AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- What Will Happen To DC Theatre Without A WaPo Theatre Critic?
The Washington Post’s theatre critic chair sits empty after layoffs, leaving D.C.’s robust theatre scene wondering who’s watching—and whether anyone still cares. Local companies now face the existential question: make art for critics, or just make art? — American Theatre
- When Your Reading List Becomes A High Score (Is That Good?)
LitHub explores how platforms like Letterboxd and Goodreads transform intimate cultural experiences into competitive metrics. Because apparently we can’t enjoy a book anymore without turning it into content for our personal brand. — Literary Hub
- One Of Portugal’s, And Europe’s, Greatest Authors, António Lobo Antunes, Is Dead At 83
“A trained psychiatrist, Lobo Antunes wrote, … in an elaborate, metaphorical style that he called ‘controlled delirium,’ … more than 30 novels dealing with topics ranging from Portugal’s battles in its former colonies to the dictatorship that ran the country and social ills such as drug addiction.” – AFP (Yahoo!)
- Let’s Not Call It “Intelligence”
“When I speak to high-school and college students (including my own children), I worry that at the time when they should be developing their own voices, they’re being told they don’t need to bother. AI writes for us, reads for us, thinks for us. It replaces our voice with its own.” – The Atlantic
- Architect: What’s Wrong With Trump’s Grandiose Ballroom Design
“The net effect of this is to adversely impact what is the most important historic — the most identifiable historic — house in the entire United States. This is permanent, what it will do to the White House.” – AP
ISSUES
- Architect: What’s Wrong With Trump’s Grandiose Ballroom Design
“The net effect of this is to adversely impact what is the most important historic — the most identifiable historic — house in the entire United States. This is permanent, what it will do to the White House.” – AP
- Zaha Hadid’s Successor Wins Right To Rename Her Architecture Firm
Britain’s Court of Appeal has overruled a High Court judgement from 2024 over a licensing agreement which required the studio Zaha Hadid Architects to retain her name and pay a fee to use it. The ruling opens the door for current principal Patrick Schumacher to change the firm’s name or to renegotiate the contract. – Dezeen
- The British Museum Employee Who Stole More Than 300 Prints
“Nigel Peverett, who worked at the museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings in the early 1970s, had remained a ‘frequent visitor’ until one day in April 1992, when he was caught.” He was prosecuted, hospitalized after a suicide attempt, and got a suspended sentence. Amazingly, he kept his employee pension. – The Independent (UK)
- Russia Returns To Exhibiting At The Venice Biennale
Russia will host a pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, the world’s most important art event — the latest sign of the country’s will to end its pariah status in global cultural and sporting life amid the war in Ukraine. – The New York Times
- Protests Over Announcement DePaul University Will Close Its Museum
The move has prompted outrage from faculty and staff, including an open letter penned by art history and philosophy faculty members and signed by more than 2,000 community members that criticized the school’s decision as “short-sighted, wrong-headed, and grounded in some deeply disappointing principles of prioritization.” – Hyperallergic
MEDIA
- Mexico Sees Increasing Backlash Against Over-Tourism
“The Guardian visits Oaxaca, … where tourism has grown 77% since the pandemic and once-private family rituals such as the Day of the Dead are now big international parties. But with this opportunity comes a growing backlash across the country, as local people struggle with a cost-of-living crisis.” (video) – The Guardian
- Trump’s “Freedom Truck” Mobile Exhibitions Are Now On The Road
“As the U.S. gears up for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, President Donald Trump has dispatched six roving Freedom Truck exhibitions to crisscross the country. The first of 20 planned stops — mainly in the South, with forays to the Midwest, Arizona, and Utah — was last month in Nashville.” – Artnet
- LA’s Art Gold Rush Ends, Actual Work Begins
The carpetbaggers have packed their Hermès bags and fled back east. What remains? The unglamorous business of building a real art scene—one gallery lease and artist studio at a time. — Artnet
- Supreme Court to AI Art: Sorry, Humans Only
The high court declined to revisit whether algorithms can hold copyright, leaving AI creations in legal limbo. While tech bros rage and traditional artists breathe easier, the real question remains: who profits when creativity gets automated? — Artnet
- The Role Of Arts And Culture In Turbulent Times
When the news and social media are flooded with opposing interpretations of events, outright lies, and about a zillion editorial style video shorts that offer about a zillion different opinions, art and culture can bring the reality and humanity of the headlines to light. – Ludwig Van
MUSIC
- When Your Reading List Becomes A High Score (Is That Good?)
