Friday, November 5, 2021

ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

A Social History Of Laughter

In the early years of the 18th century a select group of philosophers began to conceive of laughter as something that might police the boundaries of sociable conduct. - History Today

The Trauma That Upended Kenneth Branagh’s Life At The Age Of Eight

He's been reeling from it, one way or another, ever since, and it's the reason he made his latest film, Belfast. - The New York Times Magazine

Globalization Has Been Widely Misunderstood. It’s Important To Be Clear About It

We are at a critical juncture: a relatively long period of stability in mainstream thinking about economic globalisation has given way to a situation of dramatic flux. - Aeon

How A Small Labor Dispute At Strathmore Hall Led To Baltimore Symphony Withdrawal

The escalation of events — from a contract with about a dozen employees to an ugly public battle between two of Maryland’s flagship arts institutions — has alarmed civic, arts and union leaders. - Washington Post

“The Internet At Its Utopian Best”: In Praise Of The Public Domain Review

"'A frictionless world' in which evidence of the imagination floats around in the empyrean 'without cost, without registration, and without restrictive conditions on their use, … a Borgesian Library of Babel, the Review is a labyrinth to get lost in." - The Times Literary Supplement (UK)

Return engagement

Forgive my absence from the blog this week—I was, as Patrick O’Brian would say, overpressed with sail, and I needed some time to myself...

Watering a dry soul

I review the new musical version of The Visitor in today’s Wall Street Journal. Here’s an excerpt. *  *  * Turning a perfect movie into a stage musical...

Replay: Thomas Beecham conducts Delius

Thomas Beecham and the Chicago Symphony perform Delius’ “On the River” (from the Florida Suite) on TV in 1960: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Kzo5Tebu9f8 (This is the latest in a series of...

The Metropolitan Museum’s Fugitive Works on Paper: Easy Come, Easy Go

A mystifying missive hit my inbox last week, announcing that the Metropolitan Museum had recently acquired “more than 700

Paul Valéry Reminds Us ‘A Poem Is Never Finished, Only Abandoned’

I’ve been writing “deformed sonnets” since 2015 or so. They’ve been published in chapbooks by Cold Turkey Press in

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A Social History Of Laughter

In the early years of the 18th century a select group of philosophers began to conceive of laughter as something that might police the boundaries of sociable conduct. - History Today

Globalization Has Been Widely Misunderstood. It’s Important To Be Clear About It

We are at a critical juncture: a relatively long period of stability in mainstream thinking about economic globalisation has given way to a situation of dramatic flux. - Aeon

Now AI Is Formulating Hypotheses Scientists Haven’t Thought Of

Creating hypotheses has long been a purely human domain. Now, though, scientists are beginning to ask machine learning to produce original insights. They are designing neural networks that suggest new hypotheses based on patterns the networks find in data. - Scientific American

Why Are AI Data Sets Disappearing From The Internet?

All together, about a dozen AI datasets vanished—hastily scrubbed by their creators after researchers, activists, and journalists exposed an array of problems with the data and the ways it was used, from privacy, to race and gender bias, to issues with human rights. - Slate

Mark Zuckerberg As Cultural Director Of The Internet? Er…

Though the term “metaverse” suggests a fully articulated sci-fi realm, Zuckerberg is using it to glamorize a network of virtual and augmented reality apps and gear, like headsets. - The New York Times

How To Memorize Something Complex? There’s A System For That

To earn the title of Grand Master of Memory, one must be able to memorize a 1000-digit number in one hour. The next hour you are faced with memorizing the order of ten packs of cards. And finally you get two minutes to memorize a single pack. - LitHub

A Reason To Invest In The Arts In The South?

