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The Quiet Power Of Ursula Le Guin’s Activism

“In 1963 she wrote in a private note, ‘My job is to write well not to carry signs. You cannot do both at this point.’ In the margin, arguing with herself, she replied, ‘Phooey!’” - Lit Hub

It Seems Andy Warhol Never Actually Said, “I Want To Be A Machine”

And what he did, in fact, say — during a 1963 interview for a feature about Pop art in ARTnews — was not about art at all, though an interventionist (and uptight) editor made it seem otherwise. Warhol was actually talking about sexuality. - Artnet

How The Carabinieri Busted Tomb-Raiders Right In The Center of Naples

The thieves used the basement of a condo building as their excavation site, tunneling 26 feet under the city to find thousands of ancient and medieval objects for the black market and even the remains of an 11th-century church. Here's how Italy's crackerjack art police caught the villains. - The Guardian

Macondo, The TV Version, Versus Colombia, The Real One

This is not the fake Colombia of Disney's Encanto: “Many on the set considered it an honor to be part of the project. Several people told me it would be the most important work they would ever do.” - The New York Times

The Hottest Trend In Book Publishing Is Books You Can Really, Truly Judge By Their Covers

“Publishers are investing in colorful patterned edges, metallic foil covers, reversible jackets, elaborate artwork on the endpapers, ribbon bookmarks and bonus content.” - The New York Times

Replace Notre Dame’s Classic Windows With Modern Replicas?

Sacre bleu! What is happening? A French artist won "a competition to replace the existing six windows installed by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in 1844 – even though the windows were not damaged in the 2019 fire.” - The Guardian (UK)

Lonely? Turn To Schubert

“His music speaks to something timeless: the longing for connection, and the pain at not finding it. He gives voice, and then consolation, to that part of us that feels alone in the world even when surrounded by people who care for us.” - The New York Times

How George C. Wolfe Remade “Gypsy” Into A Tragedy

Adam Moss sits in on rehearsals and talks with the five-time Tony-winning director and his actors (including Audra McDonald and Joy Woods, of course) on how much Wolfe changed the show while changing so little of it. (And no, it's not all about race, though that's certainly part of it.) - New York Magazine

Ensemble At One Of Chicago’s Leading Black Theatres Walks Out, Demands Board Chair’s Removal

"The ensemble of the 25-year-old Congo Square Theatre Company … has told the Tribune it has 'unanimously decided to not participate in any production, artistic curating and programming for the upcoming 2025 season until the current board president has been removed from the board.'" - Chicago Tribune

How Could MIT Buy And Build Land Art By Maya Lin And Not Tell Anyone About It?

The series of 11 grass-covered mounds, titled The Sound We Travel At, is a physical representation of Doppler waves. It's right in busy Kendall Square; people regularly walk past and even sit on it. MIT spent $1.3 million on it. Yet almost no one realized that it's there. - The Boston Globe

The Great Documentarian Of Indonesia’s Massacres Makes A Tilda Swinton Musical (Wait, What?)

Joshua Oppenheimer, who convinced participants of the 1965-66 mass executions to re-enact them for his Oscar-nominated films The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014), has just released The End, a musical (!) set in a rich family's bunker after an environmental apocalypse. - The Washington Post (MSN)

Where In The World Is Van Gogh’s Missing Final Masterpiece?

"Portrait of Dr. Gachet," painted just weeks before van Gogh's suicide in 1890, had a clear chain of ownership, including years on display at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt and the Met in New York. In 1998 the painting was sold privately; almost nobody has seen it since. - The New York Times

National Theatre Wales Shuts Down After Losing All Government Funding

"The company says it has 'ceased to exist' following the loss of all its Arts Council Wales funding in 2023. … The company will now evolve into TEAM (Theatre, Engagement, Music, Arts), focusing on the grassroots work it has always done within the community and education." - BBC

I Worked For Ozy Right Through Its Collapse. Here’s What I Saw From The Inside.

"The story I saw coming to a grim conclusion in that courtroom was about more than a failed media company. … Carlos Watson may have built Ozy with big dreams and 'diversity' in mind, but as those ideas became corrupted by the superseding desire for capitalistic success, it all came crashing down." - Slate (Yahoo!)

What It’s Like To See Your Sexual Assault Be Made Into An Episode Of “Law & Order: SVU”

"Being violated and brought close to death is (a) psychological abyss, but living with the belief that actors and producers have exploited your rape for money, and that more than 5 million viewers, including some of your own friends, watch it for entertainment … will bring you dangerously close to becoming the Joker." - Slate (Yahoo!)

A Game Company Now Must Pay For Manipulating Players To Buy Shiny In-Game Items

Fortnite “customers could ultimately receive $245 million for what the agency called Epic’s use of ‘dark patterns’ to trick millions of players into unwanted purchases. Another $275 million will settle accusations that the studio violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.” - The New York Times

A Town In Oregon Begs Residents To Stop Putting Googly Eyes On Public Sculptures

In Bend, Oregon, “there have been previous reports of sculptures being decorated with Christmas garb in the past, but the googly eyes are a newer development” - one city officials are begging people to stop. - Oregon Public Broadcasting (KLCC)

Editor Who Published Hacked Sony Emails 10 Years Ago Now Confesses His Regret

Andrew Wallenstein, then-co-editor-in-chief of Variety: "I’m not going to say if I had to do it all over again I would do it differently because I understand why I did what I did then. But looking back on the hack, I wish I’d taken a different tack. Let me explain why." - Variety

Analyzing The Design Of The Met Museum’s Planned Contemporary Art Wing

Justin Davidson: "A new museum wing here can’t just be an exercise in logistics. It’s also a presence in Central Park and a half-billion-dollar embodiment of the museum’s encyclopedic mission. … (Frida Escobedo's design) looks laudably simple because it provides an elegant solution to a tangle of trade-offs and constraints." - Curbed (MSN)

Why Did Alice Munro Reject Her Daughter’s Account Of Sexual Abuse? Apparently, For The Sake Of Her Art.

"In the months since the revelations, I revisited Munro’s stories, spoke with members of her family and tracked down a number of her unpublished letters. Munro’s appalling failures as a mother seem to have been an imaginative incitement, instrumental to her artistic project." - The New York Times Magazine
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