AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Good Morning.
Here are Today’s highlights. An Israeli orchestra built on Arab–Jewish parity tours the U.S., a rare ensemble greeted without protest (Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)). Paul Kingsnorth argues that modernity’s drive to shatter limits has reached a cultural breaking point. (The Atlantic). France’s proposed wealth tax on art jolts a market that assumed itself untouchable (ARTnews).
The Norwegian National Ballet’s piece on a Sámi uprising tests where representation belongs—and who’s allowed to tell which story (The New York Times). And Howard University races to digitize Black newspapers before they vanish into acidifying archives (Christian Science Monitor).
The rest of today’s stories below.
- Here’s One Israeli Orchestra That Isn’t Met With Protests When It Tours
The Galilee Chamber Orchestra, currently touring the US, is based in Nazareth (considered the cultural capital for Israel’s native Palestinians, about 20% of the country’s total population). It was formed 13 years ago as the first fully professional orchestra with equal numbers of Jewish and Arab musicians. – The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- So What Is Progress, Really? Some Limits Are Good
“Modernity is a machine for destroying limits.” This attack on limits is legible in a host of current phenomena, including mass immigration, free-market orthodoxy, the rise of AI, overseas labor exploitation, the clear-cutting of rainforests, and new ideas about gender. – The Atlantic
- Fort Worth Opera Tries A Pay-What-You-Can Program
For each of this weekend’s three performances of Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast, set to Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film), Fort Worth Opera has 100 tickets available for $1 or whatever price the purchaser names. – NBC 5 (Dallas-Fort Worth)
- For A Long Time Artists Have Been On The Leading Edge Of Culture. Maybe Its Time To Give Up That Role?
What about all the painting, sculpture, photography, video, and performance that people still love to make and see? They’re not going away, but it’s become harder to create fine art in those media while remaining on cultural discourse’s cutting edge. – Art in America
ISSUES
- French Art Establishment Opposes New Tax On Art
Under the legislation, France would become the only major market art center to impose a wealth tax on the mere possession of artworks, says the statement. France is the world’s fourth-largest art market, and accounts for more than half of the European Union’s market value, at $4.2 billion. – ARTnews
- This Year’s Worldwide New Building Of The Year
The Holy Redeemer Church and Community Center of Las Chumberas, designed by Spanish architect Fernando Menis, has been named as the World Building of the Year at the 2025 World Architecture Festival. – Archinect
- Gustav Klimt Portrait Is Now Second-Most Expensive Artwork Ever Auctioned
The six-foot-tall painting, Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (1914-16), shows a young heiress and daughter of Klimt’s patrons draped in a Chinese robe. Its sale price of $236.4 million is exceeded only by the notorious Salvator Mundi attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which sold for $450 million in 2017. – The Guardian
- Conceptual Frame: An Art Installation You Have To Really Commit To See
The Frattini Bivouac is not staffed, ticketed or mediated. Anyone can enter it, but only after a six-to-eight-hour ascent on foot across scree, moss and snowfields. – The Guardian
- Louvre Closes A Gallery Because Its Floor Might Cave In
The museum has shuttered some office space and the Campana Gallery (which showcases ancient Greek ceramics) due to “particular fragility of certain beams holding up the floors.” – AP
MEDIA
- Well, If We Thought The Color-Blind Casting Debate Was Settled, We Were Wrong
“It can now be hard to remember that colorblind casting was once an inflammatory proposition. … But the triumphal march of colorblind casting — hiring actors of any race to play roles originally designated for just one — has taken a detour this year.” – The New York Times
- Two Of New York’s Biggest Arts Philanthropists Died This Year. Will Anyone Follow In Their Footsteps?
As one former museum director put it about Leonard Lauder and Agnes Gund, “They could open doors, they could bring people together, they would give money, they would give art. It takes three different board members to contribute what they could.” Yet today there are few such people around. – The New York Times
- Is The World Really Getting Dumber? “Yes, And We All Know It.”
Across the developed world, since the 1930s, there’s been what’s called the Flynn effect: IQ scores overall have been rising by about three points a decade — through the turn of the millennium, that is. Social scientist Elizabeth Dworak has documented the effect reversing since 2006. This surprises few people. – New York Magazine (MSN)
- Warning: Florida’s New Education Dictates Are A Return To McCarthyism
“History should never be rewritten to match the politics of the day, as history has valuable lessons to teach.” – APNews
- How The Ushers At New York’s Top Performing Arts Venues Shoo The Audience Back Into The Hall From Intermission
First, they repeatedly play a little melody on a glockenspiel or dinner chime or marimba as they stroll through the lobbies. Then, says one longtime usher at the Metropolitan Opera, “We have to push them, kind of like moving cattle.” – The New York Times
MUSIC
- Howard University Is On A Mission To Preserve The History Of Black American Newspapers
The project is digitizing U.S. newspapers that are are now in the public domain (after 95 years). The center also has permission to place online certain titles still under copyright. Other U.S. Black papers still under copyright are available on site, as are publications from the Caribbean and Africa. – The Christian Science Monitor
- Giller Prize 2026 Goes To “Pick A Colour” By Souvankham Thammavongsa
This is the second time that the Laotian-Canadian author has won Canada’s top literary award; she is only the fourth author to do so, after Esi Edugyan, M.G. Vassanji and Alice Munro. – Canadian Press (Yahoo!)
- The Icelandic Language Is In Danger Of Dying Out
“Having this language that is spoken by so very few, I feel that we carry a huge responsibility to actually preserve that. I do not personally think we are doing enough to do that,” she said, not least because young people in Iceland “are absolutely surrounded by material in English, on social media and other media”. – The Guardian
- “Parasocial” Is Cambridge Dictionary’s 2025 Word Of The Year
Taylor and Travis, podcast hosts, even chatbots — this has been a year full of intense but one-sided relationships between some ordinary individuals and celebrities (or pieces of code) they’ve never actually met. – Cambridge University Press
- What Explains Boomers’ Addiction To Ellipses?
