AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Bayeux Tapestry Will Return Home Next Summer To A Completely Different Display Format
Before the 770-pound, 220-foot-long embroidery left its eponymous museum in France for London, it was hung vertically. At the British Museum, the enormous textile is lying flat in a display case in a darkened room, a format which the post-renovation Bayeux Museum will (mostly) adopt. – ARTnews
- After Decades On The Sidelines, American Contemporary Opera Is Now Thriving
After a few decades when most US companies (especially the Met) treated new opera like kryptonite, many are now presenting a contemporary work almost every season — and selling lots of tickets. Michael Zwiebach examines why this is happening now. – San Francisco Classical Voice
- The First Opera About Russia’s War On Ukraine Has Its Premiere
The Mothers of Kherson, with music by Ukrainian composer Maxim Kolomiiets and libretto by American playwright George Brant, was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera three years ago and got its first full performance on Friday at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw. (The Met premiere is scheduled for April 2028.) – The New York Times
- Teenage Suspect Arrested In Case Where Actor Was Chased Through Streets Before Performance
The incident happened last week at England’s Chichester Festival Theatre: last Tuesday’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was cancelled after a cast member reported that he’d just been chased through the streets by people shouting abuse. One 16-year-old suspect has been arrested and charged. – The News (Portsmouth, UK)
- Ann Hornaday, Longtime Washington Post Film Critic, Is Dead At 66
“(She) brought a casual, if knowledgeable, approach to her reviews, writing more from the viewpoint of a popcorn-eating moviegoer than from the lofty perch of a scholar of cinema. She wrote hundreds of reviews … over more than 20 years and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in criticism in 2008.” – The Washington Post (MSN)
ISSUES
- Bayeux Tapestry Will Return Home Next Summer To A Completely Different Display Format
Before the 770-pound, 220-foot-long embroidery left its eponymous museum in France for London, it was hung vertically. At the British Museum, the enormous textile is lying flat in a display case in a darkened room, a format which the post-renovation Bayeux Museum will (mostly) adopt. – ARTnews
- Louvre Temporarily Closes During French Protests
- Pilot Draws Mona Lisa In The Sky
After four hours of these intricate aerobatics, he had sketched a version of the Mona Lisa instantly recognizable to anyone tracking his flight online. – The New York Times
- After The Watts Rebellion, Two Brothers Opened The First Black-Owned Gallery In Los Angeles
“‘As soon as we opened we were aware of the lack of opportunity for the entire minority community,’ said Dale, 80, in a recent interview. ‘It was definitely the mission.’” – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- For Now, Art Basel Miami Beach Won’t Move To Las Vegas
“The sticking point, as discussed by city officials at a public meeting last Wednesday before a vote on a revised contract, was Art Basel’s demand to essentially halve the nearly $1 million annual rent the fair had previously paid to Miami Beach.” – The New York Times
MEDIA
- Ticket Broker Sued In $120M Ticket Bot Scheme
The DOJ and FTC allege that REPS & Co violated the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act by opening thousands of accounts across Ticketmaster, AXS and other ticket services and circumventing the ticket platforms’ purchase limits. – The Hollywood Reporter
- Will Humans Still Know How To Clean It Up When AI Flubs Major Tasks?
“As people become less involved in a task, they can become less prepared to step in when needed. Researchers have called this the out-of-the-loop performance problem.” – The Conversation
- Saturday Night Live UK Ripped Into US SNL For Shane Gillis’s Blithering Misogyny
“A representative for [Lorne] Michaels did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.” – The New York Times
- If We Force Chatbots Into Third Person, Will People Stop Thinking Of Them As Sentient?
Sherry Turkle: An AI is “really not afraid of death, it’s not afraid of illness, it’s not afraid of pain, it doesn’t love its children, and it doesn’t care if you kill yourself or make dinner.” – Wired
- During And After Protests, Gangs Spread Fires Across France
In Limoges, the city hall burned. At the actual protests, demonstrators “complained about inflation sent soaring over 3% by the war in the Middle East. Others slammed perceived police brutality in student protests that have gripped France over the past four weeks.” – Le Monde English
MUSIC
- Writers Are Struggling To Prove They’re Human
As AI-generated writing floods the internet, more people are trying to detect which creators are using such tools to spin up copy. That means writers penning all their own work—and people who acknowledge using chatbots for help—are trying to master something they never worried about before: how to sound human. – The Wall Street Journal
- What If Climate Fiction And Movies Have Been Hitting The Wrong Buttons?
Fear spreads its message more quickly – but it also paralyzes most people to inaction, exactly not what most writers of climate fiction would prefer. – The Guardian (UK)
- Three Recent Films Demonstrate How We See Poetry – And Poets
Ouf. “Is it wistful or cruel, the movies looking at poets only to find them pitiable, even or especially when they’re howling at the moon? The last artists who can’t make money, who have a pressing and practical concern about old books and what’s in them.” – LitHub
- Isabel Allende, Writing Under A Pseudonym, Wins A Major Literary Prize In Spain
“The prize is open to unpublished manuscripts, with the option of submitting under a pseudonym, and Allende entered under the name Luz Ventura, with the fictional title Los que faltan.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Does Frankfurt Have The Best Book Parties Of The Year?
