The artists Elmgreen & Dragset, who built the installation in 2005 on a highway about 40 miles from the art town of Marfa, Texas, “wanted the mock-up store, the size of shack but with Prada shoes and bags inside, to be a critique of the luxury goods industry. But it was threatened when it was deemed an illegal roadside advertisement.”
If Adulthood Is Dying In American Culture, It’s The Modern Economy That’s Killing It
Andrew O’Hehir: “Well, if [A.O.] Scott gets to play frustrated English professor in his article, I get to play former college Marxist in mine … There really is something beneath his ‘death of adulthood’ premise, whether or not you like the prejudicial phrase. But to coin a phrase: It’s the economy, stupid.”
Could Artificial Intelligence Lead To Our Destruction?
“Why is it a good idea that we continue to exist? Given that humans have caused the extinction of others, wouldn’t it be poetic justice if advanced forms of intelligence, which could probably run the world better anyway, caused our extinction?”
A Tale Of Four Florida Orchestras
It’s a fact. Orchestras have struggled in Florida, and they have to scramble to stay viable. Here are four orchestras with new music directors working to find the winning formula.
Emma Thompson Is Having None Of This 50-Is-The-New-35 Business
“Can I just say, very loudly, bollocks. If you look after yourself and you’re healthy, then you’ll have the energy to do things. But not to recognise getting older for what it is? I do think the infantilisation of our generation is one of the huge issues of our time. People wanting to be 35 when they’re 50 makes me think: why? Why don’t you be 50 and be good at that?”
Producers Axe “American Psycho” Off-Broadway Run
“The highly anticipated Off Broadway production of the musical American Psycho has been canceled after the show’s commercial backers pulled the rights from Second Stage Theater … No explanation was given.”
Budget Cuts For All Arts Orgs In Northern Ireland (Though They Could Be Worse)
“Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, Grand Opera House and Ulster Orchestra are among the 31 arts organisations that will receive a cut of at least 2.3% this autumn from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the funding body has confirmed today. The ACNI said the decision” – the result of a mid-year budget cut from the provincial government – “would mainly impact on education and outreach programmes.”
What Happens To Film When The Frame Rate Goes Up? (Hint: It’s Not Just A Nerdy Question)
“Once everything is in focus it requires a lot more staging, and a lot more sophistication in visual effects, and more attention to prop work, set design, and costuming.”
The Met Cuts 22 Nonunion Jobs
“The company said it had eliminated nonunion positions across the opera house, cutting jobs in its artistic, finance, marketing, development, and technical departments — through attrition in some cases, but primarily through layoffs.”
The New, Gorgeous Instrument That You Have To Qualify In Order To Purchase
“The reliance on craftsmanship suppresses supply: It takes years to learn to build a handpan and requires patience, physical strength, dexterity, and a pitch-sensitive ear.”
The Steampunk Heart Of Artist Anselm Kiefer’s 200-Acre Studio
“When Kiefer moved there in 1992 he needed 70 lorries to move the contents of his studio: he would need rather more now. The artist turned this quiet domain into a Brobdingnagian Gesamtkunstwerk, surely one of the most extraordinary artworks of the last century.”
Life Is Random (No Matter How Much We Want It To Be Organized)
“Futurists and science-fiction authors predict that genetic engineering will someday allow designer children, built to order, with whatever smarts, looks, and personalities their parents prefer. But biology’s new recognition of the role of noise in development gives us one more reason to think that this simply isn’t going to happen.”
A Deep Dive Into The Issues – And The Future – Of The Vivian Maier Case(s)
“The rights to some of Maier’s work may hinge on a rental agreement she signed for a storage unit — a storage unit on which she later defaulted.”
For A Hard-working Actress, Finally A Chance At The Bronze Ring
“Her characters often serve to ‘hold up the wall’ of the narrative, she said, like the empathetic best friend in ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ or the kindly stranger in ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.’ Or the kindly mental-institution psychiatrist in ‘It’s Kind of a Funny Story,’ the kindly rape-treatment counselor in ‘Trust’ or the kindly medium in ‘Beautiful Creatures.'”
Three City Ballet Dancers Are About To Break Into Stardom – In Broadway Musicals
“Not many musicals require the specialized skills of world-class ballet dancers. It’s mostly a fluke that three high-profile shows with such needs are opening within months of one another.”
(Why) Are We OK With Oil Barons Funding Natural History Museums?
“The politics isn’t in the science itself — science is raw data, as close to the truth as you can get. The funding is about how we are interpreting that knowledge to further an agenda”
The Dismantling Of A (Formerly Very Good) British Education
‘Oh, wowww!’ she cried, ecstasy lifting her voice above the wind whipping off the marshes. ‘New brutalism! Rarely seen any so pure. First pressing. Cold pressing. Purrrfect!’
In Los Angeles, The Art World Tilts To The East
“Today, for new or newly relocating galleries, both commercial and nonprofit, it’s industrial warehouses — with plenty of parking — south of the 10 Freeway and east of the L.A. River.”
Is It OK To Censor Art When It Hearkens To A Deeply Racist Past?
The Barbican Centre’s planned ‘Exhibit B’ “invites liberals to feel the ‘discomfort’ of their colonial history while fawning over the naked and prostrate black body.”
Want To Engage People With An Unknown Attraction? Make It A Game
“The beauty of play is that it can take so many forms. So the river becomes this 51-mile-long blank grey canvas for the collective imagination of a city, of many cities.”
Without This Man, You Likely Wouldn’t Know A Damn Thing About Rock ‘n’ Roll
“Cosimo Matassa, whose used-record business in New Orleans led him to sell new records, which led him to open a tiny studio that helped jump-start rock ’n’ roll by recording early hits by the likes of Fats Domino and Little Richard, died on Thursday in New Orleans. He was 88.”
So Hollywood’s Not Actually LGBT-Friendly, Actors Say
“While 53% of lesbian and gay actors were ‘out’ to all or most of their fellow actors, the report found that only 36% had revealed to agents they were gay, and only 13% had told industry executives.”
Ian McEwan Used To Be Out To Shock, But Now He’s A Novelist Of Compassion – What Happened?
“One can’t go on writing in his mid-60s as though he is 19 years old,” says the author of Atonement and The Children Act.
New Effort Will Translate Shakespeare’s Complete Works Into Mandarin
“Culture secretary Sajid Javid also announced £300,000 for a Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) tour of China.”
When Artists Run Afoul Of Social Media
“It’s no secret that Facebook and Twitter can help classical musicians promote their work outside of traditional news media outlets. But when artists cross certain boundaries or get overly political, they can quickly find their careers at risk.”