Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The Super-Communication Technologies That Separate Us
The cost-benefit calculation is complicated and nuanced, requiring us to find a course between apocalyptic visions of civilizational decline and the naive utopianism of...
The Former Chicago 7-Eleven That Will Now Dispense Classical Music
The venue, designed by Chicago-based JDJ Architects, will be called the Checkout, a nod to the building’s former life as a 7-Eleven, and doubles...
Spotify Paid A Record $10 Billion To Music Rights Owners In 2024
Spotify’s $10 billion payout figure means that it paid music rightsholders an average of $833 million every month in 2024. - Music Business Worldwide
Paul McCartney And Elton John Protest Proposed Changes To UK Copyright
McCartney told the BBC that the proposed changes could disincentivise writers and artists and result in a “loss of creativity”. - The Guardian
The Small Publishers Shaking Up Africa’s Books Culture
Othuke Ominiabohs started Masobe – which means “let us read” in the Isoko language – in 2018 with a $7,000 (£5,600) loan from his...
Sotheby’s Reports Declined Sales
Sotheby’s auction sales were down 28 percent, to $4.6 billion, from $6.4 billion, but private sales were up 17 percent, climbing from $1.2 billion...
Louvre’s Decision To Move “Mona Lisa”: Misguided?
The decision, dramatically announced by Emmanuel Macron, to move the Mona Lisa to a special hygienically isolated gallery where les idiots who flock to take selfies in...
French Protest Macron’s Stained Glass For Notre Dame
President Emmanuel Macron’s vision to immortalize himself in glass? Replace some windows in the recently reopened Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. The custodians of French architecture...
Is This Really A Forgotten Van Gogh?
“People love it when things fall through the cracks, and it would be wonderful if they found a Van Gogh—but they’ve got to pin...
Want To Understand Good Poetry? Study The Bad Stuff
Much can be learned by close reading poetry, which is well written, that has withstood the test of time. By reading bad poetry, however,...
“Hamlet” And “Grand Theft Auto.” Okay.
A film about a performance of “Hamlet” within the world of Grand Theft Auto suggests that the moral environment of revenge tragedy is not...
Will The Smithsonian Have To Obey Trump’s Anti-DEI Orders?
The Smithsonian, which oversees 21 museums, including ones dedicated to American art, portraiture, and African American history and culture, has a unique structure. That...
Leaked Memo: The Damage Overcrowding Is Doing To The Louvre
There is a “proliferation of damage in museum spaces, some of which are in very poor condition,” Des Cars wrote in the memo, which was...
Spotify: The Aural Drug That Flattens Music
As its playlists became increasingly dominated by music from content farms—low-wage operations producing dreck for somebody else’s profit—these mood classifications turned into what Ms....
Indie Bookstore Service Launches E-Reader Platform
Today, the online platform that connects readers to local bookstores launched an e-reading platform of its own. For the first time, local independent bookstores can sell...
The Louvre Has Become Overwhelmed By Visitors
One of the largest arts centres on the planet and the world’s most visited museum, the Louvre attracts more than 8 million people a...
Checking In With Theaster Gates
"Why is it so often that the people with the least amount of imagination and the most concern for the bottom line – real...
Might Media Publication Bundling Resuscitate Journalism?
The New York Times is a competitor to all local newspapers. For the cost, you get much more value with a subscription to NYT...
Laughing Is Fun. But Anthropologically…
There’s nothing like getting caught in a giggle loop, where the desire to laugh builds until it bursts out at a disastrous moment. Only...
Washington’s National Gallery Ends DEI Programs
The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, is ending its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs as a result of an executive order (EO)...
When A Theatre Critic Stands At Performances (He Sees More)
I could see just fine. (A colleague quipped that sitting any closer wasn’t going to make a show better or worse.) And I understood...
New York’s New Superstar Cultural Philanthropist Couple
The Tangs’ increasing prominence seems due to several key capital projects simultaneously coming to fruition and the couple’s effort to counter the anti-Asian discrimination and violence...
Deborah Rutter To Step Down As Head of The Kennedy Center
Ms. Rutter, 68, the center’s president since 2014, guided the organization through the coronavirus pandemic, oversaw an expansion of its campus, added hip-hop and...
How Do We Determine Bad Art From Good?
Do we believe, with T.S Eliot and others, in our duty to work towards what he calls the correction of taste? - Salmagundi
Department of Education Will No Longer Investigate Book Bans
The Education Department said on Friday that it would no longer investigate schools that remove books from their libraries, emphasizing its new stance by...
