Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The World’s Last Remaining Silent Movie Theatre
For most of the world, silent films died out in the 1930s. But in Brussels, the Cinematek — the only remaining cinema in the world with...
The Difference Between Nationalism And Patriotism
The words nationalism and patriotism are sometimes used as synonyms, such as when Trump and his supporters describe his America First agenda. But many political scientists, including me, don’t typically see those...
New York City’s New Old Hangout: The NYC Public Library
An ongoing $200 million renovation of the 1911 landmark has sought to open its doors and world-famous collections to more people — and not...
Dance Everywhere (Except On A Stage)
Each performance produced by Duckler and her company, Heidi Duckler Dance, transforms spaces not traditionally used for dance into something new, as the choreography...
Gustavo Dudamel’s Slow-Motion Departure From LA
Celebrity has a tendency to reduce talent, even of the most prodigious kind, to a series of narrow gestures, a sort of mimeograph of...
The Fascinating Dance Around Remaking America’s Busiest Train Station
If all this still seems dizzying, the bottom line is that the next year will decide the station’s fate. Perhaps not since the demolition...
How Photography Has Changed The Ways We See The World
The photograph is deeply entangled in our contemporary experience, playing a crucial role in recording and informing our understanding of the world. Which means...
Special New Camera Revolutionizes Restoration Of Old Paintings
The King’s College team developed a 25,000-pixel photon sensitive camera that uses a technique called macroscopic fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) to harness the natural...
UK Immigration Minister Tells Immigrant Detention Centers To Remove Welcoming Artwork. Leading Artists Rally...
Robert Jenrick told staff to paint over artistic depictions of animals etched onto the walls of Tug Haven, an asylum intake unit in Dover,...
How The New Director Of Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum Wants To Make It More Accessible
His two years in Vienna—plus a Ph.D. in art history that involved study of the Habsburg collections—have given him insight into the institution he...
Las Vegas Lights Up $2.3 Billion Video Screen — World’s Largest
The MSG Sphere’s 580,000 sq ft fully programmable LED screen, named the Exosphere, was illuminated for pre-launch testing overnight to celebrate the Fourth of July. The...
Social Media Platforms Now Seem Up For Grabs
In a flurry of unexpected strategic decisions, holiday news dumps and pure opportunism, the social landscape suddenly looks up for grabs (at least for...
San Francisco Arts Funder Attack For Change Of Criteria
Change in the leadership, direction, and procedures of the SF Grants for the Arts reduced or eliminated support for dozens of organization, big and...
Why The French Idea Of The “Good Life” Is Irrational
France has long been associated with a specific version of the good life, from haute cuisine to haute couture. In the global imagination, the...
John McWhorter: My Experience With Affirmative Action
It may have been a necessary compromise for a time, but it was never truly proper in terms of justice, stability or general social...
How Dancing Helps Rewire The Brain
“Dancers are better able to connect that incoming sensory information, whether it’s visually through the eyes, or through touch, and then connect that to...
Study: Drumming Helps Those With Autism
"What we see is children who learn how to play the drums aren't afraid of making mistakes. When they stop and make a mistake...
Grammys: Music Created With AI Is Eligible For Awards
“Here’s the super easy, headline statement: AI, or music that contains AI-created elements is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination....
Checking In On Ireland’s Basic Income For Artists Scheme
Grant recipients, including visual artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, actors and dancers, were chosen at random from a pool of more than 8,000 eligible applicants,...
Robot Conductor Debuts With Korean Orchestra
The two-armed robot, designed by the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, made its debut at the National Theater of Korea, leading musicians in the...
Why “Living In The Present” Might Be Overrated
The identification of the present, not as a hectic shimmer of zeptoseconds but a series of temporal clearings where one might deeply linger, originates...
Why Archaeologists Rebury Their Excavations
It will help preserve the site for future archaeologists who might have more modern methods and can study the evidence better or ask new...
Our Culture Is Obsessed With Stories. But What If Stories Are A Trap?
When did the so-called narrative turn—the doctrine of narrative supremacy—go mainstream? “At a certain point in history, people started saying, ‘We are born storytellers,’ ”...
Why Must The Worth Of Canada’s Culture Be Measured Primarily By Economics?
The value of culture is hard to measure - everyone's experience is different. But governments' obsession with justifying cultural worth economically gets in the...
Just How To Stop Russians From Plundering Ukrainian Culture?
As Ukraine launches its summer counteroffensive, historians fear that Ukrainian cultural objects from Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine might be moved to Russia if the Russians...
