Stories

Change To Middle Passage Exhibit At Smithsonian’s African-American Museum

Since the National Museum of African-American History and Culture opened in 2016, its exhibit on the transport of millions of enslaved Africans to the Americas has featured a piece of the slave ship São José-Paquete de Africa. That fragment, on loan from the Iziko Museums of South Africa, will be returned this summer. - AP

Barack And Michelle Obama Are Now Broadway Producers

Higher Ground, their production company, is one of the main backers of this spring’s 16-week run of David Auburn’s Tony- and Pulitzer-winning play Proof, starring Don Cheadle and Ayo Edibiri (in their Broadway debuts) and directed by Thomas Kail, who staged Hamilton. - Variety

Bill Cosby May Be Out Of Jail, But He’s Not Out Of The Courtroom

The now-disgraced entertainer is facing a number of lawsuits (one of which began trial this week) in California by women who allege that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them. - The New York Times

Can Voice Of America Rebuild After Kari Lake Nearly Dismantled It?

“(A) source familiar with the matter suggested a ramp-up could occur within a matter of months, but that would mean a more nimble operation of around 500 journalists” — down from more than 1,000 — “and a potential consolidation of VOA and Radio Free Europe or Radio Free Asia.” - TheWrap (MSN)

All About America, Good And Bad, At This Year’s Edinburgh International Festival

“It is the largest presentation of American artists in the history of the festival,” says director Nicola Benedetti. The program includes a residence by Wynton Marsalis (Benedetti’s husband). Theatre productions will explore the AIDS crisis and racist lynchings; Clown Show will present a ‘contemporary portrait of America as a falling-apart circus’.” - The Guardian

Historic Palaces In Iran Damaged By U.S. Bombing

“The most serious confirmed damage to date has been to Tehran’s Golestan Palace, dating back to the 14th century, and the 17th-century Chehel Sotoon Palace in Isfahan.” Other landmarks in Isfahan, one of Iran’s most historic cities, have been damaged as well. - The Guardian

The Once-Banned Street Music Of Afro-Uruguayans Has Leapt Back To Life

Candombe — not to be confused with candomblé, the syncretic religion created by Afro-Brazilians — was once confined to poor black neighborhoods in Montevideo. Now it has many thousands of practitioners and fans throughout the country. - The Guardian

What If A “Day Job” Is The Foundation Of An Artistic Career?

Rather than sticking our heads in the sand—and hoping that belief, alone, will be the source of motivation we need to succeed—what if we focused on doing what it takes to play the game for as long as possible? - 3 Quarks Daily

Shaker Dancing And Christian Spirituality

“Though Christianity’s relationship with dance remains tangled, the full-bodied nature of Shaker devotion, revolutionary in the 18th century, is now an ideal for some Christians — and some dance artists.” - The New York Times

How Luxembourg’s Minister Of Culture Defended This Year’s Venice Biennale Entry

“The role of the state is not to filter works in the name of good taste,” Thill said, adding that art should challenge audiences rather than simply please them. He said the public debate surrounding the project proves that it is doing its job. - ARTnews

Why You Can’t Love A Clone

Even if a new mug – or a clone – is identical to the original in every visible way, the fact that it is not the same alters the directionality of love: the fact that it is not the same has an impact on what we are affectively able to do. - Psyche

Italy Pays €30 Million For Rare Portrait By Caravaggio

"The portrait, painted around 1598 and attributed to Caravaggio in 1963, depicts Maffeo Barberini, a nobleman who later became Pope Urban VIII. The painting was acquired from a private collection by the Italian state after over a year of negotiations and will now enter Rome’s Palazzo Barberini permanent collection." - AP

Fighting Over Art And Politics Again (And Again)

Identity, even when mobilized as a force for visibility and justice, can shield art from critique—transforming dissent into offense and rendering criticism suspect. Questioning the work risks being seen as questioning the identity. - LA Review of Books

How Politics Made Contemporary Art Predictable And Dull

The ambition to explore every facet of the present was quickly replaced by a devout commitment to questions of equity and accountability. There was a new answer to the question of what art should do: it should amplify the voices of the historically marginalized. What it shouldn’t do, it seemed, is be inventive or interesting. - Harper's

The Global Elite Have Given Up On Spelling And Grammar

The literary breaches, while trivial, highlight a reality that has become all too clear: There’s an inverse correlation between power and proper punctuation. - The Wall Street Journal

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