There are valid reasons to look at historic crises as moments for dramatic urban change. Nineteenth-century pandemics helped usher in developments in water and sewage systems. And there can be no doubt that, in the immediate future, the economic and demographic health of major cities will suffer enormously. But if we are to look forward optimistically, we must start by grappling with a difficult pattern: Urban history may be more about continuity through crises than about transformation. – CityLab
Photographer Victor Skrebneski, 90
He first attracted notice for shooting supermodels in famous ad campaigns for the likes of Estée Lauder; his fame grew with a photo series of famous actors, each in an enormous black turtleneck first worn by Orson Welles. His cool factor skyrocketed with the series of elegantly provocative semi- and nude portraits he did as posters for the Chicago International Film Festival. – Chicago Sun-Times
The Netherlands Has Had A Rash Of Van Gogh Thefts In Recent Years
The fact that all 28 Van Gogh paintings, from six separate thefts, were eventually recovered should offer hope that The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring will eventually return to its home in Groningen. – The Art Newspaper
This Indie Movie About Abortion Access Opened Three Days Before Theatres Shut Down
How can a film like Never Rarely Sometimes Always get an audience in the age of social distancing and sheltering in place? Well, contemporary events might actually help. “Given that multiple states have moved to further restrict access to abortions during the pandemic, the timeliness of Never Rarely Sometimes Always is indisputable. … Its rent-on-demand release is a milestone of sorts, providing instant national access to an indie movie that might never have received such attention through a traditional release.” – The Atlantic
David Hockney Says Put Away The Camera And Pick Up The Pencil
Why? “He recommends everyone drawing with open eyes. ‘I would suggest they really look hard at something and think about what they are really seeing.'” – The Guardian (UK)
The Woman Who Wrote A Fantastic Pandemic Novel A Few Years Ago Returns To Take On A Different Issue
Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven was much recommended in the coronavirus’ early days – but even she thought people shouldn’t be reading it right now. Her new novel is about the 2008 crash and a Bernie Madoff-like character. Why? “It’s a period in recent history that I remember so vividly. It was such an unsettling, chaotic time.” – The Guardian (UK)
Will Cinemagoers Flock Back After This Ends?
Whenever that is, of course. Some movie theatre owners expect that they will: “We strongly believe there will be a rush to cinemas to see all kinds of movies because people will just want to connect with their family and friends once it’s safe to do so.” – Yahoo
Wilhelm Burmann, Teacher Of Ballet’s Best And Brightest, Has Died At 80
Burmann, who died of renal failure after testing positive for COVID-19, was “a revered ballet master and teacher who trained generations of dancers, including Alessandra Ferri, Julio Bocca, Maria Kowroski and Wendy Whelan.” His advanced class drew students from all over the dance world, and he “was a part of ‘so many of our histories — across the world and across disciplines,’ recalled Ms. Whelan, the former New York City Ballet principal who is now the company’s associate artistic director.” – The New York Times
Beloved British Children’s Author Jacqueline Wilson Talks About Her Own Plot Twist
The author is on her 111th novel – she long ago stopped buying her signature chunky silver rings for each book – and this one might be her most personal. “Wilson is the fairy goth-mother of children’s fiction credited with daring to introduce such non-cheery subjects as depression and divorce into her children’s bedrooms.” – The Guardian (UK)
Michael McKinnell, Bold Architect Of Boston’s Democratic City Hall, Has Died At 84
McKinnell was a 26-year-old graduate student and a teaching assistant for architect Gerhard Kallmann when the city hall competition arose. Their “heroically sculptural and democratically open design for Boston City Hall catalyzed the city’s urban revival in the late 1960s and embodied the era’s idealism and civic activism.” – The New York Times
The Planned Online Six-Hour Epic Pauline Oliveros Opera
The founder of Opera Povera posted the idea to perform an Oliveros opera, and the opera world responded quickly and in numbers. The plan for the participant opera and fundraiser for musicians: “More than 250 artists from around the world will gather for an epic online performance of the late composer’s The Lunar Opera: Deep Listening for _Tunes, an open-form opera in which the enlisted performers create their own characters, movements and sound based on sonic cues known only to themselves.” – Los Angeles Times
Arlene Schnitzer, Gallery Pioneer And Massive Funder To The Arts In The Pacific Northwest, Has Died At 91
The influence of Schnitzer – whose name is on the Oregon Symphony’s hall – on the Portland and Pacific Northwest arts scene can hardly be overstated. “Schnitzer was a towering cultural figure in Portland and the Pacific Northwest, giving many millions of dollars over several decades to the Portland Art Museum, other cultural organizations, health and medical organizations including Oregon Health and Science University, and Jewish causes. With her husband, fellow philanthropist Harold Schnitzer, who died in 2011, she helped shape Portland’s cultural scene: Between 1993 and Harold’s death they donated more than $80 million to various causes. Their naming gift helped transform downtown Portland’s run-down Paramount Theatre into what became the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, home of the Oregon Symphony, much of the White Bird dance series, and other performances.” – Oregon ArtsWatch
Hollywood’s Costumers Are Still Sewing, But Now It’s Face Masks For Survival
Tens of thousands of Hollywood and theatre workers are out of work right now. But they’ve found a rallying cause: “With no end in sight to the crisis, costumers — whose job is to create and fit costumes for actors on sets — are plying their sewing and design skills to help address the very real shortages of face masks and other protective clothing among medical workers.” – Los Angeles Times
Suellen Rocca, Fiercely Original Artist And Member Of Chicago’s Hairy Who, Has Died At 76
Rocca and five others, former classmates from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, “came together under the sway of influences as disparate as Dubuffet, Native American art, hand-painted store signs, the Sears catalog and the natural-history displays at the Field Museum to create a rambunctious form of painting and sculpture that tacked hard against prevailing orthodoxies.” – The New York Times
Zoom Seemed Too Good To Be True
And, turns out, it was. This is why New York just banned it as a tool for teachers: “Zoom contains a number of critical privacy and security flaws, as educators have been learning the hard way. Anyone with a Zoom meeting link can ‘Zoombom’ attendees and broadcast inappropriate content, including pornography, depending on settings established by the meeting creator. In some cases, intruders have been able to hijack Zoom users’ webcams. In addition, Zoom’s iOS app has been sharing data with third parties including Facebook, in a potential violation of children’s privacy regulations.” – Fast Company
Julia Alvarez Says That We Should Rely On Literature To Get Through This
Alvarez, the author of In the Time of the Butterflies and the new Afterlife, isn’t trying to be facetious or to downplay the importance of health care workers or grocery clerks. But, quoting Robert Frost, she adds, “I use [literature] in the broad sense. I don’t mean just written stories. I mean oral stories. I mean music. I mean dance. All these things people are seeking solace in. Here are your waters and your watering place. Drink and be whole again beyond confusion.” – NPR
The Errant Hydroflask In ‘Little Women’
This is what happens when we’re all watching movies all of the time: A fan spots something off, makes a TikTok, and then the NYT reports on it. What the heck, we need humor, and this is faintly amusing – apparently Timothée Chalamet’s water bottles make an appearance in the Laurence household. – The New York Times
Can Looking At Art Online Beat The In-Person Experience?
“It’s definitely less trouble. You can stroll around the masterpieces at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, while seated at home in front of your laptop. Naturally, it’s far less crowded that way than it would be in reality. In other respects, though, the process is almost the same. You can select a Vermeer or a Frans Hals, and move in to examine it close up, read the information, move back — and, if you want, listen to a rather noisy narrated analysis of Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’.” – The Spectator