Castles, in particular, were instruments of war and occupying or levelling them was the goal of invading armies. In many cases, the castles were then taken over by the victors and re-purposed, but many were dismantled, particularly when the structure could no longer repel attacks by cannon. – The Art Newspaper
Ai Weiwei And Frank Gehry, Sitting Around And Talking
Ai: “When I see your earlier work, the models that look like you crumpled up a piece of paper that you were going to throw out, I think that’s a breakthrough.”
Gehry: “You know, I grew up in the art world — this was the way I wanted to work, more hands-on, sort of like the way you work.” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine
Charlotte, NC Considers Sales Tax Hike To Fund Arts
“Valecia McDowell, incoming chair of [local funding body] the Arts & Science Council, said the local arts sector is at a ‘crisis point.’ To make up for steep losses in private giving, Mecklenburg County could ask voters this year to approve a new quarter-cent sales tax, which would provide a dedicated funding stream for the ASC.” – The Charlotte Observer
Large Study Shows Students Do Better All Around If They Get Education In The Arts
It’s just the latest study to find that giving students more access to the arts offers measurable benefits. And adding time for dance, theater, or visual arts isn’t at odds with traditional measures of academic success, according to the research — which amounts to one of the largest gold-standard studies on arts education ever conducted. – Chalkbeat
The Naked Pharaoh Speaks! Anthony Roth Costanzo On How Playing Philip Glass’s Akhnaten Has Changed Him
“In fact I have the show to thank for discovering electrical muscle stimulation (EMS), which uses electric current to amplify your workout and actually builds muscles much faster than I could on my own. I liked it so much that I gathered investors and started one of the first EMS companies in America (seriously).” – The Guardian
Leonard Pitts: On Writing About Race In America
“A simple thought experiment illustrates the point. If asked to define black literature, you would likely—and promptly—invoke Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison or some other dark-skinned giant of the written word. But what if you were asked to define “white” literature? The mind quails and resists, does it not?” – LitHub
Blow My Mind: How The Brain Constructs Timelines Of Memories
For us, time is a sequence of events, a measure of gradually changing content. That explains why we remember recent events better than ones from long ago, and why when a certain memory comes to mind, we tend to recall events that occurred around the same time. But how did that add up to an ordered temporal history, and what neural mechanism enabled it? – Quanta Magazine
This Writer Asked New York Film Academy To Pay Her What Men Were Getting Paid. They Kicked Her Off The Project.
Last summer, Krista Knight signed on to write the script for a 20-minute movie musical for NYFA. At the time, she agreed that she’d be paid only with in-kind services. Then she found out that the composer and lyricist were each receiving a $150 honorarium … – Hyperallergic
The Two Funders Who’ve Turned Miami Into A Serious Cultural Center
“Mid-tier cities aiming to ramp up their cultural profile in short order will find inspiration in Miami’s emergence as an arts hot spot. And regional foundations that aspire to catalyze such efforts can learn a lot by taking a closer look” at the work of the Knight Foundation and philanthropist Jorge M. Pérez. – Inside Philanthropy
Finally, A Company Is Manufacturing Point Shoes For Dudes
“A Russian company called Siberian Swan has just announced the debut of the first pointe shoe model specifically designed for men, named ‘Rudolf’ (after Nureyev, of course). It will be released next month, giving men an alternative to custom orders.” – Dance Magazine
In The Get-A-Life Department: Instagram Users Lose Followers And Freak Out
So what happened? Instagram has now tweeted that the follower loss was not the result of a fake user account culling, but instead due to a glitch they are still looking in to. – Fast Company
After 112 Years, The Oregon College Of Arts And Crafts Is To Close And Be Sold. But Why?
Every great city has a vibrant arts and craft culture, and schools and colleges are a critical. In Portland, our art and craft worlds have suffered an ongoing erosion. Go to a public school and see how few wood shops are left. The loss of the Museum of Contemporary Craft was a major hit. If we let the college close, the many donors inscribed on the wall in the college’s Vollum building — and thousands of additional donors — will completely lose their investment in this nationally recognized school. – The Oregonian
Movie Industry Weighs In On Oscars’ Decision To X Televising Cinematography Awards
Russell Crowe, not nominated for anything this year, chimed. “The Academy is removing cinematography, editing and make up from the televised show? This is just such a fundamentally stupid decision, I’m not even going to be bothered trying to be a smart arse about it,” the actor, who won an Oscar for Gladiator, said. “It’s just too fucking dumb for words.” – New York Magazine
Human Debate Champion Finally Beats IBM’s Artificial Intelligence Machine
A human has finally notched up a win against our future robot overlords. Champion debater Harish Natarajan triumphed in a live showdown against IBM’s Miss Debater AI at the company’s Think Conference in San Francisco on Monday. – Engadget
Russia Is Cutting Itself Off From The Rest Of The Internet (Temporarily). But Is This Prelude To Something Bigger?
