The idea may seem absurd – he wrote about people’s private lives, and he’s known to have disliked all but the most genteel political protests – but the directors and critics who’ve talked with writer Lisa Rothman make a very good case. (For instance, “The central music of Chekhov’s plays is people talking-talking-talking but never listening.”)
Imagining The Future Is Now Big Business
The industry doesn’t have a name, but its main product does: Design fiction. “It’s science fiction made real in the form of interactive exhibitions, product demonstrations, and behind-the-scenes consulting work. And it tends to pop up at any event Davos-ish enough to include the word ‘influencers.'” Kyle Chayka visits both a leading studio in the field, as well as perhaps the biggest example of design fiction: the Museum of the Future in Dubai.
The Believer, Acclaimed And Offbeat Magazine, Is Moving To Vegas
The five-time National Magazine Award finalist, which has had contributors ranging from Nick Hornby to Anne Carlson to Lemony Snicket Daniel Handler, had been published by McSweeney’s since it was founded in 2003. The title has been purchased by the Black Mountain Institute at The University of Nevada, Las Vegas and will be edited by the Institute’s executive director, Joshua Wolf Shenk.
Why You Feel The Urge To Jump: The Science And Philosophy Of Looking Down From A High Place
“The seemingly irrational, but common urge to leap – half of respondents felt it in one survey – can be so disturbing that ruminators from Jean-Paul Sartre (in Being and Nothingness) to anonymous contributors in lengthy Reddit sub-threads have agonized about it. … The French explain it as l’appel du vide, or call of the void. Are they just French, or can the void really beckon you to kill yourself? New science on balance, fear, and cognition shows that the voice of the abyss is both real and powerful.”
Life Lessons From Studying Dance
“When you do physical theatre. you learn when to give your weight, and when to let go. These are skills that are fundamental in a human being’s life, but we tend to ignore them.” His pupils, he said, learned how to “reach out” to others. They learned how to communicate. They learned how to listen. They learned how to work as a team. Oh, and their academic performance soared.
The Weird Public/Private Lives Of Writers
“The line between public and private selves is different for different writers. Some are comfortable sharing many details of their lives. Neil Gaiman tells fans about his book projects, encourages people to get involved in refugee relief and tweets pictures of his wife and baby son. Other writers prefer relative anonymity. Thomas Pynchon famously doesn’t give interviews and is rarely photographed. Most writers probably fall somewhere in between.”
Rare Bookstores Are Becoming Rarer Than Rare Books
“Susan Benne, executive director of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America, says the organization has about 450 members but estimates 60 percent of those do not have an open storefront, and the overall number of dealers continues to drop. Lost, too, is that dusty aura of something vanished, gone like smoke from steam engines in the American landscape. The digital age of Amazon.com, e-readers and online research has its advantages, but for parishioners of the Church of Old Books, it has also relegated a way of reading, and finding the book of your fever dreams, to a dust-mote-enchanted memory.”
Add This Mirrored Tunnel Of Books To Your Bookstore Bucket List
Whoa. “The dizzying space contains a grand optical illusion that you only see once you’ve set foot inside. Its lobby is a cavernous tunnel that most notably features striking black mirrored flooring. Together, the reflective ground and curved shelving creates the feeling that you’ve stepped into a perfectly circular room, making you question which way is up.”
Inspired By Bakersfield
Artist Mary Weatherford has worked in bookstores and galleries; she has worked for other artists for money – but she has never stopped creating her own art too. Finally, her abstract work is winning her some attention and shows.
Demographer Looks At World Population Trends To Make Some Predictions
For example, he said that over the next 20 years, the world as a whole won’t have the demographic ingredients to keep the global economy humming at a “pre-2008 tempo.” The main reason: not enough educated people with the necessary skills. He also argued that the demographic fundamentals of the US and Canada look “quite positive” through 2035—perhaps the best in the world.
Here’s A Problem: A Failure To Fail
“Learning resilience is fundamental to a successful career as a scientist. The experiments we try will fail many times before they work, whether as an undergraduate, a PhD student, or a postdoc gunning for a faculty position… But actually overcoming failure is challenging. Many students who began science degrees with me switched to other majors the first time a project failed. One failure and they were gone.”
Exit Interview: Doug Sonntag Reflects On 30 Years Of Dance At The NEA
“The level of dancing has improved tremendously. It’s especially notable in the ballet companies. The depth of technique really extends from the principals all the way to the corps de ballet. That’s quite astounding. There are also changes in the system of dance and not necessarily in a good way. When I came here 30 years ago, touring was still a viable option for most dance companies, in particular the modern companies. We had grants to dance presenters, to dance companies. There was a network of support for touring activity, which is crucial to dance. There were multiple streams of income that went towards those presentations.”
