AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Meet The Book Hoarder
The stacks kept rising as Uminer added his hauls from thrift shops, book dealers and eBay deliveries. “I don’t think of myself as a hoarder,” he said, “but I guess my building did.” – The New York Times
- Major Collection Of Mexican Art, Including Kahlos And Riveras, Is Going On Tour. Angry Mexicans Fear It Won’t Come Back.
The privately-owned Gelman Santander Collection, whose 68 pieces include 10 paintings by Frida Kahlo along with works by Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and others, is scheduled to spend two years touring Europe. Some citizens, unconvinced that the art will come home, are suing to keep it in Mexico. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
- Revisiting Mark Twain In The Age Of Trump
Satire makes fun of something to expose its truth in a way that can be notoriously difficult to decode. What is often misread in Twain’s most famous novel is this: he satirically uses racism to ridicule racism. – Adi Magazine
- EU To Cancel Venice Biennale Grant Over Russia Participation
Over the weekend, a European Union commission followed up on its earlier threats to cancel a €2 million grant to the Venice Biennale, citing Russia’s participation in the event this year as its reasoning. – ARTnews
- Trump Admin’s Critique Of The Smithsonian Is Laughably Wrong
Even when judged by the standards of the form, the White House’s anti-woke polemic is a shoddy piece of workmanship not unlike the peeling blue sealant in the $15 million renovation of the Reflecting Pool. – The New Republic
ISSUES
- Major Collection Of Mexican Art, Including Kahlos And Riveras, Is Going On Tour. Angry Mexicans Fear It Won’t Come Back.
The privately-owned Gelman Santander Collection, whose 68 pieces include 10 paintings by Frida Kahlo along with works by Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and others, is scheduled to spend two years touring Europe. Some citizens, unconvinced that the art will come home, are suing to keep it in Mexico. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
- EU To Cancel Venice Biennale Grant Over Russia Participation
Over the weekend, a European Union commission followed up on its earlier threats to cancel a €2 million grant to the Venice Biennale, citing Russia’s participation in the event this year as its reasoning. – ARTnews
- Louvre Jewel Robbery Suspects Say They Were Hired To Steal By Mastermind Client — Who Was “Disappointed”
“The suspects, named locally as Abdoulaye N and Ghelamallah A, claimed they had broken into the Louvre’s Apollo gallery on the orders of a client they refused to name out of fear for their families. … The alleged mastermind … ‘wasn’t happy’ with the outcome. ‘He thought we could have taken more.’” – The Guardian
- Ex-COO At Atlanta’s High Museum Of Art Pleads Guilty To Embezzlement
“The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday that former High chief operating officer Brady Lum pleaded guilty to a single charge of felony theft. Prosecutors accused him of stealing more than $600,000 from the museum by doctoring invoices and approving personal purchase transactions.” – Georgia Public Broadcasting
- How The University Of North Texas Censored An Art Exhibition
Initially, the administrators discussed removing some of the pieces from the show. But then the provost texted that he wanted to take down the entire exhibition instead. Michael McPherson wrote, “I think it’ll be easier to manage any barking from our friends in Austin.” – NPR
MEDIA
- Trump Admin’s Critique Of The Smithsonian Is Laughably Wrong
Even when judged by the standards of the form, the White House’s anti-woke polemic is a shoddy piece of workmanship not unlike the peeling blue sealant in the $15 million renovation of the Reflecting Pool. – The New Republic
- Trump Administration Is Keeping Smithsonian Board Seats Vacant, And Nobody Is Saying Much About It
“There have been three openings on the board since April, and by October, the terms of three more trustees will have expired. But the names proposed by the board, which have not been publicly disclosed, have yet to make their way to Congress, and without clear explanation.” – The New York Times
- The Private Concierges Of Rome (Culture On Demand)
The secret to the company’s success lies in its network of “partners”—museums and churches and palazzi, but also artists and photographers and scholars. Each has something special to offer if they can be persuaded to provide it. – The Atlantic
- Why Debates Over Free Speech Can Lead To So Much Fury
“The free speech wars of recent years are not just about rules – they’re about what it means to be a good person.” – The Guardian (UK)
- The Question Remains
Can genAI art or writing ever, ever be more than mid? – Glasstire
MUSIC
- Revisiting Mark Twain In The Age Of Trump
Satire makes fun of something to expose its truth in a way that can be notoriously difficult to decode. What is often misread in Twain’s most famous novel is this: he satirically uses racism to ridicule racism. – Adi Magazine
- US Publishers And Authors Sue Google Over Its Training Of AI
“Publisher Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier, as well as author Scott Turow, are the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, … contending that the tech giant has engaged in widespread copyright infringement in developing its Gemini AI models.” – Publishers Weekly
- A Punctuational Divide (We Need To Evolve)
Now that we can react to a friend’s needy text or an enemy’s infuriating post in real time and with minimal reflection, we need reliable substitutes for extraverbal cues more than ever. – The Atlantic
- The Fault Lines Of PEN America’s Support Of Free Speech
PEN America currently sits on a widening fault line, one that divides old-school liberalism, which treats the right to speak as more important than any particular ideology, from a surging and fiercely ideological left that sees Israel and Zionism as its enemy. – The Atlantic
- Could We Stop Demonizing BookTok Now?
