“The new media, with its myriad screens and streams, makes reality so fragmented it becomes ungraspable, pushing us towards, or allowing us to flee, into virtual realities and fantasies. Fragmentation, combined with the disorientations of globalization, leaves people yearning for a more secure past, breeding nostalgia.”
‘R&D In The Arts’ – What Does That Really Mean, And What Should It Mean?
“‘R&D in the arts’ seems to be quite a new thing, inspired by the [tech industry], but not motivated by financial revenue. I worry about the arts taking on the mantle, because R&D and innovation are terms with such an overwhelming direction built in to them – a direction in favour of commercial digital products. No one ever asks what the problems are in digital which the arts might be able to solve. The arts are on the back foot. As I often say, why don’t they have dancers-in-residence at Google?”
The Greatest Literary Fraudster In Our Time (So What Is Fiction Anyway?)
Literature is full of impostors and noms de plume, from George Eliot to “Robert Galbraith” (aka JK Rowling), but JT LeRoy is something else. George Eliot never did high-end fashion shoots, or received backstage passes to U2 gigs, or was sent Kabbalah books by Madonna.
The Man Who’s Ready To Bring Mormon Architectural Utopias To Life In Vermont
“Within the community, each person will be allotted just 200 square feet of living space, but apartments will be soundproofed, with Roomba-sized robots that rearrange furniture for different needs and times of day. … Furnishings and possessions not being used will be stored inside 4-by-4-foot boxes that are integrated into the apartment floors and electronically move up and down as needed.”
What Happens After You Have A Star Turn In The New ‘Rocky’ Movie
Tessa Thompson, about Creed: “[It] is not necessarily a political movie, but the way that we had conversations, we thought we were making a really cinema verité about the black experience.”
Practicing Ballet In The DMZ
“Soldier Kim Joo-hyeok, 23, describes the activity as a way to ‘stay calm and find balance, as well as build friendships with my fellow soldiers.'”
Dance As A Fitness Routine? The Benefits Are Many
With “Just Dance,” I am elevating my heart rate, but I am also sidestepping the self. Depending on the song and background images, I am a partying hipster in a floor-length fur (Macklemore, “Can’t Hold Us”), or a futuristic funk dancer (Nicki Minaj, “Pound the Alarm”), or a girl with swinging blond hair at a club. Critics complain that the offerings on “Just Dance” skew painfully toward bubble-gum pop, but it also means that on “Just Dance,” I am forever young.
One LA Neighborhood Fighting Gentrification Resists Artists’ Complicity In Upscaling
“Since PSSST, Boyle Heights’ newest gallery, announced its grand opening (originally scheduled for May 13) the conflict between the art space and local grassroots organizations has escalated to dimensions greater than each of the actual entities by bringing to question the direct and indirect complicity of artists and cultural spaces in the displacement of long-seated, working-class communities.”
Revealed: The Young Lady To Whom Van Gogh Gave His Ear
And that incident wasn’t even the first trauma the poor woman suffered that year.
Digital Comics Thrive As Art Form Flourishes
“Digital comics creators may fit their art to screen proportions or vertical strips. Artists and writers design for panel-viewing apps by making sure each chunk of the page works on its own, so you’re not left trying to remember who got Hulk so mad or what everyone’s looking at up in the sky — and they can use limited views to control pacing and create suspenseful reveals. Going further, formats such as Madefire’s Motion Books combine writing, animation and even sound. None of that invalidates the traditional art form, of course, but there’s always evolution.”
Why Are Classical Music’s Biggest Stars Lining Up To Perform In “Mozart In The Jungle”?
“The show’s ability to draw so many A-listers is both a testament to its growing success, and a reflection of the fact that there are now far fewer opportunities for classical artists to appear on television, which is still an important medium for reaching, and appealing to, new audiences.”
What Do America’s Opera Directors Think About The Impact Of HD Opera In Movie Theatres?
David Devan, Opera Philadelphia: “I think it’s raised the game in terms of people’s aesthetic and performance expectations. If you can go to a movie theater and hear a great singer with a great orchestra with a gazillion-dollar set, that raises the bar for everybody. It did help me raise money to improve the quality of what we put on in the Academy [of Music]. This isn’t about my ego; this is about the necessity of doing work that people will come to. That means there’s a higher standard of care that we must meet.”
What Happened To Great Composers (Do We Have Any Today?)
“The truth is, it’s over. The confident forward march in British music that handed us a lineage of great composers – Britten, Tippett, Maxwell Davies, Birtwistle – has shattered. Given that all the obvious “isms” have been exhausted, composers now face an existential crisis over where music might head next; and, anyway, our culture has decided to privilege ephemeral celebrity over anyone who cares enough about the future to utter anything difficult or challenging. And clued-up composers realise that.”
