Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Giller Prize Drops Bank From Its Name Over Controversies
The rebranding follows months of controversy surrounding Scotiabank’s investment in the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems and comes amid an ongoing campaign calling on arts organizations like...
Scientists Studied Eye Movements To See How Our Brains Process Stories
"Traditionally, we've thought of eye movements as a simple response to what's happening in front of us. But recent research shows that's not the...
The State Of The New York Philharmonic Through Its Tax Return
The Philharmonic released its 2022 tax return Wednesday, covering its first season back at David Geffen Hall following a $550 million renovation. Ticket revenue rebounded to $29.76...
Internet Archive Loses Appeal On “Fair Use” Of Books
Notably, the appeals court’s ruling rejects the Internet Archive’s argument that its lending practices were shielded by the fair use doctrine, which permits for...
Might AI Kill Off Amateur Novels? Good!
The world needs fewer novels, certainly fewer novels that have been written in a month. And artificial intelligence is itchy for distractions; we need...
Ticket Bots Overwhelm Sales Of Oasis Concert Tickets, Enraging Fans
As soon as the presale for the band’s upcoming gigs went online on Friday, tickets—which started at around $100 apiece—popped up on resale sites,...
Creative Rights Group Advocates For New AI Rules On Using Data
The DPA advocates for an opt-in system, meaning that data can be used only after consent is explicitly given by creators and rights holders....
How AI Is Helping To Authenticate Artwork
“Our program needs about three days to learn the characteristics from around 700 training images, and less than five minutes to calculate the probability...
How Keith Haring Soared To The Top Of The Art World
The story of Keith Haring’s meteoric rise to international art fame is as good as any such story—thrilling really. - The Easel
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning. Your traditional AJ newsletter is below. You can click the button to skip down to there. But here are five highlights we've...
European Fine Art Foundation Names New Director After String Of Controversies
She is the fifth director of Tefaf in four years and arrives after a period of controversy at the fair brand. Her direct successor, Bart...
After A Big Broadway Theatre Merger… Big Profits
Taking over ownership of Jujamcyn’s five Broadway venues, including the August Wilson and Walter Kerr theatres – a deal finalised in summer 2023 – pulled...
Why Reference Books Matter
I write today in praise of a third genre that few self-respecting intellectuals admit to reading regularly, though many do: the reference book. - Discourse...
Annals Of Great Editors: The New Yorker’s Katherine White
Perhaps one reason why she was a superb editor is because her personality so completely concorded with the wider cultural understanding of editing as...
Boy Scouts to Sell Art To Fund Sexual Abuse Settlements
The Boy Scouts of America is auctioning off the entirety of its 321-piece art collection, which includes works by Norman Rockwell, Walt Disney, and J.C. Leyendecker, and is...
How The Taliban Have Changed Afghani Culture After Three Years
While its repressive attitude towards women’s rights has remained consistent, the Taliban's stance on the preservation of historic sites contrasts sharply with its actions...
The Art Of Daydreaming (It Can Get In The Way)
For some, the delight of daydreaming can turn into a curse: The fantasies become such a successful form of escape that they take over...
The Buildings You Live In Help Shape Your Brain
How do the offices, houses, hospitals, schools, neighbourhoods and spaces that we occupy day to day affect our health? Traditionally, our understanding of how...
Today’s AJ Highlights
Good morning: Every day we send you a list of 20 stories. But we realize some of you want to cut right to the...
The Kinds Of Shows Audiences Are Looking For Now
In a world that’s bleak enough already, feel-good, heartfelt comedy feels like more of a salve; earnest sitcoms seem to counteract the vitriol of...
How Should Traditional Museums Think About Immersive Experiences?
What we found leads us to believe that, when it comes to immersive art, established art museums are stuck between staying on the sidelines of...
Opera Philadelphia’s Big Ticketing Experiment
How the math nets out in the end remains to be seen. Last season’s production of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, for instance, had a higher...
Douthat: Why We Don’t Build Beautiful Buildings Anymore
"We don’t necessarily need to repeal the laws of economics or solve Baumol’s cost disease to build as beautifully as our ancestors once did....
CDs Have Always Had A Flaw. Streaming Could Fix It
The majority of your CDs have probably been downsampled perilously from studio to disc. And streaming has now righted that wrong; we can indeed...
Another Semester Of ChatGPT Havoc At Universities
“If the first year of AI college ended in a feeling of dismay, the situation has now devolved into absurdism." - The Atlantic