“The treasures unearthed at the Sanxingdui site in Guanghan, Sichuan, belonged to a highly-developed civilisation that may have lasted for thousands of years but never appeared in any historical records. … [The objects’] quality and craftsmanship far exceeds that of artefacts made at the same time in other parts of China.” – South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
Berlin Does Series Of Dry Runs For Reopening Performance Venues
“The pilot project, backed by Berlin Culture Senator Klaus Lederer, includes a series of nine events, held at seven different venues, including theaters, opera houses, concert halls and even a club, from March 19 to April 4. The Berliner Ensemble theater launched the test phase’s first weekend.” – Deutsche Welle
How Libraries Are Leading The Way On Digital Equity
As libraries continue to examine their role in digital life, they recognize that one of their critical and unique weapons is the hands-on, brains-on human capital of the librarians and library staff. They have been helping people research and navigate through their online lives for a long time. With libraries’ well-earned and precious reputation as a trusted place with trusted people, libraries are in a position to augment and ramp up these efforts. – The Atlantic
Clive Gillinson Talks Leadership in a Digital World
The Executive & Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall shares the importance of the digital landscape and leadership teams. – Aaron Dworkin
Palm Spring Giant “Marilyn” Is A Step Back
The Palms Springs Art Museum, a low-slung building designed by E. Stewart Williams in 1974, is emblematic of the Midcentury Modern architecture now synonymous internationally with the desert enclave. Rather than a civic celebration of one of the town’s greatest cultural contributions, as the 2016 plan envisioned, the council opted instead for a civic celebration of the misdemeanor crime of up-skirting. – Los Angeles Times
Making The Argument For 1925 As A Literary Watershed
Don’t just salivate over Ulysses, The Wasteland, and the soon-to-come centennial of 1922. Where would modernist English literature be without Great Gatsby? Mrs. Dalloway? John Dos Passos’ Manhattan Transfer? Or Hemingway’s In Our Time? – The New York Times
What It’s Like Filming ‘The World’s Greatest Love Scene’ When You And Romeo Can’t Touch
Jessie Buckley is playing Juliet, and Josh O’Connor is playing Romeo, but there’s no audience – and there’s a huge audience. “When news first broke that Buckley and O’Connor would appear together in a contemporary version of Romeo & Juliet, there was huge excitement among theatregoers. The idea was for a short autumn run at the Lyttleton theatre, in a stage production directed by Simon Godwin. When Covid put a stop to audiences, Godwin brought his actors together for the dates they’d been booked and had them film Shakespeare’s play in the empty Lyttleton anyway.” – The Guardian (UK)
Selling Books With Some Tears On TikTok
TikTok might not be the place we think of immediately for book reviews – but a lot of bookbuyers – that is, young women – do. “Miriam Parker, a vice president and associate publisher at Ecco, which released The Song of Achilles [in 2012], said the company saw sales spike on Aug. 9 but couldn’t figure out why. It eventually traced it to a TikTok video called ‘books that will make you sob,’ published on Aug. 8 by @moongirlreads_. Today, that video, which also includes We Were Liars, has been viewed nearly 6 million times.” – The New York Times
Indoor Dance In New York Goes On Delay Once Again
The plan: Audacious, but careful. The space: The Park Avenue Armory, with an extremely limited audience. The issue: “The eagerly anticipated performances, which were set to begin on Wednesday for a sold-out seven-day run, had to be postponed after several members of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company tested positive for the virus.” – The New York Times
Reading Books By Black Authors Isn’t Some Kind Of Magical Medicine White People Can Take
And many Black authors resent the implication. Yaa Gyasi on her time touring the United States after her book Homegoing came out: “I was exhausted, not just by the travel but by something that is more difficult to articulate – the dissonance of the black spotlight, of being revered in one way and reviled in another, a revulsion that makes clear the hollowness of the reverence.” – The Guardian (UK)
Composer Hannah Peel Goes Deep Into The Trees, And Neuroscience
Peel’s star has been ascending, with work for TV and movies, and hosting a new, controversial BBC music show – and she managed, with the help of the cosmos, Barbara Hepworth, her grandfather’s voice, and nature, to compose a new album during pandemic lockdowns and restrictions and a lot of Zoom meetings. – The Observer (UK)
Palm Springs Art Museum’s Executive Director Resigns Just Before Museum Reopens
Louis Grachos had a two-year stint, including a year of pandemic shutdown marred by controversy surrounding the museum’s response to George Floyd’s killing and by the deaccessioning and sale of a massive Helen Frankenthaler painting. Grachos is returning to New Mexico, where he’ll be ED of “the contemporary arts organization SITE Sante Fe, which he led from 1996 to 2003.” – Los Angeles Times
Maryland’s State Song Has Been Booted By Lawmakers
The state legislature voted to scrap the state’s official song. Why? “The pro-Confederate Civil War-era tune features lyrics that denigrate Abraham Lincoln as a ‘tyrant’ and call on Maryland to join the South in fighting ‘the Northern scum.’ Penned in 1861 and set to the melody of ‘O Tannenbaum,’ it has been blasted by critics as racist and an embarrassment to the state.” – Baltimore Sun