Today’s AJ Highlights

Good morning. London’s National Gallery has now banned visitors from bringing liquids into its building after climate protesters have hurled liquids at art work. It’s yet another degradation of the experience of going into public buildings and events. Metal detectors, bag bans, liquid bans are now the rituals required to enter public spaces. And while we go along with them, every added inconvenience and violation of our privacy makes the experiences less attractive. And do these added procedures, no matter how necessary they seem, represent an accumulating failure of our ability to safely gather together?

Here are more highlights from today’s haul of stories:

1. The Azure Buildings Of India’s Blue City Are Fading “A historic neighborhood in the center of the city of Jodhpur is famous for the old homes and buildings clad in blue plaster. In recent years, though, the blue has been fading as the price of indigo has soared, making it too expensive for many to touch up their homes.” – BBC
2. A Small Demonstration Of The State Of AI-Created Movies And What’s Possible “Figuring out what’s possible is a fraught proposition when it comes to AI in Hollywood.” – Wired
3. Toronto’s Mayor Announces Five-Year, Multi-Million Plan To Boost Arts And Culture “Mayor Olivia Chow’s plan would increase the budget of the city’s arts funding agency by $2 million annually over the next five years, double the budgets of local arts service organizations, index all cultural grants to inflation, and increase investment in creative industries, festivals and special events.” – CBC
4. We Celebrate The Rise Of Indie Bookstores As A Victory. But What Are We Celebrating? “The indie bookstore is a dialectical synthesis of the crusty old bookstore and the rationalized superstore.” – The Baffler
5. The Pompidou’s Controversial Renovation Plans “The renovation plan and the closure it entails has not received much support within the art world.” – Apollo

As usual, skip down to see all the stories we’ve gathered in the past day, organized by topic. See you tomorrow.

Doug