There’s an extensive online discourse on the Baby Boomer generation’s penchant for ellipses. ‘OK . . .’ ‘Thanks . . .’ ‘See you next week . . .’ Sometimes they’re a playful way to build suspense, sometimes a form of passive aggression, and sometimes they relay an implication. – Granta
PEOPLE
- Good Morning.
Here are Today’s highlights. An Israeli orchestra built on Arab–Jewish parity tours the U.S., a rare ensemble greeted without protest (Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)). Paul Kingsnorth argues that modernity’s drive to shatter limits has reached a cultural breaking point. (The Atlantic). France’s proposed wealth tax on art jolts a market that assumed itself untouchable (ARTnews).
The Norwegian National Ballet’s piece on a Sámi uprising tests where representation belongs—and who’s allowed to tell which story (The New York Times). And Howard University races to digitize Black newspapers before they vanish into acidifying archives (Christian Science Monitor).
The rest of today’s stories below.
- Here’s One Israeli Orchestra That Isn’t Met With Protests When It Tours
The Galilee Chamber Orchestra, currently touring the US, is based in Nazareth (considered the cultural capital for Israel’s native Palestinians, about 20% of the country’s total population). It was formed 13 years ago as the first fully professional orchestra with equal numbers of Jewish and Arab musicians. – The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- So What Is Progress, Really? Some Limits Are Good
“Modernity is a machine for destroying limits.” This attack on limits is legible in a host of current phenomena, including mass immigration, free-market orthodoxy, the rise of AI, overseas labor exploitation, the clear-cutting of rainforests, and new ideas about gender. – The Atlantic
- Fort Worth Opera Tries A Pay-What-You-Can Program
For each of this weekend’s three performances of Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast, set to Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film), Fort Worth Opera has 100 tickets available for $1 or whatever price the purchaser names. – NBC 5 (Dallas-Fort Worth)
- For A Long Time Artists Have Been On The Leading Edge Of Culture. Maybe Its Time To Give Up That Role?
What about all the painting, sculpture, photography, video, and performance that people still love to make and see? They’re not going away, but it’s become harder to create fine art in those media while remaining on cultural discourse’s cutting edge. – Art in America
PEOPLE
- Good Morning.
Here are Today’s highlights. An Israeli orchestra built on Arab–Jewish parity tours the U.S., a rare ensemble greeted without protest (Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)). Paul Kingsnorth argues that modernity’s drive to shatter limits has reached a cultural breaking point. (The Atlantic). France’s proposed wealth tax on art jolts a market that assumed itself untouchable (ARTnews).
The Norwegian National Ballet’s piece on a Sámi uprising tests where representation belongs—and who’s allowed to tell which story (The New York Times). And Howard University races to digitize Black newspapers before they vanish into acidifying archives (Christian Science Monitor).
The rest of today’s stories below.
- Here’s One Israeli Orchestra That Isn’t Met With Protests When It Tours
The Galilee Chamber Orchestra, currently touring the US, is based in Nazareth (considered the cultural capital for Israel’s native Palestinians, about 20% of the country’s total population). It was formed 13 years ago as the first fully professional orchestra with equal numbers of Jewish and Arab musicians. – The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- So What Is Progress, Really? Some Limits Are Good
“Modernity is a machine for destroying limits.” This attack on limits is legible in a host of current phenomena, including mass immigration, free-market orthodoxy, the rise of AI, overseas labor exploitation, the clear-cutting of rainforests, and new ideas about gender. – The Atlantic
- Fort Worth Opera Tries A Pay-What-You-Can Program
For each of this weekend’s three performances of Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast, set to Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film), Fort Worth Opera has 100 tickets available for $1 or whatever price the purchaser names. – NBC 5 (Dallas-Fort Worth)
- For A Long Time Artists Have Been On The Leading Edge Of Culture. Maybe Its Time To Give Up That Role?
What about all the painting, sculpture, photography, video, and performance that people still love to make and see? They’re not going away, but it’s become harder to create fine art in those media while remaining on cultural discourse’s cutting edge. – Art in America
THEATRE
VISUAL
- So What Is Progress, Really? Some Limits Are Good
“Modernity is a machine for destroying limits.” This attack on limits is legible in a host of current phenomena, including mass immigration, free-market orthodoxy, the rise of AI, overseas labor exploitation, the clear-cutting of rainforests, and new ideas about gender. – The Atlantic
- For A Long Time Artists Have Been On The Leading Edge Of Culture. Maybe Its Time To Give Up That Role?
What about all the painting, sculpture, photography, video, and performance that people still love to make and see? They’re not going away, but it’s become harder to create fine art in those media while remaining on cultural discourse’s cutting edge. – Art in America
- The GLP-1 Era Is Changing How We Think About Self Control
Although scientists are just beginning to study food noise as a concept, individuals who have taken a GLP-1 drug often report that it significantly reduces this distracting, ruminative thinking about food – a near-constant background hum of unwanted food-related thoughts, feelings and desires that may contribute to making poor food choices. – Psyche
- We Live In An Age Of Self-Optimization. Where Did This Notion Come From?
This culture of self-quantification in the pursuit of self-improvement long predates social media, algorithms and targeted advertising. In fact, we can trace its roots back into the daily lives and preoccupations of the Victorian middle classes. – Aeon
- Education Is Flapping Around Trying To Figure Out AI’s Role In Teaching, Learning
Even as a significant proportion of their students are submitting AI-generated work, they proudly reassure each other that their courses are too demanding or too humanistic for any machine to understand them. – Persuasion
