Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
It’s Shocking How Radical Right Extremism Has Crept Into Mainstream Culture
Extremist messaging is now woven into music and YouTube videos, with one expert saying: ‘You can be radicalised sitting on your couch.’ - The...
Study: How AI Spurs Creativity In Humans
“People think of AI as something that speeds up tasks or improves efficiency, but our findings suggest something far more interesting. When people were...
Study: 20 Percent Of Videos Shown On YouTube Are AI
Together, these AI slop channels have amassed more than 63bn views and 221 million subscribers, generating about $117m (£90m) in revenue each year, according...
Study: Musical Expertise Relates To Other Cognitive Traits
Experienced musicians tend to possess an advantage in short-term memory for musical patterns and a small advantage for visual information, according to a large-scale...
Movie Theatres Turn To VIP Experiences To Lure Back Audiences
“We are rolling out 200 of our Ultra Lux seats, which have a built-in champagne or wine cooler, each day across Europe,” says Tim...
A Biennale That Wants To Make The World A Better Place
There are more than 1,200 works by 125 artists and collectives in the exhibit, titled “Not All Travelers Walk Roads,” with many of them...
Fascinating List: Here Are The Most-Borrowed Library Books Of 2025
The Women was among the most checked-out books in U.S. public libraries this year, making top 10 lists in library systems as far-flung as those...
AI that turns Museums into Conversations: The Digital Twin
Museums still operate as if interpretation is a one-way stream, produced by experts and consumed by the public. Instead, imagine an exhibition that doesn't just speak, but listens and responds.
How Hallmark Movies Impact British Columbia’s Economy
Love it or hate it, Hallmark movies are big business in B.C., where the company films the about 40 per cent of its content — Christmas...
Why Canadian Fiction Needs To Stop Talking To Itself
In Canada, the literary world tends to be inward-looking. It’s obvious why. For three-quarters of a century, the official position has been that if...
Broadway’s Greatest Season: 1957-58
The last hurrah of these bygone performers was the Broadway season of 1957–58, arguably the greatest season on Broadway of the last 75 years....
The Market Fantasy That Has Undermined The Art World From Within
The current erosion of the art market is not a cyclical contraction; it is the result of oversaturation and a speculative economy in which...
Is The Music Of The Future One Unencumbered By Structures Of The Past?
Busoni proposed the notion of “Ur-Musik.” It is an elemental realm of absolute music in which composers have approached the “true nature of music”...
The Film Buffs Preserving Classic Movies
The artifacts of 20th-century cinema are being preserved in museums, archives and other august institutions. But they are surviving, too, in the care of...
Your Spotify Wrapped Doesn’t Really Know You. But Your Reading Does
Listening to music can be a passive experience — one enjoyed in tandem with folding laundry, or driving a car. To really learn about...
The Books, Recordings, Culture Entering Public Domain January 1
Under U.S. law, the copyright on thousands of creations from 1930 — including films, books, musical compositions and more — will expire at the...
Can AI Help Put Back Together A Cimabue Ceiling Fresco Shattered In An Earthquake?
A joint project headed by the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria in Perugia, which has officially worked with the Basilica’s guardians for the past decade, and...
In Praise Of The Intelligence Of Aphorisms
Aphorisms are different. They are the antithesis of the half-baked hot take and nothing like the machine-made flattery that’s now permeating so many informational...
Why Did So Many Art Galleries Close This Year?
Overall, when it came to galleries, the dominant vibe was one of endings more than beginnings—and it continued a building drumbeat. Those who closed...
Are Our Grandparents Being Captured By Their Phones?
“I am constantly begging my mom to put her phone down, every time I see her she is just mindlessly scrolling. I swear her...
Disney Has Had Its Best Box Office Year Since Before The Pandemic
Disney is the first and only studio to cross $6B this year, the next best major is Warner Bros with $4.3B. 2025 repped Disney’s...
AI Voice Clones Are Amazing. But Also Troublesome In Defining Identity
Technology may blur boundaries, but it also reveals who holds the power. When male creators use AI to simulate female voices and personas, are...
2025 Was A Very Tough Year For Libraries. These Are The Top Stories
Federal funding, the freedom to read, perpetual or temporary access to print and digital collections, and AI innovations saw new and unpredictable developments on a...
We Know So Little About How Our Senses Interact. Why Does Music Make Food...
When we sit down for a meal, all of our senses come to the table, and some of them have unexpected effects. Heavier cutlery,...
Authors Sue AI Companies Over Copyright (Again)
The group of authors, which includes two-time Pulitzer Prize winner John Carreyrou, are among those who opted out of the proposed $1.5 billion settlement of...
