“I cannot understand the University of Kentucky’s decision to hide Ann Rice O’Hanlon’s fresco in Memorial Hall. The reason given is only that it shows people doing what they actually did. Black people did work in tobacco fields. Black musicians did play for white dancers.”
They’re Everywhere: The Five Guys Dominating New Ballet Choreography
Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck, Wayne McGregor, and Liam Scarlett. “All five men are wonderfully accomplished choreographers. … But are companies oversaturating the market with these [brand names], and making ballet too safe?”
Suddenly, Philanthropists Are Getting Grief For Giving Mega-Donations
“In recent months, a hedge fund billionaire was denounced for his $400 million gift to the already wealthy Harvard University, David Geffen took flak for gifts that plaster his name on a Manhattan concert hall and a Los Angeles school, and the wife of a Wall Street banker was roasted for trying to put her name on a small Adirondacks college. Even Bill Gates, who has given billions to battle diseases, is taking lumps.”
Radu Lupu At 70 – ‘Fresh, Newly Original, Daring, But Never Eccentric’
Kirill Gerstein: “Lupu’s playing, especially when experienced live, resists my professional habit of analyzing the elements of interpretation and performance – exactly how he achieves the results that he does. … The instrument, the craftsmanship, even the compositions themselves recede into the background, and there remains a lone figure communicating not just music, but something deeply humane. “
Trigger Warning: Should We Be Protected From Uncomfortable Ideas?
A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 40 percent of millennials believe the government “should be able to prevent people from saying . . . statements that are offensive to minority groups.” A third of millennials also say the government should be able to prevent speech “offensive to your religion or beliefs.”
Luc Bondy, Theatre And Opera Director, Dead At 67
“[He] generally favored an almost spartan mise-en-scene that placed the focus on his actors and the story they were telling: his work was often beautiful, but it was never conventionally pretty.”
Theatre Gets Its Own Bechdel Test
The British theatre company Sphinx’s test “asks how prominently female characters feature in the action, whether they are proactive or reactive, whether the character avoids stereotype and how the character interacts with other women.”
Japan Is Covering Its Military With Cute Anime Characters
“But this kawaii imagery is neither conceived of nor perceived as disrespectful. Rather, it’s a testament to the deep ambivalence the Japanese retain about both the history and the changing role of their armed forces.”
New Books By Dead Authors Have Become A Big Business
“It’s been a banner year for authors who are no longer around to celebrate their success. A groaning shelf of recently published works by deceased brand-name writers, or those filling their literary shoes, shows that when it comes to books, gone does not mean forgotten. Or even unpublishable. Not by a long shot.”
#SueMeSaudi: The Twitterverse Trolls Saudi Arabia Hard For Sentencing Artist To Beheading
When the fate of Ashraf Fayadh came to the world’s attention, angry tweeters made the obvious comparison and created the hashtag #SaudiArabiaIsISIS. Then a totally offended official from the Saudi Ministry of Justice announced that it would sue anyone who dared equate the Kingdom with the extremist rebels in Iraq and Syria. What did he think would happen?
Three Decades After Her Sordid Death, Ana Mendieta Is Finally Getting Her Due
“In brief, the young and promising Cuban-American artist fell to her death in September 1985 from the 34th-floor window of her Greenwich Village apartment; her newlywed husband, legendary sculptor Carl Andre, was indicted, tried and eventually acquitted of her murder. His defense attorney argued, among other points, that Mendieta had committed ‘sub-intentional suicide.’ … Ana Mendieta’s backstory is, finally, being overshadowed by her growing artistic legacy. It may have taken the art establishment years to find her work, but once it did, the response was what Mendieta seems to inspire, generally: devotion, even obsession.
Explaining Science, Ideas, With Dance
“It was called Dance Your PhD, and the premise was exactly that; explain your research through the medium of dance.”
Is Orhan Pamuk Suffering From Nobel Curse?
“Having reviewed three of Pamuk’s pre-Nobel novels—The New Life, My Name Is Red, and Snow, that last the book probably most responsible for the Nobel—I see his recent fiction differently: as premature retirement from stealth cultural critic to curator of nostalgia.”
CBC Shuts Down Comments On All Stories About Indigenous Peoples
“We’ve noticed over many months that these stories draw a disproportionate number of comments that cross the line and violate our guidelines. Some of the violations are obvious, some not so obvious; some comments are clearly hateful and vitriolic, some are simply ignorant.”
Philosophically, We Have Misunderstood The Role Of Music
“For centuries, philosophers have got music wrong by making it mysterious, says Lydia Goehr, professor of philosophy at Columbia University in New York. What really matters is what we do with the music.”
