“Flanked by 20 strings on each side, her fingers coated in rosin, [Ellen] Fullman, 62, walks a central aisle while rubbing the strings lengthwise, conjuring thrumming minimalist drones and quickly shifting overtones. … A typical performance requires four or five days of laborious installation and tuning to adjust to spaces that have included a Romanesque cathedral in Cologne and a museum in Tasmania.” – The New York Times
The Intellectual Contradictions In Thinking Post-Pandemic
What makes it hard to maintain our intellectual integrity in such times is that crises can expose some political truths, though we have to struggle to see straight and recognize the limits of what they expose. – The New Yorker
Remembering Cellist Lynn Harrell
Mark Swed: “I’ve never heard a cellist make the instrument sing quite the way Harrell did. Despite his impressive physical presence — he had been an athlete in his youth and traded football for music — his sound was not particularly loud and never penetrating. He was anything but pushy when it came to the limelight. Rather, his way was to rely on the sheer persuasion of song and personality.” – Los Angeles Times
Advice For Dancers Who Fear Their Companies Will Shut Down, From Colleagues Who’ve Been Through It
“Of course, people are doing everything possible to avoid that fate. But fears of folding are, understandably, creating major anxiety right now. To gain some perspective, [we] spoke to a few people who’ve been through company closures in the past, and proven just how resilient dance artists can be.” – Dance Magazine
Will Audiences Really Pay For Online Content?
The rationale is clear enough. With families trapped inside by COVID-19, and children out of school and starting to climb the walls, a hyperactive new movie ought to be just the ticket. Also, twenty bucks is less than you’d pay at the cinema for yourself, your kids, and your silo-size Cokes. Yet the sum feels extortionate when you’re shelling out at home, perhaps because it carries a sweaty whiff of boxing bouts on pay-per-view. – The New Yorker
Can This Live-Streaming Platform In Europe Help Save Night Life?
Called United We Stream, the combined live-streaming and fundraising platform hosts live music, DJ sets, performances and other live experiences from a growing roster of venues across Europe. Patrons are invited to drop into daily events staged for the platform, and invited via on-screen buttons to donate money if they can, either by buying merchandise or by splashing out on a “virtual drink.” These donations are plowed back into keeping music and nightlife scenes alive. – CityLab
An Atlanta Movie Theatre Reinvents, Adapts To Its Community
Atlanta’s Plaza movie theatre is famous after its vociferous opposition to Governor Brian Kemp’s decision to reopen theaters. But the theatre has been adapting its operations, offering online movies, a pop-up drive-in, and other movie promotions. – ArtsATL
Philadelphia Mayor Proposes Killing Arts Funding (Because Of Course Now’s The Perfect Time…)
In his new budget to cope with the revenue loss driven by the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Jim Kenney on Friday proposed the elimination of the city’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy — a $4 million cut that would end grants to hundreds of cultural groups in the city. – Philadelphia Inquirer
Video Gaming Is Surging (No Surprise) But Where’s The Innovation?
According to Nielsen, play time was up by 45 percent during the last week of March, while worldwide sales were up at least 44 percent. – FiveThirtyEight
The Plan To Sell Dot-Org Domains To A Private Equity Firm Is No Longer A Go
The move was widely criticized across the world – and feared by nonprofits. One of them said that “the proposed buyout was an attempt by domain name industry insiders to profit off of thousands of nonprofits and NGOs around the world.” – Vice
Artists Protest The Eviction Of A Founding Member Of A Large Studio Art Complex In Britain
Howard Silverman helped found Bristol’s Spike Island nearly 50 years ago – and now a new board has told him he must pack up his studio and go, in the middle of the coronavirus lockdown. “Fellow studio holders and artists from around the world are backing Silverman’s fight to overturn the decision, with some suggesting the organisation is intent on squeezing out older, established tenants in favour of younger ones.” – The Guardian (UK)
Prolific Producer Zev Buffman, 89
Buffman produced everyone, including Elizabeth Taylor in The Little Foxes (it was a hit) and Muhammed Ali in Buck White (it was a memorable flop). But he “was even busier in Florida than on Broadway. Starting in 1962, he produced shows at the Coconut Grove Playhouse (which he owned) in Miami; the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale; the Jackie Gleason Performing Arts Center in Miami Beach; the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando; and Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater.” – The New York Times
