ArtsJournal Classic

AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only

DANCE

    IDEAS

    • Every Masterpiece Is Really A Blueprint

      Good Morning,

      August Wilson wrote one of his best plays by staring at a Romare Bearden collage until it told him what happened next (New York Times). Not influence in the sentimental sense, but a transfer of structure across forms, he felt.

      Lucy Caldwell reports that after Ulysses, even her text messages fizz differently (The Guardian). Then there’s a report that book cover design has been rebuilt around the phone screen, where a thumbnail is the first and often only impression, and designers have turned that constraint into a real new craft (Literary Hub). And as the Odyssey has its biggest cultural moment in a century, a reminder that the classical inheritance was never white Europe’s private property (The Atlantic).

      The through-line: strong work isn’t only an object; it informs the next thing. Institutions sitting on collections and repertoires are sitting on maps, not inventory, which seems important as a tide of contextless synthetic art rises.

      And there’s evidence the public understands this instinctively: the EU opened euro banknote design to crowdsourcing, and several submissions would appear to be better than the official shortlist (Fast Company).

      Also, Tom Hiddleston has turned into a working classicist (New York Times). Loki, of all the gods, is doing the reading.

      All of our stories below.

    • The Group Memorializing George Floyd Protest Murals Is In Financial Straits

      “Amid the pain and protest following George Floyd’s murder by police in 2020, artists known and unknown picked up brushes and spray cans. They created hundreds of murals on 4×8-foot plywood sheets covering windows and doors.” – MPR

    • Who Knew Loki Would Turn Out To Be A Classicist?

      “It was very clear from the word go that his heart was in classics, and it became clear fairly quickly to me that he really loved Greek tragedy, and that is a nice bridge to his acting career.” – The New York Times

    • How A Romare Bearden Collage Inspired One Of August Wilson’s Best Plays

      Wilson “discovered Bearden in 1977, when The Prevalence of Ritual, a 1964 series of Bearden’s collages collected in a volume, captured his attention.” – The New York Times

    • How A Classic Miyazaki Film Can Help In Troubled Times

      “Optimism has gone from seeming like a novelty—a trait my less medicated friends had managed to cultivate under circumstances and genetics unfamiliar to me and my ilk—to something more sinister. Optimism feels like ignorance.” – Reactor

    ISSUES

    MEDIA

    MUSIC

    PEOPLE

    • Every Masterpiece Is Really A Blueprint

      Good Morning,

      August Wilson wrote one of his best plays by staring at a Romare Bearden collage until it told him what happened next (New York Times). Not influence in the sentimental sense, but a transfer of structure across forms, he felt.

      Lucy Caldwell reports that after Ulysses, even her text messages fizz differently (The Guardian). Then there’s a report that book cover design has been rebuilt around the phone screen, where a thumbnail is the first and often only impression, and designers have turned that constraint into a real new craft (Literary Hub). And as the Odyssey has its biggest cultural moment in a century, a reminder that the classical inheritance was never white Europe’s private property (The Atlantic).

      The through-line: strong work isn’t only an object; it informs the next thing. Institutions sitting on collections and repertoires are sitting on maps, not inventory, which seems important as a tide of contextless synthetic art rises.

      And there’s evidence the public understands this instinctively: the EU opened euro banknote design to crowdsourcing, and several submissions would appear to be better than the official shortlist (Fast Company).

      Also, Tom Hiddleston has turned into a working classicist (New York Times). Loki, of all the gods, is doing the reading.

      All of our stories below.

    • The Group Memorializing George Floyd Protest Murals Is In Financial Straits

      “Amid the pain and protest following George Floyd’s murder by police in 2020, artists known and unknown picked up brushes and spray cans. They created hundreds of murals on 4×8-foot plywood sheets covering windows and doors.” – MPR

    • Who Knew Loki Would Turn Out To Be A Classicist?

