Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Netflix and Paramount’s Interest In Warner? The Back Catalog. It’s An Old Strategy
Back in the 18th century for example, Longman, the UK’s oldest commercial publishing house, built up its business by acquiring the catalogues of other...
An Ethics Problem: AI Agents Go Rogue, Write Hit Pieces
When a coder rejected an autonomous AI's contribution, the digital diva researched and published a personalized attack piece. Welcome to the age when artificial...
Classic Reconsidered: Hudson’s Bay Coat Gets Historical Reality Check
That vintage striped coat commanding boutique prices? Turns out its colonial baggage is heavier than its wool. Fashion meets reckoning as shoppers discover their...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Study: Pinpointing Where Stradivari’s Wood Came From
A study of the tree rings in Stradivarius violins, published in January in the journal Dendrochronologia, has revealed the most likely origin of some of...
Musician Opens Jewel Box 750-Seat Music Venue In LA
In a few weeks, this site will be Pacific Electric, a new 750-capacity music venue that Ben Lovett and his venue-developer firm TVG Hospitality...
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...
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...
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...
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. -...
Exiled Belarussian Theatre Brings Dissident Work To Venice Biennale
The exhibition, titled “Official. Unofficial. Belarus.,” is a group show presenting work by Belarusian artists who works challenge the long-standing authoritative regime in their...
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...
Inside The Painstaking Restoration Of A Frank Lloyd Wright House
The Martin House’s resurfacing as a museum—with its insides restored, and its carriage house and conservatory rebuilt to original specifications—is nothing short of a...
Colm Tóibín: Of Course AI Is A Threat To Creative Writing
"This idea no machine could ever replace my sensibility, which is so rich, varied, complex, and arising from experience and from history –...
Chicago Art Institute Expansion Threatens Iconic Louis Sullivan Room
The old Chicago Stock Exchange Building trading room — Adler & Sullivan’s gilded age space rescued from demolition 54 years ago — could be...
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...
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...
Ctrl+Alt+Delete the Gallery: Gamers Turn Shutter-Happy
Virtual landscapes are the new studio space as artists trade actual cameras for digital controllers. Who needs nature when you've got pixels? The art...
Who Wrote This? The Age-Old Question Gets Circuitry
Before ChatGPT made everyone panic about robot poets, writers were already grappling with authenticity's slippery slope. Ghostwriters, collaborators, editors—the literary world's dirty secret is...
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...
Paramount Debt Rating Lowered To “Junk” After Warner Deal
Fitch Ratings downgraded Paramount Skydance’s long-term issuer default rating from “BBB-” to “BB+,” putting it into speculative-grade investment territory (aka “junk”). - Variety
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...