A recent study found that a person living in the South received only $4.21 in arts and culture funding from philanthropy, compared to the national average of $8.60 per person. If you’re reading this in New York or Boston, know that Northeasterners receive about $16. - Artnet

Attendance At US History Museums Was Down By More Than Two-Thirds Last Year

"This (finding) contrasted (with) surveys in prior years, which indicated strong visitation growth for history museums — especially small, local ones." - Hyperallergic

How Korea Became A Major Cultural Exporter

Once streaming services like Netflix tore down geographical barriers, the creators say, the country transformed from a consumer of Western culture into an entertainment juggernaut and major cultural exporter in its own right. - The New York Times

DC City Council Approves Two New Arts Commission Members Over Objections Of Its Chairman

The controversy comes as the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities has dramatically reshaped its policies to focus on diversity and equity and to broaden its reach to serve the entire city. Its $38.4 million budget is one of the nation’s largest. - Washington Post

After 80 Years, The “City Of Arts” Diego Rivera Dreamed Of Is Open

"The 13-building complex opened this weekend (in Mexico City) with around 64,600 square feet of gardens, workshops, and performance and exhibition spaces." Amazingly, the six-year project was completed for less than $1 million. - ARTnews

“Internet Culture” Reporting Is Technology Reporting (So Let’s Call It That, Okay?)

Taylor Lorenz: "Why aren't internet culture writers, who are primarily women and people of color, seen simply as technology or culture reporters? And do we really need the word 'internet' or 'digital' in front of things in the year 2021?" - Mirror

How A Small Labor Dispute At Strathmore Hall Led To Baltimore Symphony Withdrawal

The escalation of events — from a contract with about a dozen employees to an ugly public battle between two of Maryland’s flagship arts institutions — has alarmed civic, arts and union leaders. - Washington Post

The Bionic Gloves That Let João Carlos Martins Play Piano Again

His international career was hobbled over and over again by a breathtaking series of mishaps, comebacks, and more mishaps that ultimately left him unable to play at all. Then an industrial designer saw Martins on TV and had an idea … - GQ

Jazz Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield Sentenced To Prison For Stealing From Post-Katrina Charity

Mayfield, who became a symbol of the survival of New Orleans, and his business partner, pianist Ronald Markham, were given 18-month sentences for diverting $1.3 million to themselves from the New Orleans Public Library Foundation. - NPR

Chicago Symphony Comes Through Lockdowns With A $1.4 Million Surplus

"(The orchestra) turned a $4.4 million operating deficit into a $1.6 million surplus by cutting expenses deeper than revenue fell during the pandemic-struck fiscal year ended June 30. The black ink was the first in five years, a stretch that included a musicians' strike." - Crain's Chicago Business

Mark-Anthony Turnage Writes Music For A Soccer Match

Granted, this isn't just any match: it's the still-legendary 1989 English Premier League championship in which the London team Arsenal pulled off a dramatic last-minute win against Liverpool. Here the composer writes about how the unusual project came about. - The Guardian

What Do Hybrid Performances Look Like After COVID?

It may be counterintuitive, but the consensus view is the best way to produce the emotional intensity of a live performance is to create programming distinctly different from the work being done onstage. - San Francisco Classical Voice

Divers Are Discovering Golden Treasure From An Ancient Indonesian Empire

"Local divers exploring Indonesia's Musi River (on the island of Sumatra) have found gold rings, beads and other artifacts that may be linked to the Srivijaya Empire, which controlled sea trade across large swaths of Asia between the 7th and 11th centuries C.E." - Smithsonian Magazine

Archaeologists Have Mapped Genghis Khan’s Lost Capital — And It’s Not What You’d Expect

Using equipment designed for geophysics, researchers scanned the site of Karakorum, chosen by Genghis and built by his two successors, and found that the city was larger than previously thought, extending well beyond the walls, 40% of it was empty, and Mongols didn't live there. - Haaretz (Israel)

Royal British Columbia Museum To Close Indigenous Galleries, “Decolonize”

The Becoming B.C. gallery, which focuses on the story of European settlement in B.C. and has been widely criticized for pushing a colonial narrative, will be the first to close. - CBC

Why Museums Should Cut Down On The Art In Storage

Museums should downsize storage for commercial, environmental, social and ethical reasons. Post-pandemic with their revenues ravaged, they need to take a hard look at the fixed and hidden costs of storage and weigh it against its academic objectives. - Hyperallergic

