AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Theaster Gates Bought America’s Last China Factory
Good Morning,
Theaster Gates, the artist whose installations sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, has bought Pickard China, the last U.S. maker of high-end porcelain: a 12-person factory in Antioch, Illinois, producing a quarter of what it did in the 1970s (NPR). Meanwhile a historian in Edinburgh has found that Till the Bells Ring, a 46-minute talkie written in Scots, premiered in October 1926, a year before The Jazz Singer, widely thought of as the first talkie; two of its reels sit unscreened in the BFI archive (The Guardian).
Canadian poet Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in Literature for work that, “in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms” (AP).
The Kennedy Center is closed to the public as “dangerously dilapidated,” yet about 100 National Symphony musicians keep rehearsing in its concert hall, entering by routes management calls safe (The New York Times). Leon Botstein, who led Bard College for 50 years, resigned every remaining post after congressional investigators surfaced an email he sent Jeffrey Epstein (The Guardian). And the U.S. share of major-studio TV spending has fallen from 94% to 64% in 25 years, according to a union-commissioned study (Los Angeles Times).
All of the stories we collected below.
- What The Bayeux Tapestry Is Really About
One might subtitle the embroidered narrative “The Importance of Respecting an Oath.” Or, perhaps, simply “FAFO.” – Prospect (UK)
- Documented: How Much Of LA’s TV Production Business Has Left
Over the last quarter-century, with the rise of streaming and the offshoring of production, the U.S. share of major-studio spending on TV episodes has fallen from 94% to 64%, according to a report commissioned by seven entertainment industry unions. – Los Angeles Times
- Getting Duncan Sheik’s Final Musical To The Stage Just Days After His Death
“What I am doing,” says music supervisor Or Matias of Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen, now in previews on Broadway, “is putting the puzzle pieces together in a way that best serves the evolution that (we need) during previews.” Says book writer Leah Nanako Winkler, “I feel like I’m trying to finish this painting.” – TheaterMania
- Music Fraudster Jailed For Using Thousands Of Bots To Fake Stream Music Tracks
He had created “hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs,” then dispersed billions of automated streams among them so that the bots could avoid raising any red flags by all targeting the same song at once. All together, the fake songs generated substantially more streams than some of the most popular artists today. – Ars Technica
ISSUES
- What The Bayeux Tapestry Is Really About
One might subtitle the embroidered narrative “The Importance of Respecting an Oath.” Or, perhaps, simply “FAFO.” – Prospect (UK)
- Theaster Gates Has Bought An Old-School Porcelain Factory
Pickard China in Antioch, Illinois is the last remaining manufacturer of high-end porcelain in the US — and with a shrinking market, aging and deteriorating equipment, and the retirement of the last Pickard family owner, the factory’s future seemed grim. Then Gates decided to make Pickard China part of his artistic practice. – NPR
- A Way To Create Less Bland New Architecture?
As part of the £1.5 million research partnership, Humanise said it wants to “challenge the ‘blandemic’ of dull, soulless development” and improve the way the UK designs and builds its urban environments. – Dezeen
- Thieves Cart Off 330-Pound Book Cover By Salvador Dalí
The large bronze plate, inlaid with precious stones and seashells, was taken from the Centre d’art contemporain in Issoire in south-central France. The piece is the cover of the Livre de l’Apocalypse, a joint project of 14 painters and writers including Dalí, Cocteau, and Cioran, calligraphed and illuminated on parchment. – The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)
- London’s V&A Museum Plans Staff Buyouts
The Victoria and Albert Museum is “planning to launch a voluntary exit scheme … open to staff across the museum. … (The plan) does not reveal how many employees will apply or be accepted. No savings target, opening date, closing date, departmental allocation, or exit terms have been published.” – Art in Context
MEDIA
- How Defunding Arts Education Brought About Civic Unraveling
