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- State Department’s Removal Of Painting Is Another Attack On Artists
By choosing Kehinde Wiley as the opening act in what may be a systematic effort to deaccession art from official government collections, the administration has chosen an artist whose work has become formulaic and clichéd, who has made comments that can easily be parodied as reverse racism. – Washington Post (MSN)
- Invoking Dolly Parton, Federal Judge Overturns Texas Law Banning Drag Shows
The law, Texas Senate Bill 12, would fine business owners up to $10,000 for hosting “sexually oriented performances”; performers would face up to a year in prison. The judge reaffirmed his ruling from three years ago that the law was an overly vague infringement on free speech. – The Texas Tribune
- “Odyssey” Earns Highest Box Office Of Any R-Rated Movie Ever
“The Odyssey,” an adaptation of Homer’s epic poem from Christopher Nolan, has surpassed “Deadpool & Wolverine” to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. – Washington Post
- Travel Guru Rick Steves Buys His Local Theatre
The effort secures the future of the more than 100-year-old facility and is just another investment by Steves in the local community over the past year. – KING 5
- Cyber Attack On Australian Book Distributor
A cyber attack on one of the country’s major publishing distributors has left bookshops and authors struggling to fill their shelves in the lead-up to their busiest trading period. – ABC Australia
- For Its Latest Production, Berlin’s “People’s Stage” Installed A Public Pool. It Became A Culture-War Flashpoint.
“In less than a month (at the Volksbühne), the pool has become a window to the rising power of right-wing online media outlets in Germany, underscored debates over who has the right to cool off in public, … and revealed fundamental changes in Berlin’s working class.” – The New York Times
- Ancient Gold Treasure In Spain Stolen In Four-Minute Raid
“Thieves in Spain have raided the Treasure of Villena – a stunning collection of Bronze Age gold artefacts that has been described as the most important prehistoric trove in Europe – in the latest high-profile smash-and-grab heist on the continent.” – The Guardian
- The Warehouse Where Amazon Takes Apart And Scans Books To Train Its AI: An Employee Speaks
“The employee worked at Amazon’s VGT3 warehouse, which is housed in the same facility as LAS8, where Amazon operates its print-on-demand business. … The Amazon employee I talked to described what that operation looks like from the warehouse floor.” – 404 Media
- Reggie Watts Cut From Monterey Jazz Festival After Reports Of Abuse
“The Los Angeles-based improviser and former The Late Late Show With James Corden bandleader, who headlined San Francisco’s Downtown First Thursday party earlier this year, was taken off the Northern California festival bill … following a recent investigation into allegations involving the comedian and musician’s relationships and drug use.” – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
- Paramount Says It’ll Release 30 Movies A Year Post-Merger. Is That Even Possible?
“Among creatives who spoke to TheWrap in the past week, skepticism still abounds that the studio could make good on such a lofty goal. ‘In the old days at Warner Bros. they released almost that many movies, but I don’t know if the marketplace can bear that,’ said one veteran producer.” – TheWrap (MSN)
- LACMA Hit With Class-Action Lawsuit Over Data Breach
“A former employee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has filed a class action complaint against the institution over a 2025 data breach that he claims has compromised sensitive visitor and employee information, including Social Security numbers.” – ARTnews
- Artist Yayoi Kusama Has Died At 97
“Tenacious, obsessive and, in the eyes of her critics, relentlessly self-promoting, she became a pop-culture fixture, making brightly colored, instantly recognizable paintings, sculptures and installations that were exhibited at major museums and made her one of the world’s top-selling contemporary artists.” – The Washington Post (MSN)
- Artists Bring a Narrative to Life: We the People
We wanted to celebrate our nation, because 2026 is our 250th birthday, and also, it feels necessary in this moment. But how would we do it in a moment when celebrating living in the USA feels political, feels fraught with potential pitfalls? What could we do to bring people together across perceived differences? What would […] - Culture: The Real Costs of Being Real
It’s getting difficult to trust what (or who) is real in the age of AI. - Actor Tim Curry, Star Of “Rocky Horror” And “It,” Has Died At 80
“Though Curry would forever be the face that launched a thousand Time Warp dances …, he (was) far more than a one-trick pony over a career that spanned more than a half-century.” His roles ranged from Pennywise the Clown (Stephen King’s It) to Mozart (Amadeus, Olivier and Tony nominations) to King Arthur (Spamalot). – Variety
- The NEA Has Survived. But At What Cost?