A First: Big Museum Opens Its Entire Collection To Visitors

Normally, only some six to ten percent of collections at major museums around the world, the rest kept in closed storage depots. That will now change for the Rotterdam institution -- and visitors will even able to watch works being restored. - NDTV

Desperate Staffers Start A Wave Of Unionization At US Museums

“(The movement is) confront(ing) conditions that workers — from archivists and curators to those selling T-shirts — say are untenable: minimal wage increases, draining resources, lack of transparency from top administrators, and mass layoffs and furloughs resulting from the coronavirus pandemic." - The Washington Post

Premium Classifieds

Winter and Fall 2022 Applications Open for MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises

Northwestern University’s MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises program develops leaders in business, innovation, and entrepreneurship across Entertainment, Media and the Arts.

Director, Opening Nights at Florida State University

The Director, Opening Nights (ON) directs all aspects of the organization by administering and implementing strategies that advance the organization.

Chicago Dancemakers Forum Seeks Executive Director

Chicago Dancemakers Forum seeks a leader to ensure the fullest expression of its mission and the consistent achievement of its financial objectives.

Artistic Director – Village Theatre

VILLAGE THEATRE seeks its next Artistic Director (AD) to lead the organization’s overall artistic operations. The Artistic Director will serve in a co-equal partnership with a Managing Director to be named after the AD is selected. Each will report to the Board through its President.

The Amarillo Symphony seeks Executive Director

The Executive Director reports to the Board of Directors through the President and serves as the organization’s chief executive and operating officer.

Symphony San Jose Seeks President/General Director

The successful candidate will become a community leader representing the Symphony and establishing relationships that support and foster its growth and success.

iSing Seeks Executive Director

Working closely with Board and the Artistic Directors, the ED will provide the day-to-day leadership and overall management that will enable iSing to realize its vision, fulfill its mission, and achieve its goals for artistic and organizational success.

Patron Services Director at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival

The Patron Services Director manages all aspects of customer service and patron experiences in this year-round position.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – General Manager

Reporting to the Executive Director and serving as an integral member of the senior management team, the General Manager will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for production, education, and community engagement functions.

AJ Classifieds

PRESIDENT/CEO CENTRAL CITY OPERA

Central City Opera (CCO) seeks a dynamic leader to be its first President & CEO (CEO).

Department Chair, Drama – Tisch School of the Arts, New York University

The Chair provides artistic and academic leadership for a large faculty and student body of 1500.

Concord Community Music School – Executive Director

The Executive Director (ED) will provide strategic leadership and serve as an organizational ambassador.

Artistic Director – Orlando Ballet

The next Artistic Director will possess a deep understanding of and commitment to dance, anchored in classical ballet, while having the ability to evolve, move, and mold the art form into the future.

Development Manager – New Hazlett Theater

Passionate about the arts in our community? Looking to make a change and a difference? We’re looking for someone like you.

Milwaukee Ballet – Executive Director

Focused on advancing its mission, vision, and values, this individual will oversee all of the company’s business functions, guiding the organization into its next phase of growth.

University of the Arts seeks two Deans

The University of the Arts is accepting applications and nominations for two crucial dean roles—Dean, School of Art and Dean, School of Film.

Jacksonville Symphony seeks Vice President & General Manager

The Vice President & General Manager (GM) is a member of the senior leadership team and has overall responsibility for the management of orchestra operati

Interim Administrative Officer

Theatre Bay Area, one of the largest regional performing arts service organizations in the nation, seeks an enthusiastic applicant to join its management team on an interim basis for nine months

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Executive Director will be a transformational, inclusive, transparent and innovative leader, responsible for managing the human and financial resources of the MSO

Spruce Peak Arts – Director of Development

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director of Development will serve as a thought partner as Spruce Peak Arts enters its 12th year of operation.

Textile Museum of Canada – Director and CEO

The Director & CEO will provide visionary leadership for the Textile Museum and develop and execute a new strategic plan that advances the Textile Museum’s mission, vision, values, and goals.

Vice President for Performing and Visual Arts – Chautauqua Institution

CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION (the Institution) seeks a broad thinker who possesses an inquisitive spirit and a demonstrated talent as a superb cultural manager to serve as its next Vice President for Performing and Visual Arts.

