The provincial English town of Milton Keynes is known for a long stand of arching trees planted to roughly match the footprint of Norwich Cathedral. Choreographer Rosemary Lee writes about creating Under the Vaulted Sky, a site-specific dance for the spot. (includes video)
Iceland Is Almost Obsessively Literary. What’s Up With That?
“For a country that boasts a population of approximately 320,000 people — that’s less than Belize, Brunei, and the Bahamas — Iceland is punching above its weight class.”
Educators Look At Multi-User Video Games As Effective Teaching Systems
“The goal is to change the student’s mindset to a mastery orientation—to promote motivation, engagement, active learning—and to cultivate 21st century skills like collaboration, problem solving, creativity and systems thinking.”
So Science Can’t Trust Peer-Review Journals? Maybe There’s A Better Way…
“Peer-review is based on trust, but as the international scientific community grows, scientists won’t spend their careers in the small, trusted networks of known colleagues that earlier generations of researchers were used to. Journals and reviewers need to step up their efforts to check for misconduct, but inevitably, papers with major problems will get through. Crowd-sourced, post-publication review through social media is an effective, publicly open way for science to stay trustworthy.”
The World’s Strangest Form Of Gymnastics (And It’s More Than 900 Years Old)
Mallakhamb – performed atop a pole, hanging from a rope, or hanging from a pole suspended by a rope – developed in the 11th century in the highlands surrounding what is now Mumbai, where it’s still taught and practiced today.
Publicly Funded Arts Orgs In England Now Earn More Than Half Their Income
“Theatres and arts organisations currently funded as part of Arts Council England’s national portfolio now raise more than half of their income from ticket sales, educational work and catering.”
France Banned Free Shipping, So Amazon Now Charges One Cent
“This past October, French lawmakers decided it was time to show Amazon who’s boss. Frustrated by Amazon’s fast and cheap book-selling model, which poses a threat to France’s healthy ecosystem of indie bookstores, politicians banded together to approve a bill that prohibited Jeff Bezos’ company and other online retailers from shipping discounted books for free.” Far be it from Amazon to break the law …
Diane Paulus Does Not Want You Going To The Theater Because You Think It’s Edifying
“The idea that to be popular is to dumb down [is one that] I completely reject. The audience is smart and witty and wants to be challenged.”
Artists Can’t Get Any Respect – But That Can Change
“Think about how we all instinctively turned to artists to help interpret unthinkable events for us. It was our singers and musicians, our writers and poets that we, all of us everywhere, wanted to hear from. It was our artists that gave voice to our national agony and helped make the incomprehensible tolerable.”
Is The Crossword Puzzle Going Extinct?
“Fewer people than ever before are crosswording. And just because crosswords are slowly losing their crotchety clues doesn’t mean that solver demographics have changed.”
Getting British Theatres Large And Small To Mount The Funding Barricades, Together
“Although it sometimes feels hard to effect change in any sphere, particularly government thinking, theatre is not helpless. Far from it.”
Long Live Ephemeral Art (Like Kara Walker’s Now Recycled Sphinx)
“Concerned about the emotions she’d suffer, her staff packed her off to a house in the woods. But rather than mourn the departure of her creation, Ms. Walker ought to take heart from her contribution to the grand tradition of ephemeral art.”
The Beginning Of The End Of The Selfie?
“The future of photography is the past, both as subject and technique. Time-lapse photography is coming to your smartphone, and when it does, expect to see the passage of time take over all your albums, feeds, and streams.”
Why Are Wax Museums Making A Comeback?
“You might have thought that the gossipy Twitter feeds, paparazzi glossies and video cameras in every phone would have obliterated the public appetite for goggling at mere reproductions of fame. But paradoxically, more people than ever are visiting Madame Tussauds waxworks around the world.”
So Who’s Buying Vinyl – And Are They Going To Save The Music Industry?
“Total physical album sales were down 14.9% in the US in the first half of 2014, to just shy of 121 million units. CD sales led the way down, falling by 19.6% (there were still nearly 63 million of them sold), while digital album sales were down 11.6% to 53.8 million units. Set against that, the 4 million vinyl albums sold are an irrelevance.”
Longtime Dallas Symphony Volunteer Files Lawsuit For Defamation
The DSO parted ways with José Reyes last July, and issued a press release about that. Then the (already bizarre) story grew even more intense.
Is Britain Going To Ban Same-Sex Dancers From Dance Competitions?
“The proposal came after complaints some mixed-sex dancers were ‘unfairly disadvantaged’ in competitions against all-male couples who are physically stronger.”
When Google Gives Bad Information About A Los Angeles Museum, Things Go Wrong Quickly
‘Fink trusted what he saw and arrived downtown to find locked doors. MOCA, he learned, is in fact closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, not open seven days a week as his Google search suggested. Traffic hadn’t been too bad, so the futile round trip had cost him only about 75 minutes.’
Today’s Top AJBlogs 07.11.14
Charlie Haden, Double Bass, 1937-2014 The announcement none of us wanted to hear came early this afternoon from Tina Pelikan of ECM Records. It is with deep sorrow that we… [read more] AJBlog: RiffTides | Published 2014-07-12
How Bourbon Street Represents New Orleans to The World
“It’s a place that appalls preservationists, reformers and intellectuals — anyone who gets social rewards by decrying noise and garish commercialism. On the other hand, Bourbon Street is incredibly influential. It’s the most recognized place name in the city – and for better or worse, it has exported a vision of New Orleans culture around the world.”
Why Isn’t Internet Culture Spreading To Other Media?
“Thus far the majority of Internet Culture has yet to stray from its medium of birth. And why would it? Not all mediums are equipped to handle all forms of expression.”
A New New York Dance Powerhouse
Gina Gibney has a singular opportunity to cultivate a new generation of audience members and artists. “Dance has just been in a downward spiral,” she says. “I can’t change that, but I do want to create a space … where things get better.” A modest proposal, but the response to Ms. Gibney’s new center will nonetheless foretell contemporary dance’s chance for survival.
Massachusetts’ Clark Museum Reopens Remade
“To a great extent the Clark, which is known especially for its holdings in French Impressionism and 19th-century academic painting plus a handful of Renaissance masterpieces, has done this by doubling down, intensifying but also elaborating its founders’ mission: the individualistic contemplation of art within domestically scaled spaces in a pastoral setting.”
Ski Officials Suspended For Rigging Vanessa-Mae Qualification For Olympics
“Competing in Sochi for Thailand as Vanessa Vanakorn, using the surname of her Thai father, she finished a distant last among the 67 racers who completed the two runs in the Olympic giant slalom.”
Opportunity Detroit: After The Fall, Unprecedented Possibility?
“Just a couple of years after Detroit slid into what the national news media incessantly called a ‘post-apocalyptic’ collapse, the city now teems with a post-post-apocalyptic optimism.”