In The Most British Isles Quarantine Update Ever, Maypole Dancers Shared The Ritual Over Video
The organizer said, “Lockdown Maypole dancing is still possible,” and, in their own gardens or even inside, many agreed. – BBC
Appreciating Tony Allen, Afrobeat Creator Who Has Died At 79
Allen was a Nigerian drummer who perhaps didn’t invent Afrobeat but certainly popularized it and took it everywhere. “Allen’s swirl of jazz, Yoruba and highlife was unlike anything the world had ever heard: a full-body polyrhythmic workout that would give most drummers sore wrists just thinking of it.” – The Guardian (UK)
A Glimpse Of The Future
The U.S. and other countries have been looking to China and Italy to predict what the pandemic would be like during the most intense times of infection. Now, take Wuhan as an example, the slow reopen is accompanied by fear of a second wave. “Trains, highways, and buses are humming anew and people venture out more. Yet many businesses have not reopened, many people … are still working from home, many restaurants are still open only for takeout, and the local economy is still a shadow of its former self.” – The Atlantic
A Ballet In Amsterdam’s Emptied Streets
The dancers rehearsed at home and performed on streets and beside canals. “I like this project because we can show what we want to do, and what we’re waiting to do again. … Art, right now, is really important for everyone,” says one of the Dutch National Ballet dancers. A video of the dancers is being edited for release later this month. – Yahoo
The Berlin Phil Tests A Path Out For Orchestras
The concert hall was empty; the musicians were greatly reduced in number and sitting far from each other; they wore masks backstage and were tested before the event. “Though the seating arrangement was strange — and it was momentarily odd to see a conductor and concertmaster bow to each other rather than shake hands — it was also inspiring to see musicians trying to find some way, however awkward, to keep making live art.” – The New York Times
When Your Subject Is Your Family, And Your Family Is Your Pets
Photographer Robin Schwartz is used to quarantine, having dealt with being isolated during cancer treatments, but it’s only intensified lately. Luckily, her subjects are the same as ever: Her daughter, and her pets. – Wired
Helen McGehee, A Dancer With Martha Graham, Has Died At 98
Choreographer Paul Taylor once wrote of McGehee, “She is basically a lyric dancer but she can turn into a spark-ejecting demonette when cast in dramatic roles.” She taught the Graham technique for many years after she retired from dancing herself. – The New York Times
A Delicate Question: Sound Designing Sex And Intimacy
Intimacy comes from much more than the sound design for sex scenes, intense though they may be in Hulu’s 12-part Normal People. The music throughout the series, as with other audio queues, is meant to react along with audiences, not lead them. And then there are the physically intimate scenes: “That means adding a swallow, a breath, a stomach gurgle or the ruffle of material. … When they have their first kiss, you want the world to disappear. You want the audience to lean in.” – Variety
The Feed May Be Amateur, But The Bookcases Are Great
There’s even a Twitter account to analyze exactly what’s going on: “As the broadcast industry shelters in place, the bookcase has become the background of choice for television hosts, executives, politicians and anyone else keen on applying a patina of authority to their amateurish video feeds.” – The New York Times
The Signs Of Our Time
Streetscapes aren’t looking too great right now in many cities. And “museums and galleries around the world have locked their doors as people wait out the coronavirus pandemic in isolation. But works of street art, cropping up on bare walls and boarded-up storefronts across urban landscapes, are offering images of beauty and hope to those venturing out for exercise.” – The New York Times
Parlez-Vous Screen?
The web has its own culture, it’s own language, its own ethos. Putting facsimile arts experiences online won’t cut it. And yet, we need to develop a hybrid model that includes the online experience. – Douglas McLennan
Survey Says One Third Of Museums Could Close. How Do You Close Them?
Closing a museum is not just a matter of shutting the doors and turning off the lights. Institutions with significant collections have ethical and sometimes legal obligations to make sure that their objects are transferred elsewhere. The process can be both costly and time-consuming, experts say. – The New York Times
How Do You Reopen Hollywood? Maybe Move It To Iceland?
Iceland has tested its population widely for virus, and has had few cases so it could be safe for shooting. The country, with its sparsely populated but spacious North Atlantic geography, advanced filming infrastructure, production incentives and experienced crews, had long been an attractive shooting location. – Los Angeles Times