AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Are We Close To Locating Where Consciousness Lives In The Brain?
Most discussions of AI and consciousness ask whether machines can experience anything. But maybe the real mystery is: If consciousness is not fundamentally related to higher cognition, then what kind of phenomenon is it? – Noema
- The New Performing Arts Center In Morocco’s Capital Is One Of Zaha Hadid’s Last Projects
The Royal Theatre of Rabat, which includes an 1,800-seat main auditorium, a 520-seat performance space, and a 7,000-seat outdoor amphitheater, was largely completed in 2021 but only opened this year. It’s planned as an international platform for Moroccan, Arabic and African music, dance and theater — and Western pop. – The New York Times
- Publishing Industry Sold $32.5 Billion Worth Of Books In 2025
Looking at trends in the trade category, which includes religion books, sale rose 2.7% overall to $21.7 billion. The increase was led by religious presses, whose sales rose 9.3%, to $2.2 billion. Adult fiction sales had the second biggest sales increase, with revenue up 3.9%, to $7.1 billion. – Publishers Weekly
- Anthony Hopkins, Composer
The renowned actor has played piano his whole life, and formally written music for at least 30 years, but it might still surprise many to learn that later this month Hopkins will release his debut album, “Life Is a Dream,” on Decca Classics. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- Modern Classical Concert Dress Is Evolving
It’s a vital, creative and adaptive evolution, a way of preserving an important cultural heritage in a world of cheap noise where the piano recital might otherwise fade from view or become hopelessly marginalized. – 3 Quarks Daily
ISSUES
- Tower Of Colombia’s Tallest Cathedral Collapses In Earthquake
At the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, a 1939 building in the city of Manizales and the tallest neo-Gothic church in the Americas, one of the side towers toppled onto the center of the building following the 7.4 magnitude quake which struck Colombia on Monday. – The Art Newspaper
- Disastrous Finances At New York’s School Of Visual Arts, Where Enrollment Is Down By One-Third
“Amid a broad crisis in higher education in the US …, enrollment at New York’s School of Visual Arts is down some 34% since 2019, and the school faces a $22 million structural budget deficit. … SVA is largely dependent on tuition; full-time tuition is $55,270 annually for the coming school year.” – ARTnews
- Why Is The New George Lucas Museum In LA Trying To Raise Money?
It is not a good look to say the least, for a billionaire museum founder to be hustling for visitors’ money. Why would Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson, a successful executive in her own right who runs a large investment company, ask for any support beyond admission? – The Art Newspaper
- The Long, Delicate Process Of Getting The Bayeux Tapestry To London
The extremely careful handling of the fragile cloth and the custom-made equipment to protect the piece from vibrations while in transit weren’t the only part of the process: it was almost as complicated a project to get France to agree to the Tapestry being moved in the first place. – The Times (UK)
- Former Exec Accuses Smithsonian’s National Gallery Of “Soft Censorship” Of Symposium
A May 2025 symposium about race issues in the art of the US and Mexico, created and organized by the National Gallery, was abruptly moved offsite and scrubbed from the museum’s website — a decision made, says a former executive, after a visit from Trump’s DOGE. – The New York Times
MEDIA
- The New Performing Arts Center In Morocco’s Capital Is One Of Zaha Hadid’s Last Projects
The Royal Theatre of Rabat, which includes an 1,800-seat main auditorium, a 520-seat performance space, and a 7,000-seat outdoor amphitheater, was largely completed in 2021 but only opened this year. It’s planned as an international platform for Moroccan, Arabic and African music, dance and theater — and Western pop. – The New York Times
- StubHub And Its Customers’ Battles For Tickets
Complaints about StubHub to the Better Business Bureau rose 47% from 2024 to 2025, and climbed 63% in the eight months leading up to the company’s September 2025 initial public offering. – The Wall Street Journal
- Germany’s Resurgent Far-Right Party Threatens To Defund “Anti-German” Culture
Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) stands a good chance of winning a majority in the state legislature of Saxony-Anhalt, home to the birthplaces of Martin Luther and George Frideric Handel as well as the Bauhaus. The latter is a particular target of AfD, which says it will refuse to fund “anti-German art.” – Deutsche Welle
- American Universities Are In Parlous Shape. Here’s Why
Though elite colleges profess a faith in meritocracy and insist that they are engines of class mobility, in practice they reward the already rewarded. – The Nation
- Anthropic Says It Will Watermark All Text And Files Created In Claude
Anthropic said that all models released after August 2 will automatically have tech to watermark both computer-generated text and files. For files, the company is using the C2PA open standard. – TechCrunch
MUSIC
- Publishing Industry Sold $32.5 Billion Worth Of Books In 2025
Looking at trends in the trade category, which includes religion books, sale rose 2.7% overall to $21.7 billion. The increase was led by religious presses, whose sales rose 9.3%, to $2.2 billion. Adult fiction sales had the second biggest sales increase, with revenue up 3.9%, to $7.1 billion. – Publishers Weekly
- Canada’s Top Literary Award Broke With Its Sponsor. Now A Foundation Has Come To Its Rescue.
