If ‘language is one of the keys to individual autonomy’, the central challenge in a linguistic landscape being flattened and standardized by AI is to ‘continue to believe in language learning as a tool of emancipation and liberation’. - Eurozine
Hilde Limondjian, who spent more than four decades bringing music to the auditorium — and the galleries — of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, died on Jan. 24. She was 89. - The New York Times
The latest set of commissions will be realized by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Jeffrey Gibson, Rashid Johnson, Hugo McCloud, Martin Puryear, Lorna Simpson, and Norman Teague. - ARTnews
Literary ridicule used to sting politicians into shame. Now they don't read books, don't care about cultural criticism, and certainly don't lose sleep over clever wordplay. Writers are shadowboxing with ghosts. — New York Review of Books
Under their new leadership, Victory Gardens has hosted a writers’ workshop, a showcase of new works in collaboration with New Musical Chicago, and a staged reading of An Ocean Away, a documentary play by Belarusian playwright Andrei Kureichik about the effects of war on Ukrainians and diaspora communities. - American Theatre
The Getty and Page Museum are getting Olympic-ready makeovers, because nothing says 'world-class cultural destination' like frantically renovating before the global spotlight hits. Strategic timing or happy coincidence? — Artnet
A Texas novelist discovers the hard way that authorial intent is no match for America's hunger for mythology. Sometimes the culture writes the ending, whether you like it or not. — The American Scholar
A Danish writer discovers what Instagram influencers fear most: that maybe there's no authentic self to brand after all. Thank goodness for Austrian modernists who made existential fragmentation fashionable. — Aeon
Largely ignored by academic philosophers, the “Dark Enlightenment” movement and Yarvin have curried favor and influence with tech executives in recent years. A software engineer by training, Yarvin has become a kind of official philosopher for tech leaders like PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel and Mosaic founder Marc Andreessen. — Time
The art world's great pivot to regional collectors hits a Teutonic reality check. Turns out courting hometown buyers is neither easier nor more profitable than globe-trotting—just different complications. — Artnet
Expo Chicago's glittering circus rolls into town promising cultural cachet, but who's actually invited to the party? A reality check on whether the fair circuit lifts all boats or just the ones already floating. — Hyperallergic
As traditional literary criticism gasps its last, so goes reasoned public discourse. David Bell chronicles how digital age killed the gatekeepers—and maybe critical thinking itself. — Liberties Journal
Remember when online culture was its own weird planet? Those days are dead. Internet-speak has colonized everything from gallery walls to boardroom presentations, proving that resistance to algorithmic aesthetics was always temporary. - The New York Times
Some of these online influencers are pretty easy to spot, but others are good enough that they’re duping people. And in some cases, it seems almost impossible to know for certain whether a specific influencer is real or not. - The Atlantic
Long before Apple claimed to revolutionize music consumption, scrappy Canadian start-ups were quietly building the streaming future. Turns out maple syrup wasn't the only sweet innovation flowing north of the border. — The Walrus
