“This one thing that we’ve lost in our society is the understanding that exploration, understanding, and creating thinking is what got us to where we are, that made America the ‘idea nation,’ the country that founded Apple and IBM, that invented the car and the airplane.”
The Highly Problematic Explosion In MFA Writing Programs
“Explosive” is the word routinely used to describe the growth of M.F.A. programs in creative writing. Iowa was the first, established in 1936. By 1994, there were 64. By last year, that number had more than tripled, to 229 (and another 152 M.A. programs in creative writing), according to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. Between 3,000 and 4,000 students a year graduate with the degree; this year, about 20,000 applications were sent out.
The Monster Wave That Changed Art History (It Came From Japan)
Hokusai “is, after all, not only one of the great figures of Japanese art, but a father figure of much of Western modernism. Without Hokusai, there might have been no Impressionism – and the global art world we today take for granted might look very different indeed.”
If You Want To See Your Work On Broadway, A New Play Won’t Do
“‘August: Osage County’ was the last serious drama by an American playwright to become a multiyear hit. Since 2010, the only straight play of any kind to have run on Broadway for more than a year was the Lincoln Center Theater transfer of the London production of ‘War Horse.'” Also, it doesn’t help as much as you might think to cast a TV or movie star.
The Cultural Difficulties Of Universal Instant Translators
“What I’m interested in with these technologies is whether they can get to a place where they become so transparent that it doesn’t feel like there’s a layer of something happening between you and the other person who you’re trying to build a relationship with.”
It’s Now Possible To Insure Conceptual Art (Really? Insure An Idea?)
“How does it work? In most fine art insurance policies, lost or damaged certificates of ownership can fall in a gray area—sometimes they are covered, but often they are not. In the case of conceptual artworks, the certificate is an essential component of the work, and without it the piece is considered worthless. In this policy, certificates are explicitly covered.”
“Indie” Bands? What The Hell Does That Mean?
These never really were artists you could lump together easily, but for years they seemed to get by with “indie” or “indie rock” as an umbrella. Many people still use these terms, but what do they mean today?
There Is No Element Of Cinema That “Monty Python And The Holy Grail” Did Not Brilliantly Make Fun Of
“You barely notice the subtitles at first, beyond chuckling at their pointless inclusion, then realize what’s going on – that the edges of reality are being blurred; that there’s no premise, not even a simple credit sequence, that this film won’t seek to subvert.”
Three Top Choreographers Lambast British Contemporary Dance Training
Akram Khan, Hofesh Schechter, and DV8 Physical Theatre’s Lloyd Newson say that dancers from elsewhere students are “fitter, stronger and more versatile”, while those trained in the UK “lack rigour, technique and performance skills.”
Even Five-Year-Olds Can Sense That It’s Sometimes Better To Tell White Lies To People
“One of the best (and, sometimes, worst) things about being around young kids is how honest they are. A 3-year-old I know, for example, recently (and very sincerely) asked a visiting relative why he has such a fat belly. But at what age do kids start to realize that saying exactly what they think can hurt other people’s feelings?”
More Private Funding Of UK Arts Will Make London-vs-Regional Imbalance Even Worse, Says Labour’s Shadow Culture Secretary
“For all the efforts that have been made, and for all the good donors outside of London, actually there is a massive imbalance. The truth is that even if you do have a proper strategy, you can’t just leave it to the market.”
Eddie Murphy Wins Kennedy Center’s 2015 Mark Twain Prize
Eddie Murphy let loose on the Kennedy Center stage – that should be quite some monologue at the gala on October 18.
An Interactive Map Of Shakespeare’s London
“[It] pulls information from databases with names of locations, people, organizations in the city at the time, as well as reference material about the early modern period in London. These data are layered on to the ‘Agas’ base map [from 1561]. So if you click on the Middle Temple building, for example, the map will give you an idea of what it is and how it was used, back when Shakespeare was around.”
Colombian Novel From 1983 Makes Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2015 Shortlist
In the Beginning Was the Sea by Tomás González, “published in 1983 – by the owner of the nightclub where its author was then a barman – has been shortlisted alongside the work of international stars Haruki Murakami and Daniel Kehlmann for the 2015 Independent foreign fiction prize.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 04.09.15
Breaking Now: The MFA Names A New Director
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2015-04-09
For services rendered
AJBlog: About Last Night ublished 2015-04-09
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The Tricky Feat Of Making Opera Out Of Current Events
“Creating operas out of real events, whether in the recent or more distant past, is almost as old as the art form itself. It began in 1643 when Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, set in Rome in AD 64, was staged in Venice, though in the baroque and early classical operas that followed over the next century and a half, hard historical fact and more distancing fantasy were frequently inextricably merged.”
Boston’s Museum Of Fine Arts Chooses Its Next Director
Matthew Teitelbaum, now “director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario, brings not only a track record of successful museum expansion and fund-raising, but a broad approach to audience engagement and an expertise in contemporary art that could add new dimensions to the MFA.”
How Artificial Intelligence Is Changes The Ways We See The World
“Over the last five years, processing power and huge corpuses of teaching data have given computers the ability to detect emotions and moods. Soon, perhaps, they will be able to recognize a sideline scuffle or a player’s shift in attitude. Combine that with sensors gathering crowd reactions, the movement and changes in velocity for players and passes, historical statistics that provide context for the game and a player’s performance—and now AI is starting to encroach on analysis as well.”
Brooklyn Academy Of Music Chooses New President
“[BAM] hasn’t had to search for a new president in a very long time. Since the impresario Harvey Lichtenstein stepped down in 1999, Karen Brooks Hopkins has held the position, becoming a fund-raising powerhouse and building the institution into an anchor for a cultural renaissance in Downtown Brooklyn.”