In a section of his 1843 masterwork Either/Or: A Fragment of Life, … the Danish philosopher defines boredom as a sense of emptiness and examines it not as an absence of stimulation but as an absence of meaning – an idea that also explains why it’s possible, today more than ever, to be overstimulated but existentially bored.”
Does Gentrification Actually Even Exist?
Not really. “As for displacement — the most objectionable feature of gentrification — there’s actually very little evidence it happens. In fact, so-called gentrifying neighborhoods appear to experience less displacement than nongentrifying neighborhoods. It’s time to retire the term gentrification altogether.”
Mark Zuckerberg’s New Book Club: He’s No Oprah (Yet)
“See, when Zuckerberg actually hosted the first book club ‘meeting’ – a Facebook Q&A yesterday with the book’s author, Moises Naím – he faced a problem familiar to far more plebeian bookclubs: Hardly anybody showed up. (And of those who did, few had actually read the book.)”
The Avant-Garde 1935 Ballet That Freaked The Soviets Right Out
“The Bolt,” choreographed in 1931 by Fyodor Lopukhov to a score by Shostakovich, with designs by Tatiana Bruni, has a strange history. Despite an unimpeachable narrative – an idle saboteur plans to throw a bolt into factory machinery but is prevented from doing so by worthy workers – the ballet was banned after one performance.”
“The Interview” Was Not Enough: Hackers Target Kim Jong Un Video Game
Glorious Leader! lets players battle invading imperialist U.S. paratroopers, face down tanks in Pyongyang, and (of course) play basketball with Dennis Rodman. Well, it did – until game maker Moneyhorse saw its servers hacked and locked during the holidays. The company is now “reevaluating its commitment” to the project.
The Thing About Theatre Audiences? They REALLY Want To Talk To You
“I’ve started to suspect that occasional theatregoers want to engage with a new play sooner than I previously thought and stay engaged for a longer time. They’d like more information before they see a show. They want more things to read and watch afterward. They want to hear from the director and the playwright and the designers, possibly over drinks.”
Concert Companion – Orchestra Tests App To Enhance Your Listening Experience
“At a time when most orchestras are policing interruptive phones during concerts – in China, red lasers zap offending users – here smartphones were not only kept on but encouraged, though the specially designed darkened screens created by the app are theoretically not distracting to nearby patrons, and repeated messages appear on phone screens reminding everybody to turn down the ringtones.”
Relationship Between Arts And The Press Is Fraying
“Last month, Opera Australia removed a music critic for the Sydney Morning Herald from its complimentary press ticket list after the company’s artistic director was reportedly “very offended” by a piece on the newspaper’s arts website. This was followed Jan. 2 by a similar “comp” list ban against a critic for the publication Stage Noise. And in New York, a theatrical press agent blacklisted Wall Street Journal writer Joanne Kaufman, after she admitted to “bolting” from Broadway shows during intermission.”
Architect Buys, Tears Down Ray Bradbury’s House
“According to Curbed, Bradbury’s house was purchased by “starchitect” Thom Mayne, of the firm Morphosis, and his wife, Blythe Alison-Mayne. Mayne, who is on the faculty at UCLA, is a winner of the Pritzker Prize. Bradbury, who typed “Fahrenheit 451″ on a pay-as-you-go typewriter at the UCLA library, was presented with the National Medal of Arts in 2004.”
The Arts In Movie Theatres: It’s Now Big Business
“Last season, I was tickled to learn, the Royal Ballet’s live cinema relay of Tchaikovsky’s seasonal favourite The Nutcracker beat the James Bond movie Skyfall at the cinema box-office, and came second only to The Hobbit. This year, the number of live opera, ballet and theatre productions that will be available to global cinema audiences is bigger than ever, with two million Britons expected to partake. ‘Event cinema’, as it is being dubbed, is now worth an estimated £15m ($23m) in the UK alone and shows no sign of abating.”
Is Our Creative Class Going Out Of Business?
“According to Scott Timberg, a former arts reporter for the Los Angeles Times, we are witnessing a transformation: a downsizing of our cultural capital generated by ‘anti-elite rage, market populism, and corporate consolidation.’ The creative class is being exploited rather than supported — by its supposed ‘friends’ as well as its enemies.”