Turkey Bans Travel By Academics After Coup Attempt
“As you surely know, universities have always been crucial for military juntas in Turkey, and certain individuals are believed to be in contact with cells within the military.”
US’s Largest Collection Of Mexican Art Gets A Long-Awaited Home
“This is the single largest collection of Mexican, Latino, and Chicano art in the U.S., with 17,000 pieces. Those include about 800 pieces of Mexican folk art donated by the family of Nelson Rockefeller and work by Mexican artist Diego Rivera.”
Detroit Institute Of Arts Embarks On Plan To Become Leader In Showing African-American Art
“The new direction represents the first major shift in programming and collecting priorities since the Spanish-born Salort-Pons, the 46-year-old former DIA curator of European art, succeeded Graham Beal as director last fall. The commitment could transform the DIA into a true national power when it comes to collecting, exhibiting, studying and interpreting African-American art.”
Much-Recorded Organist André Isoir Dies On His 81st Birthday
With shelves full of awards, a discography of more than 60 titles, and more than 40 years as titular organist of the famous Saint-Germain des Près church in Paris, he was one of France’s most admired organists, known especially for his improvisation and his Bach. (in French; Google Translate version here)
Lead Troll Who Harassed Female ‘Ghostbusters’ Star Permanently Banned From Twitter
“Milo Yiannopoulos, the technology editor for Breitbart.com, tweeted as @Nero. … [He’s] been suspended from Twitter several times in the past for violating its terms of service … but claims that he had fanned the flames of the harassment of Ghostbusters actor Leslie Jones on Twitter led to a ‘permanent suspension’ from Twitter on Wednesday.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.20.16
“The Keeper” Sleeper: The New Museum Displays the Harrowing “Sketchbook from Auschwitz”
“Start on the fourth floor, but make sure not to miss the second floor,” New Museum director Lisa Phillips advised me when I arrived with only an hour to spare … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-07-20
Chicago’s free summer music cornucopia – Deutsch, PoKempner photos
It’s hard to find a comparable wealth of beautiful sounds available to all comers, at least west of the Hudson River … In how many American cities does Sunny Adé’s audience, unbidden, sing along in Yoruba? … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2016-07-20
Near, Far, Wherever you are
Do communities have to be tied to geography? Locality? Your Youtube Cat Video Appreciation community might have something to say about that. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-07-20
Community development in the age of social media
Today, more than ever before, artists, individuals, and organizations are using social media to make connections and spark conversations with each other. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-07-20
The Art of Attachment
The Knight Foundation recently shared the results of a 3 year study, “Soul of the Community” (SOTC) looking at what factors played a role in ‘attaching’ residents to their communities. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-07-20
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Scientists Release New Improved Map Of The Brain
“Just like regular maps, brain maps are useful points of reference. Scientists use them to agree on what they’re studying in the first place, say, by pointing to something called the “anterior cingulate cortex” and having other people know what they’re talking about. But over time, better data can refine those maps. So a team of researchers have marshaled a huge amount of brain scan data to create a new, precise brain map, published in Nature today.”
A History Of Interpreting Blackness To White Audiences
“So much black intellectual energy has been expended on convincing white audiences simply to care about the exploitation of the black poor and the alienation of the black middle classes. The receptivity of particular white audiences has fluctuated over time, and with it—in tandem, arguably—various indicators of racial inequality. Perhaps just as pressing, then, as interpreting blackness for white audiences is interpreting the causes and consequences of white attention for the rest of us.”
Study: Are Video Games Becoming Less Sexist?
“The overall sexualization of female characters has decreased in recent years,” an Indiana University research team led by Teresa Lynch writes in the Journal of Communication. “The recent and growing interest of women and girls (in gaming) seems to be influencing game content in positive ways.”
Trolls Drive One Of The New ‘Ghostbusters’ Stars Off Twitter Altogether
“Leslie Jones, one of the most visible and accessible stars in the all-female remake of the Ghostbusters movie, said that she would leave Twitter after becoming the target of online trolls who sent her a stream of pornography, racist speech and hateful memes. … ‘Ok I have been called Apes,’ she wrote on Twitter, ‘even got a pic with semen on my face. I’m tryin to figure out what human means. I’m out.'”
Garry Marshall, Creator Of TV’s ‘The Odd Couple’, ‘Happy Days’, And ‘Mork And Mindy’ And Director Of ‘Pretty Woman’, Dead At 81
“To credit the multi-talented Marshall with any single accomplishment would be to diminish his others. He was everything – a director, writer, producer and actor, yes, but also a drummer and a journalist. … His career in the arts spanned six decades – seven if you count him drumming for a class of aspiring dancers at six years old – and he became arguably one of the most influential people in the entertainment business.”