Humans have hunted Sulawesi warty pigs for tens of thousands of years, and they are a key feature of the region’s prehistoric artwork, particularly during the ice age. – The Guardian
Orange County Museum Of Art Chooses New Director
Heidi Zuckerman, who hosts the independently produced podcast “Conversations About Art” and who wrote the “Conversations With Artists” book series, was at the Aspen Art Museum from 2005 to 2019. She revamped the institution’s mission, making it more contemporary, and oversaw the creation of a $45-million museum building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban. – Los Angeles Times
This Old Dutch Master’s Art Is Totally Homoerotic — How Did Everyone Miss This For 400 Years?
Powerfully muscled backs, piston thighs, meaty buttocks you could bounce quarters off for days. “In a flare of lusty creativity, from the late 1580s until the early 1590s, this underappreciated Mannerist [Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem] produced some of the greatest — and strangest — homoerotic paintings of all time. And … this glaringly obvious fact [has] been studiously ignored in almost all the art historical commentary on his work.” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine
This Broadway Chorus Boy Is Dancing TikTok Duets With The Great Tap Stars Of Yesteryear
“Cory Lingner … [is] using the app to tap alongside some of the most iconic movie stars, including Gene Kelly, Gregory Hines, Ann Miller and Shirley Temple. And, no, he doesn’t have a time-traveling device. Lingner has perfected the use of the app’s duet feature. On one side of the video is a clip of the tap-dancing icon and on the other is Lingner, dancing in unison.” – Dance Spirit
Atlanta’s High Museum Receives Major Gift Of 19th-Century French Art
“The gift, from Atlanta collectors Irene and Howard Stein, which includes sculptures, prints and posters, is part of a larger bequest made by Steins, the museum announced on Wednesday. Included in the bequest are: 41 prints and posters and 10 sculptures by Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Gauguin and Desjardins; a drawing by Degas; and an oil painting by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.” – Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Why You Can’t Stop Watching “Bad” TV
“Consolatory entertainment” is a better term for such programming. There is consolation in the simple pleasures of ordinary conversation, shared enjoyment and of laughing together that underpins the success of panel games, quiz shows and even celebrity chat shows. – The Conversation
The Wrenching Realities Of Gentrification
Gentrification is one of the most pressing – and polarising – issues confronting cities today. In popular discussions, defenders of gentrification tend to paint it as an influx of badly needed capital into blighted urban areas… Critics view gentrification as a quasi-colonial invasion of the privileged into economically vulnerable communities. – Aeon
COVID Is Killing American Indian Tribal Leaders And Their Culture
“It’s like we’re having a cultural book-burning,” said Jason Salsman, a spokesman for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in eastern Oklahoma, whose grandparents contracted the virus but survived. “We’re losing a historical record, encyclopedias. One day soon, there won’t be anybody to pass this knowledge down.” – The New York Times
Trump, Insurrection And Classical Architecture
Before the attempted coup, architecture critics were debating the lasting impact of the president’s executive order decreeing that federal buildings should be in classical style. “Now, they are talking about whether the damage to the Capitol should remain, in some form, as a permanent goad to memory, reminding visitors of the destruction wreaked by the president’s supporters.” – Washington Post
We Need A Moratorium On Comparisons To Orwell’s ‘1984’
Especially for some folks, writes former high school English teacher Rachel Klein. “‘This is just like 1984!’ the right-wing mob cries as it changes the very meaning of words to suit its nefarious aims. ‘So Orwellian!’ its leaders cry as they demand unthinking fealty to an unhinged, unquestioned leader. … It’s a text that allows them to frame themselves as the victim of their own unacknowledged atrocities. … What white supremacist insurrectionist wouldn’t see himself in Orwell’s hapless hero of the rebellion? Perhaps if they’d read to the end …” – Electric Literature
Riccardo Muti Speaks Out About Met Opera’s Treatment Of Its Orchestra Musicians
“My appeal […] is to give back to the musicians of the Met the dignity which we all deserve and the hope that they can soon return to share with us their art. We must support them during this unprecedented and terrible pandemic.” – ClassicFM
Negro Ensemble Company: A Brief History Of A Pathbreaking Theater Group
The NEC’s roots lay in a drama workshop for Harlem youth that founder Robert Hooks ran in a makeshift theater in his apartment until the landlord found out. The professional company was born in 1967 with a Ford Fourndation grant, and it went on to become perhaps the most successful Black theatre group in the world, with a Pulitzer, two Tony Awards, more than a dozen Obies — and more than 4,000 alumni (including quite a few famous names) who learned acting, directing, and theater tech there. – American Theatre
Global Culture? It Won’t Really Ever Happen
“Populations across the globe today may devour Starbucks, KFC, and Coca-Cola. They may enjoy Italian opera, French couture, and Persian carpets. But no matter how many exotic influences each absorbs or what foreign connections they make, nations don’t just fade away. They retain their citizens’ fierce devotion.” – Nautilus
