“Anyone who, like Philip Roth, observes how peripheral literature has become to the common culture might regard the victory for freedom of expression as pyrrhic. If everything goes, does anything matter?”
Turning Andy Warhol’s Whiteface Drag Polaroids Into A Voguing Ballet
How artist Raja Feather Kelly created Andy Warhol’s DRELLA (I Love You Faye Driscoll). (includes video)
Want To Sell Luxury Condos? Better Get Some Artists Involved
“Perhaps it isn’t so surprising that in this era, which some have termed the new Gilded Age, the worlds of art and real estate have once again begun to merge.”
What We Lose – And The Weird Things We Fight For – When Nostalgia Blurs Our Past
“Even as many affluent liberals supported the Bloomberg administration’s ban on tree-trunk-size containers of soda, great labors were made to maintain the prominence of Pepsi’s enormous neon billboard overlooking the East River in Queens.”
How Do We Save The History Of Recorded Sound? Ask An Optical Physicist
“In the scope of human history, the era of recorded sound is a blip—and yet the volume and fragility of what’s been created in that time is overwhelming.”
Semi-Staged Opera Is The Next Big Thing. Is That Good?
“Particularly in smaller cities, some opera companies have drastically cut their offerings or have closed completely, and symphony orchestras want to pick up the slack and vary their programming, while lacking the resources or appropriate hall for a traditional production.”
No, George Lucas, Don’t Put Your Museum In Los Angeles
“The last thing that the home of Hollywood needs is George Lucas’ treacly art collection, which is replete with more positivity than a film feature devoted to Jar Jar Binks.”
When A Music Channel Protects Itself To Death
“Kids do not watch music videos on television. You’re not going to wait for somebody to program a music video when you have a million available on Vevo. That has hurt the channel.”
The Explosively Popular TV Recap Genre Is Fun, But It Could Ruin Criticism
“If you look at the rise of popular criticism since World War II, the trajectory had been an engagement with larger social issues with relation to popular culture. I don’t see recappers doing that now.”
Ai Weiwei Backs New, Multimillion Dollar Digital Art ‘Space’
“Ai compiled the list of names of 5,196 student victims via his blog after accusations that shoddy construction work had caused the collapse of thousands of classrooms during the quake.”
The Poet Laureate Who Doesn’t Plan Big
Charles Wright: “I will not be an activist laureate, I don’t think, the way Natasha [Trethewey] was … and certainly not the way Billy Collins was, or Bob Hass, or Rita Dove, or Robert Pinsky; you know, they had programs. I have no program.”
This 18th Century Mystery Painting Inspired The Hit Movie ‘Belle’
“The real journey started with the questions – Who is she? Who is the white girl sitting next to her? But even more importantly – who commissioned the painting?”
How (And Why )To Quit Amazon And Shop In A Real, Bricks And Mortar Bookstore
“By now, purchasing print books in a brick-and-mortar building is something of a lost art, like taking snuff or drinking brandy after dinner. Which is not to say that it’s not worth doing. Quite the opposite.”
Cut Canadian Radio? But We’re Radio People!
“While CBC TV does stellar documentaries and public affairs shows — and I’m sure other outlets would happily buy them — the entertainment and TV news offerings have long underwhelmed us. Shows with three-quarters of a million viewers are called “hits.” Meanwhile, radio’s audience has grown to more than six million.”
Digital Versus Celluloid – The Movie Debate Isn’t Over
In one corner are those who believe digital’s practical and economic benefits make it impossible to resist. In the other, “purists” such as Tarantino and “The Dark Knight Rises” director Christopher Nolan who cherish the visual “texture” of 35mm and warn that something important is being lost.
Golf Is Illegal In China. And Yet It’s A Metaphor For Current Chinese Culture
“The longer I lingered, the more I realised that the story of golf in China actually had very little to do with golf itself. In many ways, it was a microcosm of the country as a whole. Golf touched on everything: the burgeoning economy, the widening wealth gap, rural land rights disputes, an environment in peril, wild west development – and plenty of political intrigue.”
Ukrainian Separatist Militia Seize Culture Center
Despite promises that they would not damage the centre’s art and property, “DPR militia under the influence of alcohol looted the rented offices of the foundation, vandalising private property, and removing equipment, tools, the contents of the foundation’s safety vault, including the private property of its employees.”
Detroit, DIA, Hire Consultant To Help Battle Creditors
“Artvest’s appearance in the bankruptcy drama opens a new front in the battle over the DIA and underscores that the fight is far from over — despite widespread support for [city manager Kevin] Orr’s restructuring plan, whose $816-million grand bargain transfers ownership of the museum to an independent nonprofit while also preventing more debilitating cuts to municipal pensions.”
The Indonesian Performance Artist Who Got Famous For Dancing On Butter
“Two years ago, the Indonesian performance artist Melati Suryodarmo gained YouTube notoriety when a version of her Exergie — butter dance was posted to the website. Originally accompanied by Indonesian drum percussion, the reworked clip set [her] performance of a traditional Indonesian-inspired dance on 20 blocks of melting butter to Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’.”