“There was a literal embarrassment of riches for the Australian Ballet this morning, as the company had to issue a retraction for a release sent to the media yesterday claiming the company made a $14 million loss in 2015.”
Rome Pleads For Cash From Corporations And Philanthropists For Historic Preservation
“Rome on Tuesday issued a 500-million-euro SOS to companies, wealthy philanthropists and its own citizens to help restore many of the Italian capital’s iconic historic sites and avoid the risk of some falling into ruin. … Saddled with debts of some 12 billion euros ($13 billion), Rome cannot afford to do it on its own.”
Anderson Cooper And ’60 Minutes’ Report On The Knoedler Gallery Forgeries Case
“When one of the oldest and most respected art galleries in America, the Knoedler Gallery in New York, closed its doors abruptly in 2011, the art world was stunned. Not because the gallery closed, but by the discovery that over the course of 15 years, the gallery and its president, Ann Freedman, had sold millions of dollars in forgeries to wealthy collectors.”
The Rise Of Pirate Libraries
“The creators of these repositories are a small group who try to keep a low profile, since distributing copyrighted material in this way is illegal. Many of them are academics. The largest pirate libraries have come from Russia’s cultural orbit, but the documents they collect are used by people around the world, in countries both wealthy and poor.”
The Pin-Up Girls Of Restoration England
“The Windsor Beauties were chosen to be immortalized because they were the most alluring and powerful women at the court of Charles II, who became king of England, Ireland, and Scotland in 1660. Being selected for a Windsor Beauty portrait meant becoming a celebrity pin-up; copies of the portraits and engraved prints of the women circulated among admirers.”
The Chelsea Hotel And The End Of Bohemian New York
“The Chelsea hotel, on West 23rd Street, is still standing. But it is much diminished from the glory days when it hosted the likes of Dylan Thomas, Sid Vicious and Warhol’s Chelsea Girls. The halls are dusty from sheetrock; the doors are plastic sheets taped to the wall. Developers are hoping to turn the place into a luxury hotel or condos. But there are still some people still clinging to the place.”
Five Things HBO Needs To Get Its New Show Mojo Back
Lately the network has been having a run of trouble making its newest shows successful. Alyssa Rosenberg has five suggestions. Number one: “Stop trying so hard to be important all the time.”
An Ideally Kafkaesque Statue Of Kafka
David Černy’s K. “stands ten meters high, and renders the author’s arresting chiseled face … in a constantly-morphing assemblage of metal. His face is both perennially staring over the plaza … and yet never static or fully graspable. This is only exactly like the omnipresent but inscrutable Court that presides over Josef K. in The Trial, knowing exactly where he is and what he’s doing; present in everyone around him from clueless petty officials to teenage prostitutes, and yet unable or unwilling to present him with a formal charge.”
Tracey Emin Explains – Seriously – Why She Married A Stone
“It’s beautiful, it’s paleolithic, it’s monumental, it’s dignified, it will never, ever let me down. It’s not going anywhere: it’s a metaphor for what I prefer to live with. I prefer to be single, doing everything I want to do and how I want to do it. … If I feel really low – anything from ‘I shouldn’t have said that’ to ‘I don’t feel very well’, to ‘I feel a bit lonely’ – I think about the stone and it actually makes me feel better.”
The Rise Of Immersive Theatre
“Immersive entertainment is, plainly, weird. It’s far more interactive than watching a film or traditional play, and can often be unsettling. Actors can touch you, they know stuff about you, and you may find yourself exploring unknown settings on foot or alone.”
How William Faulkner Can Help Us Understand Trump Nation
“Abner, he was every stereotype of a poor white that has ever permeated the American story. … Faulkner doesn’t want us to laugh at Abner. He wants us to ask, what would it be like to be him? To feel as though destruction was your only path to dignity.”
Why Did Sound Design Lose Its Tony Category?
There was a lot of talk about voters not knowing how to properly measure the art form—to which the designers said, “Let us judge it” rather than eliminate it altogether. How can the art form be measured properly?
Theatre Is Undergoing A Playwright Revolution (It’s Very Exciting)
Michael Feingold: “Yes, our old three-dimensional art form has stepped into an internet world where everything is accessible in one quick click. Today’s playwrights can shift focus, tone, or even subject matter in an eye-blink. Amazingly, they can do it without losing hold of their core meaning.”
Stanford Live Gets A New Director
Stanford Live is one of the most well-respected university-based arts presenters in the United States, and the Bing Concert Hall, which opened in January 2013 and cost more than $110 million to build, is Silicon Valley’s most prominent classical music venue.
‘Thelma And Louise’ Feels Like It Could Be Made Today – And This Is Not A Good Thing
“‘No one would believe us’ runs like a refrain through the film’s taut dialogues … The fundamental fact of Thelma & Louise – the one that ultimately drives its plot, and the one that makes it feel so disappointingly fresh today – is the women’s recognition that they can’t trust the law, because the law doesn’t trust them.”
The Problem With Peak TV (For Some Of Us)
“The shift from network TV’s relatively flat, manageable terrain to our current Wild West is exciting for some viewers (fuck commercials!) and bewildering for others – wait, so I’m supposed to make my own TV-watching schedule now? … That’s what scares me the most about the state of TV – it’s no longer a useful marker of time.”
Yes, Students, The English Lit Canon Is Sexist, Racist, Colonialist, Heteronormative, Etc. – You Have To Read It Anyway
“The canon is what it is, and anyone who wishes to understand how it continues to flow forward needs to learn to swim around in it. There is a clear line to Terrance Hayes (and Frank and Claire Underwood, and Lyon Dynasty) from Shakespeare. There is a direct path to Adrienne Rich (and Katniss Everdeen, and Lyra Belacqua) from Milton. (Rich basically says as much in Diving into the Wreck.) These guys are the heavies, the chord progressions upon which the rest of us continue to improvise, and we’d be somewhere else entirely without them.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 05.24.16
Cultural Equity
On May 23 Americans for the Arts released its new Statement on Cultural Equity. Before going any further, let me acknowledge that I’m a white guy of a certain age and have no expertise to … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-05-24
A big opera problem
Finally saw Twilight of the Gods, the conclusion of the DC Ring. ... And most of it was as powerful as the best of what had gone before. … [But] there were problems beyond that, problems I fear are endemic in opera. … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-05-24
If you find one
Unless you live in a very small town, every middle-aged life is full of friend-sized holes. Some, of course, are dug by death, but more arise from the routine friction of everyday existence and the fact that America is a really big country. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-05-24
[ssba_hide]
Boy Choirs Are The Ultimate Training Ground For Today’s BoyBands
“Choristers — who in British and American cathedral choirs usually range from eight to 13, with continental choirs retaining their singers until the age of 19—typically rehearse together daily, making their decision to team up in ensembles of their own making less risky. They form an immediate talent pool of skilled musicians who enjoy making music together, and know one another’s musical likes and personalities.”
Broadway Has Yet Another Record-Breaking Season
“Hamilton brought a boost. The Lion King provided ballast. … Broadway seems to be defying the cultural odds: An ancient art form in the digital age, it is strengthening thanks to an ever-increasing influx of tourists and a resurgent enthusiasm for musical theater.”