Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Diagnosing A Post-Liberal Culture
Postliberals, as Matthew Rose argues in his new book A World After Liberalism, agree on little. They know something has gone wrong, and they suspect...
Of Authenticity, Experience And The Right To Standing
In my experience, when people say they need to “listen to the most affected”, it isn’t because they intend to set up Skype calls...
The New Activism: Art Attacking The Institutions — Any Institution, Including Those Who Show...
One irony of contemporary art that critiques or transcends the institution is just how central the institution remains to it. Indeed, the complexity of the...
John McWhorter On Campus Culture And The Bright Sheng Case: Radicalism Or Progressivism?
It's not "the students’ fragility, it’s that their approach illustrates the difference between radicalism and progressivism. It’s an example of a strain of thought...
Bright Sheng And Campus Culture Run Amok? Or…
To some observers, it’s a case of campus “cancel culture” run amok. To others, the incident is symbolic of an arrogant academic and artistic...
Is Hunter Biden’s Art Career A Problem?
Experts have raised alarms that individuals might buy the artworks – expected to fetch between $75,000 and $500,000 – to try to curry favor and gain...
The Team Orchestrating Your Brain’s Consciousness
This new framework points to a view of the brain as a fusion of the local and the global, arranged in a hierarchical manner. -...
Visa Delays Are Crippling US Music World
The delays have hampered many industries, but they are particularly upending classical music, which relies on stars from all over the world to make a...
How Opera Invented The Modern Fan
Theater impresarios quickly recognized them as their ideal audience: the true-blue fans who reliably subscribed to the whole opera season; bought programs, autographed photos; and drummed...
Is There A Role For Art In A Post-Liberal World?
The liberal beliefs that underpin today’s international art world are only shared by a tiny minority of the global population. Yet the West’s art...
An Audio Producer On The Process Of Becoming Deaf
I know neither birdsong nor silence, and yet am acutely aware that countless people struggling with their own version of “life is unfair” would...
The Benefit Of Watching Horror Movies
People can derive pleasure from recreational horror, whether in a haunted attraction or in front of the screen. For some, it is about maximum...
Tracking Arts Unemployment: Still Grim
As of August 2021, the national rate had fallen below 6% while the sector rate increased to over 10% once again. - SMU Data...
Chicago Art Institute Fires 150 Docents
Once you cut through the blather, the letter basically said the museum had looked critically at its corps of docents, a group dominated by...
Chicago Art Institute Board Chair Explains Why 150 Docents Were Fired
Robert M. Levy: "In order to succeed, the Art Institute and our peer group must let go of the museum tenet of “this is...
Rotten Tomatoes And Measuring The Divide Between Critics And Audience
The new Disney Plus documentary on Dr Anthony Fauci, which explores the personal side of the controversial figure, has a certified 91 percent approval...
Twelve Predictions About The Future Of Music
Dead musicians will start by giving tours in concert halls, but as the cost of the technology goes down, they will begin performing everywhere....
Raymond Gniewek, 89, Was Met Opera Orchestra’s Concertmaster For 43 Years
Mr. Gniewek (pronounced NYEH-vik), a violinist whose solos invariably drew acclaim, was just 25 in 1957 when he was named the orchestra’s concertmaster. He...
UK Museums Show Impacts Of COVID Shutdown
More than 18 months since the coronavirus pandemic hit Britain, its long-term effects on the country’s museums are becoming clear. Months of closures have caused...
Wonder Why Your Favorite International Artists Are Canceling US Trips? Ask The Danish String...
It takes months and months to apply for and get cleared for visas to come to the US. Hundreds of international artists have had...
London Bans Wood In Constructing Some Buildings — Expert Says Rule Harms Climate
Rules restricting the use of wood in UK buildings are hampering the switch to low-carbon building methods, according to timber architecture expert Andrew Waugh. - Dezeen
More Virtual Sex As Birthrates Plunge. Should We Worry?
If sex is everywhere, it’s also nowhere: as birth rates plunge globally, we are engaging in the act less and less. The significance of this change shouldn’t...
Our Sense Of Smell Is Intense. If Only We Know How It Worked…
How a receptor detects a smell remains a deep riddle to scientists. The odorant’s shape appears to determine which olfactory receptors it binds to;...
From Brainwashing To Misinformation
“Social media has gone from techno-utopianism to dystopic weaponization. Perhaps Timothy Leary was more accurate than he realized when he branded the internet the...
What’s The Best Artistic Leadership Model?
There are several, and coming out of the pandemic, it seems appropriate to reassess what works. - Nightingale Sonata