ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

Stories

Actor Joan Plowright, 95

Until late in life, her fame as the wife/widow of Laurence Olivier obscured from the wider public (though not from colleagues) her own extraordinary achievements on film and, especially, on stage. - The Washington Post (MSN)

David Lynch, 78

"(His films) bridged the mainstream and avant-garde, exploring the sinister recesses of the human psyche — and the mysteries behind America’s white picket fences — with an unsettling blend of melodrama, whimsy and nightmarish horror." - The Washington Post (MSN)

Google “Cubism” These Days And You’ll Get A Bunch Of AI-Generated Garbage

Same with Bing and DuckDuckGo; the bogus AI images are crowding out Picasso and Braque in the results. The stuff comes from CubismArtwork.com, which also features bot-written artist bios and how-to-paint-cubism-yourself instructions and (because of course it does) sells wall posters of AI-generated faux-Cubist art. - Artnet

Bay Area Arts Organizations In Funding Crisis

Similarly in San Francisco, hundreds of music and theater organizations (the latter in major decline recently) are struggling to survive despite the well-established fact that they have a beneficial economic impact on the city and the Bay Area. - San Francisco Classical Voice

Rehab For Actors Recovering From Playing Hamlet

It doesn't necessarily seem all that improbable, but no, this isn't really a thing. It is, however, the concept of the play Hamlet Camp, which has just opened in Sydney — starring, yes, three actors who have played Hamlet. - The Guardian

Critics Have Always Hated/Loved/Worried-About Newspapers. Let’s Understand The History

The abolition of most forms of censorship, declining paper costs, railway expansion and universal primary education triggered a newspaper boom that saw total daily circulation rise from around 1.5 million in 1870 to nearly 10 million by 1914. - Aeon

Barnes & Noble’s Great Resurgence

The bookseller expects to open over 60 new bookstores in 2025, including five this month. - Geekwire

The California Roots Of Martha Graham’s Modern Dance Revolution

The metro Pittsburgh-born Graham spent her teenage years in Santa Barbara and saw her first dance performance — featuring her future teacher Ruth St. Denis — in Los Angeles in 1911. "She talked about how intoxicating the light in Santa Barbara was to her, and she would just run and spin." - Orange County Register (MSN)

Criticism Is So Much More Than Being Critical

Criticism can oppose; it can also cajole, provoke, consider, inform, and suggest. More than being punitive or dismissive, public criticism can provide an opportunity to collectively look at a thing differently, and writing such a piece can be a collaborative venture. It can also be interrogative. - Hyperallergic

Artists Tried Influencing The Election With Billboards. Did They Sway Anyone?

How do you evaluate something as subjective and mercurial as billboard art? - The New York Times

Drake Sues His Record Label For Promoting “Defamatory” Recording

Drake’s lawsuit claims that Universal Music Group ‘chose corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists’ by allegedly promoting Kendrick Lamar’s song with bots and payola. - The Verge

Criticisms Of Spotify? The Don’t Hold Up

What a lot of these criticisms seem to miss is the crucial element: that we can still choose what we listen to. No one is making you stream the lowest common denominator playlists and you’re not forced to let the algorithm direct what you listen to. - Spectator

In Defense Of El Sistema, The Simón Bolívar Orchestra, And, Yes, Dudamel

European Union Youth Orchestra director Marshall Marcus, who's seen a lot of El Sistema's educational work up close, argues that those who denounce the program, its flagship orchestra and its most famous alumnus for providing window-dressing to the Maduro regime are missing the point — and overlooking the good El Sistema does. - The Guardian

Christie’s Picks A New Leader

Bonnie Brennan, a 51-year-old Michigan native, succeeds Guillaume Cerutti, a 58-year-old Frenchman who is stepping down after an eight-year run. Cerutti plans to continue as the house’s board chairman. - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)

The Cultural Loss Of 100,000 Arnold Schoenberg Scores

The composer’s son, now 83 years old, stored over 100,000 of his father’s scores at Belmont, in addition to photographs, letters, books, posters and more. The scores were held in a digital back-up, but this was also destroyed in the fire. - ClassicFM

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');