Research found that artists and scientists tend to experiment with diverse styles or topics before their hot streak begins. This period of exploration is followed by a period of creatively productive focus. - The Atlantic
Increasing the use of timber in the city's construction projects is hoped to reduce reliance on steel and concrete – materials that create large amounts of carbon dioxide during production. - Dezeen
The move comes after a Times investigation, published in September, in which 25 current and former festival workers alleged that WTF exposed them to repeated safety hazards and a toxic work culture. - Los Angeles Times
The female comics in the trenches of the club circuit say it remains a realm of "blatant misogyny" — and that #MeToo has only complicated their struggle not to be harassed. Part of the reason is built into the very structure of the industry. - The Hollywood Reporter
The truth is that culture writing that doesn't involve celebrities or popular culture or scandal fills an increasingly small niche in the mainstream press. - Dance Magazine
Henry Grabar lays out the web of dysfunction, failure, and perverse incentives that leads to a respected state university accepting, with no changes, a design by a billionaire who's never studied architecture for a 4,500-student dorm building whose bedrooms have no windows. - Slate
Jennifer Homans: "Balanchine, it seems, has become orthodox: classical, beautiful, the radical edges zipped up and smoothed. This is not the dancers' fault, nor is it something anyone can undo." - The New Yorker
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos "recognized that viewers were addicts, and that his role was to supply what they wanted" whenever they wanted it. The predictive analytic software that makes recommendations lets users imagine they're in control — just as depicted in Infinite Jest back in 1996. - Literary Hub
"One of the most celebrated pianists of the second half of the 20th century, … The Guardian once wrote of him, 'few pianists alive convey the sheer joy and exhilaration of being masters of their craft more vividly and uncomplicatedly than Nelson Freire.'" - Limelight
The high-profile revival of the Sondheim musical was to be directed by Terry Gilliam (yes, from Monty Python), who has made some, er, controversial remarks (such as declaring himself "a black lesbian in transition"). Sondheim himself is said to be furious. - inews.co.uk
"With 700,000 square feet of space, it is expected to be a major entry into the region's art scene. … Below, a look at the institution's history, its inaugural presentations, and its difficult road to opening." - ARTnews
The whole symbolic apparatus of cultural evolution aimed to make freedom—which they define as the freedom to move, the freedom to disobey orders, and the freedom to imagine less hierarchical ways of organizing ourselves—seem archaic and perilous. - The New Yorker
Today, few philosophers believe philosophy is a way of life, let alone the fullest and most complete way of life. Or if they do believe it, they won’t admit it in public. - 3 Quarks Daily
Leading architecture and design figures attending the summit expressed concerns that the built environment is not being talked about enough, as well as calling for clear, achievable targets to bring down greenhouse gas emissions. - Dezeen
