Visitors to the site can browse reconstructions that date back as early as 1200 BCE, the Mycenaean period — or Bronze Age — through Classical Athens, featuring the rebuilds made necessary by the Greco-Persian War, and ages of occupation by Romans and Ottomans. Tsalkanis traces the evolution of sites like the Acropolis throughout the ages, the rise and fall of the city walls, the Agora, which served as center of city life, and various temples, libraries, and other fortifications. – Hyperallergic
Actor-Singer-Dancer Paula Kelly Dead At 77
“[She] began her career in the 1960s performing with the Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey and Donald McKayle dance companies … [and] became a leading black performer on Broadway … and later turned to supporting roles on film and television, playing one of TV’s first black lesbian characters.” (And no less than Bob Fosse called her “the best dancer I’ve ever seen.”) – The Washington Post
How Ballerina Costumes Influenced 20th Century Fashion
“Ballet costumes influenced fashion, and fashion influenced ballet costumes. This interplay, I think, was very, very rich during the mid-century.” – The Daily Beast
Why Anonymous Is A Bestselling Author, And Why That’s A Problem
“For readers, the anonymous author holds a simple and compelling promise. Here is someone who – by concealing their identity – can reveal the complete and shocking truth. … [Yet] this is truth-telling predicated, after all, on a lie – perhaps the biggest lie possible, the denial of who you are. There is plenty of room for fiction to sneak in under the cover of the original fib.” – The Guardian
How Dorothea Lange Changed America
“[Her work] did nothing less than heighten the stakes of what we expect from a photograph, expectations that persist. … She was an artist under the guise of a journalist and an activist under the guise of a dispassionate civil servant, and it would be impossible to think of any of these roles today without her influence.” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine
The Problems With Re-Enactments Of Slavery And The Underground Railroad
Over three decades, “millions [of Americans] have undergone an experience that can range from a board game to an immersive nightlong ordeal, complete with horseback-riding paddy rollers and an armed Harriet Tubman. … Do fugitive lives belong to everyone, as models and martyrs of democracy? Or are they victims of appropriation, their stories warped by repetitive reconciliation myths and kitsch entertainment? Can ’embodying’ the past empower the living, or does it trivialize history and traumatize its inheritors?” – The New Yorker
Trump Administration Abruptly Closes National Archives In Seattle, Infuriating Researchers, Tribal Leaders
For the 272 federally recognized tribes in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho, the facility contains important treaty and historical documents. The tribes had never been consulted about the closure, nor had there been any sort of hearings about a facility that holds 1 million boxes of federal records generated in the Pacific Northwest. These include military, land, court, tax and census records. – Seattle Times
A History Of Poets Laureate
The poet laureate tradition is long. Poet laureates were first recognized in Italy during the fourteenth century. Ben Jonson became England’s first poet laureate in 1616, although the first “official” poet laureate, John Dryden, received his appointment in 1668. The present title in the United States, however, wasn’t authorized until an act of Congress in 1985 — prior to that they were known as “Consultants in Poetry.” – Los Angeles Times
Study: Why There’s So Little Critical Coverage Of Theatre Made By Disabled Artists
Factors contributing to a “noticeable gap in critical coverage” include a crisis in mainstream arts criticism, a lack of diversity within mainstream theatre critics and a reluctance to be critical when it comes to artists with learning disabilities. – The Stage
Why Is There No (Or Little) Arts Programming On The Streaming Platforms?
When asked about cultural programming, the streaming services are tight-lipped. Both Netflix and Apple TV+ declined to say if they plan to produce more original content and whether visual arts programmes will be a priority. A spokeswoman for HBO—which bought the rights to show The Price of Everything—says it “will feature documentaries about art in the future. However, it’s too early to discuss the projects as they are in development.” – The Art Newspaper
Systems Of Creativity – How Ideas And Culture Come Together
Cultural institutions are a kind of technology – a social technology. Just as physical technologies – agriculture, the wheel or computers – are tools for transforming matter, energy or information in pursuit of our goals, social technologies are tools for organising people in pursuit of our goals. While we are fascinated and sometimes frightened by the pace of evolution of physical technologies, we experience the evolution of social technologies differently. – Aeon
Travel Is A Mind-Expanding Cultural Experience. But What If It’s Killing Us?
Over-tourism is damaging popular cities and cultural attractions. Instagram is sending mobs to previously bucolic places. Then there’s the carbon cost of all that air travel, which is killing the planet. The best thing you can do for the planet? Maybe stay home! – Post Alley
Entire Hong Kong Arts Festival Is Cancelled Due To Coronavirus Epidemic
“Due to officially open on February 13 with a concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the month-long festival was to have featured more than 120 performances of dance, music, theatre and opera. Last year’s festival drew a combined audience of nearly 90,000 people.” – South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
Meaning Is More Important Than Happiness (The Path To One Is The Other)
Given that psychological pain is so ubiquitous, we should focus less on what might make us happy, and more on achieving a sense of meaning, regardless of how we’re feeling. – Aeon
Singing & Signing: How Christine Sun Kim Brought Her Whitney-Biennial “Rage” to the Super Bowl
After making a powerful impression at last year’s Whitney Biennial with her six drawings of pie charts plotting Degrees of Deaf Rage, deaf artist Christine Sun Kim reached a much wider, more diverse audience — at the Super Bowl. – Lee Rosenbaum
Protests Over Plans To Kill New Zealand’s Only Classical Radio Station
The station draws about 170,000 listeners a week in New Zealand, heavily skewed towards those aged 65 and older, according to the broadcaster. But fans mobilised last week when Radio New Zealand proposed to throw out its classical arm’s FM station in May, replacing it with a youth radio channel in August. Some 18 jobs would be eliminated, with new roles created at the youth station, RNZ said. – The Guardian
A Black, Gay Writer Takes On The Traditional Campus Narrative
Brandon Taylor always felt that he had to choose between science and writing. “Throughout his undergraduate years at Auburn University at Montgomery and graduate school in Wisconsin … science often won. But when he received an acceptance letter from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he decided that, this time, writing would win. ‘I could survive not having science, but I couldn’t survive not having writing,’ he said.” – The New York Times
Anonymous Used To Be A Woman, But Now Is A Secret Identity For Spill-All Political Writers
It’s not just politicians, of course, in our age of surveillance and social media. “Here is someone who – by concealing their identity – can reveal the complete and shocking truth. Many anonymous authors say this is precisely why they’ve chosen to remain hidden. The Secret Barrister, whose anonymous exposé of the [British] criminal justice system was published in 2018, explains from behind the barrier of email: ‘Anonymity means I can criticise institutions, organisations and players in the justice system without feeling that I have to modify my commentary with a nervous eye on my real-life practice.'” – The Guardian (UK)
An Art Critic ‘Accidentally’ Destroys A Piece She Doesn’t Like At A Mexico City Art Fair
The critic, Avelina Lésper, shattered the installation by Mexican artist Gabriel Rico with an empty soda can. – The Guardian (UK) (AP)