The trickster artist and Chinese dissident is actually imprisoned in his house in Beijing – so who better for a show at the island prison? “To a site often flattened into a caricature as the onetime home of mobster Al Capone, Ai has layered on a contemporary meditation on political imprisonment, freedom of speech and the power of creativity as a force that can better society.”
When This Famous Orchestra Moved Its HQ Into A Housing Project, Good Things Started Happening
“Eight years ago, one of Europe’s best-known orchestras” – the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen – “moved their rehearsal rooms to a secondary school on this housing estate and pupils from Tenever found themselves sharing their corridors and lunch tables with professional musicians. Since then the school’s results have improved, its drop-out rates have fallen to less than 1% and the atmosphere in the wider neighbourhood has been ‘transformed’, according to Joachim Barloschky, a local official.”
British Theatre Has Gone Election-Mad
“It’s a paradox. In TV studios and on Twitter, British politics seem trapped in a spin cycle of claim and counter-claim, carefully massaged soundbites and kitchen-sink (or kitchen-counting) drama for an audience largely looking the other way. But on stage – particularly in the hands of young, experimental theatre-makers – the workings of democracy have rarely seemed so charged with possibility.”
British Cinema Chains Yank Biopic After Major Protests By Sikhs
“The Odeon and Cineworld cinema chains have cancelled screenings of Indian film Nanak Shah Fakir following a major sit-in protest at a branch of Cineworld in Wolverhampton. … The film, a biopic of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak, was being protested because the religion prohibits any personification of the Guru, either by actors or in animated movies.”
Jan Morris: ‘I Hate Being Called A Travel Writer’
“I have written only one book about travel, concerning a journey across the Oman desert. I have written many books about place, which are nothing to do with movement, but many more about people and about history.” Here, she answers questions, some from readers, about her book Venice, her career, and her brushes with history.
Trademark Office Rejects Katy Perry’s Attempt to Own Left Shark From Superbowl
“Lawyers for the Roar singer had applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to have the design registered to prevent others from making money from unlicensed depictions of the outfit, made famous by an out-of-step back-up dancer.”
English National Opera Makes Big Season Cuts (But What’s Left Is Pretty Good)
“The company’s 2015-16 programme represents a cut of around a third in terms of productions, the result of the withering financial crises, drastic Arts Council cuts, last-ditch bailouts and all-round air of impending doom that has engulfed the company for the umpteenth time in its history for the last few months.”
This Theater Company Makes House Calls
“The latest iteration of intimate, in-home performances – think home concerts – Salon Ariel hopes to fill a void in the theater world.”
Christo’s Next Project Will Let Us Walk On Water (Sort Of)
His first major work to be realized since The Gates in 2005 – and the first since the death of his wife and partner, Jeanne-Claude – The Floating Piers will be “three kilometres of shimmering yellow walkways on Lake Iseo in Italy that will link two of its islands to the mainland for the first time.”
A French Philosopher Who Has Happiness (!) Figured Out
Frédéric Lenoir: “It’s difficult to get what you want. Even if we desire something, most of the time we don’t take the right steps to get it – that’s the problem with pleasure. We want to be happy, but we prefer pleasure. But pleasure and happiness are quite different.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates Unpacks the Way Comics Have Conquered the World
“Seventy-seven years after Superman first leapt into the American imagination, superhero stories have never been more popular (or lucrative). Comics have become a breeding ground for multibillion-dollar movie and TV franchises … But why are superheroes resonating so strongly? And are they worthy of the attention? These questions are important enough to compel Ta-Nehisi Coates to take a timeout from kicking off national conversations about race and politics, don his fanboy cape, and go in search of the answers.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 04.22.15
Prokofiev’s Happy Ending, and Further Thoughts on Conducting Ballet
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2015-04-22
Bailey Bails, Philippe Leaps: Big Surprises At Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Hispanic Society of America
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-04-22
“Sleeping Through a Revolution”: Technology and Culture
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2015-04-22
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Big New Major Awards For Humanities Scholars
“The Carnegie Corporation of New York, which announces its first class of 32 fellows on Wednesday, will provide grants of up to $200,000 to each recipient. The award, to be given annually, supports a year or two of full-time research and writing leading to the publication of a book or study.”
Enormous Challenges Face New York Philharmonic
“Each item on its agenda would pose significant challenges on its own. But the orchestra must do them all nearly simultaneously, adding layers of counterpoint-like complexity to the tasks at hand.”