Last week’s New Yorker has a rather intense article on the uselessness of BookTok for real book discussion. This woman begs to differ. – BBC
PEOPLE
- Meet The Book Hoarder
The stacks kept rising as Uminer added his hauls from thrift shops, book dealers and eBay deliveries. “I don’t think of myself as a hoarder,” he said, “but I guess my building did.” – The New York Times
- Major Collection Of Mexican Art, Including Kahlos And Riveras, Is Going On Tour. Angry Mexicans Fear It Won’t Come Back.
The privately-owned Gelman Santander Collection, whose 68 pieces include 10 paintings by Frida Kahlo along with works by Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and others, is scheduled to spend two years touring Europe. Some citizens, unconvinced that the art will come home, are suing to keep it in Mexico. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
- Revisiting Mark Twain In The Age Of Trump
Satire makes fun of something to expose its truth in a way that can be notoriously difficult to decode. What is often misread in Twain’s most famous novel is this: he satirically uses racism to ridicule racism. – Adi Magazine
- EU To Cancel Venice Biennale Grant Over Russia Participation
Over the weekend, a European Union commission followed up on its earlier threats to cancel a €2 million grant to the Venice Biennale, citing Russia’s participation in the event this year as its reasoning. – ARTnews
- Trump Admin’s Critique Of The Smithsonian Is Laughably Wrong
Even when judged by the standards of the form, the White House’s anti-woke polemic is a shoddy piece of workmanship not unlike the peeling blue sealant in the $15 million renovation of the Reflecting Pool. – The New Republic
PEOPLE
- Meet The Book Hoarder
The stacks kept rising as Uminer added his hauls from thrift shops, book dealers and eBay deliveries. “I don’t think of myself as a hoarder,” he said, “but I guess my building did.” – The New York Times
- Major Collection Of Mexican Art, Including Kahlos And Riveras, Is Going On Tour. Angry Mexicans Fear It Won’t Come Back.
The privately-owned Gelman Santander Collection, whose 68 pieces include 10 paintings by Frida Kahlo along with works by Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and others, is scheduled to spend two years touring Europe. Some citizens, unconvinced that the art will come home, are suing to keep it in Mexico. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
- Revisiting Mark Twain In The Age Of Trump
Satire makes fun of something to expose its truth in a way that can be notoriously difficult to decode. What is often misread in Twain’s most famous novel is this: he satirically uses racism to ridicule racism. – Adi Magazine
- EU To Cancel Venice Biennale Grant Over Russia Participation
Over the weekend, a European Union commission followed up on its earlier threats to cancel a €2 million grant to the Venice Biennale, citing Russia’s participation in the event this year as its reasoning. – ARTnews
- Trump Admin’s Critique Of The Smithsonian Is Laughably Wrong
Even when judged by the standards of the form, the White House’s anti-woke polemic is a shoddy piece of workmanship not unlike the peeling blue sealant in the $15 million renovation of the Reflecting Pool. – The New Republic
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Silicon Valley’s Science Fiction Problem
Steve Wozniak, Apple’s co-founder, gave expression to this ethos in 2017 when he said: ‘We are the people who make fantasies real.’ It sounds inspiring, but it is important to know which parts of those fantasies they’re choosing, and which parts they’re leaving out. – Aeon
- Is It Really Possible To Map The Odyssey?
The ancient Greek polymath Eratosthenes, who was the first person to measure the circumference of the Earth, disputed that the Odyssey had anything to do with geography. He said: “You will find the scene of the wanderings of Odysseus when you find the cobbler who sewed up the bag of the winds.” – The Conversation
- Survey: Americans Support AI Companies Transferring Half Their Stock To A Public Fund
According to a new national survey of 1,690 adults from research firm Verasight, 69% said they support “forcing” AI firms to transfer half their stock to a public sovereign wealth fund that would, in theory, pour AI profits back into the economy and even provide direct payments to Americans. – Fast Company
- It’s Possible That We’re Coming To The End Of Literacy
How can we tell? Well, a lot of ways. One grim statistic: “Gambling has become a more common leisure activity than reading a book.” – The Atlantic
- Seneca, Worried About The Crisis Of Attention, Had An Idea For A Fix
Too much scrolling (of papyrus) in ancient Rome had the philosopher Seneca in search of an answer. His advice, “which he outlined in his Letters From a Stoic: Devote your attention to one idea a day.” – The New York Times