Early last year the Giller Prize broke ties with its longtime sponsor Scotiabank — leaving it without the means to support the C$100,000 award and other programs. Now the foundation which stepped up with C$! million in bridge funding has made a C$4 million donation to keep the Giller going longer-term. – The Canadian Press (MSN)
- Judging Books By Their Covers
We can thank the Preraphaelite coterie for this tendency. ” – LitHub
- Companies Using AI To Create Writing Are Missing The Entire Point Of Books
“It speaks about the creative process as though it were something getting in the way of our creativity, slowing us down, rather than being the path that leads us to it. Then again, it’s no surprise that a capitalist venture focuses on the product and speed to market.” – Irish Times
- Millennials Miss Their Childhood Book Program So Much That They’ve Recreated It For Adults
Personal pan pizzas for reading? Yes: “Pizza Hut’s Book It! program is part of the lore of countless childhood readers turned adults. According to Pizza Hut, over 70 million children have participated since the program was founded in 1984, a Reagan-era initiative.” – Slate
PEOPLE
- Are We Close To Locating Where Consciousness Lives In The Brain?
Most discussions of AI and consciousness ask whether machines can experience anything. But maybe the real mystery is: If consciousness is not fundamentally related to higher cognition, then what kind of phenomenon is it? – Noema
- The New Performing Arts Center In Morocco’s Capital Is One Of Zaha Hadid’s Last Projects
The Royal Theatre of Rabat, which includes an 1,800-seat main auditorium, a 520-seat performance space, and a 7,000-seat outdoor amphitheater, was largely completed in 2021 but only opened this year. It’s planned as an international platform for Moroccan, Arabic and African music, dance and theater — and Western pop. – The New York Times
- Publishing Industry Sold $32.5 Billion Worth Of Books In 2025
Looking at trends in the trade category, which includes religion books, sale rose 2.7% overall to $21.7 billion. The increase was led by religious presses, whose sales rose 9.3%, to $2.2 billion. Adult fiction sales had the second biggest sales increase, with revenue up 3.9%, to $7.1 billion. – Publishers Weekly
- Anthony Hopkins, Composer
The renowned actor has played piano his whole life, and formally written music for at least 30 years, but it might still surprise many to learn that later this month Hopkins will release his debut album, “Life Is a Dream,” on Decca Classics. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- Modern Classical Concert Dress Is Evolving
It’s a vital, creative and adaptive evolution, a way of preserving an important cultural heritage in a world of cheap noise where the piano recital might otherwise fade from view or become hopelessly marginalized. – 3 Quarks Daily
PEOPLE
- Are We Close To Locating Where Consciousness Lives In The Brain?
Most discussions of AI and consciousness ask whether machines can experience anything. But maybe the real mystery is: If consciousness is not fundamentally related to higher cognition, then what kind of phenomenon is it? – Noema
- The New Performing Arts Center In Morocco’s Capital Is One Of Zaha Hadid’s Last Projects
The Royal Theatre of Rabat, which includes an 1,800-seat main auditorium, a 520-seat performance space, and a 7,000-seat outdoor amphitheater, was largely completed in 2021 but only opened this year. It’s planned as an international platform for Moroccan, Arabic and African music, dance and theater — and Western pop. – The New York Times
- Publishing Industry Sold $32.5 Billion Worth Of Books In 2025
Looking at trends in the trade category, which includes religion books, sale rose 2.7% overall to $21.7 billion. The increase was led by religious presses, whose sales rose 9.3%, to $2.2 billion. Adult fiction sales had the second biggest sales increase, with revenue up 3.9%, to $7.1 billion. – Publishers Weekly
- Anthony Hopkins, Composer
The renowned actor has played piano his whole life, and formally written music for at least 30 years, but it might still surprise many to learn that later this month Hopkins will release his debut album, “Life Is a Dream,” on Decca Classics. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- Modern Classical Concert Dress Is Evolving
It’s a vital, creative and adaptive evolution, a way of preserving an important cultural heritage in a world of cheap noise where the piano recital might otherwise fade from view or become hopelessly marginalized. – 3 Quarks Daily
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Are We Close To Locating Where Consciousness Lives In The Brain?
Most discussions of AI and consciousness ask whether machines can experience anything. But maybe the real mystery is: If consciousness is not fundamentally related to higher cognition, then what kind of phenomenon is it? – Noema
- Do We Lose Our Minds In Big Crowds?
In popular culture and pop psychology, crowds are often associated with strong emotions, excessive emotional expression and the uncritical spread of emotions. Commentators often link that crowd emotion in turn with uncontrolled behaviour and, in some cases, mindless violence. – Psyche
- Unlocking The Mysteries Of Hegel
In both its depth and breadth, Hegel’s philosophy is perhaps rivalled only by that of Aristotle. – Psyche
- When Is Stereotyping Useful?
Generalising comes so naturally that few of us are at any risk of undergeneralising, so we give it little thought. The focus on overgeneralising is understandable given its potential costs, such as the child assuming that a dangerous dog is just like the friendly dogs they’ve encountered to date. – Aeon
- The Complications Of Proving You’re Human
Now the problem is how to let in the good bots (like the avatar you send to the Gap to buy you a new pair of pants) and keep out the bad bots (like the thief trying to scrape the data of every Gap customer). The rest of us have to be our own bot detectors. – The New Yorker