AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- The Effective-Altruism Movement Is About To Make A Comeback, Powered By AI Titans And Their Money
“Since the (Sam Bankman-Fried/FTX) scandal, the movement’s organizations have shied away from the limelight and become extremely concerned with PR. For several years, their growth has been severely curtailed. But they survived. And the new AI money has given EA a chance to come back larger than ever before.” – New York Magazine
- Construction Begins On Frank Gehry’s Final Building, A Performing Arts Center In Abu Dhabi
Dar al Funoon, located in the starchitect-heavy Saadiyat Island cultural district — alongside the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (also by Gehry), the Zayed National Museum (Foster + Partners), the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Jean Nouvel) and others — will contain a 2,000-seat performance hall, a 3,500-seat open-air amphitheatre, a 400-seat theatre and a 250-seat jazz venue. – Dezeen
- Gaza’s Conservatory Of Music Reopens — In Tents
“The tents are the new home of the Gaza branch of Palestine’s national conservatory, dedicated to teaching classical, popular and traditional music. The institution, founded in 1993, once enjoyed well-equipped offices in Gaza City, three pianos and storerooms full of instruments and musical scores.” – The Guardian
- More Reporting On the Troubles At Arena Stage Under Ousted Director Hana S. Sharif
And, for balance, this report also includes on-the-record favorable comments from one high-level staffer who worked with Sharif at Arena — Reggie D. White. who followed Sharif to DC from the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. – DC Theater Arts
- NYC’s New Museum Finds Its New Director In-House
“Ending months of speculation, the New Museum said today that it has selected Massimiliano Gioni, its artistic director, to be its next director. Gioni has been with the New York standby since 2006, and will take the helm in August. Its previous leader, Lisa Phillips, announced her retirement last September.” – Artnet
ISSUES
- NYC’s New Museum Finds Its New Director In-House
“Ending months of speculation, the New Museum said today that it has selected Massimiliano Gioni, its artistic director, to be its next director. Gioni has been with the New York standby since 2006, and will take the helm in August. Its previous leader, Lisa Phillips, announced her retirement last September.” – Artnet
- Thieves Steal $5.1 Million Worth Of Crystal And Jewelry From Lalique Museum In France
“Three thieves targeted the Lalique museum in Wingen-sur-Moder in northeastern France at around 5:30 am on Sunday, … (and) made off with 27 pieces of jewelry worth an estimated €4.5 million ($5.1 million), prosecutors said Monday.” – AFP (Yahoo!)
- Velázquez Portrait Rediscovered By Detroit Institute Of Arts Director
“Salvador Salort-Pons, the director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, recently revealed the discovery of a portrait by Diego Velázquez made during the artist’s earliest years as a court painter to King Philip IV. Salort-Pons, a specialist in Velázquez, published his findings in the current issue of ARS Magazine.” – ARTnews
- The Art World Really Is Unsustainable Now
It is extraordinarily difficult for most brick-and-mortar stores in any industry to survive, and that is especially true for art galleries. These large art shows may create a lot of foot traffic, but that doesn’t always translate to robust on-site sales for the galleries. – The New York Times
- The Best Architecture Of America’s 250 Years
From California bungalows to New York skyscrapers, from forest retreats to streamlined headquarters, what makes an architecture American, let alone the most significant example of such? – Architectural Record
MEDIA
- Construction Begins On Frank Gehry’s Final Building, A Performing Arts Center In Abu Dhabi
Dar al Funoon, located in the starchitect-heavy Saadiyat Island cultural district — alongside the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (also by Gehry), the Zayed National Museum (Foster + Partners), the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Jean Nouvel) and others — will contain a 2,000-seat performance hall, a 3,500-seat open-air amphitheatre, a 400-seat theatre and a 250-seat jazz venue. – Dezeen
- White House’s “Report” Criticizing Smithsonian History Is Riddled With Errors
The report often doesn’t even bother to engage with many of the claims it ridicules — like obvious and well-documented facts about anti-Chinese sentiment in post-Civil War America — or takes them as self-evident proof that the Smithsonian is misrepresenting history. – Washington Post
- The Congresswoman Who Sued Trump For Renaming The Kennedy Center — And Won
Joyce Beatty, a seven-term representative from Ohio, became an ex officio Congressional member of the Kennedy Center’s board in 2019. She says that the resolution to add Trump’s name to the complex was introduced without advance notice at a meeting in December, and she was muted when she objected. – The New York Times
- Historians Defend Smithsonian American History Museum Director From Trump Administration Attacks
“(Anthea) Hartig, director of the National Museum of American History since 2019, has commissioned exhibitions that … document the lived experiences of ordinary people, sometimes focusing on race, sexuality and colonialism. … Many historians support her goal of telling a more nuanced story of the United States.” – The New York Times
- What Exactly Does The Trump Administration Think Is Wrong With The Way The Smithsonian Depicts American History?
