“Must world literature be limited to a few popular movie and fiction genres? The alternative is a conception of world literature as global classicism that is more inclusive in terms of forms and genres — but more exclusive in terms of audience.”
Using Greek Tragedy To Help War Vets Deal With Trauma
“Bryan Doerries is using Euripides and Sophocles to help soldiers, generals and drone pilots deal with the horrors of war – and actors from Martin Sheen to Jake Gyllenhaal are queueing up to take part.”
More Lines To The Ancient Gilgamesh Epic Have Been Discovered
Since the poem has existed in fragments since the 18th century BC, there has always been the possibility that more would turn up. And yet the version we’re familiar with — the one discovered in 1853 in Nineveh — hasn’t changed very much over recent decades. The text remained fairly fixed — that is, until the fall of Baghdad in 2003 and the intense looting that followed yielded something new.
Streaming And Classical Music – Even More Dangers Than For Pop?
“However, whilst metadata and audio quality have been the burning issues for classical journalists and listeners, it’s the economics of streaming that has been alarming certain independent specialist classical record companies. In fact, as far as they are concerned, streaming poses unique and far greater problems for the classical industry than it does for the pop world.”
When The Creative Class First Came Into Its Own
Scott Timberg: “It was during the Archaic Period when the notion of an artist’s intellectual property emerged. … By the time the Golden Age dawned, Athens and other Ionian towns and cities had gone through a revolution that may be the most profound change in the history of art: the beginning of art for art’s sake.”
If Astronomers Ever Do Pick Up Signals From A Civilization On Another Planet, What Happens Next?
First of all, they have to make sure they’re not getting pranked by some mischievous techies. If they decide the signals are real, there is an agreed-upon set of protocols – which may not actually work when the time comes.
Progress: GQ (!) Refers To A Ballet Star A Professional Athlete – And Tells Us What He Eats To Stay In Shape
“In this series, GQ takes a look at what pro athletes in different sports eat on a daily basis to perform at their best. Here’s a look at the daily diet of [ABT principal] Marcelo Gomes.”
Legendary Lebanese Museum Reopens After Makeover
During the Sursock Museum’s $15m (£9.8m) renovation, workers dug a cavernous exhibition hall four stories under the mansion, and built a 166-seat auditorium, workshops for painting restoration and a library housing books, archival photographs, and news clippings. Sursock’s original rooms have been restored with the help of an international group of artisans.
“Translate” Shakespeare? Egads!
The outcry that has greeted this announcement has been as ferocious as you might imagine, or more. Though artistic director Bill Rauch and literary manager Lue Douthit have taken pains to say these aren’t replacements but companion pieces, and have preemptively assured critics that these new “translations” will not be the versions of the Bard that will show up on OSF’s stages (for the time being, at least), their proposal has been treated as the worst kind of sacrilege and profanation, a sign of the cultural end times, a capitulation to dumbed-down mass culture, etc.
New Director Of Detroit Institute Of Arts Lays Out A Vision
Salvador Salort-Pons: “I really see the DIA as playing a role in the city like town squares play a role in European cities. You go to Madrid, Rome, Barcelona or Paris, there are these main squares where people come and gather to talk, to drink coffee to read a newspaper. I see the DIA as the city square of Detroit.”
Updating Shakespeare’s Language? They Used To Do It All The Time
“For poets, playwrights, editors, and actors from the seventeenth century through much of the nineteenth, Shakespeare’s language wasn’t intoxicating so much as intoxicated: it needed a sobering intervention. … Shakespeare’s script was the first problem that a production had to remedy. … So what changed? How did Shakespeare’s original texts regain their popularity?”
Iran Threatens To Boycott World’s Largest Book Fair Because Salman Rushdie Is Speaking There
Said the Islamic Republic’s deputy minister for culture and Islamic guidance, “This has been organised by the Frankfurt book fair and crosses one of our political system’s red lines. We consider this move as anti-cultural. Imam Khomeini’s fatwa on this issue is reflective of our religion and it will never fade away. We urge organisers to cancel his address.”
South Carolina Ballet Company’s Home And School Destroyed In Floods
The Pavlovich Ballet School, headquarters for the Columbia Classical Ballet and “renovated just this summer, has been completely destroyed. During the flooding, water reached up to the ceiling of the studio. Costumes and music scores were ruined. … The entire building needs to be gutted.”
Lost Materials From 1877 Premiere Of ‘Swan Lake’ Discovered At Bolshoi
“Most modern productions of Swan Lake are derived from the 1895 staging at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, which had its premiere after Tchaikovsky’s death and for which Tchaikovsky’s score was drastically reordered and rearranged by Riccardo Drigo. The original 1877 Bolshoi Swan Lake … has been more of a cipher to posterity.” Until now.
Decrepit Old Bank Building, Bought For $1, Becomes Busy New Cultural Center On Chicago’s South Side
“In the past three years, [Theaster] Gates and Rebuild Foundation have created what opens to the public today as Stony Island Arts Bank, an exhibition space, lounge, bar, music venue, archive, program center, and library – with even more functions to come.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.06.15
Business Model You
Produced by the same team that created the tried and true Business Model Canvas, this book uses the same canvas as a space for you to map your personal business model and professional identity. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-06
A Map of Your Mind
You might have used a mind map to sort ideas you’ve brainstormed about a project or create an outline of a specific topic you are researching, but have you ever used this tool to map your own career path? … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-10-06
National Academy Update (plus: details on its shaky financials)
The “update” is that there is no update. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-10-06
A Tragedy Averted
General Director Kasper Holten’s statement that the new sound system at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden will never be used to amplify singers could not be more welcome. … read more
AJBlog: OperaSleuth Published 2015-10-06
You Can Help Stop Cultural Destruction: Chartres Chapter
Universally recognized as a masterpiece of cultural heritage – inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1979 – the Cathedral of Our Lady in Chartres is under attack by it would-be restorers. Now maybe you can help stop the dreadful makeover … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2015-10-06
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Filmmaker Chantal Akerman, 65, Dead In Possible Suicide
Director and/or writer of more than 40 films, Akerman is most famous for her 1975 work Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, a three-hour dissection of three days in the life of an ordinary young widow in Brussels – and a film that, many observers argue, changed cinema history.