Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
A Sci-Fi Novel That May Explain Now
Cullen Murphy: "I have no idea whether the book is a parable of where we were, where we are, or where we’re heading. Maybe...
Film Critic Sheila Benson, 91
Her time as film critic at The LA Times coincided with the rise of both the ‘80s Hollywood blockbuster and the American independent scene. -...
Andy Warhol, Value Of Creativity, And Crypto
Andy Warhol, innovation expert Clayton Christensen, and Etherum creator Vitalik Buterin walk into the bar. They don’t start out talking about crypto, but like...
Why Russian Artists Supporting Putin Are Paying A Price
To claim, as many do, that art should “transcend” politics — that it exists in a realm where the push and pull of human...
SAG Awards: In-Person Awards Shows Return
The 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards pulled off the first in-person awards ceremony of 2022, moving ahead as if things were normal after other gatherings...
The Wild Projects Chris Burden Couldn’t Make
They include an effort to convert a World War II British destroyer into a ship with sails (blocked by price and preservation issues), an...
Climate Change — A Cultural Issue
To tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis effectively, we urgently need to address cultural values relating to consumption. An important aspect of this is...
Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky Quits Bolshoi Project
Mr. Ratmansky, who grew up in Kyiv and danced there early in his career, immediately decided to leave Moscow, and with the help of...
The Top-Selling Global Music Group Of 2021
The South Korean band beat the likes of Drake and Adele to top a chart compiled by music industry body the IFPI. - BBC
Why Some Words Sound Ugly To Us
This phenomenon, where the sound of a word triggers an emotion or a meaning, is referred to as “sound symbolism”. Yet the idea that...
Experts: By 2030, Most Of The Internet Could Be Created By Artificial Intelligence
As its capabilities advance, the idea is that AI could start to generate entire online worlds, along with all the stuff that inhabits them...
Norman Lebrecht: The New Geffen Hall Will Be A Game-Changer
Deborah Borda, president of the New York Philharmonic, gave me a virtual tour on Zoom the other day. What I saw leads me to...
How Artists Are Responding To The Ukraine Invasion
"I never expected Russian artists to publicly take a stand, to venture, to risk, but when they did, I am struck (mostly) by the...
London’s Royal Opera House Cancels Bolshoi Ballet Appearances
The Moscow-based ballet company were set to return to London this summer but their tour has been called off as Ukraine was hit by air strikes and...
As London Prices Out Artists, They’re Leaving. And The City’s Role As Arts Center...
In the past couple of decades, artists have migrated from the East End — where the Whitechapel is — to Peckham and various other...
Meanwhile In Afghanistan… The Libraries Are Closed
"It has been seven months that no one has peeked into the library. It is painful to see the distance between people and books...
Lessons: I Wrote A Satire Of A Classical Musician. People Took It Seriously…
When these people realized that my article was satire, the overwhelming response was that its components were simply too realistic to set off the...
Time To Get Rid Of Gendered Acting Awards?
What might an awards show that more accurately reflects the world around us actually look like? Specifically, what might an awards show that rewards...
Sotheby’s Pulls Flashy NFT Sale
The lot was composed of 104 “CryptoPunks,” a historic and popular PFP NFT collection designed by Larva Labs in 2017. The estimate for the...
Have You Heard Of “Sensitivity” Readers? Oh My.
The Readers were explicit that this was not to do with any actual words on the page, but because they could tell that I...
Munich Mayor Gives Valery Gergiev 3-Day Ultimatum
“I have clarified my stance against Valery Gergiev and urge him to also clearly and indisputably distance himself from the brutal assault, Putin against...
Long Wharf Theatre Is Leaving Its Building. So What Is My Relationship With The...
This forces me and so many others whose lives have included hours spent in the building to examine how we connect with a theatre...
Why Do Some Teams Inspire While Others Sap Energy?
Why might a person let her team down in one situation but give it her all in a different one? Sometimes, as in the...
Scottish Ballet Is Latest Arts Company To Sever Ties With BP Funding
Campaigners have urged the arts and culture sector to cut all ties to oil companies over claims of greenwashing. BP said it was proud...
Seattle Arts Groups Say COVID Costs Are Crippling
To avoid costly shutdowns, they're shelling out for hospital-grade filtration systems, daily testing regimes for performers and crew, more staff to check vaccine cards...
