Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Uh-Oh, Get Your Knives Out: ARTnews’ List Of The 100 Best Works Of Art...
The joy of an epic list like this one is that it can’t encapsulate everything: we know we’ve left some artworks off, simply because...
The Shocking Collapse Of The Iconic Technicolor
The stunning collapse of the iconic company and MPC – which was founded in the Soho section of London during 1970 and was one...
A New Chief For The Canada Council
Cheryl Hickman, artistic director of Opera on the Avalon, will start a five-year term in July as chairperson of the federal Crown corporation the Canada Council for...
What It Means To Be A Highly Sensitive Person
What I discovered after many years of studying this innate survival strategy is that high sensitivity means, above all, thinking deeply about everything. -...
Behind The Move To Get Rid Of Book Blurbs
There’s been a bunch of authors and publishers lately saying, “Hey, this is hugely time-consuming. It’s an incredibly emotional process. What would happen if...
Baltimore Theatre Refuses To Comply With NEA’s New Anti-DEI Guidelines
Baltimore Center Stage, Maryland’s state theater, says it will refuse to comply with the NEA’s new guidelines — which state that applicants “will not...
AI Imaging Discovers Remnants Of 5000-Year-Old Civilization Below Dubai
The integration of AI and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) proved especially powerful. SAR technology provides high-resolution images of structures buried beneath the earth's surface,...
Why Do Orchestra Musicians Have Tenure?
In particular, tenure exists to ensure that orchestra conductors cannot “clean house” according to their personal artistic tastes. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Kansas City’s Master Of Vinyl
In a vacant church, he built a concert hall and studio where he recorded the Delta blues and Louisiana roots music. His latest acquisition...
What’s A Bookstore To Do When An Author Becomes Problematic?
What to do about art we admire that is created by people we don’t? Most bookstores leave it in the hands of patrons. -...
The Oscars Have Contorted Themselves Into An Unwatchable Mess
Just as tentpole movies are tested and managed to death, the Oscars have bent themselves into contortions to meet what executives have determined that...
How Cities Are Developing Policies To Promote Support For Musicians
As the cost of living continues to skyrocket and spaces for musicians to perform become fewer, some say municipal music strategies are becoming increasingly important. A...
I’m A Professor. Now I’ve Become An AI-Cheat Detective
To judge by the number of papers I read last semester that were clearly AI generated, a lot of students are enthusiastic about this...
UK Is Increasing Arts Funding. But The Arguments For Where That Funding Goes Are...
Even beyond their economic potential, the cultural value of practices more traditionally associated with commercial activity has become more central to the national conversation....
The Dangerous Notion Of Free Speech
Freedom of expression undermines authority, which is why it has no place in societies wholly based on the exercise of coercive power. The logic...
Is This Rubens Real? It’s Difficult To Tell
This is not the first time that claims against the authenticity of Samson and Delilah have made headlines. In 2021, the Swiss tech start-up Art Recognition...
What Cuts To Federal Funding (Small As It Is) For Public Radio Stations Means
Every nickel we get we use it to provide public service to the community. So what that 10% means is that we would have...
How Do We Make Culture Visible? Who Controls Visibility?
Visibility is only part of the equation. Who controls it? How are cultural narratives shaped? What systems determine access? If we don’t ask these...
French Cinema Sees A Surge Of Patrons Returning To Theatres
In France, there has been a more celebratory feeling of late, with fresh statistics suggesting that its audiences are leading the way in returning...
Concert Tickets Have Become Eye-Poppingly Expensive. Fans Are Struggling
In recent years, concertgoers have paid eye-popping prices for tickets to see popular artists like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Oasis on tour. But Gen Z fans...
Against The Encroachment Of AI On Creativity
The Brutalist’s AI touch-up fits the broader culture’s fetishization of perfection and flattening, but image filters and technologies like Auto-Tune consciously draw attention to...
The New Cultural Critique: Anti-Fans
Anti-fans, as pop-culture scholars have termed them, are similar to hate-watchers: consumers who become fixated on what frustrates them. Both groups tend to target something...
Our Times Can Be Understood As A New Kind Of Cultural Revolution
Unlike the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, which imposed ideology on their populaces by means of culture and entertainment, America’s current reality is...
The Curious Case Of Francis Bacon’s Friend Barry
For over a decade before that spring day in 1992, Barry Joule, a Canadian handyman with a rock-star mane, had been one of Bacon’s...
Delayed George Lucas Museum’s CEO To Step Down
Jackson-Dumont’s departure comes just months after the museum quietly delayed its opening from this year to 2026. The museum has now delayed its opening...