LitHub explores how platforms like Letterboxd and Goodreads transform intimate cultural experiences into competitive metrics. Because apparently we can’t enjoy a book anymore without turning it into content for our personal brand. — Literary Hub
- Britain’s Daily Telegraph Bought By German Media Conglomerate Axel Springer
Axel Springer, which owns the German publications Bild and Die Welt and the US website group Politico, will pay £575 million ($766 million) for Telegraph Media Group. Springer intends to “turbocharge” the Telegraph’s expansion into the U.S. marker and to make it “the leading center-right media outlet in the English-speaking world.” – AP
- Why Dictionaries Still Matter
The book is formal and highly structured; it seems like something from another, vaguely bygone time. Still, dictionary editors have long paid close attention to how language is used and perused—in signs, in novels, in articles and pronouncements, and lately on the Web. – The Nation
- How A Scholar Stumbled On Handwritten Notes By Galileo
Historian Ivan Malara spotted notes, annotations and a Bible verse handwritten by the young Galileo circa 1590 in an early printed copy of the Almagest, the second-century C.E. treatise on astronomy by Ptolemy which placed the Earth at the center of the universe. – Smithsonian Magazine
- Colm Tóibín: Of Course AI Is A Threat To Creative Writing
“This idea [that] no machine could ever replace my sensibility, which is so rich, varied, complex, and arising from experience and from history – that’s all rubbish. You can actually manufacture that.” – The Conversation
PEOPLE
- What Will Happen To DC Theatre Without A WaPo Theatre Critic?
The Washington Post’s theatre critic chair sits empty after layoffs, leaving D.C.’s robust theatre scene wondering who’s watching—and whether anyone still cares. Local companies now face the existential question: make art for critics, or just make art? — American Theatre
- When Your Reading List Becomes A High Score (Is That Good?)
LitHub explores how platforms like Letterboxd and Goodreads transform intimate cultural experiences into competitive metrics. Because apparently we can’t enjoy a book anymore without turning it into content for our personal brand. — Literary Hub
- One Of Portugal’s, And Europe’s, Greatest Authors, António Lobo Antunes, Is Dead At 83
“A trained psychiatrist, Lobo Antunes wrote, … in an elaborate, metaphorical style that he called ‘controlled delirium,’ … more than 30 novels dealing with topics ranging from Portugal’s battles in its former colonies to the dictatorship that ran the country and social ills such as drug addiction.” – AFP (Yahoo!)
- Let’s Not Call It “Intelligence”
“When I speak to high-school and college students (including my own children), I worry that at the time when they should be developing their own voices, they’re being told they don’t need to bother. AI writes for us, reads for us, thinks for us. It replaces our voice with its own.” – The Atlantic
- Architect: What’s Wrong With Trump’s Grandiose Ballroom Design
“The net effect of this is to adversely impact what is the most important historic — the most identifiable historic — house in the entire United States. This is permanent, what it will do to the White House.” – AP
PEOPLE
- What Will Happen To DC Theatre Without A WaPo Theatre Critic?
The Washington Post’s theatre critic chair sits empty after layoffs, leaving D.C.’s robust theatre scene wondering who’s watching—and whether anyone still cares. Local companies now face the existential question: make art for critics, or just make art? — American Theatre
- When Your Reading List Becomes A High Score (Is That Good?)
LitHub explores how platforms like Letterboxd and Goodreads transform intimate cultural experiences into competitive metrics. Because apparently we can’t enjoy a book anymore without turning it into content for our personal brand. — Literary Hub
- One Of Portugal’s, And Europe’s, Greatest Authors, António Lobo Antunes, Is Dead At 83
“A trained psychiatrist, Lobo Antunes wrote, … in an elaborate, metaphorical style that he called ‘controlled delirium,’ … more than 30 novels dealing with topics ranging from Portugal’s battles in its former colonies to the dictatorship that ran the country and social ills such as drug addiction.” – AFP (Yahoo!)
- Let’s Not Call It “Intelligence”
“When I speak to high-school and college students (including my own children), I worry that at the time when they should be developing their own voices, they’re being told they don’t need to bother. AI writes for us, reads for us, thinks for us. It replaces our voice with its own.” – The Atlantic
- Architect: What’s Wrong With Trump’s Grandiose Ballroom Design
“The net effect of this is to adversely impact what is the most important historic — the most identifiable historic — house in the entire United States. This is permanent, what it will do to the White House.” – AP
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Let’s Not Call It “Intelligence”
“When I speak to high-school and college students (including my own children), I worry that at the time when they should be developing their own voices, they’re being told they don’t need to bother. AI writes for us, reads for us, thinks for us. It replaces our voice with its own.” – The Atlantic
- Our Culture Of Insurance Is Breaking Down
What emerged in tandem with the growth of capitalism was a system in which insurance and investment were bound together until it became integral to the economic system, seen as essential in protecting investments. This is why today you can’t get a mortgage without it. – Aeon
- How We Can Shape Our Dreams
Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI) uses external stimuli to connect with a dreamer and encourage them to focus on a particular topic or theme. – The Walrus
- Universities As Practical Job Creators? We Ought To Do Better Than That!
An education spent in pursuit of material comfort and convenience is a recipe for unhappiness, an existence in thrall to the raw, hungry American mantra of success, “More! More!” – LA Review of Books
- When Pop Culture Has a Half-Life of Six Months
Kids giggling at “six-seven” reveals the brutal math of digital culture: references expire faster than milk. What happens when shared cultural touchstones become as fleeting as TikTok trends? Generational gaps now measure in weeks, not decades. — Common Reader
