“A self-described ‘freethinking intelligence yet a child of the ghetto,’ … [he was] a public intellectual who examined such topics as the cultural ferment of the 1960s, the artistic legacy of the Depression and the evolution of the American novel in works that were both penetrating and penetrable, offering a model of what he regarded as the ideal role of the critic in modern society.” – The Washington Post
How A Gang Of Wall-Climbing, Web-Slinging Rare Book Thieves Was Brought To Justice
In January of 2017, a group of skilled, acrobatic robbers began a series of daring break-ins — climbing walls, breaking through skylights and barriers, lowering themselves dozens of feet with ropes, never setting off alarms — to steal shipments of rare books worth millions from storage facilities around London. Here’s the story of how Scotland Yard, working with detectives in Germany and Italy and a pair of heroic law enforcement officials in Romania, solved the case. – Vanity Fair
Podcasts By Retired Sports Stars Are Becoming Big Business
“If athlete-driven podcasts were once shoestring affairs, they’ve now been absorbed into the sports-media economy. Last year, [sports-podcast network] The Ringer was acquired by Spotify for around two hundred million dollars.” And the athlete-hosts don’t talk only about the game; they sometimes have on as guests rock musicians, movie stars, entertainment execs, and politicians. – The New Yorker
How We’ll Know If An AI Develops Consciousness
Clearly, asking questions about consciousness does not prove anything per se. But could an AI zombie formulate such questions by itself, without hearing them from another source or belching them out from random outputs? To me, the answer is clearly no. If I’m right, then we should seriously consider that an AI might be conscious if it asks questions about subjective experience unprompted. – Nautilus
Researchers May Just Have Reconstructed The Long-Unknown Face Of The Pharaoh Akhenaten
Intact depictions of the world’s first known monotheist, husband to Nefertiti and father of Tutankhamun, are rare (subsequent rulers of Egypt tried to erase him from history), and those few that have survived unvandalized look so odd that many scholars think they were intended to be symbolic and stylized rather than naturalistic. Yet there is a surviving mummy which genetic tests indicate was likely Tutankhamun’s father (i.e., Akhenaten), and scientists have now used 3D imaging to reconstruct that individual’s face. – Smithsonian Magazine
The Pandemic Is Showing Us Plays Can Work Without Intermissions
Lyn Gardner: “Often an interval is only there to give audiences the opportunity to go to the lavatory and spend more money. It destroys the world of the play. Dispensing with the interval would remove another of those theatre conventions that are so much part of the experience that we’ve stopped questioning why they are there. The interval didn’t exist until theatre moved into playhouses and new candles were required to be lit to stop darkness descending.” – The Stage
Western Ballet Is (Just) Starting To Catch On In India
“Western classical ballet is still a very unfamiliar art form in India. But in the last few years, promising talent has begun emerging, often in dancers from disadvantaged or working-class families with no prior association with Western classical music or dance.” And one particular instructor in Mumbai has made a huge difference. – Pointe Magazine
Massive Amounts Of Money Intended To Help South African Artists Through Pandemic Are Missing
The South African government allocated 300 million rand (roughly $20 million) to a rescue fund for artists who lost their livelihoods due to COVID-related lockdowns. Thousands of individuals and organizations applied and were approved for relief money which hasn’t arrived. News reports have said that the money has disappeared; the Arts and Culture Minister claims that it was double-allocated. – The Citizen (South Africa)
Movie-Viewing Habits Have Changed. Will Audiences Return To Theatres?
