ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

Today’s AJ Highlights

Good Morning: What happens when you make things easy? Getting any music you want. News traveling in rivers of stories. Distraction to fill in every available crack in your day. Do we value the music, the news, the distractions more because its easy to get? Or because it’s so ubiquitous do we lose investment in seeking out music or news or movies? Or valuing the artists and reporters that created it? And if it’s so available and, conversely, easily dismissed with a click or a swipe, do we develop any relationships with the art or artists? Turns out, the right kinds of friction in an experience can make it richer and deepen your relationship with it. Read more here in the Guardian.

  1. Threat To Our Future? An Empathy Gap “People find it easier to empathize with a single individual than with groups, plausibly because individuals are easier to conjure in one’s imagination. Therefore, the difference in empathy toward a present person and future others in general is likely even greater than what we’ve found.” – Psyche
  2. How WH Auden Used Culture To Reconsider His Place In The World
    “His work of this period combined a proclamation of the value of microcultures with a commitment to an intellectual cosmopolitanism. He celebrated the ‘local understanding’, but what bound the members of that salon to one another was the combination of cultural and national diversity with moral sympathy.” – Hedgehog Review
  3. When Classical Music Forgeries Pass As The Real Thing, What Does That Say About Us? This thought-provoking piece examines the history of classical music forgeries and how our perception of authenticity shapes the value we assign to art. – The Guardian
  4. How AI De-Aged Tom Hanks In His New Movie Exploring cutting-edge AI technology, this article reveals the processes behind digitally de-aging Tom Hanks in his latest film, underscoring AI’s growing role in filmmaking. – Wired
  5. Major Neurological Study Looks At How Our Brains Respond To Live Dance A pioneering research project investigates the neurological response to live dance performances, blending neuroscience and choreography to uncover how we experience movement. – The Guardian

As usual, jump below to see all the stories we collected in the past day, arranged by art form. If you know someone who might be interested in AJ, send them here to subscribe, or forward this newsletter so they can sign up. See you tomnorrow.

Doug

Latest Stories

Switzerland Asks UNESCO To Officially Recognize Yodeling

The country’s government has requested that the UN agency designate yodeling as Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNESCO’s committee for Intangible Heritage will decide at its mid-December meeting in New Delhi. - AP

What Margaret Atwood Left Out Of Her Memoir

By telling a straightforward tale about her life in which she is the unquestionable hero, Atwood leaves little space for truly literary tensions but plenty of space for gossipy ones. - The Walrus

The Idea Of An Anthropocene Era Has Been Declared Dead

In 2016, the group made its recommendation that the Anthropocene should be considered as the new epoch. This recommendation was later forwarded to higher ICS organs for consideration and voting. A series of votes was expected, but the proposal was rejected early on in the process in March 2024. - Aeon

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