A confluence of stories this week that rocket between new and old, digital and physical. Physical books making a comeback while e-book sales fall. Downloads collapsing as streaming takes hold. Transitions sure are messy... Books: Screens Versus Paper Sales of E-books are down. Sales of tablets and E-readers are down. Sales of physical print books are up. And it looks like … [Read more...]

So who exactly is the arts audience, and how and why do they engage? We've got some more data. A new report gives some shape to the arts audience in the UK. The report divides the audience into core attenders and more casual engagers: “The report gives new insight into this group of consistent arts attenders and participants. They are more likely to be women (57%, compared with … [Read more...]

What are the boundaries in artist/audience relationships these days? Do you have a problem with inclusiveness if you can't define what it is? Do we lose an essential part of the audience experience when movies go in-home? And what is to be learned about what audiences want from the big new insta-culture districts? Today's Audiences Expect To Interact With Artists In New … [Read more...]

We're Not Doing This Anymore: So we love libraries but we're going to them less. Perhaps it's because we have "library anxiety" (yes, that's a thing)? When finding things online is as easy as a click, navigating the clunky physical infrastructure of the real world can be frustrating at best, intimidating and off-putting at worst. Though many of us regard the live in-person … [Read more...]

My Audience, My Computer: Scientists fed images of all of Rembrandt's paintings into a database then had the computer create a "next" Rembrandt based on the artist's style. You can think of this as a story about the rapidly growing ability of artificial intelligence to function at a complex level. Or, like Peter  Schjeldahl, you can see it as the visual equivalent of fan … [Read more...]