"When a wealthy donor agrees to support an institution in return for naming rights, the lawyers increasingly draw up contracts with carefully worded 'morals clauses'. Such clauses 'allow an institution to protect themselves in the event of a donor falling from grace.'" - The Art Newspaper
"Located in the Khashabiyeh Mountains …, the shrine features two large standing stones carved with anthropomorphic figures, as well as an altar and hearth. The team also found almost 150 marine fossils and a small-scale model of a 'desert kite' trap used to capture and slaughter wild gazelles." - Smithsonian Magazine
"On March 25, word started to spread on Twitter that a multitude of LGBTQ books — many of them by debut authors — were inexplicably missing from Target's website, despite a number of the titles having previously been listed for pre-order." - Publishers Weekly
In February "the mayor released a preliminary budget for fiscal year 2023 that proposes slashing one-third of the city's culture budget. So how does the mayor's grandiose rhetoric about New York's cultural comeback match up with his budgetary policy?" (Poorly.) - Hyperallergic
After Bolshoi director Vladimir Urin signed a petition for ending Russia's war in Ukraine and one of the Bolshoi's star ballerinas abruptly emigrated, the Russian president reportedly asked Gergiev, artistic director of the Mariinsky and longtime Putin friend, to consider bringing both houses under his management. - MSN (The Washington Post)
The case will test fair use defense to copyright infringement and how to assess if a new work based on an older one meaningfully transformed it. The black-and-white image that Warhol used was taken in 1981 by Lynn Goldsmith, whose work has appeared on more than 100 album covers. - The New York Times
The early results showed a 56 percent improvement on the 9.6 million people who watched last year’s event, according to ABC, though Sunday night’s show was still the second least-watched Oscars ever. - The New York Times
Part of the reason people are attracted to religion is that its rituals – the standing, sitting and kneeling in unison, the singing, the listening to emotionally rousing sermons – trigger the brain’s endorphin system. - The Guardian
Certainly, if you consider what’s currently happening in visual arts, it appears that we are in a major Surrealist revival. The most prominent bellwether is the Venice Biennale, which opens to the public on April 23. - Toronto Star
Art historians may say that they do not need numbers. There is the art: you just need to look, think, and write. But that is to misunderstand the nature of knowledge. All empirical claims are probabilistic, and the only issue is how to make them. Scientists estimate the truth: everyone else just guesses. - Inference
Researchers looked at 39 studies of play and included 17 in a meta-analysis that found when children ages three to eight engage in guided play, they can learn just as much in some domains of literacy and executive function as children who receive direct instruction from a teacher or adult. - Hechinger Report
The Oscars face a litany of problems, some of which are out of the organization’s control and others that are self-inflicted. Those include the unpopularity of the nominees, the fragmentation of the TV audience and the controversial pared broadcast presence of eight awards, meant to preserve ratings. - Los Angeles Times
Academic historians must now grapple with a new breed of students “for whom Paradox is the historical mother tongue and actual history is only a second language.” - The Atlantic
The project is expected to cost $400 million, with $250 million to renovate the pyramid Redwood Park and the Mark Twain Street located on the block. - SF YIMBY
Baryshnikov, the actor and ballet star, launched a fundraising drive to support Ukraine. But he also said Russian stars who do not speak out should not be targeted by the west. In contrast, Ratmansky, an admirer and friend of Baryshnikov, believes there is no excuse for not actively opposing the war. - The Guardian
