New York Times reporter Walter Thompson-Hernández, a native of Southeast L.A.: “I heard a rumor that lowrider culture — a community with an affinity for cars, outfit with intricate designs, multicolored lights and heavily tinted windows that can be traced in Southern California to as far back as the 1940s — had traveled to Japan. … I knew I had to see it for myself, so I packed my bags for Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo.” (video) – The New York Times
Climate Change Should Be A Great Subject For Disaster Movies. So What’s With Hollywood’s Failure Of Imagination?
“In a storytelling culture obsessed with bigger stories and higher stakes, climate change should be irresistible. And yet when we try to tell the story — whether it’s motivated by politics or the genre intuition that climate change is horror at the grandest scale — we fail, invariably, to do it well. Why?” Probably, writes David Wallace-Wells, because the threat is too real. – Slate
Ex-Professor Sues ACT For Racial Discrimination
Stephen Buescher, former head of movement for the San Francisco theater’s MFA program and choreographer for several of its mainstage productions, says that he was underpaid for his work and denied access to the building on several occasions, along with other factors that “created a hostile, discriminatory work environment for him and for other employees and students of color.” – San Francisco Chronicle
Of Artists In Major U.S. Museums, 85% Are White And 78% Are Male: Study
“Researchers examined more than 40,000 artworks in the collections of 18 museums across the US, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago, to analyze the gender and ethnic diversity of their holdings.” – Artnet
Los Angeles Before It Was ‘West’
Carolina Miranda: “Before California was West, it was North and it was East: the uppermost periphery of the Mexican Empire, and the arrival point for Chinese immigrants making the perilous journey from Guangdong. It was part of different maps that co-exist, one on top of the other: layers of visions and lesser-known narratives, that are ongoing and still unfolding.” – Guernica
How I Reconcile Being A Committed Muslim And A Committed Dancer
Hala Shah: “Growing up, I never saw a problem with my dancing and neither did my Muslim-Egyptian dad or my non-Muslim, American mom. … When I married my Pakistani husband, who comes from a more conservative approach to Islam, I suddenly encountered perceptions of dance that made me question everything: Is it okay to expose a lot of skin? Is it wrong to dance with other men? Is dance inherently sexual? What guidelines come from our holy book, the Quran, and what are cultural views that have become entwined in Islam?” – Dance Magazine
DC Comics Cancels Series About Second Coming Of Jesus
The Second Coming, a series that was to be released next month under DC’s Vertigo imprint, depicted Jesus Christ’s not-entirely-triumphant return to earth. “Shocked to discover what has become of his gospel,” Jesus undertakes “a most holy mission from God,” learning from a super-hero called Sun-Man “what it takes to be the true messiah of mankind.” The comic was withdrawn following a petition, by conservative group CitizenGo, which calls The Second Coming “outrageous and blasphemous.” – The Guardian
‘Voice Of The Minnesota Orchestra’, Mary Ann Feldman, Dead At 85
“She was perhaps the best known and most prolific advocate for classical music the Twin Cities has ever known. … She wrote erudite and witty program notes for the Minnesota Orchestra for 33 years while serving as the orchestra’s principal speaker, which meant giving 60 speeches a year, some of them on radio and television but most of them in the form of pre-concert talks at Orchestra Hall, a format she pioneered.” – MinnPost (Minneapolis)
Jonathan Lethem To Edit New Series Of Literary Reprints
“Bill Henderson, founder of the Pushcart Press and the Pushcart Prize, has teamed up with novelist Jonathan Lethem to start Lethem’s Legends, a series that will reprint selected out-of-print works. The first title in the series, which Lethem will edit, is Bad Guy by Rosalyn Drexler, the visual artist, playwright, and novelist.” – Publishers Weekly
Ai Weiwei’s Segment For Anthology Film About Berlin Suppressed Out Of Fears Of Chinese Gov’t Reaction
“A contribution by the Chinese artist, film-maker and activist Ai Weiwei to a film called Berlin, I Love You, was cut by the producers on concern it could block the movie from getting distribution in China and create difficulties for them with the Chinese authorities.” – The Art Newspaper
A Daunting Task: Creating The First New, Full-Length Dance Piece For Pina Bausch’s Company Since She Died
“What’s most important for the company is the legacy, taking care of Pina’s works and then finding the best way to look forward,” says director and choreographer Alan Lucien Øyen, whose Bon Voyage, Bob recently premiered in Bausch’s home theatre and is now in London. – The Stage
Bibi Ferreira, Brazilian Theatre’s Grande Dame, Dead At 96
“Ms. Ferreira, who sang in English, French and Spanish as well as in Portuguese, began acting when she was a child and continued performing well into her 90s … Her voice was powerful and protean, capable of making material identified with artists like Édith Piaf and Frank Sinatra entirely her own.” And she made history as Brazil’s first Eliza Doolittle and Dolly Levi. – The New York Times
Here’s How Brexit Will Impact The Business Of Art
One example: Tornabuoni Art, a high-end dealership with galleries in six locations in Britain, France and Italy, now plans to close its current London exhibition of 20th-century abstracts by Alberto Burri and Lucio Fontana on March 9, three weeks earlier than scheduled. The 40 works in the show have a value of about 70 million euros, or $79 million, which would attract a tax bill of €7 million if shipped back to Italy after Britain drops out of the European Union’s free trade zone, because Italy levies 10 percent on artworks imported from outside the bloc. – The New York Times
Why Karl Lagerfield Was A Giant
Lagerfeld made the leap from fashion-industry stalwart to pop-culture icon when he was appointed creative director of Chanel, showing his first couture collection in January 1983. It’s a sign of his transformative influence that few remember that Chanel was in genteel decline at the time, adrift since the death of its eponymous founder in 1971. Lagerfeld gave the ailing Parisian label an adrenaline shot to the heart, cunningly remixing the house’s classic looks for a younger, more international clientele. – The Atlantic
Why Scientists Are Looking For DNA Inside Old Books
These objects can fill in gaps in the written record, revealing new aspects of historical production and trade. How much beeswax came from North Africa, for example? Or how did cattle plague make its way through Europe? With ample genetic data, you might reconstruct a more complete picture of life hundreds of years in the past. – The Atlantic
Abbott Labs Sues Over Fake Found In Its Corporate Collection
The bigger question remains how fakes ended up in Abbot’s collection, and the original works resold on the market. If the company and law enforcement are right and the works were switched during conservation, the operation suggests a knowledge of the art world. – The Art Newspaper
Louisville Orchestra Names Its Next CEO
Robert Massey comes to Louisville from the Jacksonville Symphony and previously held executive positions at Orchestra Iowa and the Washington Bach Consort. – Insider Louisville
Watching Two New York City Ballet Dancers Get Ready To Star In ‘Sleeping Beauty’ For The First Time
Anthony Huxley (the Prince): “For me [the difficult thing] always is the acting and being a presence onstage … because I’m not a natural projector with my face.”
Indiana Woodward (Aurora): “The suitors are all rooting for you. They’re all like [whispers]: ‘You can do it. You can do it.’ I’m like, ‘Help.'” – The New York Times
The Playwright Of ‘Sweat’ And ‘Ruined’ Would Like To Remind You That She’s Very Good At Comedy
Lynn Nottage: “I’ve become so known for my tragedies, these very heavy, social realist plays, and I think people forget that I’m a satirist as well and that I can be very, very funny. I thought in this particular moment that we need some humor, and I thought, I don’t want to sit in rehearsal and feel like I’m being punched in the stomach.” – Slate
You’re The Joffrey Ballet’s Head Of Wardrobe, And It’s Opening Night Of A Massive, Brand-New Story Ballet
Ellie Cotey offers a diary of last week’s world premiere of choreographer Yuri Possokhov’s Anna Karenina, which has 200 complete costumes and more than 800 individual pieces. – Dance Magazine
The Campaign Against Sackler Family Cash In The Arts World May Have Reached A Turning Point
“The debate over how organizations should handle donations from members of the Sackler family has intensified in recent weeks after the revelation that specific individuals like Richard, former chairman and president of Purdue Pharma, played a far more extensive role in promoting OxyContin than previously known.” – Inside Philanthropy
A Survivor Of The Real USSR Looks At The Pseudo-USSR Of ‘DAU’
“Born of infinite resources and expectations and hubris, the project’s formal artistic failure as cinema was as dialectically preordained as was the failed realization of the Soviet Communist utopia. Yet the Soviet-style command economy mobilization of resources needed to forge the institute in Kharkiv and the art installations in Paris succeeded.” – Tablet
What If We’re Trying To Find The Theory Of Everything In The Wrong Places?
“The ascension to the tenth level of intellectual heaven would be if we find the question to which the universe is the answer, and the nature of that question in and of itself explains why it was possible to describe it in so many different ways.” It’s as though physics has been turned inside out. It now appears that the answers already surround us. It’s the question we don’t know. – The New Yorker
What are Our Writing Tools Doing To Writing? (And Reading?)
Writing is so influenced by the machines we write with. The process of creating something is shaped by the tools. Ergo, what we write is also shaped? And how about readers? With constant demands on their attention, with screens and email and notifications, the process of reading has changed. What’s a writer to do? – The New Yorker
Creative Placemaking
Recently I had the pleasure of reconnecting with a friend and colleague. The Community Engagement Network hosted a conversation with Lyz Crane addressing the topic of creative placemaking and community engagement. – Doug Borwick
Recent Listening: Dave Young And Friends
Dave Young, Lotus Blossom (Modica Music)
Young, the bassist praised by Oscar Peterson for his “harmonic simpatico and unerring sense of time” when he was a member of Peterson’s trio, leads seven gifted fellow Canadians. – Doug Ramsey
Beckett’s ‘Rockaby’ Set by William Osborne
In Rockaby we hear the whispered thoughts of an old woman during the last twenty-five minutes of her life accompanied by the dirge of four distant trombones. “Those arms at last…”
Abbie Conant, actress, singer, all four trombones
– Jan Herman
LA Philharmonic’s 2020 Season: “All About Community Relevance, Social Justice, Gender Parity”
Throughout the season, the orchestra will explore the humanities, both in its core programming and related events intended to spark dialogue around the social, cultural and political themes in works performed onstage. Its Power to the People Festival, co-curated by artistic and music director Gustavo Dudamel and Herbie Hancock, addresses how music can provide solidarity and give voice in social justice movements. – Los Angeles Times
‘Leonard Bernstein’s Black America’
“[Lenny] marched in Selma with Harry Belafonte, he brought black conductors to Tanglewood in the ’50s and in the ’60s integrated the Philharmonic by hiring violinist Sanford Allen. To raise money for civil rights organizations, he also hosted jazz in the afternoon at his house, and when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, he called for André Watts to play Beethoven at the memorial.” Here’s a one-hour audio documentary by WQXR host Terrance McKnight on Bernstein’s activism for racial equaliy. – WQXR (New York City)