The Bicentennial offered everyday people in the middle of the map novel opportunities to appreciate and deliberate what America was, and it succeeded in this because it conducted more than a history lesson: Art was surprisingly paramount in this event of collective self-identification, historical commemoration, and political convocation. – ARTnews
- How Venice Built The World’s First Ghetto
In 1516, the Venetian Senate voted to create the world’s first ‘ghetto’. All Jews then living in the city – as well as any others who might come later – were ordered to move immediately to a small island in the northeastern sestiere of Cannaregio. It was anything but appealing. – Aeon
- UK Conservatives Plan To Cut £1 Billion From Culture Budget If Elected
“Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has revealed that her party plans to cut budgets extensively if it wins the next election, including slashing £1bn from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.” – The Stage (UK)
- 100 Years Of A Storied Artist Retreat
After 26 years at the helm of Yaddo, the storied artist retreat currently celebrating its 100th anniversary, Elaina Richardson is moving on. She will be succeeded by Cyra Levenson, deputy director of Learning and Engagement at the Guggenheim Museum, as announced last week. – Hyperallergic
- “Executive Privilege”: Trump Administration Refuses To Turn Over Records In Kennedy Center Court Case
A motion from Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-OH), a member of the Center’s board who’s suing to prevent its closure, is requesting financial and other records as part of discovery. As Trump is chairman of the Kennedy Center board, the Justice Department argues that these records are protected by executive privilege. – Forbes
MUSIC
- Pangram Says Use Of Its AI Detector Is Increasing
Many still dispute the validity and accuracy of AI detection tools. The Atlantic’s Matteo Wong wrote that “while Pangram is accumulating the power to end reputations and careers, the tool does make mistakes, perhaps to a greater extent than is currently understood”. – Bookseller
- Why Annie Dillard Deserved A Nobel
She deserved the prize, first of all, as the major practitioner of literary nonfiction. The committee has historically overlooked this genre. – 3 Quarks Daily
- The Growing Popularity Of Audiobook Walking Clubs
Audiobook walking clubs are now emerging around the country, turning an activity typically enjoyed solo into a low-pressure social event. For about an hour, everyone listens to a book of their choosing as they walk, then gathers afterward to compare notes, trade recommendations, and—in many cases—make plans to see each other again. – Time
- Anne Carson Wins 2026 Nobel Prize For Literature
The Canadian poet, essayist, and translator of ancient Greek drama was cited “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.” – AP
- Behind The Scenes: How They Choose The Winner Of The Nobel Prize For Literature
The Swedish Academy does not discuss the criteria it uses for selecting Nobel laureates, but here are the basics of how the process works. – Deutsche Welle
PEOPLE
- Theaster Gates Bought America’s Last China Factory
Good Morning,
Theaster Gates, the artist whose installations sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, has bought Pickard China, the last U.S. maker of high-end porcelain: a 12-person factory in Antioch, Illinois, producing a quarter of what it did in the 1970s (NPR). Meanwhile a historian in Edinburgh has found that Till the Bells Ring, a 46-minute talkie written in Scots, premiered in October 1926, a year before The Jazz Singer, widely thought of as the first talkie; two of its reels sit unscreened in the BFI archive (The Guardian).
Canadian poet Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in Literature for work that, “in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms” (AP).
The Kennedy Center is closed to the public as “dangerously dilapidated,” yet about 100 National Symphony musicians keep rehearsing in its concert hall, entering by routes management calls safe (The New York Times). Leon Botstein, who led Bard College for 50 years, resigned every remaining post after congressional investigators surfaced an email he sent Jeffrey Epstein (The Guardian). And the U.S. share of major-studio TV spending has fallen from 94% to 64% in 25 years, according to a union-commissioned study (Los Angeles Times).
All of the stories we collected below.
