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- The Failures To Save The Glasgow School Of Art Building
A 12-year saga of destruction, rebuilding and yet more destruction, all underscored by an unedifying seam of political and institutional wrangling, reached an apologetic conclusion of sorts, with the recent announcement that Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s exquisite art nouveau creation is unlikely to be rebuilt in its original form because of stratospheric cost. – The Guardian
- What The UK Used To Think Of Georgia O’Keeffe
“After her Hayward show in 1993, Britain’s male critics unleashed a torrent of dismissive reviews. She was called a ‘commercial illustrator,’ ‘irredeemably amateur,’ an artist who ‘made good monthly images on calendars’ and ‘grossly overrated.’” – The Guardian (UK)
- What ‘A Chorus Line,’ Now Celebrating Its 50-Plus Anniversary, Taught Us About Theatre
“A Chorus Line celebrates artists’ commitment while demonstrating — both at the story level and in the way the script itself was assembled — how easy it is to bully or exploit them.” – The New York Times
- In The Ongoing Saga Of Portland’s Performing Arts Centers, The Mayor Has Made His Support Clear
Mayor Wilson now supports a 3,000-seat city-owned performance hall at Portland State University, while the venerable, earthquake-unprepared Keller Auditorium would be rebuilt as as 1,200-1,800 seat venue. Keller supporters are incensed. – Oregon ArtsWatch
- The Hadestown ProShot Film Was So Popular This Weekend That It’s Getting An Extended Run
The live show capture came close to toppling Hamilton from its perch. – Deadline
- In A Good News Moment, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s School Is Opening A New, Big Space
“As with many ballet companies, PNB’s school provides significant funding for the organization. Tucker said the school’s income is approximately 18% of the organization’s annual revenue. The school also serves as a feeder both for audience members and eventual company members.” – Seattle Times
- Guy Tudor, Who Brought Obscure Birds To Vivid Life, Has Died At 81
“Digital avian databases like eBird were far in the future when Mr. Tudor first set about documenting swaths of the avian world in watercolors and gouaches renowned for their delicacy and precision, and for the artist’s singular knack for capturing the quiddities of winged creatures.” – The New York Times
- This Booker-Winning Book Set In Taiwan Has Sparked A Cultural Reckoning
The author says she “wanted to tell Taiwanese people, ‘We do not really understand our own land’s history,’” partly because of the time Taiwan was a colony of Japan. – NPR
- From Nearly Forgotten Author To Japanese Literary Hero
“Much of the Japanese fiction translated into English fits into broad categories – cats, crime, coffee shops – but one surprise bestseller stands alone. Sales of books by Osamu Dazai, who killed himself in 1948 aged 38, have rocketed in the last few years.” – The Guardian (UK)
- A High-Quality Bootleg Of ‘The Odyssey’ Leaked And Streamed For Hours On X
A message on X (Twitter) “included a high-quality version of the film, as confirmed by Variety, and climbed to over 2.1 million views within two and a half hours.” – Variety
- Alert: Don’t Throw Away Your Old E-Reader
Of course don’t throw it away – get it to an e-waste recycler or dealer – but also, you can turn it into a Spotify controller or, perhaps coolest of all, a literary clock. – Wired
- The Perfect Books For A Summer At The Pool, The River, Or The Beach
“It is important to follow a balanced diet on holiday. … You need to be able to chop and change depending on your mood, which means fiction and nonfiction. And finally, you need to be able to throw all of these rules out of the window.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Blame Social Media, But First Of All Phones, For Everything Turning Vertical
“Short-form, vertical video has effectively won the internet. Business is booming, and viewers show no sign of tuning out.” – The Verge
- Kenneth Branagh Returns To The Site Of His First Grand Success
“His time in Stratford was professionally formative, but rocky. Branagh tangled with the management over workloads and pay, and eventually felt that he had to move on to flourish.” That worked out pretty well for him, too. – The New York Times
- In London, Museum Workers Want The Right To Carry Water During Heat Waves
The workers at V&A are unionized, and the ballot “is taking place because of concerns about soaring temperatures and access to drinking water, along with pay and conditions.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Advocates For The Board Game Monopoly Say People Only Hate It Because We All Play It Wrong
Seriously, we just have to read the rules (or so they say). – Slate
- Where will the future come from?For the second consecutive summer, Jacob’s Pillow invited choreographers, presenters, producers, academics, and funders to its inspiring home in the Berkshires to exchange ideas and inspirations around dance and emerging technologies. Future Figures, an evolving program of Jacob’s Pillow, is a convening of field leaders as well as a public symposium where work is shared, […]
- 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
- It’s Been A Year Since Trump Defunded Public Media
How is public media surviving? Rural stations are – perhaps ironically – hardest hit by the federal defunding. – NPR
- The Philadelphia Museum Of Art Is Running Record Deficits
“The museum is covering the deficits by drawing on a pool of money that includes cash and reserves — sometimes referred to as quasi-endowment — whose use was not restricted by donors for any specific purpose.” – Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- Good Luck Getting Tickets To The Odyssey In 70mm IMAX
The FOMO is real. “Complicating things further for The Odyssey is that it’s available in so many premium formats—six, altogether—that the film’s official website includes a guide to their various strengths and aspect ratios.” – Wired
- Is This The End Of Nonprofit Theatre?
Oskar Eustis thinks so, but not a bad thing: “We’re faced with the need to prove to the people in our individual communities that we matter enough to them that they should support us. … Now, that’s not a very bad demand to put on an art form.” – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- Tenth Anniversary Of La La Land Brings Changes To The Poster
This is all about Ryan Gosling’s wrist. – CBC
- When You Ask The People To Redesign Your Money, Sometimes The Ideas Are Great
And sometimes? They’re meme-inspired, as the European Central Bank found out last week. – Fast Company
- What’s Really Going On With The Paramount-Warner Bros Deal
“The firm had been aiming to close the deal by September but agreed to table its takeover — perhaps until next spring — to allow a fiercer than expected challenge from California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and 11 other Democratic state attorneys general to advance to trial.” – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- Meta Glasses Are Now Banned At Comic-Cons In The UK After Secret Filming Issues
“A number of guests had told the company they would be reluctant to appear at Comic-Con shows again after cases of recordings taking place without their knowledge. The ban is applicable to Meta glasses and any other ‘wearable recording devices.’” – BBC
- How Social Media Has Changed Book Cover Design
“Covers today are expected not only to attract readers in bookstores, but to circulate fluidly through Instagram posts, TikToks, Substack photos, and carefully curated apartment interiors. Books are now asked to function simultaneously as texts and as lifestyle objects.” – LitHub
- The Joys Of Reading Ulysses
Reading Joyce “was, and continues to be, one of the most glorious reading experiences of my life. Even your text messages fizz after you’ve been reading Joyce.” – The Guardian (UK)
- How IMAX Has Won The Movies
“Everything about Imax is annoying. The prices are outrageous. Screenings often fill up as soon as they go on sale. … Yet the hysteria exists for a reason and it isn’t just screen size.” – Vulture
- Warner Bros Sues Amazon For Poaching Employees
“In the complaint, Warner says that ‘Amazon has chosen to ride on the coattails of other well-established Hollywood mainstays,’ and that it engaged in a ‘lawless employee shopping spree.’” – The Verge
- The Most Haunting Music Of The ‘Odyssey’
“The aulos appears throughout Greek art, depicted in military and domestic scenes alike. To modern eyes it looks like two recorders that come together at a player’s mouth, blown at the same time.” – The New York Times