“Cinema-going will inevitably initially be at much lower levels, the question is what level will they return to,” says Richard Broughton, research director at Ampere Analysis. “There have been changes in consumer habits, with the boom in streaming, and theatre owners aren’t in the same position to put their foot down with studios over exclusivity.” – The Guardian
New Memoir Dishes On Iran’s Fabulous Art Museum Created For The Shah
The museum was conceived by the Empress Farah Diba Pahlavi, wife of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and opened to international acclaim in 1977. Just 15 months later, in the face of a massive popular uprising, the couple left the country on what was officially called a “vacation.” The revolution replaced the monarchy with an Islamic Republic weeks later. The new regime could have sold or destroyed the Western art masterpieces. Instead, the museum was closed, its treasures hidden in a concrete basement, and the shah’s palaces were preserved and eventually turned into museums. For years, the art collection, bought for less than $100 million dollars, was protected but unseen; by some estimates, it is now worth as much as $3 billion. – The New York Times
Regional UK Museums Say They’ll Return Benin Bronzes
This, of course, in contrast with the country’s national museums, which have declined to repatriate the art. Evidently, the regionals have more flexibility in such decisions. “On Thursday, the University of Aberdeen confirmed it would repatriate a bust of an Oba, or king of Benin, which it has had since the 1950s, ‘within weeks’, a landmark move for a British institution. – The Guardian
Italians Bristle At The Suggestion Dante Was “Less Modern” Than Shakespeare
A German newspaper had made the claim and Italian readers and Italy’s leaders pushed back vociferously. – The Guardian
Want To Visit The Louvre? Its Collection Is Now Viewable Free Online
The French museum has released an online platform featuring all of the museum’s artworks, consisting of more than 480,000 pieces, the Louvre announced Friday in a press release.Art lovers and researchers alike will now be able to view the entire Louvre collection online for free. – CNN
The Royal Albert Hall At 150: A Strange History
Way, way beyond the Proms: To mark the sesquicentennial of the hall’s opening (Queen Victoria was all verklempt), the Beeb recounts some of the more momentous and offbeat events to have happened there, from the first-ever sci-fi convention (also the public debut of the only-the-English-could-drink-it concoction Bovril) to a séance for Arthur Conan Doyle to the first-ever sumo match outside Japan to (this may have been the weirdest) John and Yoko’s Alchemical Wedding. – BBC
Will Hollywood Boycott Georgia For Filming?
Some of those outspoken industry figures have even gone as far as to call for a boycott of the state, a movement that’s waxed and waned over the years as other controversial legislation, largely concerning abortion and LGBTQ rights, has come and gone. The impact of a boycott could be significant, though, as Hollywood regularly shoots TV shows and movies in the state and has helped to grow Georgia’s robust film business into the nearly $10 billion industry it is. – The Hollywood Reporter
First Plays From Modern-Translations-Of-Shakespeare Project To Be Published
“A project, called Play On! Shakespeare, launched in 2015 by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, … commissioned 36 playwrights from diverse backgrounds … [to adapt] all 39 of the Bard’s plays from their original Elizabethan English into a more modern diction.” The first three titles in the print series (now re-punctuated as Play on Shakespeare) will be Migdalia Cruz’s Macbeth (May), David Ivers’s As You Like It (June), and Kenneth Cavander’s The Tempest (July). – Publishers Weekly
The Artists Making Money On Crypto Digital Art
“NFTs have been a thing for years, but recently it’s been exploding,” says Seattle-based digital sculptor Sam Clover, aka Planttdaddii. Clover started selling her artworks — GIFs and JPEGs of psychedelic flora and fauna — as NFTs in October last year. These days, her works routinely sell for 2 ETH (more than $3,000) on platforms like SuperRare and Foundation. – Crosscut
Documentary About The World’s Last Blockbuster Soars On Netflix And Makes Store A Celebrity
In the backroom, staff members have been busy packaging thousands of online orders for Blockbuster T-shirts, hats and face masks, which are all made by Bend businesses. “It’s a little bit crazy, but it’s a very good thing,” said Bend Blockbuster Manager Sandi Harding. “We’ll take a little crazy if it means keeping the store open.” – Bend Bulletin
Paul Laubin, Master Oboe Maker, Dead At 88
“In a dusty workshop near the Hudson River, lined with machines built as long ago as 1881, Mr. Laubin crafted his oboes and English horns with almost religious precision. He wore an apron and puffed a cob pipe as he drilled and lathed the grenadilla and rosewood used to make his instruments. (The pipe doubled as a testing device: Mr. Laubin would blow smoke through the instrument’s joints to detect air leaks.)” – The New York Times
Extraordinary Times Call For A Different Kind Of Philanthropy
“Our field is rich with expertise and is ripe for bountiful partnerships. As we move through recovery, it will be critical that we center partnerships, form coalitions, and work together to elevate and support the arts. While the benefits of this are unprecedented, it will require a deep reassessment of who we are as funders, and how we work.” – Artnet
In Hong Kong, Fears That Beijing Is Coming After The Arts
“Decisions in Hong Kong not to display a politically sensitive photograph in a museum exhibition and not broadcast the annual Academy Awards for the first time in decades have prompted concerns that Beijing’s crackdown on dissent in the city is extending to arts and entertainment.” – AP
HarperCollins Buys The Trade Division Of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Narrowing Publishing’s Ownership Again
And, in this case, narrowing it to give more power to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. “The acquisition will help HarperCollins expand its catalog of backlist titles at a moment of growing consolidation in the book business. Houghton Mifflin publishes perennial sellers by well-known authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, George Orwell, Philip Roth and Lois Lowry, as well as children’s classics and best-selling cookbooks and lifestyle guides.” – The New York Times