Candombe — not to be confused with candomblé, the syncretic religion created by Afro-Brazilians — was once confined to poor black neighborhoods in Montevideo. Now it has many thousands of practitioners and fans throughout the country. - The Guardian
“Though Christianity’s relationship with dance remains tangled, the full-bodied nature of Shaker devotion, revolutionary in the 18th century, is now an ideal for some Christians — and some dance artists.” - The New York Times
“The role of the state is not to filter works in the name of good taste,” Thill said, adding that art should challenge audiences rather than simply please them. He said the public debate surrounding the project proves that it is doing its job. - ARTnews
Even if a new mug – or a clone – is identical to the original in every visible way, the fact that it is not the same alters the directionality of love: the fact that it is not the same has an impact on what we are affectively able to do. - Psyche
"The portrait, painted around 1598 and attributed to Caravaggio in 1963, depicts Maffeo Barberini, a nobleman who later became Pope Urban VIII. The painting was acquired from a private collection by the Italian state after over a year of negotiations and will now enter Rome’s Palazzo Barberini permanent collection." - AP
Identity, even when mobilized as a force for visibility and justice, can shield art from critique—transforming dissent into offense and rendering criticism suspect. Questioning the work risks being seen as questioning the identity. - LA Review of Books
The ambition to explore every facet of the present was quickly replaced by a devout commitment to questions of equity and accountability. There was a new answer to the question of what art should do: it should amplify the voices of the historically marginalized. What it shouldn’t do, it seemed, is be inventive or interesting. - Harper's
The literary breaches, while trivial, highlight a reality that has become all too clear: There’s an inverse correlation between power and proper punctuation. - The Wall Street Journal
If your experience of Marseille is limited to certain multicultural central neighbourhoods then it might be easy to assume that this is – and always will be – a leftwing city, an outlier in the far-right bastion that is the wider south of France. But Marseille’s politics have always been contested. - The Guardian
“(He) achieved international renown with the 1970 publication of A World for Julius, ... portraying the life of Lima's elite through the eyes of a sensitive and lucid child. The book continues to be studied in universities around the world and marked a before and after in Peruvian literature.” - Euronews
Spotify said artists from 75 different countries had generated at least $500,000 in streaming royalties last year, compared to 66 the year prior, with about half of an average artist’s streams now coming from outside their home country. - The Hollywood Reporter
Sitting in front of the singers, without the distraction of the sets or even an orchestra, I found myself face to face with Mozart’s sublime interwoven vocal lines and the unadulterated beauty and power of the human instrument. It reminded me of why I keep turning up to opera in the first place. - The Guardian
“As their profession is thrust into the spotlight with a new Oscar for their work being awarded on Sunday, the casting directors I spoke with acknowledged that the digital migration of their process has in some ways globalized the experience, … but they also acknowledge that sometimes a human touch is lost.” - The New York Times
“This decision by the Fondazione Biennale is not compatible with the EU’s collective response to Russia’s brutal aggression,” said the EU commissioners for technology and culture. “Should the Fondazione Biennale ... allow Russia’s participation, we will examine further action, including the suspension or termination of an ongoing EU grant to the Biennale Foundation.” - ARTnews
The government of Oregon’s largest city has $8.5 million in money from its (unpopular) Art Tax that has never been spent; this was reported shortly after the city cut arts grants by nearly half. - Oregon ArtsWatch
