“The West End is capitalizing on lower production costs, cheaper ticket prices and government tax relief to drive attendances to new heights. … Staging a show in New York now costs three to five times what it does in London, producers say.” - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)
“Pooling resources now reflects a broader shift away from the competitive collection building of the 19th and 20th centuries. Increasing financial pressure plays an undeniable role, but so does a growing appetite for deeper institutional ties and shared expertise.” - Artnet
The news comes from a filing the museum made last week with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation; management has also filed with the city of Dallas for a construction permit. Work is expected to start early next year. - The Dallas Morning News (MSN)
“Neither company shared financial details of the agreement, although it follows the collapse of a $1 billion (£745 million) deal between Disney and OpenAI which would have let people use its characters in AI-generated videos.” - BBC
The museum paused its exhibitions and other activities last year due to financial troubles. The board and management have not announced any permanent closure; their statements indicate that they hope to keep operating without a permanent home. - The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC)
Hard, uncomfortable seats built for 19th-century-sized bodies. No air conditioning and poor ventilation in high summer. The preferences, not to say whims, of the composer’s great-granddaughter because she’s the boss. Years-long waits for expensive tickets. Pricey drinks at intermission. The Wagnerites say it’s all worth it. - The New York Times
“A rare chord change on Wednesday — from seven notes to eight once an A4 pipe was added — represented the completion of about 4% of the 639-year endeavor of the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt. … The’“ORGAN²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible)’ composition is scheduled to finish on Sept. 4, 2640.” - AP
The early video store was often a place to talk as well as to shop, and the persona and expertise of retailers and clerks structured the consumer experience of home video as much as the shelves on the wall. - MIT Press
Justin Davidson on New York’s Perelman Arts Center and The Shed: “Now the boldest experimenters can take advantage of walls that move at the touch of a button, precision lifts, rooms that shrink and expand, projected images (on) moving surfaces. … Yet the revolution, now that it’s here, feels anticlimactic and overpriced.” - Curbed (MSN)
I want to build a company with the strength and resources to deliver for those audiences who turn to us, for the storytellers who rely on us and for the country that dreamed this all up. - The New York Times
Edinburgh has wrestled with for years: what is tourism actually for? If the answer is simply “more visitors, more spending”, the city will keep winning by numbers while residents feel they are losing by experience. - The Conversation
It’s the year’s worst pop trend: fans paying the highest price to pre-order what is ostensibly the most desirable, collectible or elaborate edition of an album are instead receiving incomplete or unpolished versions of the music. - The Guardian
Pandji Pragiwaksono was a household name in Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country. In a Netflix special last year, he made fun of the president and was interrogated on criminal charges. Now he’s in New York, working comedy clubs, learning which routines don’t translate, and preparing for his first English-language tour. - Variety
The difficulties of using AI in Africa are also linguistic. By the summer of 2025, only 42 languages in Africa were supported by an LLM, out of more than 2,000 found in the continent; 98 per cent of African languages have no meaningful AI support at all. - Aeon
As movies and shows like "Super Mario Galaxy Movie," "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" and "Fallout" prove Hollywood has finally figured out how to successfully adapt video games -- after years of failure so deep a "video game movie curse" moniker was coined -- the makers of those games are in disarray. - The Wrap (MSN)
