For The First Time, A Magritte Painting Sells For Nine Figures
One of several versions of René Magritte's "L’Empire des lumières” sold for $121 million at auction at Christie's New York. - CNN
Boston University Puts Hold On Admissions To PhD Programs In Humanities
The university's College of Arts and Sciences has suspended admissions to doctoral programs in a dozen humanities and social science departments, including English, philosophy,...
Today’s AJ Highlights
This Composer Created An Entire Week-Long Piece Specifically For People’s Living Rooms “Drawing from a bank of over 7,000 ‘musical shapes, textures and gestures,’...
This Composer Created An Entire Week-Long Piece Specifically For People’s Living Rooms
"Drawing from a bank of over 7,000 'musical shapes, textures and gestures,' as (Michael) Schumacher describes the mix of sampled audio, field recordings and...
London’s Royal Opera Explores What It Means To Have A Voice (And Lose It)
“When you lose your voice, it takes away more than just your ability to communicate. You also lose part of your identity, personality and...
The ABC Sports Producer Who Pioneered Real-Time Livestreaming Of A Calamity — In 1972
Geoffrey Mason, aged only 30, was a producer helping run coverage of the Munich Olympics when terrorists from the Black September group took hostage,...
Yo-Yo Ma And Kathryn Stott: A 40-Year Musical Partnership Comes To An End
Friends before they started playing together, Ma and Stott met in 1978 in rather unusual circumstances. - The New York Times
African Musicians Sound Off About Using AI In Music
"My problem with AI is the ownership. Once you have taken some music from Ghana or Nigeria, who owns that music? How would you...
Airbnb Wants To Stage Gladiator Battles In The Actual Colosseum. Romans Are Appalled.
Airbnb and the Colosseum Archaeological Park have signed a $1.5 million deal to offer 16 tourists a chance to "unleash their inner gladiator." Colosseum...
How Technology Has Reshaped The Ways We Talk To One Another
The kinds of speech that strike us as authentic, satisfying, and desirable change with time, and depend on our position in the world and...
Let’s Get Real: What AI Does Is Not Speaking Language
To invoke language when talking about LLMs is to misunderstand the nature of language and miss its fundamentally lived and embodied character. LLMs may...
Bay Area Museums Are Struggling To Survive
More than half a dozen nonprofit arts and cultural institutions reviewed by the Chronicle have experienced significant revenue decreases, most say attendance remains below...
What You Get When You Train AI On Werner Herzog Movies
You get a film titled About a Hero, interspersing an AI-written narrative starring Herzog (as a character) investigating a mysterious death with interviews with...
The Prado Museum Casts Itself In The Role Of Literary Muse
Since last year, the Prado has been bringing novelists to live in an apartment overlooking the museum. They stay for periods ranging from three...
How Do Humans Understand Direction? With Language, Of Course
The configuration and language of the four directions is common to many—though not all—cultures. - LitHub
Russian Ballet Dancer Critical Of Putin Falls From 5th Floor To His Death
Multiple Vladimir Putin adversaries have died after falling from windows. The term “Sudden Russian Death Syndrome” was born after many notable Russian figureheads who...
Federal Judge In Texas Temporarily Halts The Onion’s Purchase Of Infowars
"The bankruptcy judge overseeing the Chapter 7 liquidation of Infowars and Jones’ assets on Thursday temporarily halted the transfer of Infowars to The Onion...
Even Northern California Has Issues With Censoring High School Plays
School district officials cancelled Santa Rosa High School's production of Dog Sees God, which depicts the characters of the comic strip Peanuts in high...
Director Of Smithsonian’s American Art Museum Was Removed After Years Of Staff Complaints
Stephanie Stebich raised more than $100 million for the museum in her seven years there and maintained good relations with the board and senior...
Arthur Frommer, Who Pioneered The Budget Travel Guide, Has Died At 95
Beginning in 1957 with "Europe on $5 a Day," Frommer’s philosophy changed the way Americans traveled abroad. His advice became so standard that it’s...
Shen Yun Under Investigation By New York State For Labor Practices
The company is alleged to use underage student performers to work on and off stage for workweeks of well over 40 hours, with extremely...
James Sewell Ballet Will Close After 35 Years
The Minneapolis-based company will shut down next March. "It’s the latest blow to the Twin Cities dance community, less than a year after ......
Giller Prize, Canada’s Top Literary Award, To Anne Michaels For “Held”
The jury described the book as "a novel that floats, a beguiling association of memories, projections, and haunted instances through which the very notion...
How Might We Communicate With Aliens? Understanding AI Might Help
Unlike bones, we can’t dig up ancient languages to study how they developed over time. While we may be unable to study the true...
News Service AP Will Cut Eight Percent On Its Staff In Restructuring
The bulk of the changes will come in the U.S., where we remain committed to our 50-state footprint but must evolve to align with...
