Stories

The Impressionists Weren’t Sweet And Pretty – They Were Radical

“These painters buttressed one another during the lean months, the haves tending to the have-nots, united in their distaste for the Salon’s stale, imperious criteria.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Can AI Come Up With More Creative Ideas Than Researchers?

There are burgeoning efforts to explore how LLMs can be used to automate research tasks, including writing papers, generating code and searching literature. But it’s been difficult to assess whether these AI tools can generate fresh research angles at a level similar to that of humans. - Nature

Meredith Monk’s Deep Desire To Help Humans Connect Through Performance

Meredith Monk, in her 60th year of performing: “We are all on this plane. … We’re all born, we’re all going to die, and we all want to be happy, so why are we wasting our time?” - The New York Times

The Robbery Of The Century Made Mexico, And The World, Reconsider Artistic Heritage

On Christmas Day, 1985, two veterinary students broke into Mexico City’s National Museum of Anthropology and stole more than 100 “archeological pieces from the rooms dedicated to the Maya, Mixteca and Mexica civilizations.” (The Gael García Bernal movie Museo shows a dramatic recreation of the heist.) - El País

In The Era Of Deep Doubt, How Do We Know What’s Real?

“Deep doubt is skepticism of real media that stems from the existence of generative AI. This manifests as broad public skepticism toward the veracity of media artifacts, which in turn leads to a notable consequence: People can now more credibly claim that real events did not happen.” - Wired

The Era Of Sweeping Television Sagas Is Making A Bold Return

“Gorgeous production values, but with a particular court intrigue kind of momentum, punctuated by violence and driven by ambition. Very tangible, exciting stakes that are a perfect tasty mix of very serious, but also distant enough that they don’t feel like a bummer.” - Vulture (MSN)

The Producer Who Shaped The Sound Of Modern Music But Never Got To Hear It Play Out

Sophie, who died in 2021, started young, going to music festivals with her dad and brother as a child. "One day, a friend of their dad gave Sophie an old synth, and she began experimenting, sampling sounds around the house and recording music." - The Guardian (UK)

Sally Rooney Isn’t Worried About The Thinkpieces On Her Literary Growth

“The amount and intensity of both the praise and the criticism of her output can feel a little outsize, a little confusing — including to Rooney, who, as she suggested over the course of two long conversations in July, would much rather let her work speak for itself.” - The New York Times

A Museum, Outside, In Utah’s Snowy Mountains

When you want to see the next land artwork, you just keep skiing (or hiking). The curator of Powder Mountain: "This is such a tremendous opportunity to really think about commissioning work in dialogue with seasonal rhythms.” - The Guardian (UK)

The Drag Queens Of France, Internationally Derided By Right-Wingers, Come Back Strong

France was late to American-style drag, but as at the Olympics, it’s now prominent. So: “Answering hatred with glitter is a time-honored drag tradition, and Drag Race France Live, which premiered in Paris this week, showed French drag in defiant form.” - The New York Times

Indie Publishing, But For The Super-Rich

“‘Don’t call us publishers; we are a luxury brand,’ said Alex Assouline. … A special edition on Versailles, presented in a velvet clamshell, and priced at $4,900, is offered with a private tour of the château’s interior.” - The New York Times

A Painful Gesture Toward Opera On New York’s Little Island

"The opera’s three-and-a-half-hour running time has been cut to ... ninety minutes, and the exquisite Italian libretto is being projected in internet-speak English subtitles accented with the occasional emoji. The show promises to be art in line with that great contemporary ideal: frictionlessness.” - Paris Review

Some Welsh Folks Called The Police On A Gallery’s Front Window

The complainers, and the police, said the painting of a naked woman could be pornographic. The artist: "I don’t know what kind of pornography they’ve been looking at, but it’s definitely not my painting.” - The Guardian (UK)

Ellen Armstrong Was Segregated Black America’s Preeminent Magician And Performer

The act of the only Black woman magician touring during Jim Crow “was fun, full of 'marvelous, mystifying magic, music and mirth,’ as her advertising posters said, … cautioning that she ‘will not pay for doctor bills if you faint from laughter.’” - The New York Times

As Portland’s Powerhouse Literary Arts Turns Forty, It Gets A Big, Freshly Refurbished Home

The 1906 building is now earthquake-retrofitted. Renovating “represents seismic change, pun intended, in the organization’s capacity to serve the community. Not only do you have areas for people to come and hang out and read and write … you have more formal spaces for teaching and work.”- Oregon ArtsWatch

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