“We normally only respond like this to experiences that might ensure or endanger our survival – food, reproduction, or the terrifying plummet of a rollercoaster. How can music – hardly a life-or-death pursuit – move the mind and the body as powerfully as sex?”
Why Charging Admission Might Be A Good Idea For UK Museums
“Sometimes you have to think the unthinkable. If we want museums to prosper and thrive in a harsh economic climate with central government talking about 40% cuts, an entrance fee may be the best way forward. And it may have a good side.”
Russia’s Bookstores Cordially Invited To Join Vladimir Putin’s Book Club
“The government plans to begin offering rent and tax breaks to booksellers in exchange for an ‘opportunity’ to provide a selection of titles chosen by the government. Dmitry Livanov, Russia’s Minister of Science and Education said this this new program [will] ‘help promote sales of those books which have historical value’ and ‘can contribute to patriotic education of local population’.”
We All Understand Fear And Anxiety Wrong, Says Neuroscientist Who First Mapped The Brain’s ‘Fear Circuit’
“These days, most people think that the fear circuit gives rise directly to the emotions of fear and anxiety. [Joseph] LeDoux is convinced it doesn’t – and that this distinction matters a great deal.”
How Do You Balance The Rights Of An Artist With The Progress Of A Culture (Who Owns What?)
“The achievements of a people, be they in politics, in science or even in war, must belong on some level to the people for them to bring forth further achievements. And what is true of a society’s great experiment is true of the culture that society produces.”
This Reality Show Thought It Was A Good Idea To Send Contestants To A Syrian War Zone
The show, called Go Back to Where You Came From, “is a three-part reality series aimed at sparking a conversation on immigration by sending six Australians to see refugee conditions in person.” And considering the current Australian government’s policy toward refugees (park them on a distant Pacific island or tow them back out to sea), perhaps showing what it’s like along the Iraqi-Syrian border was a good idea.
When Conceptual Artists Become Aerobics Instructors
“The class, ‘Sappho and Sweat,’ was the second offering from ‘Heavy Breathing,’ which its co-founders describe as ‘a summer series of free critical theory seminars in the form of absurd, artist-led conceptual fitness experiences.’ The idea came to Lisa Rybovich Crallé, a multimedia artist, last year. She and Sophia Wang, a dancer who recently completed her Ph.D. in literature, were collaborating on a sculptural installation when they took a long walk up a hill and discovered that discussing Aristotle’s conception of topos while huffing could be uniquely stimulating.”
What Does TV’s Creep Of The Freudian Uncanny Tell Us About Ourselves?
“Why are viewers so compelled by the weird and inexplicable? Why the increasing glut of uncanny television shows that try to take the world and turn it upside down? Why the clamor to see dead classics resurrected for a second life?”
Foes Of Frick Extension Have An Alternate Plan To Offer
“Instead of building up and out, the alternative plan, developed by New York architect David Helpern, would largely reconfigure the museum’s existing space. Much of the expansion would take place below grade, an approach employed at London’s British Museum, the Morgan Library & Museum and others.”
Your Geographical History, In Books
“When I think of Angela’s Ashes, what I remember most is the way Hong Kong sounded and smelled. The air was muggy, winey, and fishy by late afternoon. Salt blew off the sea. My hostel smelled like cigarette smoke and old newspapers, and the curtains were always closed so that the place sat in a simmering, crowded gloom.”
Is It Time For Great Britain To Embrace Outdoor Theatre?
“It is the most democratic of art forms, generally free at the point of delivery and with an audience who can walk away at any time.”
In Praise Of The Unlinked Story Collection
“I do not need a collection to feel ‘cohesive,’ nor do I spend too much time considering the order. Rather, what I adore is precisely the opposite: a rattling journey from plot to plot, from character to character, from idea to idea.”
The Ultimate Temple Raider
“Museums in America and abroad, including institutions in Massachusetts, Ohio, Hawaii, Singapore and Australia, are shedding rare holdings because they came from Art of the Past, which closed in 2012. The next year, investigators seized two statues Mr. Kapoor had boldly put on display inside the Indian-owned Pierre Hotel in New York, trundling them through the lobby in front of aghast executives.”
British Museums *Should* Start Charging Again
“What if, instead of selling off great works of art, councils charged for admission? What harm would that do to education and public access? None. People would pay the entrance. School trips would go on, as they do now.”
Ethel Smyth, A Larger-Than-Life Activist Victorian Composer
“The score is fearless. Maybe that’s what they thought was masculine about it. And maybe that’s why Ethel Smyth, with all of her in-your-face attitude, ran afoul of the group she called the ‘Male Machine’.”
Gustavo Dudamel Explains Why He’s Staying With El Sistema And Away From Politics, Despite Venezuela’s Crisis
“Now that I’m an adult, now that I’m a father, I understand the world a little better. And I understand sometimes more than people think I understand. You know when you are in a turbulent situation, you have to see beyond the turbulence instead of putting more things in the turbulence. That is Maestro Abreu’s vision.”
Dancers In Wheelchairs Appear On Bolshoi Stage For First Time
“When the Bolshoi unveiled its take on a Russian literature classic this week, among the dancers was a Paralympian who lost his leg to frostbite while serving in the Russian army, swirling on stage in his wheelchair.”
Pole Dancing Is Becoming A Serious Art Form (If These Folks Have Anything To Say About It)
“A pole, like most props on a dance stage, doesn’t mean much on its own. It stands ready and waiting for the bounds of a choreographer’s imagination, a means to provide a vertical space and fresh vocabulary for a story spelled out in movements. In this capacity, pole dance as an abstract art form is taking shape, growing in a starkly contrasting direction from its place in strip clubs and competitions.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.23.15
Harry Partch’s sonic cathedral – and what others have built around it.
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2015-07-23
Conover And The VOA: A Response
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-07-23
FAILE Fail: Brooklyn Museum as Gaming Arcade (with video)
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-07-23
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UK Museums Consider Scrapping Free Admissions As Government Threatens Major Funding Cuts
Museums Association president David Fleming said charging for entry was now on the agenda at many other venues that face local council funding cuts.
Violinist Sets UK Record For Live Music In Movie Theatres
With box office takings of £1.1m from 460 cinemas, the annual event has set a record for a music concert concert at UK cinemas. And that doesn’t mean just classical concerts: André Rieu’s army of fans turned him into a Take That- and One Direction-beating draw at the nation’s picture-houses, and, indeed, Picture Houses.
NY City Ballet Principal Who First Danced With The Company At Age 9 Is Retiring
Jennie Somogyi, now 37, made her debut as Marie in Nutcracker and went on to spend 21 years as a grown-up company member – despite several major injuries that sidelined her for months at a time.
Australia’s Arts Funding Body, Faced With Huge Budget Cuts, Reduces Its Major Grantmaking By Half
“Instead of the regular four annual funding rounds, the Australia Council will only run two grant rounds in 2015-16, one in September 2015 and one in February 2016. These two funding rounds will distribute $12 million of grants.”