Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
A History Of Encyclopedias: Our Search For Authority And Meaning
It "was meant as reference, but also to be savoured. The 11th edition of Britannica (1929) featured Cecil B. DeMille on motion pictures and J.B. Priestley...
An Opera Lover’s Treasure-house: SF Opera Makes Available Its Archives
The new online hub at sfopera.com/firstcentury features recordings from the company’s past, along with rare artist interviews, archival photographs, program articles, oral history excerpts and newly...
Manohla Dargis Remembers Jean-Luc Godard: A Prophet Of Film’s Future As An Artform
When we speak of adored artists, we often flash on the first time we encountered their work, a tendency that evokes first love. I...
EU, UK File €25 Billion Lawsuit Against Google Over Digital Ad, Search Manipulation
“This important claim will represent a class of victims of Google’s anti-competitive conduct in ad tech who have collectively lost an estimated £7bn. This...
Philosophically Speaking, What Constitutes A “Good Conversation”
British philosophers from the 18th century, who were fixated on impressions and ideas, would have taken successful conversations to be those that moved the relevant cluster...
Ukrainian Ballet Star Killed On The Battlefield
The National Opera of Ukraine announced, with "indescribable sadness," the death of Oleksandr Shapoval, one of the company's former principal dancers and a teacher at...
Meet The AI Currently Embroiling The Artist (And Regulatory) Communities
The movement’s prominence has led to fierce debate in art circles, with some arguing that it creates an “ethical and copyright black hole,” given...
The Quiet Death Of Instagram As An Artistic Medium
While the dream that was Instagram did once serve artists, many artists have spent years struggling against not just Instagram’s algorithm, but for access...
Internet TV Has Become A Giant Wasteland
Social media first presented itself as a new wave of populist content, eccentric infotainment. But look at that: Social media is now shot through...
Study: Does Gender Of The Artist Change Perception Of The Viewer
We showed average Americans pairs of paintings side by side. Each of the pairs are similar in style, motif and period, but one work...
Anna Netrebko’s Complicated Career Since Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
The debate over Netrebko has been part of a broader discussion in arts, culture and sport over how much individual Russians should bear responsibility...
Time To Remove Distinctions Between Physical Health And Mental Health?
In practice, physical diseases are treated by physicians working for medical services, and mental illnesses are treated by psychiatrists or psychologists working for separately...
Eradicating Speech Isn’t Free Speech
Most college students, according to a FIRE report published this week, do not believe that speakers who hold various conservative beliefs should be allowed on campus; I...
Scientists Discover “Switch” In The Brain That Determines Whether An Experience Was Good Or...
“If you have a brain response to anything that is important, how does it differentiate whether it is good or bad? It’s a central...
Making The Case For Art: It Can’t Be About Words
If you are presenting art because you enjoy art and only because you enjoy art, you are not respecting your charter as a nonprofit. That’s vanity,...
A Terrible Emmy Awards Show For Shows That Were This Good
This was one of the worst Emmys telecasts in recent memory. Not in the “claws are out” way that people tend to pounce on...
AI-Generated Images Flood Online Art Sites Provoking Fierce Debate
The arrival of widely available image synthesis models such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion has provoked an intense online battle between artists who view AI-assisted artwork...
New AI Image Tools Disrupt Notions Of Ownership, Authorship
These new AI capabilities confront the world with a mountain of questions over the rights to the images the programs learned from, the likelihood...
How The Pandemic Has Warped Seattle Arts’ Return To Work
“All the houses are trying to open up at the same time, and they all need the same people,” Terry Podgorski said, noting that...
The Future of Video Editing?
Runway's "Text to Video" demonstration reel shows a text input box that allows editing commands such as "import city street" or "make it look...
Meet Wikipedia’s “Deaditors” Who Updated Queen Elizabeth’s Entry
While some on the internet were glued to Twitter or the BBC, checking for news or watching the planes en route to Balmoral Castle,...
150 Years Of Technological Progress That Changed The World
It really looks that we had as much technological change and progress between 1870 and today as we had between 6000 BC and 1870 AD....
What The Arts Learned About Digital Engagement
Digital events can reduce geographic inequalities, and lessen the costs associated with attending a festival. Digital delivery of a festival also provides something of...
Amazon Settles With Writers Guild Over Residual Payments
“Like Netflix, Amazon had been systematically undervaluing imputed license fees on theatrical films where it was both the producer and the distributor,” wrote WGA...
That Time Duke Ellington Made A Record With A Single Copy Just For Elizabeth...
We created a unique album solely for the pleasure of giving it to Queen Elizabeth. With the help of Billy Strayhorn, he composed The Queen’s...
