Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Good Morning
Today's AJ Highlights: The institutional collapse of the week is the total cancellation of the Adelaide Writers’ Week, which was called off after more...
Truth Social Ads For Nazi-Owned Art Spark Debate
A gallery specialising in art once owned by members of the Third Reich’s leadership, including works personally owned by Adolf Hitler, has prompted conversations...
How Do You Sustain Success As A Musician?
Unlike creators, a performer does not have the benefit of a personal product (or several) that persist over time like a symphony or novel...
What A Photograph Might Tell Us About Consciousness
When I am photographing humans, I want to hear about their lives and aspirations. I care about their aesthetic sensibilities, what they are wearing,...
Smithsonian Replaces Trump Portrait, Removes Impeachment Text
It now contrasts with portraits of other former presidents, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, which all hang alongside...
The AI Abundance Problem
“This isn’t A.I.’s problem. This is our political system’s problem. If you get a massive increase in productivity, how does that wealth get shared...
Word Puzzle: English As A Made-Up Language
The truth is—and this may come as a surprise to some of you—the English language does not exist. English is an entirely borrowed language....
Why Are Some Of Britain’s Best Actors Appearing In This Tiny Theatre?
“I want it to be a theatre where theatre people can come and see a show and that generates a kind of warmth,” he...
Writing About Your Family In Your Novel? See You In Court!
In contemporary European literature, a book these days is often the beginning of a familial feud. With thinly disguised autobiographical accounts of family strife...
News Publishers Are Seeing AI-Summaries Replace Traffic From Search. Response? Make News More Like...
Search traffic to news sites has already plunged by a third in a single year globally, with the rise of AI overviews and chatbots,...
Pressure Mounts On San Francisco Ballet To Pull Out Of Kennedy Center Performance
Supporters argue that performing at the center now risks aligning the Ballet with an institution they say has been politicized under Trump’s leadership. -...
We’re Increasingly Interacting With Non-Humans. This Is Changing Our Human Interactions
We ask for help from artificial customer service representatives. Some of us accept friend requests from bots and are, thereafter, influenced by the content...
Trump Withdrew The US From 66 International Institutions. This Is Damaging To Culture
“Disengagement” from institutions that uphold freedom of expression and artistic freedom “weakens the global protective frameworks on which artists and cultural workers depend.” -...
AI Could Mean The Death Of Canadian Culture
If Canada wants its cultural policy to survive the age of slop, it will have to insist that what claims to be human—and Canadian—be...
Students Are Arriving In College Unable To Read. Colleges Are Struggling To Adapt Their...
As Gen Z ditch books at record levels, students are arriving to classrooms unable to complete assigned reading on par with previous expectations. It’s leaving colleges...
I’m A Musician. I created An Album Using AI To See If It Worked
We have gone from clapping to drumming, and from using drum machines in recording studios to generating “new” sounds with AI. Yet now that...
The 3000 Imagineers That Make Disney Ideas Real
The theme parks and cruise ships Vaughn’s team designs cost billions of dollars, dwarfing the budgets of movies that cost several hundred million dollars at most....
Oops: Turns Out AI Models “Memorize Books They Ingest. This Could Cost Them Billions
This phenomenon has been called “memorization,” and AI companies have long denied that it happens on a large scale. - The Atlantic
Ticketmaster Tries To Get FTC Suit On Ticket Gouging Dismissed
Ticketmaster is urging a federal judge in Los Angeles to throw out the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's case accusing it of working with resellers...
The Scam Artist And The Masterpiece
Thomas Doyle already had 11 convictions to his name for various swindles. His latest alleged fraud involves a London gallery owner and Bruce Springsteen’s...
SAG-Aftra Negotiator: Let’s Make Using AI Really Expensive
Here’s the thinking: A lack of cost savings could dissuade employers from using AI-generated performers instead of real actors like Emma Stone or Viola Davis....
Washington National Opera To Leave The Kennedy Center
The resolution calls for the opera to move its performances out of the Kennedy Center’s 2,364-seat Opera House as soon as possible and to...
Philanthropist Ensures Live Orchestra For San Diego Opera
On Monday, San Diego Opera announced that Jacobs has committed $4.5 million to establish The Joan and Irwin Jacobs San Diego Symphony and San...
The Humanities Crisis Is Over. Uh-Oh.
There is no longer a crisis in the humanities. Our field’s long-running narrative of continuous crisis is over. The bad news: The crisis of...
The Poverty Of Living When Everything Is Ranked
Value capture occurs when you get your values from some external source and let them rule you without adapting them.” Because we live in...
