“Tired? Jaded? Lacking motivation and energy? Who better to provide you with a pep talk than cinema’s foremost exponent of positivity and general joie de vivre, Mr. Werner Herzog?!”
If You Cry While Reading A Book, You Cry Alone (But That’s OK)
“All the analysis and theory in the world must finally bow before the incommunicable experience of reading literature.”
The Hot New Performance Space? Your Living Room
“Living rooms are just the best way to do that. It’s a space where a group of people can comfortably exist on its own terms – they can sit on chairs, if they want, or pig-pile on the carpet, which we prefer. People can clap when they want to, and play the air violin if they’re so inclined. There are no invisible institutional strictures that inhibit the way in which we want to participate.”
If Only The Rich Can Afford To Become Artists, What Does That Do To Our Culture?
“The question underlying the current posh war remains: are too many careers increasingly an option only for those with the backing of an affluent family? And what will Britain become if this continues?”
The Little Record Label That Could
“Manfred Eicher’s approach has changed the cultural conversation more than once, while making serious contributions to musical life. Why haven’t more companies replicated ECM’s model?”
Study: Going To The Theatre Is Scotland’s Favorite Live Arts Activity
“Theatregoing is the second most popular cultural activity in Scotland after the cinema, according to a survey that shows that 32% of Scots went to the theatre in 2013.”
How Can You Tell If An Author Is Being “Authentic”?
“Tackling an author who is new to us, it can be hard to tell whether the work is authentic or not. In which case, best to enjoy the perplexity of not quite knowing how serious our author is, weighing the arguments on both sides, reading another novel to see how it fits. This is part of the fun of reading, too, the attempt to get one’s mind round the work, accepting a long game played out over three, four, five books.”
Frank Oteri’s List Of The Ten Best American Symphonies
“Since we’re New Music USA after all, I thought I’d further up the ante with a list devoted exclusively to works by American composers. But since I’m also FJO, I couldn’t limit myself to one per number and even broke a few of the rules (as you’ll see)…”
Cultural Shift: The App Industry Is Now Bigger Than Hollywood Entertainment Industry
“To me, that the American app industry may eclipse the American film industry is more interesting for what it means culturally. There’s a growing sense that the products of the sector we usually call “tech” are attaining cultural primacy—the web is the new TV.”
Five Monets, £55M, One Hour – Just Part Of London’s Richest Art Auction Ever
“The evening auction on Tuesday raised an overall total of £186.44m, almost £50m over Sotheby’s estimate, and broke auction records for five individual works by artists including Seurat and Malevich as bidders from 35 different countries clamoured to get their hands on the many iconic works up for sale.”
Harper Lee Can Barely See Or Hear, But She Can Still Think, Says Friend
“Does she understand what’s going on? If you make her hear, she can understand what’s going on. Can she give informed consent? Absolutely, she can give informed consent. She knows what she likes, who she likes, what she doesn’t like. Mainly, she doesn’t like people to disturb her and interrupt her privacy and probe in her personal business.”
Is Harper Lee’s “Go Set A Watchman” A Sequel, Or What? The Publisher Explains
Jonathan Burnham of HarperCollins: “It’s set 20 years after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird, … during the mid-1950s during a turbulent time in American racial politics. … In a way, it’s a pre-sequel, if that could exist. None of the material from Go Set A Watchman can be found in To Kill A Mockingbird. All the scenes are new. The writing is new. … It’s in every respect a different novel.”
You Have No Idea What Happened: How We (Mis-)Remember Shock Events
“Their memories were vivid, clear – and wrong. There was no relationship at all between confidence and accuracy.” Maria Konnikova explores how this happens in the brain.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.04.15
Walter Liedtke, Consummate Curator of Dutch and Flemish Painting, Dies in a Train Crash
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-02-04
Arts Predispositions I: Yeses
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-02-04
Happy Returns: Relinquished Hellenistic Silver Back on Display at Metropolitan Museum
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-02-04
The Bill Evans Legacy
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-02-04
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Pianist Aldo Ciccolini, 89
Throughout Mr. Ciccolini’s career, critics praised his playing for its technical virtuosity, airy lyricism and cool, assiduous elegance.
Troubled Flanders Ballet Gets A New Director
“The internationally prominent choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui will be the new artistic director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders, the company announced Wednesday in Antwerp, Belgium. Tamas Moricz , a former dancer with William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt, will be the associate artistic director.”
Picasso’s Granddaughter Is Selling Off The Art She Inherited. Uh-Oh.
“Her unconventional sales approach is reverberating through international art markets, worrying dealers and auctioneers accustomed to playing key — and lucrative — roles in the sale of renowned art. In an interview, Ms. Picasso said she would sell works privately and would judge “one by one, based on need,” how many, and which, of the remaining Picasso works, of about 10,000 that she inherited, she would put up for sale.”
Problem: TV/Video/Movie Producers Don’t Have A Reliable Way To Measure Who Is Watching
“The fact that we don’t have the ability to look at a telecast of a show or the flight of a series…and don’t understand the (audience) behavior is really sad.”
NYC Mayor Pledges New Affordable Housing For Artists
“in Bill de Blasio’s second State of the City Address, delivered this afternoon, the mayor outlined his plan for addressing New York’s housing problem, which includes building 1,500 affordable artist work/live spaces by 2024.”
British Invasion (NY’s Three Biggest Arts Projects Led By Brits)
“New York City has three arts centers under development and the artistic leadership at each one is coming from across the pond.”
The Bill Evans Effect (Even 35 Years After His Death)
“Evans is so much a part of the jazz environment that many musicians who reached maturity in the 21st century are not conscious that his concepts are part of their musical DNA.”