Why Horror Films Were So Popular In 2020, The Most Horrible Year In Recent Memory
“The past year … saw the horror genre take home its largest share of the box office in modern history. In a year where the world was stricken by real horrors, why were many people escaping to worlds full of fictional horrors? As odd as it may sound, the fact that people were more anxious in 2020 may be one reason why horror films were so popular. A look at typical horror fans may provide some clues about the nature of this peculiar phenomenon.” – Nautilus
Needed: A Historic Plan For Rebuilding The Arts In America
The Biden campaign promised that America could “build back better,” and throughout 2020 the president-elect extolled F.D.R.’s New Deal as a blueprint for American renewal. For the administration to show that sort of Rooseveltian resolve — and, with control of the Senate, it just about can — it’s going to have to put millions of Americans on the federal payroll: among them artists, musicians and actors, tasked to restore a battered nation. – The New York Times
Robert Cohan, Who Brought Contemporary Dance To Great Britain, Dead At 95
“A New Yorker who performed with Martha Graham’s dance company, often partnering Graham herself, Cohan moved to London where, in 1967, he became the first artistic director of the venue The Place, as well as the London Contemporary Dance School and the company London Contemporary Dance Theatre. His partnership with the founder of those organisations, Robin Howard, changed the face of dance in the UK and brought growing audiences to bold new explorations of movement that stretched beyond ballet.” He was still teaching and choreographing at age 93. – The Guardian
What We Need Is Artificial Intelligence That Explains Itself
A computer that masters protein folding and also tells researchers more about the rules of biology is much more useful than a computer that folds proteins without explanation. – The Conversation
Here’s How A Few Other Countries Have Been Aiding Arts Workers Through The Pandemic
“In December, owners and operators of theaters and music halls across the United States breathed a sigh of relief when Congress passed the latest coronavirus aid package, which finally set aside $15 billion to help desperate cultural venues. But that came more than six months after a host of other countries had taken steps to buffer the strain of the pandemic on the arts and artists. Here are the highlights, and missteps, from eight countries’ efforts.” – The New York Times
While He Was Being Impeached, Trump Gave Two People The National Medal Of Arts. So What Exactly Is That?
The awards to country music stars Toby Keith and Ricky Skaggs weren’t even officially announced; word went out in a tweet from Bloomberg News. So the question arose on social media: what is this medal and how big a deal is it? Reporter Jessica Gelt provides an explainer. – Los Angeles Times
45,000-Year-Old Painting, World’s Oldest Non-Abstract Art, Found In Indonesia
“Four years ago, scientists came upon the purplish pig adorning the walls of a cave hidden in a highland valley on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. They now estimate that it was painted [at least] … 45,500 years ago. If that date is correct, the find in Leang Tedongnge cave could represent the earliest known example of figurative art.” – Smithsonian Magazine
Concert Halls Can be COVID-Safe At 50% Capacity: German Study
The research, commissioned by and conducted at the Konzerthaus in Dortmund, used dummies that simulated breathing, with and without masks, placed at various points in the auditorium; the spread of aerosol droplets and carbon dioxide in the breath was measured. Results indicated that with checkerboard seating and masked audience members there is “almost no risk” of transmitting COVID-19. – The Strad
Dallas Symphony Hangs On To Fabio Luisi Through 2028-29
“The five-year contract extension comes amid Luisi’s first full season as artistic head of the orchestra. … [His] vision for his first full season was stifled by the pandemic, but the orchestra has forged on. The DSO is one of the few professional orchestras in the country performing before a live audience during the pandemic.” – KERA (Dallas)
Connect
The viability of our industry depends upon developing relationships — making connections — with many new communities. The bases for success are respect and humility. – Doug Borwick
Loose Lips Sink Ships: Nina Ananiashvili Loses New Job One Week After She Announced It
Last week the former prima ballerina of the Bolshoi, ABT, and the Houston Ballet told the Georgian-language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that she had accepted the directorship of the ballet company at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater in Russia’s third-largest city. However, she wasn’t even scheduled to meet the dancers until late January, and telling the press about the job before telling her new colleagues did not go down well. Her contract has been terminated. – Georgia Today
More Shenanigans And Secrecy Around COVID Arts Relief Money In Australia’s Largest State
New South Wales was the last of the country’s states to establish a rescue package for artists and organizations devastated by the pandemic-related lockdowns — and when the $50 million fund was finally set up, there was unusual secrecy around the application process and the breakdown of money awarded. Seven months later, $30 million hasn’t even been allocated yet, half of what has been given out went to one organization, and $7 million isn’t accounted for at all. – The Guardian