Director of Rentals and Patron Services

The Director of Patron Services and Rentals is a crucial contributing member of a creative performing arts venue staff which has managed to expand and diversify its programming and audiences during COVID restrictions.

Advertise on AJ

Broadway Attendance Down. But What Does It Mean?

The anecdotal evidence, gleaned from social media and private conversations with industry leaders, suggests a variety of challenges — lingering fears of the coronavirus, the disinclination by some patrons to wear masks and resistance to high ticket prices. - Washington Post

Broadway Box Office Slips Again. Did It Open Too Soon?

Big picture: the 27 shows currently running grossed $19.66 million together last week, with 168,169 butts in seats. That’s a 11% box office drop from the week before, and a 5% drop in overall attendance. - Forbes

Alice Childress Should Have Been The First Black Female Playwright On Broadway, After 66 Years, Her Play Is Finally There.

Her Trouble in Mind treats a touchy subject, even now: it's about an interracial cast rehearsing an anti-lynching play written and directed by whites. In 1955, the Off-Broadway producers made her tack on a happy ending; in 2021, it's playing as she intended. - The New York Times

Edinburgh Fringe Once Again Feeds The West End

There remained no shortage of quality work presented at the fringe, but its own aesthetic had changed over this time, contributing to making it feel less conducive for West End and commercial productions. - The Stage

Another Major Theatre Company In The Berkshires Changes Leadership

Less than a week after news broke of Mandy Greenfield's departure from the Williamstown Theater Festival following reports of poor working conditions, co-founder Julianne Boyd has announced her retirement (on good terms) from Barrington Stage Company. - The New York Times

Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Opens Its Brand-New Building

Chris Jones: "Contrary to the way it has sometimes been reported, Steppenwolf has not added a theater to its portfolio so much as replaced an inadequate one with a superior facility in a different configuration." - MSN (Chicago Tribune)

Some Dancers Are Starting To Rebel Against The Zero-Body-Hair Standard

Says one choreographer, "It's not the first fight I would pick about the homogeneity of bodies on stage. But there's something archaic in dance – where your body is policed in certain ways. You're taught not to have agency over your body." - The Guardian

Afghan Dance Teachers In Exile, Cut Off From Students And Homeland

Makhloot had an entire crew of professional hip-hop dancers in Kabul (including one woman) and hoped to compete in breaking at the 2024 Olympics. Fahima performed and taught sema, the meditative whirling dance of the Sufis. Both had to flee quickly when the Taliban took over. - Dance Teacher

A LinkedIn-Style Platform Built Specially For Casting Dancers

"Choreographer Amy Gardner used to consistently run into the same problem: When jobs popped up in different cities, whether for Nick Jonas or Neiman Marcus, finding dancers wasn't easy, and casting was slowing down her momentum." So she started Dance Hypha. - Dance Magazine

Not Your Grandfather’s Native American Dance Troupe

"When Indigenous Enterprise appeared on World of Dance, Kenneth Shirley described the group's style as 'Native American with a little bit of hip-hop.' And the influence of hip-hop is discernible in footwork and bounce, but most of all in attitude." - The New York Times

Writing About Dance Isn’t A Profession Anymore

The truth is that culture writing that doesn't involve celebrities or popular culture or scandal fills an increasingly small niche in the mainstream press. - Dance Magazine

The Problem With New York City Ballet’s Balanchine

Jennifer Homans: "Balanchine, it seems, has become orthodox: classical, beautiful, the radical edges zipped up and smoothed. This is not the dancers' fault, nor is it something anyone can undo." - The New Yorker

“The Internet At Its Utopian Best”: In Praise Of The Public Domain Review

"'A frictionless world' in which evidence of the imagination floats around in the empyrean 'without cost, without registration, and without restrictive conditions on their use, … a Borgesian Library of Babel, the Review is a labyrinth to get lost in." - The Times Literary Supplement (UK)

