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Have We Misunderstood Originality In Art?

It might just be inevitable to conclude that, as Shakespeare himself wrote, ‘there be nothing new, but that which is hath been before’ – borrowing from the Old Testament, of course. - Psyche

Mind-To-Mind Connection

‘Good old-fashioned telepathy’ (GOFT) involves a direct transfer of thoughts from one mind to another. It has captivated people for a few reasons. - Aeon

UK Gets Another New Culture Minister (12th In 13 Years)

Frazer has expressed little or no interest in the UK’s creative industries publicly. One of her few interventions came in 2021 when, as Financial Secretary to the Treasury, she heralded the success of UK’s high-end tax breaks. - Deadline

Houston Grand Opera Gets $22 Million Gift

HGO announced a gift of $22 million, the largest in the organization’s 68-year history. The benefactors: Sarah and Ernest Butler, two Austin-based opera fans who have been subscribers for 35 years and attendees for even longer. - Houston Chronicle

In Which We Try To Convince You Of Similarities Between Classical Music And Heavy Metal…

There are many technical similarities between classical music, especially music from the baroque period, and metal, which others more versed in music theory are better qualified than I am to discuss. At a fundamental level, both types of music are interested in exploring complexity. - 3 Quarks Daily

A New Database Shows American Museums And Universities That Still Hold Native American Artifacts That Were Supposed To Be Returned

33 years after the law’s passage, at least half of the remains of more than 210,000 Native Americans have yet to be returned. Tribes have struggled to reclaim them in part because of a lack of federal funding for repatriation and because institutions face little to no consequences for violating the law or dragging their feet. - ProPublica

Male Celebrities “Queerbaiting” — Is It Really A Thing?  Does It Matter?  Should It?

Mark Harris: "The fact that these have even become urgent questions has to do, in large part, with the collision of Gen Z's approach to sexuality, which is very flexible, and its approach to culture, which is not." - T — The New York Times Style Magazine

The Right’s Attack On African-American Studies And What’s At Stake

In the so-called concern about the left ruling the campuses, what we actually have is an onslaught by the right wing to control what we read, who we talk to, and what we talk about. - The New Yorker

What Was Up With That New York Times Column Saying The Waffle House Brawl Video Should Be In A Museum? Ben Davis Figures It...

"Turning the spotlight on the sensational viral clip, only to describe the violence in it as a kind of picturesque genre scene, doesn't really do much to cut against the stereotype of out-of-touch liberal media.  Still, I have some compassion for the writer and editors here." - Artnet

X-Rays Reveal Portrait Under Cezanne Masterpiece

The X-ray, oriented on its side, has the original Still Life composition occupying two quadrants on the right. But the left side—the black backdrop of the final composition—reveals a face with deep set eyes and a distinct nose and mouth. - Atlas Obscura

What Made Kyle Abraham into A Choreographer? Getting Fired By Bill T. Jones

"For a moment there I think I lost what my goal was in being choreographer. ... What I realized, after getting fired from that job, is that I wanted to be in the room but I didn't necessarily want to be a dancer in the room." - National Endowment for the Arts

Portrait Of The Next-Generation Art Collector

Owning around 150 artworks, the Paris-based art collector actively shares his latest art acquisitions and stylish home interiors on his Instagram profile. Many of the artists in his art collection are some of the rising stars in the art world. - Larry's List

So How Amazingly Productive Was Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks During Lockdown?

"From March 2020 to April 2021, Parks wrote a short play a day. Sometimes, Parks would write multiple (sic). Other times, Parks would write fragments of a song, eventually creating 23 original songs for the theatrical piece that charts the family's journey through the pandemic." - The Guardian

In Nairobi, A Kenyan Nonprofit Is Making Libraries Truly Public, And Beautiful

The "public" libraries used to be segregated, for whites only, and then they fell into disrepair. Now, Kenyans "are here to reclaim history, to occupy its architecture and to subvert its intended use." - The New York Times

The Beltracchis: How The Great Art-Forging Couple Of Our Age Did It, And Why

"Rather than forging existing paintings, Wolfgang produced hundreds of original works that skillfully imitated the styles of deceased European artists including Max Ernst, Fernand Léger, Kees van Dongen and André Derain. His wife Helene then sold them as previously undocumented works, sometimes for seven-figure sums." - CNN

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