Rochester Art Center In Deep Financial Distress
The center is an important piece of the city’s Destination Medical Center economic development project, which aims to raise Rochester’s national and international profile by boosting its downtown. Cultivating the arts as a magnet to draw younger people to the region is key to the plan.
The Nonesuch Records Exec Who Made A Business Going His Own Way
Robert Hurwitz has run Nonesuch for 30 years. “At other record company parties, you’re expected to do cocaine with the Rolling Stones or something. At this company party, you listen to the record company president play Satie beautifully on his living room piano.”
Why Is It So Difficult For Theatre To Make Good Plays About The Art World?
As an art critic in the theater reviewer’s seat, I found myself wondering why the art market continues to hold dramatic appeal, and why so few people get it right. Of course biographical plays have always appealed, whether done straight, like the play “Red,” about Rothko, or more dreamily, like the Seurat-refracting “Sunday in the Park With George.” Yet the big-money domains of the auction houses and the largest galleries remain stubbornly beyond most writers’ faculties.
How One Song Changed The Arc Of ‘Natasha, Pierre, And The Great Comet Of 1812’
“More than just a nice showcase for Josh Groban, ‘Dust and Ashes’ makes the non-linearity of mental illness dramatically compelling.”
The Young Composer Whose Way With The Orchestra Impresses Even Riccardo Muti
“He looks like a club DJ. The titles of his pieces – Omnivorous Furniture, for one – are punk-rock friendly. The music itself sounds so spontaneous it has to be at least partly improvised.” David Patrick Stearns talks to composer Mason Bates.
Philadelphia Museum Of Art Launches Half-A-Billion-Dollar Fundraising And Renovation Campaign
“The campaign, which already has raised $326 million, according to museum officials, is aimed at completely revamping the interior of the museum, enhancing programming, and adding to the museum’s endowment, which now stands at about $448 million, well below comparable institutions across the country.”
What The Young Ella Fitzgerald Really Wanted Was To Dance
For Ella’s upcoming 100th birthday (April 25), Amy Henderson recounts the story of that fateful Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater, Ella’s original plan for it, and why she changed her mind just before going on.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.30.17
Bonding with Bondil: Montreal MFA’s Head on Succeeding as a (Female) Museum Director
“In the end, I’d say that I’d hope I had been chosen for what I had between my two ears and not because of what I don’t have between my two legs,” Nathalie Bondil, director … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-03-30
Art, Censorship, and the Death of Emmett Till
Well, it’s really come to this, hasn’t it? … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-03-30
Is classical music consolation?
Classical music … its role in our culture … that’s something I’ve pondered for a long time, and talked about often here. My usual answer hasn’t been very positive. … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2017-03-30
Why DC’s National Symphony Had To Go To Play In Moscow
“On one level, these performances can be seen as an act of homage. The Russians are certainly noting the symbolic implications of an American orchestra coming to honor a Russian, playing literally under a banner emblazoned with Rostropovich’s portrait above the Conservatory stage… On another level, the NSO’s performances can be seen as a viable alternative to political diplomacy, showing people from different societies brought together by a common love.”
Hong Kong Artists Struggle With Expressing Their City’s Angst, Apprehension
“Local artists are struggling to find meaning in the city’s upheavals, art professionals said in interviews. And while some of their recent works are more overtly political than others, many are infused with a sense of helplessness toward what is widely seen here as the city’s increasing subjugation to Beijing’s authoritarianism.”
In Praise Of… Indexers?
“It would be a cliche to say that indexers are the unsung heroes of the publishing world. But unsung they generally are: no indexer usually expects or receives credit by name in books where everyone from the font designer to the snapper of the author photograph tends to get a solemn shout-out. And heroes they are, too: the index is, in any nonfiction book, more useful than almost anything else in the apparatus. It is a map of the text; a cunningly devised series of magical shortcuts that can in the good case save a scholar many hours of work, and in the bad one save a bookshop-browsing cabinet minister from having to buy a former colleague’s memoirs.”
Harry Potter Festival Canceled After Massive World-Wide Interest Overwhelms Organizers
“The festival has been cancelled amid concerns that it had got out of hand. Mr Hamilton, one of the co-ordinator’s of the Bearsden Festival, said people had been planning to travel from all over Europe and some had compared it to T in the Park, a music festival that attracts 80,000 a day. He said it was a small, local event that had been held for five years.”
Museums Have Dramatically Increased The Number Of Shows They’re Presenting
“The average number of shows increased by 7.4% between 2007 and 2015 (from an average of 8.8 shows per year to 9.5), according to an analysis of 2,360 exhibitions at 29 US museums conducted by The Art Newspaper. Institutions are also keeping shows running for longer periods of time. We found that the average number of exhibition days increased by almost 25% during this period.”