In the Russian Federation’s Sakha Republic — whose capital, Yakutsk, is considered the coldest big city on Earth — locally-made movies, many in the local Yakut language, often outsell international blockbusters. In an article titled “Arctic zombie apocalypse,” a correspondent looks at the challenge of making films in Sakha, from harrowing temperatures (down to 50 below) to horrifying mosquitoes (“When one buzzes in front of the lens, it looks like a horse is galloping across the frame”). – The Economist
Staging Gendered Violence
“The question of how to stage gendered violence ethically and responsibly is not new, but it is newly urgent as we approach the third decade of the twenty-first century. The contributions to this series focus on solutions and ways forward as much as critiques of existing practice, creating a kind of toolkit for creatives and critics alike to approach the genuinely difficult questions raised by this issue.” – HowlRound
Why Other Experiences Help Make Better Artists
“You’re trying to do something new to you, and in some cases new to anyone. One of the sources of power for doing things like that is having really broad experiences.” That often requires trying, and failing, at a number of different activities. – Artsy
A Look Inside The Ruins Of Notre Dame
The man responsible for overseeing the reconstruction of Notre-Dame says the risks of a catastrophic collapse are small but that the true extent of the damage will not be known until at least the end of the year. Until then, it will remain a triage site. – Time
A Huge Illicit Antiquities Market Hiding In Plain Sight On Facebook
“Last month, the ATHAR Project published an important report on West Asian antiquities trafficking taking place more or less out in the open — on Facebook. … The report, ‘Facebook’s Black Market in Antiquities: Trafficking, Terrorism, and War Crimes,’ published in June, is the result of nearly two years of research.” – Hyperallergic
Vandalism And Self-Mutilation As Art (Jail Too)
For Pyotr Pavlensky, the judicial process is an integral part of the artwork. “The government’s aim is to suppress or neutralize art, to reduce me to a vandal, a madman, a provocateur, but the criminal case becomes one of the layers of the artwork, the portal through which you enter and see the mechanisms of power exposed.” – The New York Times
The New Bookstore In Chicago That’s Also Showcasing Original Art
In her new bookstore in Chicago – the only one owned by a Black woman – owner and curator DL Mullen has more than books. “What might be most visually striking about the space is the art itself, like the mural which dominates the shop’s north wall. Street artist Ahmad Lee painted it in one 11-hour stretch, vividly depicting two of Mullen’s favorite artists: Frida Kahlo and Jean-Michel Basquiat.” There’s more art upstairs, and the books are also curated in a grand book and art experiment. – Chicago Magazine
Will Grassroots European Presenters Stop Booking UK Artists Post-Brexit?
“Across Europe, voluntary promoters, programmers and enthusiasts employ UK artists. They don’t get paid, they don’t receive funding and they often lose money from their own pockets to keep the show on the road. They do it because they love it, because they want to share the art they love in the communities where they live – and they love British artists. They create vital grassroots ecosystems that are all but invisible to UK policy-makers, whose narrow view of culture is constrained to the assemblage of creaking institutions to which they are bound.” – Arts Professional
Dancing With Artificial Intelligence
Wayne McGregor teamed up with Google engineers and creative technologists to train the algorithm, called “Living Archive,” using thousands of hours of video from the choreographer’s previous works over 25 years. It was a way of “activating the archives” and “hijacking its past,” McGregor said. – Los Angeles Times
Unlimited Information And Free Access? Turns Out It Was A Problematic Idea
The Palo Alto Consensus held that American-made internet communication technologies (both hardware and software) should be distributed globally and that governments should be discouraged from restricting speech online. Its proponents believed that states in which public discourse was governed by “everyone” — via social media and the internet — would become more democratic. – The New York Times
Meet The Remarkable Darren Walker
“To me the question is, How do we as the Ford Foundation, and I as its president, leverage the foundation’s and my networks, and on behalf of whom?” – The New York Times
The Surprising And Enduring Relevance Of Sam Shepard
That Shepard is starting to feel like a guide for the rest of us is surprising. He died two years ago, at the age of 73, and although the valedictions from the dramatic world were respectful, few suggested that his work was acutely relevant. But Shepard plays are back in season, and they are neither antiquarian nor regional. They are modern—even visionary—and disturbingly universal. – The Atlantic
Festival Tells Theatre Company To Recast Role With Disabled Actor, And Company Writes Out Character’s Disability Instead
When the Belgian company Studio Orka brought its devised-theatre piece Tuesday to the Manchester International Festival, MIF officials said that their policy is that disabled characters must be played by disabled actors and that performances of the work would not proceed with a non-disabled actor in one of the roles. Studio Orka argued that Tuesday could only be performed by the actors who collaboratively developed it and changed the character to a person injured in an accident who recovers. – The Stage
An Aging Jazz Legend’s Wife Started A GoFundMe Campaign, Claiming Severe Health And Financial Problems. His Old Friends Are Very Suspicious
Kenny Burrell, the 87-year-old guitarist, is still drawing a six-figure salary and health insurance from UCLA, where he has been tenured faculty for decades. But his wife launched a crowdfunding campaign in May, saying they were desperate and faced potential homelessness. (She also won’t let anyone see him or come into their home, claiming their immune systems are compromised.) Reporter Geoff Edgers investigates. – The Washington Post
Ballet BC’s Emily Molnar Named Nederlands Dans Theater’s Artistic Director
When Molnar took over the [Vancouver-based] company in 2009, it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Since then she’s brought in big-name contemporary choreographers and built up” Ballet BC’s quality and reputation to the point that they now tour internationally. She begins her job at NDT, one of Europe’s leading contemporary dance troupes, in August 2020. – The Georgia Straight (Vancouver)
Police Abruptly Evict Artists From Beijing Studio Districts
“Scores of Beijing police, clad in riot gear and rain slickers, were seen yesterday marching artists out of the Luomahu, or Roma Lake, Art District ahead of its sudden demolition, purportedly under the auspices of China’s sweeping campaign against organised crime. Similarly, about 30 riot police moved into Beijing’s Huantie Art District on Sunday (7 July) to begin eviction of the several hundred artists with studios there.” – The Art Newspaper
What Burning Man Taught Us About Networks Of Cooperation
So when do networks enable cooperation to thrive? And when do they hinder it? A vast body of work from across anthropology, psychology, and sociology has explored the conditions under which cooperation—the propensity for individuals to pay a personal cost for the benefit of the whole—operates. – Nautilus
A New Generation Of Transgender Singers Making Their Mark In The Opera World
“Some … found new voices, either with the help of hormones or through retraining. Others kept the voices they had built their careers on — even if it meant continuing to perform in the gender they had left behind. Now some are getting higher-profile roles — and upending preconceptions about voice and gender. … We spent time with four of the artists at the forefront of this new wave.” – The New York Times
Looking back on the lesser-known histories of ‘Chicano Public Radio’
“Too often, popular accounts of Spanish-language media focus on radio ratings within profit-driven radio markets and cities with large Latina/o populations, such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston. Yet since the 1970s, Spanish-language and bilingual (Spanish-English) community radio has flourished in rural, farmworker and Mexican-dominant communities. The anticommercial spirit of the 1960s and 1970s helped launch a wave of public media outlets with an ethos of racial and gender inclusivity in both radio programming and management operations.” – Current