Ostensibly the goal of the legislation is to protect the Russian internet from the US, which has an offensive cybersecurity strategy and lists Russia as one of the major sources of hacking attacks. However, many observers think the creation of a Russian intranet is a further step towards a goal of duplicating the Great Firewall of China to restrict the access of the country’s internet users to content deemed harmful by the authorities. – The Guardian
Oscars Cut Televising Some Categories In Pursuit Of Ratings. What’s Next?
Michael Philips: “If ABC and the Oscars keep this up, by 2028 we may be watching a 90-minute infomercial with no host, no technical or design awards, no sense of craft or history, and a whole helluva lot of ‘Avengers’ cast members, whoever they are by then.” – Chicago Tribune
The Atlas Of Endangered Alphabets
The founders are quick to point out that the word alphabet is used as a shorthand for many different writing systems. Abjads, abugidas, syllabaries, and pictographic systems are also included. Through the Atlas, it’s possible to take a world tour and understand more about how these systems developed. – MyModernMet
Decade-Long Study: Students Who Study The Arts Get Better Overall Grades
“It found students who took an elective arts class in sixth, seventh, or eighth grade had significantly higher grade point averages (GPAs), and better scores on standardized reading and math tests, than their peers who were not exposed to the arts. This held true after the researchers took into account “all the ways that students who did and did not take the arts in middle school were initially different.” – Pacific Standard
Abridge Too Far — Is It Ever Okay To Perform An Opera Cut Down By Half Or More?
Taking as a jumping-off point an 80-minute Idomeneo in Pittsburgh last month, Jeremy Reynolds and several opera professionals discuss whether and when cutting an opera to half its length or less is a good way to serve 21st-century audiences. (“Never in Verdi, of course, no one’s that barbaric.”) – San Francisco Classical Voice
What You Get When You Cross A Dancer With An Acrobat
“In Non Solus, a dancer becomes an acrobat, and an acrobat becomes a dancer. Recirquel Company Budapest may be a circus company, but its meditative, evening-length production is no circus spectacle. It’s more like ballet in the air.” – The New York Times
How Social Media Got ‘Be More Chill’ To Broadway
“The origin story of Be More Chill is already one of musical theater legend. After a month-long run at the Two River Theater [in New Jersey], the creative team … thought the show’s lifespan had unjustly passed. About two years later, … fan art [began] popping up on Instagram. … By the spring of 2018, the album had been streamed over 100 million times.” – Dance Magazine
Broadway Is Being More Chill About Licensing Shows To High Schools
“‘There is starting to be an understanding and a sensibility that, in certain cases, the high school market does not necessarily cannibalize the commercial run of a show,’ observed Sean Cercone, the president of Broadway Licensing. ‘In fact,’ he said that ‘we have always made the argument that nobody chooses to go to a little league game, and not buy a ticket to see the Yankees.'” – Forbes
Philly’s Latin Dance Studios Keep Closing Or Moving Out Of Town
The city has lost a third of its Latin dance studios over the past five years, “in a city that touts itself as a culture-rich salsa town, but that, according to the some of the region’s longtime owners, doesn’t offer enough resources for these institutions to thrive.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Suddenly, Kalamazoo Symphony’s CEO Is Gone
“[The orchestra] announced on Tuesday, February 12, that CEO Peter Gistelinck is no longer there but didn’t give a reason for his departure.” Gistelinck came to Michigan in 2014 after eight years as chief executive of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. – WMUK (Kalamazoo, MI)
Those Who Bought Glass Houses Shouldn’t Throw Lawsuits: Judge Tosses Out Case Brought By Neighbors Of Tate Modern
“More than half a million visitors a year get lifts up to the 10th floor of the gallery’s £260m extension and breathe in fresh air as they look out to St Paul’s, or the Shard, or the luxury interiors of expensive flats in the Neo Bankside development a little over 34 metres away.” The owners of four of those apartments sued the Tate Modern to try to force the museum to close that side of the viewing platform; in effect, the judge told the plaintiffs, as the former Tate director did 2-1/2 years ago, to buy some damn curtains. – The Guardian