California Governor Proposes Slashing Arts Budget
“The $1.1 million in state taxes that Brown wants to allocate for the arts council is one one-thousandth of a percent of the $113.3 billion in overall general fund spending he proposed last week. That continues a longstanding policy going back to the early 2000s in which California governors invariably have proposed anteing up the bare minimum from state tax coffers that’s needed to qualify for about $1 million in matching federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.”
After A Century, Wisconsin Orchestra Is Going Silent
The Green Bay Symphony “has survived world wars, the Great Depression, financial troubles, years-long closures, the introduction of television and the rise of rock ‘n’ roll. It has performed under different names in various venues, and morphed from an amateur community group to a professional one. And now, amid donor fatigue and declining ticket sales, the farewell season is in full swing. Musicians, though, remain hopeful that they can drum up support to keep the symphony intact.”
How The Dardenne Brothers Make Films As One Auteur
Luc: “We do everything together. The only place where there’s a slight division of labor is the screenwriting process. We structure and build the story together, and then I write. … In terms of the casting, the sets, the shoot, the editing – everything we do together.” Do they ever disagree? “No.”
The Making Of A Male Ballet Virtuoso
“Men’s ballet technique, unlike women’s, finds its expression in short bursts of extreme but controlled athleticism. … There are so many things to think about at once: the position of the feet, the torque of the turns, the composure of the upper body, the shifting gaze, the placement of the arms.” Marina Harss watches one master, Ethan Stiefel, pass on secrets to ABT up-and-comer Calvin Royal.
Hip-Hop Dance Moves Are Just As Hard As Ballet, Says Darcey Bussell
“I’ve tried to do some hip hop and it is so difficult. You need so many things to be able to do hip hop – extraordinary strength and ability. … Asian dance, with the arms especially, couldn’t be more similar to classical ballet: those emphases on the tiniest amount of detail, just where a finger is.”
Jake Berthot, 75, A Romantic Sort Of Minimalist Painter
“In many ways, Mr. Berthot spent his career exploring how to supplement and expand on the modernist monochrome without straying too far from it.” After a 1996 move to rural upstate New York, “the natural world became an increasing influence. He turned to depicting trees and hills so close in tone to their backgrounds that they almost seemed carved from them.”
Milan’s Trompe-L’Oeil Church
“Standing in the doorway, you’re drawn to the majestic, cavernous space behind the altar. Rows of columns support a lofty, gilded ceiling that matches the decadently adorned arches above the pews. But it’s all a clever deception – the space behind the altar is less than 3 feet deep. The seemingly vast expanse is actually a painted wall.”
Artists Using Drones In Your Work, The FAA May Be About To Ground You
“Artists in the US could have less than a year left to freely use drones in their work. Although current flight restrictions apply only to commercial, not artistic, use of drones, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working on new regulations that are due to be submitted to Congress by September.”
Paris’s New Concert Hall, Meant To Bridge Divides, Has Created New Ones
The location and programming of the Philharmonie de Paris, perched right on the city line next to the ring road, are aimed to reach out toward the four million people living in the capital’s northern and eastern suburbs. But they – many of them immigrants or their French-born children – are wary, even as many in the city’s established classical music audiences object to the hall’s remote location.
The Philharmonie de Paris’s Architect Boycotted The Hall’s Grand Opening
In an editorial in Le Monde, Jean Nouvel alleges that he has been sidelined and ignored, and that key decisions about the hall, made with no input from him, have compromised the building. “The contempt these last two years for architecture, for the architect’s craft … prevents me from expressing my agreement and satisfaction with attending the opening ceremony.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.14.15
Notes from St. Louis
(Doug Borwick on six myths about community engagement)
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-01-13
Corcoran Collection Under Wraps: Long Wait Until “Legacy Gallery” Opens
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-01-14
George Washington University Offers Corcoran’s Fillmore Building for $14 Million
(plus: preservationists’ challenge)
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-01-14
Things Composers Can Do
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2015-01-14
“Provocative Intervention” In Dulwich’s Galleries
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2015-01-14
[ssba_hide]
Virtual Reality Device Helps Disabled Children Learn To Play Piano
“It is still very early days for VR, though, and every week new applications for the technology are popping up from developers around the world. The latest might be one of the most worthwhile yet: helping children with physical disabilities to play the piano.”