“In both the manifold building blocks of his works and their titles — Ba-O-Ba, Ju-Ju, Palm Saw Tooth Blatt, Bison Bop — Mr. Sonnier came off at times as an irreverent sensualist alongside peers like Bruce Nauman, Eva Hesse, Jackie Winsor and Robert Smithson, who employed some of the same materials.” – The New York Times
Crop Of Books Takes New View Of Old Epic Poetry
“Those second looks have turned up several shared themes. One is a new skepticism regarding the relationship that has developed between the epic and prevailing ideas about male heroism. ‘A lot of toxic masculinity has been shaped by imperfect understandings of epic poetry,'” said Maria Dahvana Headley, translator of a new edition of Beowulf. “That result, she and [Aeneid translator Shadi] Bartsch agree, is a consequence of particular choices made in reading, not the substance of the epics themselves.” – The New York Times
Composer And Writer Dmitri Smirnov Dead Of COVID At 71
While a student in Moscow in the late ’60s, he became passionately interested in William Blake, going on to translate his complete works into Russian and write the first Russian-language biography of Blake. The great English mystic became the dominant force in Smirnov’s music as well, with more than 50 of his compositions being based on or inspired by Blake. – The Guardian
Brandon Sanderson Had 13 Books Rejected Before Hitting It Big And Earning Millions
Most writers have novels that never see the light of day. But 13? That’s serious dedication. The books were written over a decade while Sanderson was working as a night clerk at a hotel – a job chosen specifically because as long as he stayed awake, his bosses didn’t mind if he wrote between midnight and 5am. But publishers kept telling him that his epic fantasies were too long, that he should try being darker or “more like George RR Martin” (it was the late 90s, and A Song of Ice and Fire was topping bestseller charts). His attempts to write grittier books were terrible, he says, so he became “kind of depressed”. – The Guardian
The Director Of Philly’s Free Library Resigns Over Her Mistreatment Of Black Staff
This isn’t a new issue at the library, but protests and action finally got the staff some of what it’s been asking for for a very long time. “Workers have raised concerns about racial discrimination in the library system for years. But their efforts gained heightened visibility in late June after they formed a group called the Concerned Black Workers of the Free Library of Philadelphia and sent an open letter to management, saying they face discrimination on a regular basis, are paid less than white colleagues, and were being asked to return to work without a plan to keep them safe from the coronavirus.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
Scientists: Earth’s Seismic Activity Plummeted During Lockdown
Writing today in the journal Science, dozens of researchers from around the world show that the seismic activity from our civilization plummeted as lockdowns went into effect. This “anthropogenic seismic noise,” as seismologists call it, comes from all manner of human activities, whether that’s running factories, operating cars or trains, or even holding concerts. So starting in China originally, then in different places in Italy, and then going through Europe. And whenever lockdowns happened in different countries, we see the effect that’s up to an 80 percent reduction in the amplitude of the seismic noise in some places.” The average was about 50 percent. – Wired
The Harper’s Open Letter Has Been Blasted By Everyone. Who Wouldn’t Have Anticipated That?
Far from being embraced as a high-minded salute to free speech and the bracing effects of political discourse, the letter was blasted for messages its authors swear were never intended. – Washington Post
The Pandemic’s Lasting Effects On The Arts?
If, as I gloomily expect, this pandemic mushrooms into a huge, epochal shift in the social, economical and political landscape of the United States, then history teaches us perfectly clearly that there will be mirroring changes in the arts. That’s why we have concepts like “post-war literature” or “Restoration theater” or “Socialist realism.” You can’t have an earthquake without artists noticing. – San Francisco Chronicle
How A Virtuoso Got Her Antique Cello Back 40 Years After It Was Stolen
Christine Walevska got her one-eighth-size 1834 Bernardel cello when she was eight years old, and even as she went on to study with Gregor Piatigorsky, win a first prize at the Paris Conservatoire and pursue an international career, she remained attached to her childhood instrument. In 1976, it was stolen. Reporter Stacy Perman tells the story of how the little cello ultimately found its way back to Walevska — and a gifted young protégée came along with it. – Los Angeles Times
How Artists And Arts Organizations In San Francisco Are Adapting
Some of these people have taken the opportunity to begin a radical rethinking of their operations. Others are doing their best to maintain a connection with their patrons and audiences that will be strong enough to tide them over the current and coming upheavals. Wherever you look, the cultural players are busily brainstorming solutions. – San Francisco Chronicle
The Democratization Of Streaming Theatre
The online dramas that so many theatres have made available, from the RSC to the National Theatre, have had a hugely democratising effect on an art form that is often accused of being elitist and expensive. Now, viewers don’t have to be sitting in a velvet seat, just on their own sofa. – The Guardian
No More Dead Guys On Horses: Reimagining The Entire Idea Of Public Monuments In The U.S.