The generally inoffensive nature of these selections seems to reveal an agency that has trimmed its sails (not only financially) and ceded ground to conservative demands in order to survive. – American Theatre
- Choreographer Azsure Barton Reimagines Pandora’s Box As A Parable About AI
“Pandora … was the first woman, an Eve-like figure, created from clay and given by Zeus to Epimetheus, unbeknownst to him, as a punishment for his brother Prometheus giving humans fire. ‘One of the things I was really driven by was the fact that she was an agent of change,’ says Barton.” – The Guardian
- V&A Museum Workers Vote To Strike
A PCS ballot registered 95% in favour of industrial action. The union did not say how many workers would be striking. It called for better pay, a cross-site policy to close public spaces when temperatures reached 30C, and for V&A East Storehouse workers “to drink and carry water at work”. – BBC
- A Case For Limiting AI In Culture
If we fail to think through and delimit the role of AI in our lives, we risk undermining the intelligibility of our own guiding cultural concepts, and thus initiating a period in our own society of which it may someday be possible to say that “nothing happened.” – The Point
- The Worst Year Ever To Be Alive
A massive volcanic eruption in AD536 has led historians to describe it as the “worst year to be alive”. Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia were plunged into darkness for 18 months. Temperatures in the summer months fell by 1.5˚C to 2.5˚C, initiating one of the coldest decades in the past two millennia. – The Conversation
- A Lost Poem Found<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/08/a-lost-poem-found.html" title="A Lost Poem Found” rel=”nofollow”>‘Born Black’ was lost
- One Of Satirical Sculptors The Gao Brothers Jailed In China For Insulting “Heroes And Martyrs”
Gao Zhen, 70, who with Gao Qiang is known for statuary of Mao Zedong such as the “Miss Mao” series of drag sculptures and a firing squad of seven Maos aiming at Jesus, has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment under a law passed years after the works were made. – The Guardian
- Our Misconceptions Of What Consciousness Is
Perceiving, experiencing and thinking are inherently embodied activities. The body is not just a physical object, it is a living organism that is in constant flux. It is also part of the social, cultural and material world. – Nature
- In 1939, The BBC Broadcast Sound From A 3000-Year-Old Egyptian Trumpet
“The trumpets of the pharaoh Tutankhamun!” booms the BBC announcer. A short intake of air and then — the blare of a trumpet which for more than 3,000 years had lain silent inside the boy-king’s tomb. – CNN
- Why Is So Much New Literary Fiction So Boring?
The question driving these opening pages is not: “What does it mean to live a good life?” or “What do we owe to people?” or “What can be saved from the ravages of time?” The question I hear is: “Have I impressed you yet?” – Devon Halliday
- Opera Australia Is Having Some Trouble With A Major Donor
“The future of Opera Australia’s signature event, the annual Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, is in limbo over a funding dispute with its patron, reclusive Japanese billionaire Haruhisa Handa,” who is reportedly unhappy that the event has been presenting money-making musicals rather than opera in recent years. – Australian Financial Review
- US State Department Wants To Sell Kehinde Wiley Painting: “Too Woke”
On Monday, the New York Times reported that the State Department wants to sell the painting. Campos said in her Instagram post that the “Trump Administration and under my leadership we are turning away from globalist and woke ideologies.” – ARTnews
- An All-Star Dance Company At Over-40
For dancers over 40, retirement is close. A new company, WINNDance, is challenging that assumption, and it’s launching with a roster of names that most companies would kill for. – Gramilano
- AI Tracks Banned From Australian Music Charts
Wholly AI-generated tracks will be banned from the ARIA charts from Monday next week, but some AI-assisted music will remain eligible, an ARIA statement said. – PBS
- Stanley Ritchie, Dean Of Baroque Violinists In North America, Is Dead At 91
Following stints as assistant concertmaster of the Met Opera Orchestra and Vancouver Symphony, he took up period instruments in the 1970s and became North America’s first major soloist on Baroque violin. He was an influential teacher; virtually every period violinist in North America at some point studied with him or his students. – Violinist.com
- “Appointment Viewing” Television Is Back
“In the era of streaming, binge-watching is easier than ever. So, it seems potentially incongruous that appointment viewing — watching a television show when it first airs — is so capable of seizing the collective attention of viewers. But fandom is a powerful force, and appointment viewing has tamed the beast into something fearsome.” – Variety
- HarperCollins Now Has A Manga Imprint, Kazé
“The publisher is rolling out the imprint in partnership with the existing Kazé publishers in France and Germany, which distribute manga for the European market and were acquired by HarperCollins last year. Kazé US will build on that brand for American readers of all ages.” – Publishers Weekly
- Why Labor Unrest Is Sweeping Through Britain’s Museum Sector
“Staff at the V&A voted overwhelmingly to strike; … (workers) at the British Museum, the Science Museum, British Library, and Tate, among others, have all walked out in recent years as unions … coordinate campaigns accusing institutions of mistreating their staff and letting wages fall behind the cost of living.” – Artnet
- UK Publisher To Release Jason Arday’s Memoir Despite Questions About Its Veracity
Simon & Schuster UK made no comment beyond a statement from Arday’s family: “Jason was clear that he wanted his memoir to be published and it is only right that we honour his wishes. … We (will) allow the book to speak for itself and won’t comment further on its content.” – The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)
- Trump Administration Threatens To Demolish Kennedy Center If Renovations Don’t Proceed
“Without those efforts,” wrote administration attorneys in a court filing, “the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River.” – The Guardian