Stories

Will Paris Supplant London As Europe’s Art Capital?

It could indeed happen. Christie's is owned by François Pinault, CEO of luxury-goods conglomerate Kering (which includes, among others Yves Saint-Laurent and Gucci) and major art collector; French media magnate Patrick Drahi purchased Sotheby's two years ago; mega-collector and LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault (a rival to Jeff Bezos for the title of world's richest man) is based in the...

Fire Destroys One Of US’s Leading Organ Makers

Sparks from a malfunctioning fan appear to have ignited sawdust at the factory of Dobson Pipe Organ Builders in Lake City, Iowa on Tuesday afternoon, starting a fire that consumed almost everything but part of the exterior walls. Among the instruments Dobson is best known for are the organs at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Cathedral of Our...

Justice Dept. Drops Trump Administration’s Case Against John Bolton And His Book

"The Justice Department has closed its year-old criminal investigation into former Trump national security adviser John Bolton and dropped a related lawsuit connected to the publication of his book about the ex-President's diplomatic bungling. The … criminal investigation had scrutinized whether Bolton's book illegally revealed national security information, while the lawsuit had sought to grab royalties from Bolton for...

CNN Is Selling News Clips As NFTs

In an initiative called the Vault by CNN, "the WarnerMedia-owned cable news channel … will 'mint' NFTs on the Flow blockchain of memorable moments from CNN's 41-year history. It will then sell them to the public as digital collectibles." Yes, TV coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the inauguration of Donald Trump, or the death of Anna...

MacKenzie Scott Is Now A Major Arts Philanthropist, Too

The total of $2.7 billion in grants announced this week "marks the third time in 12 months that Scott … has issued a wave of donations worth a combined ten figures. It's also the first time she has funded arts organizations at scale. (The latest round of recipients also includes racial justice groups, universities, and other organizations.) Absent from...

Choreographer Cathy Marston Will Be Next Director of Zurich’s Ballet

"Particularly noted for her narrative work, … Marston will take over as new Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer for an initial period of two years, starting from the 2023-24 season. … Marston has previous directorship experience in Switzerland, having been Ballet Director at the Konzert Theater Bern from 2007-2013. There, she created several world premieres including Wuthering Heights (2009),...

Opera Australia Lost A Big Pile Of Money Last Year

"Opera Australia has posted a $7.1 million trading deficit for the year ended December 2020, or almost $6.5 million after bequests are included. … The company received $11.4 million in 'absolutely critical' JobKeeper subsidies in 2020. 'If we hadn't had that $11.4 million, we would have been potentially looking at a $20 million trading loss, and that would have...

How Too Much Information Can Make Things Less Clear

Sometimes, attention can mislead us about the world. This is not to say that attention always distorts our knowledge of the world, but it does suggest that it might not be the unproblematic guide to knowledge that we originally thought. - Psyche

Jennifer Packer Talks About How Painting Works

I’ve never seen a painting that looked real, but I’ve seen paintings that felt real. - Cultured Magazine

Rethinking “Lord Of The Flies”

Responses to Golding’s work tend to be polarised, varying from the adulatory to the contemptuous. - 3 Quarks Daily

Of Course Networks Are Sexy Right Now. But You, Yourself, Are Not A Network

The network idea is so powerful in our connected world, that it's tempting to apply it to everything. But not to us... - 3 Quarks Daily

Why This SF Symphony Cellist Is Eager To Perform In-Person Again

Whether you’re singing along with “Messiah” or rocking with Metallica, the common auditory input of the rhythm and melody, plus the visual input of musicians and conductor, causes our brains to “entrain” or synchronize to this shared sensory awareness. - San Francisco Chronicle

Mapping Canada’s Indigenous Culture and Language

The online, interactive map divides the province up into Indigenous territories, including some areas where there is overlap, with sections featuring language, art and culture. - CBC

‘A Star Is Born’: The History Of The Asterisk

The little mark's use in texts goes back at least to Aristarchus, the second-century BC compiler and editor of Homer's epics; it continued through the Middle Ages, the birth of printing, the mass market for books, and the advent of text messaging. And it meant something different in each of those times; these days, it seems to serve at...

Big Thinker Edward de Bono, 88

Through his 60-plus books, including The Mechanism of Mind (1969), Six Thinking Hats (1985), How to Have A Beautiful Mind (2004) and Think! Before It’s Too Late (2009), as well as seminars, training courses and a BBC television series, De Bono sought to free us from the tyranny of logic through creative thinking. - The Guardian

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss