Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The Giant Opera That Took Over The Streets Of Toulouse
Over the past three days, the streets of Toulouse, France, hosted an urban opera titled The Guardian of the Temple—The Gates of Darkness, in which...
Halloween Has Become Big Business For The Music Industry
“I feel very passionately about Halloween music. It’s camp. It’s carnal. It’s macabre. It’s, like, silly. It’s the only holiday where all of those...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning: This might not seem like an arts story, but it's big. The Copyright Office just granted the right for McDonald's franchisees to...
What The Universe Looks Like: A Second Copernican Revolution Is Here
Just as Copernicus reimagined the architecture of our solar system five centuries ago, we are once again in a revolution that pivots on planets....
A Sculpture Of A Desk With Poop On It Appeared On The National Mall....
It is a figurative sculpture, rooted in realism, that shows an improbably large pile of human poop on the desk of Nancy Pelosi, then...
The Composer Who Said She Channeled Liszt
Rosemary Brown produced approximately 300 musical pieces in a variety of styles, according to a list of manuscripts in the British Library. She claimed they...
We Can’t Seem To Agree On Anything — Except Perhaps When We Gather For...
The importance of audiences gathering for live performances has been and can be a healing balm for this dark era – to unite us,...
Copyright Office Rules It’s Okay To Repair Your McFlurry (And Other Things)
US Copyright Office to "grant an exemption specifically allowing for repair of retail-level food preparation equipment—including soft serve ice cream machines similar to those...
It’s Now Illegal To Post Fake Reviews
The rule bans businesses from creating, buying or selling reviews and testimonials attributed to people who don't exist, including those that are AI generated....
Report: Art Collectors Are Changing Their Buying Habits
What comes through overall is a sense that collectors’ behaviors are are starting to shift, and not just in relation to the current market...
Gaza’s Music Conservatory Burned And Its Instruments Were Destroyed. All Except One
“More than half of the Conservatory was burned. All the instruments were broken, thrown outside. You start seeing cases of instruments as soon as...
Why Record Shops Are Struggling Despite A Resurgence Of Interest
“These type of shops are like the Titanic, slowly sinking. think it will depend on when we decide to retire. We see the...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning - Los Angeles' LACMA has announced it will open its new Peter Zumthor building in April 2026. Construction of the controversial project...
This Week’s AJ Highlights
Good Morning: Here are five highlights from this week's stories:
Why Is The Art World Focusing On Photography Just As AI Images Are Becoming...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning: Here are today's highlights:
An All-AI Bot Radio Station Hits The Airwaves "Weeks after letting its journalists go, OFF Radio Krakow relaunched this...
Why Is The Art World Focusing On Photography Just As AI Images Are Becoming...
Many of the largest and most powerful art dealers are dedicating significant attention and real estate to photography. It is part of a broader...
Is Cultural Tourism Growing Up?
While in the past, we may have been cynical that cultural tourism was just a watered-down ‘sell-y’ option parcelled up by cruises or tour...
Study: How Arts Agencies Helped Local Arts Communities Through The Pandemic
External and Internal advocacy work solidified support for the sector and gave funding agencies “seats at the table” within local government funding deliberations that...
The Case Against The Idea That Computers Will Ever Be Able To Think
It is one thing to appreciate the ways we make and remake ourselves through the cultural transformation of our worlds via tool use and...
Warsaw’s New Museum Of Modern Art Tries To Transcend Poland’s Communist Legacy
The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw sits like a bright white box on a major city street. Inside, a monumental staircase with geometric...
Critic Gary Indiana, 74
Although he was widely known as an art critic for the Village Voice during the mid-1980s, and even though he has continued to write literature and...
Grandparents Organizing To Fight Book Bans
“I want to make sure my grandchildren grow up in a world where they can read and form opinions based on knowledge, not on...
Stepping Inside A Painting (And Into History)
The Night Revels blasts through that flimsy structure of history to show us a work of detailed authentication that is nearly 1200 years old. This...
Is This The Reason Some Of The Books We Buy Now Are Of Terrible...
Many consumers likely don’t know the difference between a print-on-demand book and a traditionally produced paperback, at least not at first. But once you...
How America’s Poet Laureate Collaborated With NASA On Its Mission To Jupiter
It isn’t the first poem to slip the surly bonds of Earth and it won’t be the last. But its origin story is a reminder of...