"His production company, Zentropa, ... said it released the information in order to avoid speculation about his health leading up to the premiere of his series The Kingdom Exodus at the Venice Film Festival next month." - AP
"Dancing Times was established in October 1910 ... and has been published continuously every month for 112 years. ... The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the rapid increase in costs over the past year, means the magazine is no longer financially viable in its current form." - Gramilano
The as-yet-untitled sculpture, to be placed near the library at King's College, is, like the one planned for Imperial College, London, made of stacked steel rectangles. But while the London statue looks like a LEGO man with an enormous erection, the Cambridge one appears entirely G-rated. - The Art Newspaper
Some of the bikes may have ended up in the canal by accident. Cyclists lost in the dark or disoriented by fog steer bikes off towpaths into canals. Drunk cyclists fall from bridges. Thieves fleeing police by bicycle swerve into the river. - The Guardian
More than 100 years after all the -isms in modern art, art lovers, art buyers, and masses of museumgoers throughout the world wholly accept the presence of most abstract modernism cheek by jowl with contemporary figural and representational works. So what happened to 20th Century music? - American Scholar
Asked about Mark Zuckerberg, the bot told BuzzFeed’s Max Woolf that “he is a good businessman, but his business practices are not always ethical. It is funny that he has all this money and still wears the same clothes!” - The Guardian
While cases regarding repatriation may be complex, the authors say, “they often present rich opportunities for enhancing understanding for all involved” by allowing the full histories of certain objects to come to light. - ARTnet
Audiences have begun to more actively engage with what they watch. They analyze, turning ambiguity into clarity, forging connections with fellow fans. As a result, storytellers have to do more than spin a satisfying yarn; they must contend with fans who are so involved, they’re practically racing them to the finish line. - The Atlantic
“It may seem counterintuitive, but sometimes burying excavated ancient art and architecture is the best way to keep it safe from environmental and human threats,” writes Alexandria Sivak on the Getty Foundation’s website. - Smithsonian
The 20-foot-tall memorial, titled ALERT and planned for the South Kensington campus of Imperial College, London, is a stack of rectangular volumes intended by Gormley to represent a person squatting. Well, that's not what comes to mind for most folks when they see it. - ARTnews
“Moral grandstanding” and “virtue signaling” are slurs. They are variations on the charge of being “woke”, “politically correct,” etc., going at least as far back as Tom Wolfe’s 1970 essay on “radical chic.” These are all ad hominems, attacking the person, not the argument or cause. - 3 Quarks Daily
The Bavarian town has, in fact, two opera houses: Richard Wagner's famous custom-built theater and the Margravial Opera House, an opulent 18th-century venue seating 600. For two weeks every summer, it's home to Bayreuth Baroque, whose director is the countertenor Max Emanuel Cenčić. - Bachtrack
This idea is surprisingly popular among philosophers and even some scientists. Assume that in the far future, civilisations hugely more technically advanced than ours will be interested in running “ancestor simulations” of the sentient beings in their distant galactic past. - The Guardian
"The label, called La Boîte à Pépites (the jewel box), will record compositions that have rarely, if ever, been heard before, yet deserve 'a good position in the standard musical repertoire'." To make the music available to more musicians, a publishing division will open next year. - The Observer (UK)
On Friday, after the casting of a white U.S. actor in the role of a prominent Latin American political figure had drawn widespread condemnation online (including some very pointed criticism from actor John Leguizamo), one of the film’s producers came forth with an explanation. - Los Angeles Times