It’s definitely got big, not to mention packed and chatty, fêtes. “In an era when book auctions are held regularly over email, it’s that sense of community that keeps the publishers coming back.” – The New York Times
PEOPLE
- Bayeux Tapestry Will Return Home Next Summer To A Completely Different Display Format
Before the 770-pound, 220-foot-long embroidery left its eponymous museum in France for London, it was hung vertically. At the British Museum, the enormous textile is lying flat in a display case in a darkened room, a format which the post-renovation Bayeux Museum will (mostly) adopt. – ARTnews
- After Decades On The Sidelines, American Contemporary Opera Is Now Thriving
After a few decades when most US companies (especially the Met) treated new opera like kryptonite, many are now presenting a contemporary work almost every season — and selling lots of tickets. Michael Zwiebach examines why this is happening now. – San Francisco Classical Voice
- The First Opera About Russia’s War On Ukraine Has Its Premiere
The Mothers of Kherson, with music by Ukrainian composer Maxim Kolomiiets and libretto by American playwright George Brant, was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera three years ago and got its first full performance on Friday at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw. (The Met premiere is scheduled for April 2028.) – The New York Times
- Teenage Suspect Arrested In Case Where Actor Was Chased Through Streets Before Performance
The incident happened last week at England’s Chichester Festival Theatre: last Tuesday’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was cancelled after a cast member reported that he’d just been chased through the streets by people shouting abuse. One 16-year-old suspect has been arrested and charged. – The News (Portsmouth, UK)
- Ann Hornaday, Longtime Washington Post Film Critic, Is Dead At 66
“(She) brought a casual, if knowledgeable, approach to her reviews, writing more from the viewpoint of a popcorn-eating moviegoer than from the lofty perch of a scholar of cinema. She wrote hundreds of reviews … over more than 20 years and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in criticism in 2008.” – The Washington Post (MSN)
PEOPLE
- Bayeux Tapestry Will Return Home Next Summer To A Completely Different Display Format
Before the 770-pound, 220-foot-long embroidery left its eponymous museum in France for London, it was hung vertically. At the British Museum, the enormous textile is lying flat in a display case in a darkened room, a format which the post-renovation Bayeux Museum will (mostly) adopt. – ARTnews
- After Decades On The Sidelines, American Contemporary Opera Is Now Thriving
After a few decades when most US companies (especially the Met) treated new opera like kryptonite, many are now presenting a contemporary work almost every season — and selling lots of tickets. Michael Zwiebach examines why this is happening now. – San Francisco Classical Voice
- The First Opera About Russia’s War On Ukraine Has Its Premiere
The Mothers of Kherson, with music by Ukrainian composer Maxim Kolomiiets and libretto by American playwright George Brant, was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera three years ago and got its first full performance on Friday at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw. (The Met premiere is scheduled for April 2028.) – The New York Times
- Teenage Suspect Arrested In Case Where Actor Was Chased Through Streets Before Performance
The incident happened last week at England’s Chichester Festival Theatre: last Tuesday’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was cancelled after a cast member reported that he’d just been chased through the streets by people shouting abuse. One 16-year-old suspect has been arrested and charged. – The News (Portsmouth, UK)
- Ann Hornaday, Longtime Washington Post Film Critic, Is Dead At 66
“(She) brought a casual, if knowledgeable, approach to her reviews, writing more from the viewpoint of a popcorn-eating moviegoer than from the lofty perch of a scholar of cinema. She wrote hundreds of reviews … over more than 20 years and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in criticism in 2008.” – The Washington Post (MSN)
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Does AI Collapse The Need To Get Bigger?
AI is making enterprise-grade capabilities available to companies that are a fraction of the size and without all of the bureaucratic weight that historically came along with it. If Goldberg is right, the rules of competition are changing for good, and companies no longer need to be big to compete. – Wired
- Creating Art In A Time Of International And Creative Crisis
Elif Shafak’s latest book “arose out of our own historical moment, which Shafak has dubbed ‘The age of three As: Angst, Anger and AI.’” – The Guardian (UK)
- Bernie Sanders: Let’s Not Let Big Tech Dictate The Future Of Humanity
If these were the fantasies of teenage boys obsessed with science fiction, we could laugh them off. They are not. These are the foundational beliefs of the most powerful people in the world, who are mobilizing trillions of dollars to turn them into reality. – The Atlantic
- Is Their A Limit To Human Knowledge? Or Do We Keep Moving The Goalposts?
Are certain questions closed to the human mind? Are there truths about the world that we can never know? – Aeon
- Yes, Reading Has Changed. Adapt.
“We have everything we need to be happy,” the hero of Fahrenheit 451 observes, “but we aren’t happy.” Maybe that’s the ultimate lever to pull: the growing awareness that our devices are exhausting and eroding us. – The American Scholar