- What The Bayeux Tapestry Is Really About
One might subtitle the embroidered narrative “The Importance of Respecting an Oath.” Or, perhaps, simply “FAFO.” – Prospect (UK)
- Documented: How Much Of LA’s TV Production Business Has Left
Over the last quarter-century, with the rise of streaming and the offshoring of production, the U.S. share of major-studio spending on TV episodes has fallen from 94% to 64%, according to a report commissioned by seven entertainment industry unions. – Los Angeles Times
- Getting Duncan Sheik’s Final Musical To The Stage Just Days After His Death
“What I am doing,” says music supervisor Or Matias of Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen, now in previews on Broadway, “is putting the puzzle pieces together in a way that best serves the evolution that (we need) during previews.” Says book writer Leah Nanako Winkler, “I feel like I’m trying to finish this painting.” – TheaterMania
- Music Fraudster Jailed For Using Thousands Of Bots To Fake Stream Music Tracks
He had created “hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs,” then dispersed billions of automated streams among them so that the bots could avoid raising any red flags by all targeting the same song at once. All together, the fake songs generated substantially more streams than some of the most popular artists today. – Ars Technica
PEOPLE
- Theaster Gates Bought America’s Last China Factory
Good Morning,
Theaster Gates, the artist whose installations sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, has bought Pickard China, the last U.S. maker of high-end porcelain: a 12-person factory in Antioch, Illinois, producing a quarter of what it did in the 1970s (NPR). Meanwhile a historian in Edinburgh has found that Till the Bells Ring, a 46-minute talkie written in Scots, premiered in October 1926, a year before The Jazz Singer, widely thought of as the first talkie; two of its reels sit unscreened in the BFI archive (The Guardian).
Canadian poet Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in Literature for work that, “in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms” (AP).
The Kennedy Center is closed to the public as “dangerously dilapidated,” yet about 100 National Symphony musicians keep rehearsing in its concert hall, entering by routes management calls safe (The New York Times). Leon Botstein, who led Bard College for 50 years, resigned every remaining post after congressional investigators surfaced an email he sent Jeffrey Epstein (The Guardian). And the U.S. share of major-studio TV spending has fallen from 94% to 64% in 25 years, according to a union-commissioned study (Los Angeles Times).
All of the stories we collected below.
- What The Bayeux Tapestry Is Really About
One might subtitle the embroidered narrative “The Importance of Respecting an Oath.” Or, perhaps, simply “FAFO.” – Prospect (UK)
- Documented: How Much Of LA’s TV Production Business Has Left
Over the last quarter-century, with the rise of streaming and the offshoring of production, the U.S. share of major-studio spending on TV episodes has fallen from 94% to 64%, according to a report commissioned by seven entertainment industry unions. – Los Angeles Times
- Getting Duncan Sheik’s Final Musical To The Stage Just Days After His Death
“What I am doing,” says music supervisor Or Matias of Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen, now in previews on Broadway, “is putting the puzzle pieces together in a way that best serves the evolution that (we need) during previews.” Says book writer Leah Nanako Winkler, “I feel like I’m trying to finish this painting.” – TheaterMania
- Music Fraudster Jailed For Using Thousands Of Bots To Fake Stream Music Tracks
He had created “hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs,” then dispersed billions of automated streams among them so that the bots could avoid raising any red flags by all targeting the same song at once. All together, the fake songs generated substantially more streams than some of the most popular artists today. – Ars Technica
THEATRE
VISUAL
- For Lifelong Learning, It’s Better With Partners
The internet is full of resources for self-directed learning: for any subject, you can easily find blog posts about essential texts, links to university syllabi, and hours of YouTube lectures. When I attempted to make use of these guides, however, I often found myself disengaged and unfocused. – Psyche
- How Data Visualization Tells Stories
Because data, and how we present it, tells a story, it’s important to transform results responsibly into visuals. A good visualization can show you really interesting patterns in your data; however, a bad visualization, like truncating the Y-axis or choosing the wrong type of plot, can lead you or your audience to the wrong conclusions. – The Scientist
- Our Billionaire Problem
Where billionaires in the past operated in the physical world, ushered in societal change as a byproduct of their innovation, and used their sizable largesses to try uplifting lives, today’s billionaires stretch the limits of technological reality (and law) with sheer glee, with a meagre spirit of altruism. – The Walrus
- The World Of Science Is Being Overwhelmed By New Studies
In 2025, academics worldwide published about 7 million scholarly articles – that’s more than 19,000 each day. On the surface, that might seem like a number to celebrate, but it also poses a problem. As the volume of research balloons, it can be hard to discern what these millions of papers actually tell us. – Aeon
- The Dazzling Physical Afterlife Of The Ancient Pharaohs
Of all the priorities that governed ancient-Egyptian life, perhaps the hardest for us to fathom is the expenditure on the afterlife, not merely as a place of immaterial spiritual reward, but as a world of material goods. – The Atlantic