ArtsJournal - Newsside

Enough With The Statements Of Solidarity!

ISSUES Posted:

“As if moving to some syncopated symphony, arts organizations and cultural institutions across the country are parading out statements of “solidarity” in these moments. I’ve stopped counting (and reading) the endless emails I’ve received from arts organizations touting how they stand in solidarity with Black people. Statements which proclaim they’re shutting down their operations and programming — galas and town halls and education programs are “going black.” How cute. Now, all of a sudden, historically and predominantly white arts institutions want to be “in solidarity” with Black folks? I know what solidarity looks like. And it ain’t this.” – Medium

Words And Phrases That Should Be Banished From The Rehearsal Room

THEATRE Posted:

“We can dismantle oppression in our language as a means of valuing and honoring individuals in the room. There are a plethora of sayings used in rehearsal environments that cause a BIPOC artist to feel powerless and othered in the room; these phrases will not have the same effect on white artists, who have the privilege of doing their work without that added baggage.” – Minnesota Playlist

Major Houston Art Dealer And Philanthropist Meredith J. Long Dead At 91

PEOPLE Posted:

“Long was the right man at the right time in 1957, when he came to Houston to establish Meredith Long & Co. With less than a million residents then, the city had two art museums, three galleries and a core group of culturally ambitious oil, real estate and financial tycoons who could build important collections.” – Houston Chronicle

Another Knotty COVID Mess The Art World Has To Untangle: Exhibition Planning

VISUAL Posted:

“Museum exhibitions take an exceptional amount of planning — from curatorial conception to filling out loan forms and insurance, to shipping, hanging, and displaying works. Getting a show on a museum’s calendar is no simple feat, let alone getting it on the gallery walls. So what happens when a global pandemic puts exhibitions and their scheduling on an indefinite pause?” – Artsy

Lockdown Doesn’t Work For Every Writer, But Boy, Did It Ever Work For Pushkin

WORDS Posted:

Quarantined during a cholera epidemic 190 years ago, the poet excelled. “Pushkin, who would never be allowed to travel outside Russia and was now stranded in the countryside amid ‘rain, snow and mud up to your knees,’ leapt across historical epochs, countries and genres—from the medieval French tower in ‘The Miserly Knight’ to Vienna in ‘Mozart and Salieri.’ ‘The Stone Guest’ swept from the gates of Madrid to the balcony of one of Don Juan’s lovers.” And he finished Eugene Onegin to boot. – The Economist

Using Lidar To Find Out That Mayan Construction Projects Are Older And Much Bigger Than Anyone Knew

VISUAL Posted:

New lidar technology revealed the formerly hidden, at least from the ground, site. The “lidar survey found 21 other monumental platforms, clustered in groups around the region. But Aguada Fenix is by far the largest—in fact, it’s the largest single Maya structure archaeologists have ever found. It took between 3.2 million and 4.3 million cubic meters (113 million to 151 million cubic feet) of clay and soil to build up the platform. That’s a larger volume than the famous pyramids built centuries later during what’s known as the Maya Classic Period. It’s also much older than any other Maya monument, old enough to suggest that the Maya started working together on huge construction projects much earlier than modern archaeologists had suspected until now.” – Ars Technica

Be Gay, Do Film Reviews, And See What Changes Over Three Decades

MEDIA Posted:

What’s happened in the movie industry during the time David Rooney has been reviewing for THR? A little, and a lot. “The sheer multiplicity of themes and styles, of representations across the queer identity spectrum in the past 20 years, is staggering to a critic who still remembers the long drought of near-invisibility, when even a brief appearance by a gay neighbor in a lame comedy would make me sit up with a misplaced sense of gratitude. Things are far from perfect; gay-panic humor still gets a pass way too often, especially in studio bro-coms.” – The Hollywood Reporter

Where Have All The Grand Projects Gone?

IDEAS Posted:

In the 20th century, thousands of people worked together on large projects with a vision of a better future. What’s our vision now? “In the hands of technology entrepreneurs, driven by the imperatives of shareholder value and richer even than the robber barons of a century ago, the future has been displaced into the soma of fantasy, colonised by people who want you to pay a subscription for an app that helps you sleep, a delivery service that allows you to stay indoors when it’s wet out, or a phone that switches on the heated seats in your car before you leave home. This is a future of sorts, but it’s a business school version.” – Aeon

Mark Gatiss Says Regional Theatre Is The Lifeblood Of The Industry In The UK

THEATRE Posted:

The actor – known to American audiences as a Sherlock and Doctor Who writer, and Mycroft Holmes on Sherlock – says, “There’s always a debate about how London-centric theatre is,” but adds that regional theatres have been “part of the ecosystem forever.” They’re in deep peril now, thanks to the Covid-19 shutdown and uncertainty about the future. – BBC

How Might We Rethink Public Spaces After COVID?

VISUAL Posted:

In recent years, designers and city-builders have largely come to reject defensive strategies and the exclusionary policies from which they stemmed. Great public spaces are now built with flexibility and approachability in mind, offering ample amenities and public resources. Yet, even in the best of times, the creation and operation of public parks, squares and community hubs remains both an honourable and difficult pursuit. – Spacing Toronto

China’s Movie Theatres Reopened… But Audience Hasn’t Returned

AUDIENCE, MEDIA Posted:

There are now more than 12,000 cinemas in China, according to market research firm IBISWorld. This figure has more than doubled in the past decade as China has embraced movie-going. But four out of 10 said they “are very likely to close” in the near future, according to the China Film Association survey. This could mean nearly 5,000 cinemas going bust as a result of the pandemic. – BBC

€1 Billion For Arts In Germany’s New €130 Billion Corona-Rescue Package

VISUAL Posted:

“The funds, which will be made available this year and next year, will be widely distributed across cinemas, music clubs, memorials, museums, theaters, and festivals. €250 million will go to help cultural institutions reopen with new hygiene protocols, such as updated ventilation systems and new socially-distanced visitation arrangements. Some €30 million has been earmarked for galleries, cultural centers, and publishing. The package, called New Start, also decreases the tax rate on art by 3 percent.” – Artnet

France’s First Professional Theatre Performance Since The COVID Shutdown (It Wasn’t In A Theatre)

THEATRE Posted:

“Last week in [a small] city in eastern France, the residents and staff of a nursing home watched from a safe distance — some from windows and balconies — as five actors appeared in the building’s courtyard in front of a makeshift red curtain” to perform Cabaret sous les balcons (“Cabaret Under the Balconies”). “While most live events in Europe and the United States remain on forced hiatus, the relief of the cast was palpable as they performed.” – The New York Times