AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Art Dealer Brent Sikkema’s Ex-Husband Sentenced To Life In Prison For His Murder
“Daniel Sikkema was found guilty in May of charges tied to a murder-for-hire plot … that took place in Rio de Janeiro in January 2024. After a two-week trial in New York, Daniel was convicted of three charges: murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country.” – ARTnews
- How The Various US TV Networks Covered The “Blue Tsunami”: Analysis
“The networks were following the same returns, and by the end of the evening, the same political story was taking shape. What differed was how they told it — and how quickly they moved from counting votes to explaining what went wrong for Republicans and what comes next for Democrats.” – TheWrap (Yahoo!)
- China Miéville’s “The Rouse” Wins UK’s Goldsmiths Prize For Innovative Fiction
The win of the £10,000 award makes The Rouse the longest novel to take the prize since it was launched in 2013 for fiction that “breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form.” – The Guardian
- Conductor Herbert Blomstedt, 99
Over his seven-decade career, he was music director or principal conductor of the flagship orchestras in Oslo, Danish and Swedish Radio, Dresden, San Francisco, and Leipzig — then spent his 80s and 90s as a surprisingly energetic and much-beloved guest conductor all over Europe, the US, and East Asia. – NPR
- Virginia and DC Sue to Block Trump’s Arch
Good Morning,
Virginia and the District of Columbia sued to stop construction of Trump’s 250-foot arch, which would stand between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial at twice the memorial’s height. Work could start this week, and the suit calls the approval process “hurried and preordained” (NPR).
A Bogotá judge ordered Colombia’s National Museum to restore 63 objects the new right-wing government removed on Oct. 15 as “political indoctrination,” including a pride flag and the pen, made from a bullet, that signed the 2016 peace agreement (The Art Newspaper).
The Phoenix Symphony ended its season on Nov. 1 and laid off all 66 musicians after years of deficits. Players, board and staff now say they may resume performing this month, though a $6.5 million gift is on hold (KJZZ).
La Bola Negra, a drama inspired by Federico García Lorca, is now the third-highest-grossing Spanish film ever at €36.7 million (Variety). For decades Lorca’s family and scholars kept his homosexuality out of print; his brother’s 1980 biography never uses the word (The Guardian).
After years of searching, the archaeological dig at Troy yielded its first musical instrument in more than 150 years of digging: a bone flute from about when Homer composed the Iliad (Smithsonian).
All of our stories below.
ISSUES
- Virginia, DC, Sue To Stop Construction Of Trump’s Arch
The 45-page lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia called the project “flagrantly unlawful,” attorneys general Jay Jones of Virginia and Brian Schwalb of the District of Columbia wrote. – NPR
- Stolen Old Master Painting Is Recovered Thanks To “Wanted” Poster Campaign
A 17th-century painting titled Un Buveur (“A Drinker”) by Willem Cornelisz Duyster, stolen in 1940 from the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans in France, was located last month at a Swiss auction house. – ARTnews
- Former COO At Atlanta’s High Museum Of Art Sentenced To Prison For Embezzlement
“Brady Lum, the former chief operating officer of Atlanta‘s High Museum of Art, has been sentenced to one year in federal prison for stealing more than $600,000 from the institution. He previously pleaded guilty to the charges in July.” – Artforum
- French Galleries Accuse Art Basel Of Disrespect
In the letter addressed to the new director of Art Basel Paris, Karim Crippa, the association demanded “concrete proposals for compensating exhibitors,” stated that the galleries were never consulted about the event’s early closure, and accused organizers of “disrespect, even contempt,” according to Monopol. – Hyperallergic
- The Enduring Appeal Of Glass Art — New Again
The history, combined with the opportunity for hands-on experience, is fueling new exhibitions at museums across the United States that are exploring today’s complex scientific and social issues through the artistry’s lens. – The New York Times
MEDIA
- New NEA Data On Americans’ Arts Participation
The dataset now spans 2003–2025 and includes newly added data from 2024 and 2025. It is available through the NADAC website for free download and online analysis. – NEA
- How American History Became Divisive
Under this rigid order, there’s no room to interrogate our rocky history, let alone change it for the better. There’s just one nation, under God, indivisible—now, always, and forever. – Mother Jones
- Google Says It Will Shut Off Search For Schools That Reject AI