      “It was very clear from the word go that his heart was in classics, and it became clear fairly quickly to me that he really loved Greek tragedy, and that is a nice bridge to his acting career.” – The New York Times

    • How A Romare Bearden Collage Inspired One Of August Wilson’s Best Plays

      Wilson “discovered Bearden in 1977, when The Prevalence of Ritual, a 1964 series of Bearden’s collages collected in a volume, captured his attention.” – The New York Times

    • How A Classic Miyazaki Film Can Help In Troubled Times

      “Optimism has gone from seeming like a novelty—a trait my less medicated friends had managed to cultivate under circumstances and genetics unfamiliar to me and my ilk—to something more sinister. Optimism feels like ignorance.” – Reactor

    PEOPLE

    • Every Masterpiece Is Really A Blueprint

      Good Morning,

      August Wilson wrote one of his best plays by staring at a Romare Bearden collage until it told him what happened next (New York Times). Not influence in the sentimental sense, but a transfer of structure across forms, he felt.

      Lucy Caldwell reports that after Ulysses, even her text messages fizz differently (The Guardian). Then there’s a report that book cover design has been rebuilt around the phone screen, where a thumbnail is the first and often only impression, and designers have turned that constraint into a real new craft (Literary Hub). And as the Odyssey has its biggest cultural moment in a century, a reminder that the classical inheritance was never white Europe’s private property (The Atlantic).

      The through-line: strong work isn’t only an object; it informs the next thing. Institutions sitting on collections and repertoires are sitting on maps, not inventory, which seems important as a tide of contextless synthetic art rises.

      And there’s evidence the public understands this instinctively: the EU opened euro banknote design to crowdsourcing, and several submissions would appear to be better than the official shortlist (Fast Company).

      Also, Tom Hiddleston has turned into a working classicist (New York Times). Loki, of all the gods, is doing the reading.

      All of our stories below.

    • The Group Memorializing George Floyd Protest Murals Is In Financial Straits

      “Amid the pain and protest following George Floyd’s murder by police in 2020, artists known and unknown picked up brushes and spray cans. They created hundreds of murals on 4×8-foot plywood sheets covering windows and doors.” – MPR

    • Who Knew Loki Would Turn Out To Be A Classicist?

      “It was very clear from the word go that his heart was in classics, and it became clear fairly quickly to me that he really loved Greek tragedy, and that is a nice bridge to his acting career.” – The New York Times

    • How A Romare Bearden Collage Inspired One Of August Wilson’s Best Plays

      Wilson “discovered Bearden in 1977, when The Prevalence of Ritual, a 1964 series of Bearden’s collages collected in a volume, captured his attention.” – The New York Times

    • How A Classic Miyazaki Film Can Help In Troubled Times

      “Optimism has gone from seeming like a novelty—a trait my less medicated friends had managed to cultivate under circumstances and genetics unfamiliar to me and my ilk—to something more sinister. Optimism feels like ignorance.” – Reactor

    THEATRE

      VISUAL

      • How A Classic Miyazaki Film Can Help In Troubled Times

        “Optimism has gone from seeming like a novelty—a trait my less medicated friends had managed to cultivate under circumstances and genetics unfamiliar to me and my ilk—to something more sinister. Optimism feels like ignorance.” – Reactor

      • How Hierarchy Hides in How We Think

        The question is not whether the technological revolution already underway will abolish hierarchy. It will not. The question is different: what will the new currency of rank be, and will it better recognise ability, responsibility, and work, or give old advantages a new language? – 3 Quarks Daily

      • Reality Is Breaking Down

        The rapidly degenerating digital culture is the third leg of the stool of the “reality distortion field” that has engulfed the U.S. – Artnet

      • The Power Of Coffee Houses To Change History

        It was debated whether coffeehouses were truly a place of creativity or frivolous laziness. Many resolved to leave the coffeehouse behind, as if it were a vice, and then failed to kick the habit. – Aeon

      • Why Costco Is Thriving As The Antithesis Of Amazon

        While most retailers today assume that consumers want ever greater assortment, Costco’s popularity speaks to a countervailing desire for less choice. Indeed, the pre-selection of items for sale in their warehouses is part of the value proposition. – The Walrus

      WORDS