Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The Insidious Harm Of “Inspiration Porn”
I've "come to see Keller’s mainstream image and story as a textbook example of “inspiration porn,” where disabled people’s lives are flattened into saccharine...
The Social Media Problem: We’re Talking Too Much
A lot is wrong with the internet, but much of it boils down to this one problem: We are all constantly talking to one...
Can You Really Be A Better Person Taking Masterclasses Online?
Mark Williamson, the company’s chief operating officer, told me, “I think it’s legitimately possible for us to create an algorithm that builds a personalized...
Giant Puppet Finishes Four-Month Refugee Walk From Syria To UK
Little Amal, whose name means hope in Arabic, was created by Handspring, the company that made the equine puppets in War Horse. She stands 3.5...
The Unprecedented Logistics Behind Getting Broadway Up And Working Again
Broadway shows stopped dead in their tracks in March 2020. The production teams simply had to hurriedly depart their stages with scenery still in...
Seriously? Send Your Art To Space?
Uplift promotes ‘Constellation Vault’: ‘a platform for commercial promotion and exhibition in low Earth orbit’. ‘The Constellation Vault will offer patrons the exclusive opportunity...
Robot Artists Detained By Egyptian Authorities Over Security Concerns
A robot artist made it to an exhibit at Egypt’s pyramids after its British maker said airport security held his creation for 10 days...
Chicago Art Institute Fired Its Docents. But The Story Isn’t So Simple
James Rondeau, the Institute’s director, said that the docents program had long been viewed as logistically unsustainable, and that the Institute had stopped adding...
How The Big Resignation Is Remaking America
This is a moment of fascinating decentralization. The U.S. economy lost its mojo. We had less quitting, less moving, and less entrepreneurship than in...
The New York Times Long History (And Ambitions) For Books
It all started in the very first issue of The New York Daily Times on Sept. 18, 1851. In an article on Page 2...
Exploring: The Culture Of Music Genres
“It’s not untrue that these genres are a kind of record company plot to sell us music but there’s a reason why this conspiracy...
Vinyl Records Are Popular — Too Popular To Keep Up
Left for dead with the advent of CDs in the 1980s, vinyl records are now the music industry’s most popular and highest-grossing physical format,...
Reconsidering The History Of Humanity
Humanity was not restricted to small bands of hunter-gatherers, agriculture did not lead inexorably to hierarchies and conflicts and there was not one mode...
A New Shakespeare-Style Theatre In The UK North
Shakespeare North Playhouse is on course to open next summer, joining only a handful of historically accurate, wooden-framed theatre auditoriums in England. - The Stage
25 TV Shows That Are Defining/Reflecting The 21st Century
These are the series that are both influential and significant, that have broken new ground, that have reflected life specifically in this century, or...
What Fuels Conspiracy Theories
New research suggests that it’s not just negative emotions that contribute to the appeal of conspiracy theories. People can also find conspiracy theories entertaining – and...
Report: One-Third Of UK Music Jobs Were Lost During Pandemic
The research said there were 69,000 fewer jobs in music in 2020 than in 2019 - a drop of 35% - due to the...
Shakespeare, Otello, And Race – A Complicated Issue
Art at its Shakespearean finest isn’t a repository for wisdom but an interrogation of what we think we know. It’s one of the rare...
How To Count Audience? Netflix Makes A Change
The streamer, in reporting its third quarter financials, noted that it will switch to reporting on hours viewed for its shows and movies rather than the...
Sotheby’s Launches An NFT Marketplace
The layout of the Metaverse website, similar in format to NFT-specific platforms such as OpenSea and Nifty Gateway, is designed to display the NFTs so that...
The Truth About Conspiracy Theories — By Those Who Study Them
True, we’re hearing a lot about Covid-19 and QAnon-related conspiracies. But just because they are more visible does not mean that belief in them...
How TikTok Is Spreading Learning Of Indigenous Languages
The platform best known for it's viral dance clips, is making learning languages fun. - The World
Why The Dallas Symphony Is Making Significant Investments On Digital Content
“Audiences who were very reticent or uninterested in digital content became interested. I believe we cannot turn back from that whole process.” - Dallas...
A Growing Chorus Demanding Safer Movie Production Rules
“It’s really clear from our survey, that it’s not just about the data; it’s the stories that people are telling about their experiences working...
The Existential Dangers Of “Longtermism”
Longtermism might be one of the most influential ideologies that few people have ever heard about. I believe this needs to change because I...