Ian Fleming Estate Authorizes New 007 Series

Kim Sherwood has struck a deal with HarperCollins to write three contemporary thrillers set in the world of James Bond but where the original 007 is missing, presumed captured or even killed. - The Guardian

Why “Mistakes” In Language Are Actually Progress

Someone in my line of work hears around him a linguistic feast, where many just hear the English language going to the dogs. - The New York Times

The Impossibility Of Translating

To put it less politely, translation is a bitch. - Granta

What’s The Secret Of Poetry’s Power? It’s The Rhythm, Baby

"Poems meet the raw needs of our most vulnerable inner selves in a disarmingly primal way, using a simple tool no other sort of language mobilises in quite the same manner: predictable, physical, rhythmical repetition. Poetry chants and incants; it excites and lulls." - Psyche

For The First Time, A Black African Author Wins France’s Top Book Award

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr of Senegal has won the Prix Goncourt for La plus secrète mémoire des hommes (The Most Secret Memory of Men), which the magazine L'Express called "the revelation of the literary year … shining proof of the vitality and universality of the French language." - The Guardian

CNN’s Online Video Is Much More Divisive Than What It Airs On TV, And Here’s Why

Yes, of course, it's ultimately to make more money, but here's a glimpse of just how different the content is and a look at the structural reason for that difference. - Columbia Journalism Review

New Marvel Film “Eternals” Banned In Saudi Arabia And Kuwait

Sources report that the decision is because Disney's Marvel Studios refused the request to cut a male-male kiss. Eternals is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature an LGBTQ+ superhero. - Variety

How Shondaland Became An Empire

In Shonda Rhimes’ renewed pact, the bullet points specify that Shondaland will now be, as Rhimes puts it, a “one-stop shopping” source for Netflix for movies as well as a wide variety of other types of content. - Variety

How Did 21st-Century TV Comedy Get So Dark?

"BoJack Horseman, Fleabag, Veep, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend are among the comedies that have left the traditional sitcom form in the dust. … The laughs come with much higher emotional stakes, often juxtaposed with grief, shame, addiction, … and questions about the very meaning of life." - BBC

The Cultural Revisionism Industry

Over the past few years, a certain genre of media has found opportunity in debunking false conceptions of the semi-recent past and meditating on the cultural factors which contributed to their initial spread. - Gawker

What Happened To Tony Soprano In The End? “Sopranos” Showrunner David Chase Finally ‘Fesses Up

Okay, it's not really a surprise, but we finally get confirmation from the guy who made the decision, along with his feelings about the brouhaha around the show's finale, what led him to make the prequel, and how he feels about film versus TV. - The Hollywood Reporter

The Trauma That Upended Kenneth Branagh’s Life At The Age Of Eight

He's been reeling from it, one way or another, ever since, and it's the reason he made his latest film, Belfast. - The New York Times Magazine

The Art World’s Most Wanted Criminal (No, Not Inigo Philbrick)

"Not so long ago, Christian Rosa was a buzzy young artist on the rise. Now he's facing a series of charges related to alleged forgeries and on the run from the FBI. How did it come to this?" - Vanity Fair

Jazz Guitarist Pat Martino, 77 — Overcame Amnesia To Perform Again

In 1980, brain surgery left him with no memory, but he painstakingly relearned the instrument, and his own past, and went on to three more decades of innovative musicianship. - The New York Times

Rehabilitating Chuck Close

Where Close’s work ultimately lands in the canon of American art will serve as the art world’s first test case for how an artist who faced sexual harassment allegations in life will be remembered in death. - Artnet

Inigo Philbrick, “The Bernie Madoff Of Art Dealers”, Will Plead Guilty To Fraud

In 2020 he was indicted on multiple charges of wire fraud and identity theft and fled to Vanuatu in the South Pacific, where he was ultimately arrested; deemed a flight risk, he's been in custody in New York ever since. - Artnet

Pianist Nelson Freire Dead At 77

"One of the most celebrated pianists of the second half of the 20th century, … The Guardian once wrote of him, 'few pianists alive convey the sheer joy and exhilaration of being masters of their craft more vividly and uncomplicatedly than Nelson Freire.'" - Limelight