Culprit number one is lucre. For pop stars, Mr Marx argues, the idea of “selling out” has died out. The ultimate measure of value is financial success; distinct musical genres have been squished into “glossy, marketable pop”. - The Economist
Artists and cultural workers interviewed ahead of Colorado Creates said they worry about gentrification, burnout, lack of collaboration, the need to bring the younger generations into conversations and the cost of living in Denver. - Westword
Museums have been resistant to spending on marketing at the same levels as other cultural organizations, says the report, which posits that the thinking may go that museums and art might even be demeaned by treating them like any other product. - ARTnews
Katie Shepherd had wanted to be a balloon handler in the parade since grade school — since, believe it or not, she watched on TV the mess of 1997, when gale-force gusts wrought havoc on the balloons. In 2021 (and in calmer weather), Shepherd finally got her chance. - Slate (MSN)
The 28-member group includes curators, art dealers, journalists, and arts and nonprofit administrators. It ranges from Elizabeth Alexander, the president of the Mellon Foundation, which sits on an endowment of $7.7 billion, to Hannah Traore, who launched a 3,000-square-foot gallery on the Lower East Side not four years ago. - ARTnews
Carl Rollyson: “After writing three biographies of Sylvia Plath, what more could I possibly say about her suicide? Yet … in Plath’s case, (there are) very different circumstances that separate her suicide attempt in 1953 from her second, fatal one nearly a decade later.” - The Hedgehog Review
It’s no secret, too, that the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra is the orchestras’ orchestra; the ensemble that makes hardened pros go wobbly at the knees, and sends critics spiralling towards Pseud’s Corner. - The Spectator
How big a threat is AI to quality children’s publishing, and does it also threaten children’s learning? In a sense, my questions—not all of which are answerable—boil down to this: What makes a good children’s book, and how much does it matter if a children’s book is good? - Mother Jones
A study by the Singapore Management University found that frequent interruptions to check our devices lead to more attention and memory lapses. Unlike total screen time, the frequency of smartphone checks is a much stronger predictor of daily cognitive failures. - Washington Post
“As AI technologies proliferate and become an increasingly inescapable fact of modern life, choreographers are not only experimenting with AI tools, but they’re also creating works that grapple with the potential repercussions of artificial intelligence and the existential questions it raises.” - Dance Magazine
A group of more than 130 musicians played in unison at Sherwood Phoenix piano shop in Mansfield on Saturday. Organisers believe the performance surpassed a previous UK record for the most pianos played at once, but said there was no "official" attempt made to verify their musical effort. - BBC
The study provides evidence that large language models, such as ChatGPT, are mathematically constrained to a level of creativity comparable to an amateur human. - Psypost
The study mapped neural connections and how they evolve during our lives. This revealed five broad phases, split up by four pivotal “turning points” in which brain organisation moves on to a different trajectory, at around the ages of nine, 32, 66 and 83 years. - The Guardian
When they were called to Parliament and questioned by the House of Commons Media Culture and Sport Committee on Monday, they minimized the allegations of bias at the network which they had spent the past few weeks trumpeting. - Prospect (UK)
The structure itself is tilted toward collectors, dealers, and institutions. It is not designed to support artists. But artists who understand the language of the market can sometimes turn that knowledge into a form of protection. - Hyperallergic