A.I. features are now a standard part of Google’s commercially available search engine. “Search and A.I. are deeply integrated.” If a school has banned A.I., he added, students “will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available.” – The New York Times
- Objects Removed By New Right-Wing Government From Colombia’s National Museum Are Reinstalled
“On the evening of 28 October, César Enrique Osorio Ortiz — a judge at Bogotá’s 24th Family Court — ordered Colombia’s cultural ministry and the museum to return the works to their original locations within 48 hours. The ministry complied with the order on Friday (30 October).” – The Art Newspaper
- Austin May Be Able To Boost Arts Funding, Thanks To Its New “Airbnb Tax”
“With the Austin Convention Center closed for reconstruction until 2029, the city faces years of diminished convention business and the hotel tax revenue it generates, portions of which fund programs supporting the arts. … But a surge in hotel taxes collected from short-term rentals is providing a financial cushion.” – KUT (Austin)
MUSIC
- China Miéville’s “The Rouse” Wins UK’s Goldsmiths Prize For Innovative Fiction
The win of the £10,000 award makes The Rouse the longest novel to take the prize since it was launched in 2013 for fiction that “breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form.” – The Guardian
- Previously Unseen Writing By Harry Houdini Is Published
“Houdini, whose real name was Eric Weisz, was a prolific author, with more than two dozen books, short stories and plays to his name. One of them, an article titled ‘An Interesting Scrapbook,’ … appears for the first time in print on Saturday” — the centennial of his death — “in Strand magazine.” – The Guardian
- AI Translations Have Gotten Very Good. But…
While AI translations are very fluent, fluency doesn’t equal accuracy. Even proficient bilinguals can overlook errors hidden under the surface. – The Conversation
- Russia’s Last Major Independent Newspaper Shuts Down
“’We have been killed,’ reads a statement from the editorial team behind the Russian independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta, as it announced on Friday that it would be ceasing operations. … ‘The newspaper no longer exists. The Russian authorities and the Russian security services have forced our editorial team to cease its operations.’” – Euronews
- UK’s Collins Dictionary Chooses “Mogging” As Word Of The Year (What’s Mogging?)
“The copywriter Rachel Quin said the term describes making someone or something look inferior in terms of appearance, confidence or status. Believed to originate as a shortening of ‘AMOG’ (alpha male of the group), the word had first appeared in bodybuilding culture around 2016 before spreading through online communities.” – The Guardian
PEOPLE
- Art Dealer Brent Sikkema’s Ex-Husband Sentenced To Life In Prison For His Murder
“Daniel Sikkema was found guilty in May of charges tied to a murder-for-hire plot … that took place in Rio de Janeiro in January 2024. After a two-week trial in New York, Daniel was convicted of three charges: murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country.” – ARTnews
- How The Various US TV Networks Covered The “Blue Tsunami”: Analysis
“The networks were following the same returns, and by the end of the evening, the same political story was taking shape. What differed was how they told it — and how quickly they moved from counting votes to explaining what went wrong for Republicans and what comes next for Democrats.” – TheWrap (Yahoo!)
- China Miéville’s “The Rouse” Wins UK’s Goldsmiths Prize For Innovative Fiction
The win of the £10,000 award makes The Rouse the longest novel to take the prize since it was launched in 2013 for fiction that “breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form.” – The Guardian
- Conductor Herbert Blomstedt, 99
Over his seven-decade career, he was music director or principal conductor of the flagship orchestras in Oslo, Danish and Swedish Radio, Dresden, San Francisco, and Leipzig — then spent his 80s and 90s as a surprisingly energetic and much-beloved guest conductor all over Europe, the US, and East Asia. – NPR
- Virginia and DC Sue to Block Trump’s Arch
Good Morning,
Virginia and the District of Columbia sued to stop construction of Trump’s 250-foot arch, which would stand between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial at twice the memorial’s height. Work could start this week, and the suit calls the approval process “hurried and preordained” (NPR).
A Bogotá judge ordered Colombia’s National Museum to restore 63 objects the new right-wing government removed on Oct. 15 as “political indoctrination,” including a pride flag and the pen, made from a bullet, that signed the 2016 peace agreement (The Art Newspaper).
The Phoenix Symphony ended its season on Nov. 1 and laid off all 66 musicians after years of deficits. Players, board and staff now say they may resume performing this month, though a $6.5 million gift is on hold (KJZZ).
