“I remember feeling a sense of comfort and security after seeing some very friendly faces in the getaway car. But I also felt fear that it might turn out another way — that at any second, it could fall apart and become like a bad police movie.” - The New York Times
Molly Templeton’s desire is “for us to have the time, the space, the mental bandwidth to welcome uncertainty, to crank up our curiosity and give the weird or confusing or just slightly unexpected books a chance. And I want it to be totally okay and acceptable and normal.” - Reactor Mag
Just a portion of the issues: “The library’s public computers have been unavailable for a month. So have its public Wi-Fi networks. Books are being checked out by spreadsheet. And librarians are asking patrons to not return books.” - Seattle Times
The Real that art helps us come into contact with is something far more slippery, and far closer to what Walter Benjamin called the “true surrealist face of existence.” - Harper's
Over the past few years, attendance levels fell and fund-raising efforts slowed as overhead costs and employee salaries rose. Many museums are doing fewer exhibitions per year in an attempt to tighten their belts. - The New York Times
Legends Tower recently gained approval from the city to have an unlimited height, and after a series of changes, the skyscraper is now slated to reach 581 metres (1,907 feet), making it the tallest in the world outside Asia and more than double the height of Oklahoma City's second-tallest building. - Dezeen
The cuts to the more than 200 library branches had become a political thorn in the mayor’s side. In the weeks leading up to the budget agreement, Council members and library leaders mounted an aggressive pressure campaign. - Gothamist
YouTube made up nearly 10% of all viewership on connected and traditional TVs in the U.S. in May, according to Nielsen. Netflix ranked second, claiming 7.6% of viewership. - CNBC
Kehinde Wiley’s accusers have responded to concerns raised by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) regarding museums’ decisions to rescind exhibitions of the artist’s work in the wake of sexual assault allegations. - Hyperallergic
"It’s not merely that she’s now 61 — albeit dancing exquisitely — and sharing a stage with dancers one-third her age. It’s also that she’s about to embark on an exciting new chapter as artistic director of the Vienna State Ballet, and plans to devote herself '200%' to the task." - AP
Should we trust the most optimistic voices coming from Silicon Valley, AI could be the vehicle we use to create boundless wealth, cure all ills, heal the planet, and move toward immortality, while the pessimists warn that it may be our downfall. Has our time come to join the gods eternal? - Harper's
"On June 25, his production company, Studio Simkin, unveiled one, a seven-minute dance film produced by (and starring) Simkin and choreographed by David Dawson. Shot during the pandemic in April 2021, one represents both a labor of love and where Simkin would like to see his career go eventually." - Pointe Magazine
All venues were full. All audiences I joined were infectiously rapt. Yet everywhere I went there was an inescapable feeling of doom, of disquieting calm before the storm. - Los Angeles Times
"(Testing revealed that) the levels of arsenic and mercury in Beethoven’s hair were slightly elevated. The lead levels, on the other hand, were a startling 64 to 95 times higher than the hair of someone today." - NPR
That September, officials from present-day Belgium and the Netherlands arrived at the Louvre to reclaim artworks plundered during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. "(It) is such a critical moment in art history that 200 years later it resurfaces again and again as debates over repatriation continue." - The New York Times
