Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
New UK Culture Budget: Film Wins, Music Loses
While the film and TV sector welcomed an increase in the tax incentive for VFX spend, grassroots music venues have been hit by a...
When The Frick Will Reopen
The renovation — designed by Selldorf Architects with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners as executive architect — has reinstalled masterworks in new and...
NYC Mayor Announces Possible Expansion Of Whitney Museum
The development would include up to 300 affordable housing units, a public open space, and 45,000 square feet set aside for a possible Whitney...
Sotheby’s Gets An Injection Of $1 Billion From Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund
While the exact terms of the deal—or the company’s new valuation—were not disclosed, a Sotheby’s spokesperson said that $800 million of the cash injection...
Online Recommendations Are Deeply Broken (Compromised). We Can Fix That
Today’s automated social-media feeds deliver increasingly indistinguishable content now sometimes generated by artificial intelligence; in the face of this onslaught, we crave content with...
Archaeology Student Finds Lost Ancient Mayan City By Accident
The team discovered three sites in total, in a survey area the size of Scotland's capital Edinburgh, “by accident” when one archaeologist browsed data...
Our Cultural Record Stored Digitally Is At Risk
When digital materials are vulnerable to sudden removal—whether by design or by attack—our collective memory is compromised, and the public’s ability to access its...
What You Can Tell From An Imagined Audience
As researchers have noted, the less an actual audience is visible or known, the more communicators depend on their imaginations. Because journalists can never know precisely...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning: Why do we just assume that our digital technology is just better? See the resurgence of vinyl recordings. There's something about the...
Canadian Playwright Under Attack For “Pretendianism”
Jani Lauzon has maintained she is Métis and her play 1939—now touring Canada—is based on her father’s experience at a residential school. What if none...
Study: An A/B Test Illustrates The Benefits Of Hybrid Work Rather Than Full In-Office
Before the experiment, managers estimated hybrid would reduce productivity by 2.6%. After the six-month experiment they estimated it increased productivity by 1%. Those working under...
Steampunk’s Lessons For How To Manage The Technology Age
The distance between a mechanical watch and a modern smartphone seems to embody the divide between the pre-digital and digital worlds. We imagine that...
Is Understanding Math The Key To Democracy?
In civic life, decisions are increasingly driven by data, by algorithms, by statistics. Without the ability to understand or even grapple with the numbers...
Have We Lost Our Ability To Think Through Ideas?
Thinking through—rather than just thinking—is important. A thought or an idea is never that precious. People have thoughts and ideas all the time, many of...
New York Has Become A Hub Of Endangered Languages
Just the last few decades, hundreds of thousands of people speaking hundreds of languages have arrived in New York from heavily minority and Indigenous...
New UK Anti-Terrorism Law Adds Security Obligations To Theatres
While theatre leaders have stressed that they are committed to the safety of their audiences, they have also pointed out that Martyn’s Law –...
The Giant Opera That Took Over The Streets Of Toulouse
Over the past three days, the streets of Toulouse, France, hosted an urban opera titled The Guardian of the Temple—The Gates of Darkness, in which...
Halloween Has Become Big Business For The Music Industry
“I feel very passionately about Halloween music. It’s camp. It’s carnal. It’s macabre. It’s, like, silly. It’s the only holiday where all of those...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning: This might not seem like an arts story, but it's big. The Copyright Office just granted the right for McDonald's franchisees to...
What The Universe Looks Like: A Second Copernican Revolution Is Here
Just as Copernicus reimagined the architecture of our solar system five centuries ago, we are once again in a revolution that pivots on planets....
A Sculpture Of A Desk With Poop On It Appeared On The National Mall....
It is a figurative sculpture, rooted in realism, that shows an improbably large pile of human poop on the desk of Nancy Pelosi, then...
The Composer Who Said She Channeled Liszt
Rosemary Brown produced approximately 300 musical pieces in a variety of styles, according to a list of manuscripts in the British Library. She claimed they...
We Can’t Seem To Agree On Anything — Except Perhaps When We Gather For...
The importance of audiences gathering for live performances has been and can be a healing balm for this dark era – to unite us,...
Copyright Office Rules It’s Okay To Repair Your McFlurry (And Other Things)
US Copyright Office to "grant an exemption specifically allowing for repair of retail-level food preparation equipment—including soft serve ice cream machines similar to those...
It’s Now Illegal To Post Fake Reviews
The rule bans businesses from creating, buying or selling reviews and testimonials attributed to people who don't exist, including those that are AI generated....
