We fail all the time, in things large and small, yet our biggest failure may be that, as a rule, we don’t understand failure. And since we are not equipped to think about it, we can’t grasp its broader significance in our lives. - Psyche
They're saying that the Titanic itself never sank and there was insurance fraud, or that J.P. Morgan or the Rothschilds or the Jesuits ordered it sunk. "It becomes kind of deflating to see a lot of this junk coming out," says one historian of the ship. - The New York Times
"One of the most eagerly anticipated new cultural venues in Europe, … the £210 million flagship building in Manchester, previously called Factory International, will now be called Aviva Studios after the insurance giant Aviva acquired naming rights for, it is understood, £35 million." - The Guardian
After 16 years as a star of Houston Ballet and four at the Australian Ballet, followed by 13 years as a successful stockbroker, Li became in 2012 artistic director of Brisbane's Queensland Ballet, where he has doubled the number of dancers and quintupled the budget. - Australian Financial Review
Next month marks the 30th anniversary of Boom Chicago, an Amsterdam venue featuring Chicago-style improv comedy in English, where Seth Meyers, Jordan Peele, Amber Ruffin, and Jason Sudeikis are among the alumni. - The New York Times
"The thievery ring operated for more than two decades at 20 museums and stores across the eastern United States and parts of the Midwest." In 2002, the group allegedly took Pollock's painting Springs Winter (1949) and a Warhol silkscreen, La Grande Passion, from the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pa. - ARTnews
Anna-Maria Helsing, a Finn who became the BBC Concert Orchestra's principal guest conductor in 2020, will step up to succeed the late Bramwell Tovey as chief conductor as of October 1, with an initial contract term of three years. - The Independent (UK)
Kahchun Wong, a 36-year-old native of Singapore who won the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in 2018 and has since worked as chief conductor of the Nuremburg Symphony and the Japan Philharmonic, will succeed Mark Elder as of September 2024. - The Straits Times (Singapore)
Vicky Varga, a twenty-four-year veteran of Edmonton Public Library, described how the city had moved toward fully integrating social work into the activities of its main library branch. - The Walrus
As the world became almost unfathomably strange, many people reacted by demanding seriousness; social and political critics understandably turned very sober. And this too marginalized satire, which addresses serious issues by mocking them. - 3 Quarks Daily
AI-driven image-making—far from heralding some future post-human development—appears to be reviving long-dormant visual strategies that dominated the arts, and art theories, of the past. - Artforum
Sydney cemented the idea that grandiose political and architectural ambitions — some would say hubris — can merit the expenditure of much larger sums than bean counters would countenance. Some of these facilities ultimately proved transformative for their cities and nations. - Bloomberg
With the group now back in power, Bamian holds new symbolic and economic importance to the cash-strapped region: Officials see the Buddha remnants as a potentially lucrative source of revenue and are working to draw tourism around the site. - Washington Post
“We've been basically in a recovery mode since the 2020-21 pandemic. And I think that's the real reason why things have been stressed more. We've had some management and infrastructure issues that didn't adapt well to those two major business disruptions.” - Jefferson Public Radio
