“Somewhere in the latest issue of Badiou Studies, a multilingual, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the thinking of the philosopher Alain Badiou, lives an article entitled, ‘Ontology, Neutrality and the Strive for (non-) Being-Queer.'”
ISIS Destroys Two City Gates In Nineveh
“National Geographic has received exclusive photographs that appear to confirm the destruction of the Mashki and Nergal Gates by the Islamic State (ISIS) at the ancient site of Nineveh in Iraq.”
A Competition For Robot Artists – With $100K In Prize Money
Thirty-one teams from North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia are competing in the 1st-Annual International RobotArt Competition. Votes from the public will help select the winner.
Is Recreating The Palmyra Arch Really A Good Idea? Opinions Differ – A Lot
Generous initial offer to help in reconstructing the ruined city, or empty gesture of solidarity? Public educational endeavor, or merely another selfie magnet? And the questions don’t stop there.
U.S. Appeals Court Rules That Musicians In Freelance Orchestras Are Employees, Not Contractors
The 3-0 opinion from the D.C. Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals upholds a finding by the National Labor Relations Board against the management of the Lancaster (PA) Symphony Orchestra, which maintained that its musicians were independent contractors and thus had no right to unionize.
The Internet Changes Everything, And Nothing
“Napoleon would be trapped in the amber of time, in a big glass case, if not for one thing: Access to information.”
How Did The Pulitzer Bump Fare This Year?
“The Sympathizer: A Novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen — which tells the story of a Vietnamese undercover communist agent in Los Angeles and the fall of the South Vietnamese government in 1975 — won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Monday, and soon after began winning a very different kind of award: cold hard cash.”
There Are Secret Rooms Hidden In The Abandoned Manholes Of Milan
“Throughout the Lodi district of Milan, Italy, artist Biancoshock has transformed abandoned manholes into miniature subterranean rooms. Beneath the pavement, in vacant maintenance vaults, a cupid painting in a gaudy frame hangs in a tiny pink living room; a boxy kitchen is stocked with pots and pans; and a blue-tiled bathroom is complete with shower and towel.”
Foreigners Like Shakespeare More Than Brits Do: Study (They Understand It Better, Too)
“A survey of 18,000 people in 15 countries reveals, for example, that 88% of surveyed Mexicans like Shakespeare, compared with only 59% of British people; 84% of Brazilians said they found him relevant to today’s world, compared with 57% in the UK; and 83% of Indians said they understood him, far more than the 58% of Britons.”
Seeing The Most Iconic Works Of Art Is Now A Nightmare, And There’s No Good Way To Make It Better
“The Louvre’s audience-control issues aren’t unique to that institution; at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, you have to work your way up to Rembrandt’s The Night Watch through the crowds of people clustering around … So what’s to be done?”
Those Unpublished Neruda Poems They Found Last Year? They’re Pretty Good
“Did Neruda want these to be read by the world? [Translator Forrest] Gander says when he first heard about the new poems he thought they were going to be terrible. Then he read them in Spanish and changed his mind.”
How ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ Will Change As Chris Thile Takes Over From Garrison Keillor
“Under Thile’s direction, which begins on 15 October, A Prairie Home Companion will be retooled into a heavier musical focus.” (He says Radiohead would be his dream guest.) “Thile is game to tackle comedy himself, and has already demonstrated chops at singalong spoofs and acidic one-liners, but Keillor’s staple segments will exit with him.”
Turns Out That How Our Brains Process Music Is Complicated. Thus The Seating Chart For Orchestras
“The seating arrangement of modern orchestras mirrors the listening bias of human ears. The ears project to the opposite brain hemisphere’s auditory cortex, which is where the listening bias originates.”
City Of Vancouver Opens Up Cultural Facilities To Homeless Arts Amateurs
“Rent is only one barrier a community group faces to being in a venue. It is actually the easiest barrier to remove. Real progress would be made if we could help arts organizations with these hard costs. Rent is about paying utility bills; these other costs are about paying people.”
This Is What Happened When NPR Tried To Make Audio Go Viral
“The fundamental challenges remain: It’s hard to multitask with spoken-word audio when you’re browsing other things. We still don’t have a true “BuzzFeed for audio” to elevate clips with viral potential. And now silent autoplay videos on Facebook and Twitter are training users to expect an entirely different engagement experience.”
Art Worlders With Money: Here’s Who They’re Giving Money To For President
“The list is not comprehensive, but it is a representative sample of the people in power on the commercial side of the art world.”
“Hamilton’s” Pulitzer Win – Musicals Have Rarely Ever Won
“It was another landmark for the show—since only nine musicals have won the award in the last hundred years.”
Ronit Elkabetz, Leading Actress Of Israeli Film Cinema, Dead At 51
“The actress and filmmaker was known equally for her striking dark looks and immense emotional vulnerability onscreen. Her life ended just as her career flourished at an all-time high.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 04.19.16
Pricing for the sensible arts consumer
At flux[x] Tom Whitwell has a very interesting read on pricing, and the psychology behind how we make choices when confronted with varying sets of prices. I highly recommend it. He uses examples ranging from … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2016-04-19
Pulitzer winner Threadgill: “What is harmony?”
My profile of Pulitzer Prize winner Henry Threadgill, commissioned by and published in DownBeat in 2010: Henry Threadgill exuded confidence and impatience when facing four video cameras and a standing-room-only gallery of serious listeners at the Manhattan … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2016-04-19
Client, Customer, Collaborator: A Roadmap
Do you treat arts patrons like customers, clients, or collaborators? … If our job as arts managers is to bring artists and audiences together, these definitions become very important. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-04-19
Deaccessioning Its Home: National Academy’s Posh Digs on the Market for $120 Million
The National Academy’s two interconnected townhouses and school building are now on the market for $120 million, according this listing by luxury real estate brokers Cushman & Wakefield. A museum spokesperson had previously told me … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-04-19
Bracing Winds from Miami
Miami City Ballet bursts into Lincoln Center. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-04-19
Annals of postmodern journalism (cont’d)
Like everyone else who pays the slightest attention to theater in America, I was neither surprised nor displeased that this year’s Pulitzer Prize for drama went to Hamilton, about whose overwhelming excellence I have long … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-04-19
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Academy Of Motion Pictures Finds It’s Difficult To Redefine Membership
“In our initial resolution, we tried, but failed to come up with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ definition of activity,” the governors told members in the letter, which was sent on Monday.
Countertenor Brian Asawa Dead At 49
“One of the most explosive talents ever to come out of San Francisco Opera’s Merola and Adler programs, countertenor Brian Asawa had an illustrious – if at times troubled – career in opera and recitals around the world. He died on Monday after a long, unidentified illness”
Jonas Kaufmann Got An Encore, So Angela Gheorghiu Skipped Her Entrance And Left Him To Vamp Onstage
“‘Non abbiamo il soprano,’ or, ‘We don’t have a soprano,’ [sic] Mr. Kaufmann sang in Puccini-like strains before the opera ground to halt and he broke character and asked the audience to excuse them … Was it a stunning diva moment or an innocent mishap?” (includes video)
Henry Threadgill’s ‘In For A Penny, In For A Pound’ Takes Music Pulitzer
“If you do call him a jazz composer, he is the third to be awarded a Pulitzer in the history of the awards; Wynton Marsalis was awarded for his oratorio Blood on the Fields in 1997 and Ornette Coleman was awarded for his album Sound Grammar in 2007.”