Today’s AJ highlights a culture war that has moved from rhetoric to the physical infrastructure of our institutions, where national monuments are being scrubbed of history and the raw materials of knowledge are being shredded for data.
The epicenter is Washington. Philip Glass has withdrawn the world premiere of his Symphony No. 15 from the Kennedy Center, explicitly stating that the institution’s current values are in “direct conflict” with his portrait of Abraham Lincoln (The Washington Post (Yahoo!)). Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social to wash his hands of the Center’s “massive deficits,” claiming he merely tried to save it (The Daily Beast). The erasing of unwanted narratives is spreading: National Parks have been ordered to remove displays related to climate change and the mistreatment of Native Americans to comply with directives on “restoring truth” (Washington Post).
In the digital realm, the cost of “synthetic” culture is becoming real. Court filings reveal that Anthropic spent millions to slice the spines off books to feed its AI models (Washington Post), a stunningly destructive act. And for what — researchers say this ingestion has produced synthetic culture akin to “visual elevator music”—polished, pleasant, and ultimately stagnant (The Conversation).
Finally, the economic landscape is forcing a patchwork of hard choices. While museums across the U.S. are rethinking their strategies amid funding cuts and attendance drops (The Art Newspaper), and the Cliburn Amateur Piano Competition is shutting down for good (The Violin Channel), Broadway has found a rare exception: “The Outsiders” has defied the odds for new musicals by officially turning a profit (The New York Times).
All of today’s stories below.