Historically, the purpose of monuments, says Ken Lum of Monument Lab in Philadelphia, “has been to activate or even sustain a certain narrative of memory which people of influence have deemed worthy or important to maintain. They are mnemonic devices.” And, traditionally, they’ve usually been large sculptures of men. (If they were of women, those women were usually fictional or allegorical figures rather than actual people.) But that has changed over the past few decades, with the standard-bearer being Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Now that a whole slew of old-style monuments is being removed, Carolina Miranda looks at what might be replacing them. – Los Angeles Times
New Project Aims To Get More Black Theater Professionals Backstage As Well As Onstage
“Career opportunity on Broadway doesn’t begin at the box office, but in the front office. And that’s where T. Oliver Reid, Warren Adams and their fellow advocates have set their sights in a campaign to massively increase black employment in the theater business. Their effort — under the banner of a new organization, the Black Theatre Coalition — is already making an impact.” – The Washington Post
TikTok Will Spend $200 Million On Creators (How And On Which Creators? Good Question)
“TikTok is launching a program to fund its most popular creators directly for their videos — with an initial $200 million earmarked for the U.S. … How much individual creators will be eligible to earn — and what specific criteria those payments will be based on — isn’t fully clear.” But you can apply starting in August. – Variety
Kennedy Center Will Reopen Its Large Theaters Next January
Pandemic permitting, the Center and its resident companies, the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, plan to present performances for full audiences n its three large venues early in the New Year, with a few socially distanced, small-scale or outdoor performances before then. The big Broadway touring shows won’t be back until May. – The Washington Post
Andrew Lloyd Webber Tries Putting On A Socially Distanced West End Show
It was a one-time pilot project, performed in front of 640 people spread out through the Palladium, one of London’s biggest theatres. The program: one singer, Beverley Knight, doing two half-hour sets separated by an intermission. Alex Marshall reports on how it went. (ALW’s reaction on seeing the “full” house: “I’ve got to say this is a rather sad sight.”) – The New York Times
Misty Copeland On How Protests Are Waking Up The Dance World
“It’s the first time in my position that I feel like I’m truly being heard,” she explains of how she’s using her voice to raise awareness, later adding, “This has been my life’s work as a dancer: speaking about racism in the world, and in ballet, speaking about the lack of diversity. And to have my company, to have the ballet world listening, and to have different panels to speak about this—in a way that I have before, but again, for the first time, people are really seeing it. And I think that’s what’s different about this time, is that I feel like we have true allies and people from other communities and races that we’ve not had before.” – The Root
Why Pandemic Literature Doesn’t Work (So Far)
No one has had time to truly refine their ideas about personal life in a state of widespread isolation and existential dread, and literature, even when political, is a fundamentally personal realm. It relies on the ability to channel inner experience outward, and because no inner experience of the coronavirus pandemic could plausibly be described as complete, prose that renders it static and comprehensible rings false. – The Atlantic
Nyerges on the Purges: Virginia MFA’s Director Defends Bondil, Himself, Other Beleaguered Leaders
Already battered financially by the pandemic, many art museums now find themselves barraged by attacks from aggrieved staffers and former employees accusing the higher-ups of racism, harassment and micro-aggressions. But until Alex Nyerges candidly responded to my post about the firing of Montreal Museum of Fine Arts director Nathalie Bondil, I hadn’t come across any major museum officials who dared to publicly contradict the critics. – Lee Rosenbaum
A Bail-Out For The Arts? We Need More
What is needed is “not just a bailout” but a “long-term plan” that would enable the sector to “come out the other side. What we’ve seen is a lack of joined-up thinking across government,” he went on, suggesting “huge swathes of our cultural infrastructure” are at risk. – BBC