“Here are some of the report’s main charges, and how they relate to the administration’s broader push to promote what President Trump has called ‘patriotic’ history.” – The New York Times
MUSIC
- How AI Is Changing How Humans Write
The problem is that not only does AI train on human writing, but humans are stylistically influenced by AI, the interplay creating a kind of linguistic hall of mirrors. Short of an author admitting it, it’s hard to say for certain whether an individual piece of writing is AI or not. That uncertainty is a recipe for paranoia. – The Guardian
- New Hampshire Governor Vetoes Book-Banning Bill
“House Bill 434 would require school districts to establish formal policies for removing content from schools that is ‘obscene and harmful to minors,’ … (creating) a standardized removal process in which parents could challenge any book, magazine, film, video, web-based content, sound recording, or live performance offered to students.” – New Hampshire Bulletin
- Tell LitHub Your Favorite A24 Movie, And You’ll Get A Book Recommendation
For instance: “If The Brutalist, then Claire Messud’s This Strange Eventful History.” – LitHub
- Language For A Writer Who Some Days Barely Has Enough Energy To Lift Her Head
Susanna Clarke: “A narrative makes illness seem rational – and it gives the sufferer a measure of control – or at any rate the illusion of it. This is particularly true of the sort of chronic illness in the face of which poor doctors are often at a loss. – The Guardian (UK)
- A Volunteer Has Just About The Coolest Experience Ever In A Random Archive
True, the person writing this was a history major, but still: “A rare surviving copy of the Declaration of Independence has been discovered at The National Archives in Kew, the only known example of its kind outside the US.” Discovered by a volunteer. – BBC
PEOPLE
- The Effective-Altruism Movement Is About To Make A Comeback, Powered By AI Titans And Their Money
“Since the (Sam Bankman-Fried/FTX) scandal, the movement’s organizations have shied away from the limelight and become extremely concerned with PR. For several years, their growth has been severely curtailed. But they survived. And the new AI money has given EA a chance to come back larger than ever before.” – New York Magazine
- Construction Begins On Frank Gehry’s Final Building, A Performing Arts Center In Abu Dhabi
Dar al Funoon, located in the starchitect-heavy Saadiyat Island cultural district — alongside the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (also by Gehry), the Zayed National Museum (Foster + Partners), the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Jean Nouvel) and others — will contain a 2,000-seat performance hall, a 3,500-seat open-air amphitheatre, a 400-seat theatre and a 250-seat jazz venue. – Dezeen
- Gaza’s Conservatory Of Music Reopens — In Tents
“The tents are the new home of the Gaza branch of Palestine’s national conservatory, dedicated to teaching classical, popular and traditional music. The institution, founded in 1993, once enjoyed well-equipped offices in Gaza City, three pianos and storerooms full of instruments and musical scores.” – The Guardian
- More Reporting On the Troubles At Arena Stage Under Ousted Director Hana S. Sharif
And, for balance, this report also includes on-the-record favorable comments from one high-level staffer who worked with Sharif at Arena — Reggie D. White. who followed Sharif to DC from the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. – DC Theater Arts
- NYC’s New Museum Finds Its New Director In-House
“Ending months of speculation, the New Museum said today that it has selected Massimiliano Gioni, its artistic director, to be its next director. Gioni has been with the New York standby since 2006, and will take the helm in August. Its previous leader, Lisa Phillips, announced her retirement last September.” – Artnet
PEOPLE
- The Effective-Altruism Movement Is About To Make A Comeback, Powered By AI Titans And Their Money
“Since the (Sam Bankman-Fried/FTX) scandal, the movement’s organizations have shied away from the limelight and become extremely concerned with PR. For several years, their growth has been severely curtailed. But they survived. And the new AI money has given EA a chance to come back larger than ever before.” – New York Magazine
- Construction Begins On Frank Gehry’s Final Building, A Performing Arts Center In Abu Dhabi
Dar al Funoon, located in the starchitect-heavy Saadiyat Island cultural district — alongside the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (also by Gehry), the Zayed National Museum (Foster + Partners), the Louvre Abu Dhabi (Jean Nouvel) and others — will contain a 2,000-seat performance hall, a 3,500-seat open-air amphitheatre, a 400-seat theatre and a 250-seat jazz venue. – Dezeen
- Gaza’s Conservatory Of Music Reopens — In Tents
“The tents are the new home of the Gaza branch of Palestine’s national conservatory, dedicated to teaching classical, popular and traditional music. The institution, founded in 1993, once enjoyed well-equipped offices in Gaza City, three pianos and storerooms full of instruments and musical scores.” – The Guardian
- More Reporting On the Troubles At Arena Stage Under Ousted Director Hana S. Sharif
And, for balance, this report also includes on-the-record favorable comments from one high-level staffer who worked with Sharif at Arena — Reggie D. White. who followed Sharif to DC from the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. – DC Theater Arts
- NYC’s New Museum Finds Its New Director In-House
“Ending months of speculation, the New Museum said today that it has selected Massimiliano Gioni, its artistic director, to be its next director. Gioni has been with the New York standby since 2006, and will take the helm in August. Its previous leader, Lisa Phillips, announced her retirement last September.” – Artnet
THEATRE
VISUAL
- The Effective-Altruism Movement Is About To Make A Comeback, Powered By AI Titans And Their Money
“Since the (Sam Bankman-Fried/FTX) scandal, the movement’s organizations have shied away from the limelight and become extremely concerned with PR. For several years, their growth has been severely curtailed. But they survived. And the new AI money has given EA a chance to come back larger than ever before.” – New York Magazine
- Do We Listen/See/Read Differently When The Name Of The Artist Is Changed?
Why should a name matter so much? Psychologists have a term that might help explain what’s happening here: prestige bias. Developed by the cultural evolution theorists Joseph Henrich and Francisco J Gil-White, the concept describes the human tendency to preferentially attend to, learn from, and value the outputs of high-status individuals. – Psyche
- When Innovation Scrambled Everything At The Turn Of The 20th Century
At the time, Americans did not understand that they were living through the largest energy transition in human history. Instead, they perceived a series of disconnected events. Unable to discern or conceptualize an underlying cause, they often declared the transformations around them were “kaleidoscopic.” – MIT Press
- Research: Learning From Short-Form Video Doesn’t Stay With You
Using social media applications to digest bite-sized educational content actually reduces a person’s ability to remember the information, according to new research. – Psypost
- AI Labs Are Recruiting Philosophers
A.I. labs, and the related nonprofits around them, have been recruiting workers as versed in Consequentialism and John Stuart Mill as in neural networks and reinforcement learning. – The New York Times