regime, was the focus of Wild Swans.” – The New York Times
- New From MolokoTake a Ride with A. Robert Lee’s Travel Painting<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/05/new-from-molokotake-a-ride-with-a-robert-lees-travel-painting.html" title="New From Moloko
Take a Ride with A. Robert - The Art That Nazis Stole, Still Waiting To Go Home, Wherever Home May Be
“What makes the Orsay initiative notable is not simply that it acknowledges this history, but that it embeds it physically inside a major national museum — placing unresolved provenance cases in direct view of the public.” – Salon
PEOPLE
- Who owns what, anyway?
Good Morning,
Three stories today circle the same question: who has standing to control the use of cultural assets — likenesses, artworks, infrastructure — and what happens when that standing is contested.
Dua Lipa is suing Samsung for $15 million, alleging the company used her image to sell TVs without permission (Variety). Several national pavilions at the Venice Biennale closed Friday in protest of Israel’s inclusion (The Guardian). And nearly 9,000 universities had Canvas — the platform that runs their assignments and grades — held hostage by a ransomware crew demanding payment by Tuesday (Wired).
The Musée d’Orsay is trying an experiment — embedding unresolved Nazi-provenance cases physically inside the museum, in public view (Salon). Acknowledgement as a kind of policy.
Elsewhere: Cannes opens this week with the Hollywood studios mostly on the sidelines (Seattle Times), Broadway is positively crawling with celebrities (CBC), and Billie Eilish isn’t sure another Billie Eilish is structurally possible anymore (Wired).
All of our stories below.
- When It’s Time For A Revival, But The Musical’s Book Really Needs A Rewrite
“I think of book writing as analogous to screenwriting: It’s a craft more about structure than dialogue, about setting the scene for the central activity, which … in the case of a musical is singing and dancing.” – American Theatre
- Xia De-Hong, The Main Character In Her Daughter’s Memoir Of Mao’s Cruelty, Has Died At 94
“The story of Ms. Chang’s stoic mother holding the family together while battling on behalf of her husband, a functionary who was tortured and imprisoned during Mao’s regime, was the focus of Wild Swans.” – The New York Times
- New From MolokoTake a Ride with A. Robert Lee’s Travel Painting<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/05/new-from-molokotake-a-ride-with-a-robert-lees-travel-painting.html" title="New From Moloko
Take a Ride with A. Robert - The Art That Nazis Stole, Still Waiting To Go Home, Wherever Home May Be
“What makes the Orsay initiative notable is not simply that it acknowledges this history, but that it embeds it physically inside a major national museum — placing unresolved provenance cases in direct view of the public.” – Salon
THEATRE
VISUAL
- We Can Look For Ourselves In Fiction, Sure, But We Have To Look Beyond As Well
“I keep having conversations with grown, discerning adults whose chief metric for their enjoyment of a book, show or movie is how relevant it is, how directly it speaks, to the granular particulars of their lived experience.” – NPR
- Why The Lost Boys Epitomize The 1980s So Alarmingly Well
And maybe, just maybe, why the movie is back as a Broadway show now. – The New York Times
- Claim: Figuring Out Consciousness Isn’t Difficult
Amid the current cultural backlash against progressive ideas, today’s debate on consciousness reflects our human fears of belonging to the same family as inanimate matter and losing our dear, transcendent souls. – Noema
- How Our Machines Are Getting In The Way Of Art
From the original, nineteenth-century form popularized by Balzac, Zola, and Stendhal to the “lyrical” variant of today, the verisimilitude that realism pursues—not just lifelikeness, but worldlikeness—is meant to convince us the novel is, for want of a better term, natural. – Boston Review
- Study: Using AI Could Make You Lazy And Dumber
Some participants were given access to an AI assistant capable of solving the problem autonomously. When the AI helper was suddenly taken away, these people were significantly more likely to give up on the problem or flub their answers. – Wired