Editor Shuts Down Comments After Music Critic’s “Un-Review”
“I killed off several comments that went WAY beyond what I consider constructive argument, though I left a few I find pretty awful just so you can get a little flavor of what I’m talking about.”
Steven Leigh Morris Talks About The Challenges Of Theatre In Los Angeles
“I think our community flourished because work could be done so easily, and the reason it could be done so easily is a combination of the 99-seat plan and relatively low real estate prices. And now both of those are under siege.”
A Suicide In Ohio State University’s Art Museum
A former OSU security guard who had been terminated in 2009 vandalized several artworks and then shot himself in the head at the Wexner Center for the Arts late Sunday morning.
Dear Old Saint Nick’s Evil Counterpart
“While Saint Nicholas may bring gifts to good boys and girls, ancient folklore in Europe’s Alpine region also tells of Krampus, a frightening beast-like creature who emerges during the Yule season, looking for naughty children to punish in horrible ways – or possibly to drag back to his lair in a sack. In keeping with pre-Germanic Pagan traditions, men dressed as these demons have been frightening children on Krampusnacht for centuries, chasing them and hitting them with sticks, on an (often alcohol-fueled) run through the dark streets.” (photo essay)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 11.30.15
The Mass Market Ain’t What It Used To Be (And What That Means For The Arts)
What does it mean to “engage with an audience”? It’s a fundamental question for anyone who makes anything. Whether it’s a political party trying to win votes, Coke trying to sell drinks, an entrepreneur trying to sell drinks, an entrepreneur trying to sell an idea, or a theatre trying to sell tickets. … read more
AJBlog: diacritical Published 2015-11-30
“Mission Accomplished”? Izabela Depczyk Out as Publisher of ARTnews
Arriving last week, my December issue of ARTnews magazine included an inserted letter, signed by Izabela Depczyk, publisher and CEO of Artnews S.A., informing subscribers that “ARTnews will be a quarterly publication, publishing four issues a year,” beginning this February. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-11-30
On the First Day of Christmas, ABT Brought Costa Mesa a Lovely Nutcracker
Kevin McKenzie, Gillian Murphy and others discussed Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker with me for California’s Coast magazine this month. The heralded production left the Brooklyn Academy of Music to establish a new home in Costa Mesa beginning December 10th. … read more
AJBlog: Fresh Pencil Published 2015-11-30
Scrapping of Maurer Show Revealed As National Academy Finally Announces Director’s Resignation
The National Academy’s very belated official statement announcing the resignation of director Carmine Branagan and the appointment of Maura Reilly has just hit my inbox, in the same form that I reported to you last Tuesday. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-11-30
Dan Brubeck Quartet At The Seasons
Dan Brubeck, the drummer among Dave Brubeck’s five musician sons, took his own quartet into The Seasons Performance Hall in Yakima, Washington, last night. As did his band’s recent album, the concert paid tribute to … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-11-29
December Spinout: Links, Letters, Libraries
Van Gogh’s Letters by Nicole Kraus “In Jewish mysticism, the empty space — the Chalal Panui, in Hebrew — has tremendous importance, because it was the necessary pre-condition for God’s creation of the world. … read more
AJBlog: blog riley Published 2015-11-30
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British Authors Ask Book Industry ‘Where Are The Brown People?’
“Everyone keeps saying ‘I am not prejudiced, or racist,’ but they won’t say it is my responsibility as well to try and do better.”
The Internet Is For Everyone (Who Speaks One Of Very Few Languages)
“At the moment, the Internet only has webpages in about five percent of the world’s languages. Even national languages like Hindi and Swahili are used on only .01 percent of the 10 million most popular websites. The majority of the world’s languages lack an online presence that is actually useful.”
So It Turns Out There’s A ‘Mollywood’ – The Mormon Film Industry
“Two different films from recent years — ‘Mobsters And Mormons’ and ‘Inspired Guns’ — involve culture clashes between, well, mobsters and Mormons. However, because these films’ humor relies so heavily on Mormon-specific culture, and often Utah-specific Mormon culture, they’re thought to be near-incomprehensible to a wider audience.”
The One-Off Song That Accidentally Became One Of America’s Most Popular Mnemonics
“The odds of ‘Fifty Nifty United States’ becoming a beloved children’s classic were slim. Kraft Music Hall wasn’t exactly must-see TV—in the season that ‘Fifty Nifty United States’ made its first appearance, it wasn’t even in the top 30 most-watched shows on TV.”
Could Tap Dance Disappear Forever?
“It could die. Other genres that were once central to Western art have dropped off the shelf—epic poetry, commedia dell’arte, verse drama, the masque—and, if this list were expanded to include Asia, it would be much longer.”