La Bola Negra, a drama inspired by Federico García Lorca, is now the third-highest-grossing Spanish film ever at €36.7 million (Variety). For decades Lorca’s family and scholars kept his homosexuality out of print; his brother’s 1980 biography never uses the word (The Guardian).
After years of searching, the archaeological dig at Troy yielded its first musical instrument in more than 150 years of digging: a bone flute from about when Homer composed the Iliad (Smithsonian).
All of our stories below.
PEOPLE
- Art Dealer Brent Sikkema’s Ex-Husband Sentenced To Life In Prison For His Murder
“Daniel Sikkema was found guilty in May of charges tied to a murder-for-hire plot … that took place in Rio de Janeiro in January 2024. After a two-week trial in New York, Daniel was convicted of three charges: murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country.” – ARTnews
- How The Various US TV Networks Covered The “Blue Tsunami”: Analysis
“The networks were following the same returns, and by the end of the evening, the same political story was taking shape. What differed was how they told it — and how quickly they moved from counting votes to explaining what went wrong for Republicans and what comes next for Democrats.” – TheWrap (Yahoo!)
- China Miéville’s “The Rouse” Wins UK’s Goldsmiths Prize For Innovative Fiction
The win of the £10,000 award makes The Rouse the longest novel to take the prize since it was launched in 2013 for fiction that “breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form.” – The Guardian
- Conductor Herbert Blomstedt, 99
Over his seven-decade career, he was music director or principal conductor of the flagship orchestras in Oslo, Danish and Swedish Radio, Dresden, San Francisco, and Leipzig — then spent his 80s and 90s as a surprisingly energetic and much-beloved guest conductor all over Europe, the US, and East Asia. – NPR
- Virginia and DC Sue to Block Trump’s Arch
Good Morning,
Virginia and the District of Columbia sued to stop construction of Trump’s 250-foot arch, which would stand between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial at twice the memorial’s height. Work could start this week, and the suit calls the approval process “hurried and preordained” (NPR).
A Bogotá judge ordered Colombia’s National Museum to restore 63 objects the new right-wing government removed on Oct. 15 as “political indoctrination,” including a pride flag and the pen, made from a bullet, that signed the 2016 peace agreement (The Art Newspaper).
The Phoenix Symphony ended its season on Nov. 1 and laid off all 66 musicians after years of deficits. Players, board and staff now say they may resume performing this month, though a $6.5 million gift is on hold (KJZZ).
La Bola Negra, a drama inspired by Federico García Lorca, is now the third-highest-grossing Spanish film ever at €36.7 million (Variety). For decades Lorca’s family and scholars kept his homosexuality out of print; his brother’s 1980 biography never uses the word (The Guardian).
After years of searching, the archaeological dig at Troy yielded its first musical instrument in more than 150 years of digging: a bone flute from about when Homer composed the Iliad (Smithsonian).
All of our stories below.
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Defining The Artificial State
We have not a single piece of meaningful legislation in the United States Congress about artificial intelligence. We have essentially nothing about social media. This is something that we’re now battling out in the courts. – The Walrus
- The Telephone’s Role In Changing Intimacy
This may strike you as a little paranoid. The rise of the telephone, in the past century and a half—from the rotary diallers at home and the boxes in the street to the smartphones in every pocket—is associated with a change that, broadly speaking, we consider positive. – The New Yorker
- Physical Witness Becomes More Important In The Age Of AI
For a time, the photograph or moving image acquired its own evidential authority: seeing something recorded was, with reasonable caveats, grounds for accepting that an event had occurred. – The Conversation
- Naming That Sense Of Civic Disconnect Of Values
How do we give shape to this disquiet? We might call it fatigue, burnout, or ‘just needing a break from the world’, but often it’s grief – mourning for a faith we once had in fellow citizens to recognise a certain decency or sense of fairness. It isn’t partisan; it’s human, and it has a name. – Psyche
- We Need To Reconsider The Notion Of Self
The empty-self metaphor has inspired a large following. These followers embrace an optimistic view in which human foibles can be readily vanquished through systematic manipulation of social environment. However alluring it may be, we suggest it is time to replace this Panglossian view with one that acknowledges the importance of enduring psychological structures. – Psyche