ArtsJournal - Newsside

Is A Career Making Independent Feature Films Even Possible Anymore, Even For Well-Known Directors?

MEDIA Posted:

“It’s not just that the likes of Spike Lee and Hal Hartley have had to go to Kickstarter to fund their projects: Frederick Wiseman and Abel Ferrara have seen their recent crowdfunding campaigns fail. “Having lived and worked in an era with fewer players and a lot more money, many of these artists are now faced with shrinking budgets and crowded release windows … If they want to continue making features, it seems they’ll have to get used to it. Which begs the question, is it still worth it?”

Visiting The Harlem Renaissance – Via Virtual Reality

ISSUES Posted:

For instance, there’s “an avatar that could be programmed with biographical information on W. E. B. Du Bois, whmo users could ask questions to find out about his history. In the surrounding blocks Ethel Waters might be singing the debut performance of ‘Stormy Weather’ at the Cotton Club, and crowds are gathering at the Apollo Theater.”

The Tyranny Of Algorithms: How Our Choices Are Being Narrowed

IDEAS Posted:

“Cyberspace is no longer an escape from the ‘real world’. It is now a force governing it via algorithms: recipe-like sets of instructions to solve problems. From Google search to OkCupid matchmaking, software orders and weights hundreds of variables into clean, simple interfaces, taking us from query to solution. Complex mathematics govern such answers, but it is hidden from plain view, thanks either to secrecy imposed by law, or to complexity outsiders cannot unravel.”

Why Pablo Neruda Is So Very Hard To Translate – And Why That’s Okay

WORDS Posted:

“All translators create their own reality, which may or may not reflect the intentions of the writer. After all, if you make the decision to cut out six cantos in a 12-canto series (as my edition did), to what extent are you even trying to keep faith with with the original work? I found some sort of an answer in Neruda’s own argument for’ an impure poetry’.”

James Wood – A Harsh Critic Mellows?

WORDS Posted:

“For me, there’s no competition between pleasure and analysis. And there never was. That might be the self-selecting answer as to why I became a critic. At exactly the moment that I wanted really to write, and started writing poems and then trying to write bad fiction, I was reading with a view to learning stuff.”

Taking To Kickstarter, A Major Architect Wants To Fund Activist Public Art

AUDIENCE, IDEAS Posted:

The Kickstarter campaign is as much about activism as it is about funding—an increasingly popular tactic in the architecture world. “You could say the whole idea of the project is an exercise in radical transparency. What the project does is make blatantly legible a carbon footprint that is invisible, and only exists in the form of numbers and specifics and news.” The point of the tower is to raise environmental awareness. By asking the public to contribute, the firm is putting it to the people to decide if they want a visual representation of pollution on the skyline. It also detaches the project from any corporate influence.

Back From The Brink? Atlanta Symphony Makes A Turnaround

MUSIC Posted:

“Today, the ASO is showing signs of financial health not seen in more than a decade, a condition which musicians and management agree bodes well for restoring the musical standards that had previously elevated the orchestra to critical acclaim, international prominence and a seemingly endless string of Grammy Awards.”

Why Are Major Canadian Theatres Hiring Outsiders Over Home-Grown Talent?

THEATRE Posted:

“They have reinforced a message to young Canadian directors that the best way to get ahead at home is to move abroad, and that what audiences think of you in New York matters more to boards than what audiences think of you here. Even minor experience in your field outside this country will trump major experience at home.”

There’s A Fast-Rising Conductor Hiding In Plain Sight In Philadelphia

MUSIC Posted:

“Philadelphia Orchestra associate conductors are like U.S. vice presidents: They have huge exposure, a bit of dirty work to do, and ascend to the boss’ job only in dire circumstances. Nonetheless, Philadelphia’s Cristian Macelaru (once associate conductor – new title, ‘conductor-in-residence’) is making a more-than-vice-presidential career for himself” – including important gigs filling in for the late Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and the ailing Pierre Boulez.

Italy’s Culture Minister Brings In Wave Of New Directors For Museums – Including (Gasp!) Some Foreigners

VISUAL Posted:

“Fourteen art historians, four archaeologists, one cultural manager and a museum specialist make up the new directors, who will be at the forefront of cultural reform in Italy. The majority have international backgrounds and half are women, although the culture minister, Dario Franceschini, said nationality and gender had no influence on Tuesday’s appointments.”

Santa Monica’s Troubled Arts Center Brings In New Chief To Shake Up Programming

ISSUES Posted:

The Broad Stage, which has seen a serious decline in box office income and donations over the past three years – even as it prepares to open a third performance space next year – has hired Stanford Live director Wiley Hausam. He says, “My sense is that this is a community willing to take artistic risks and do stuff that’s more interesting.”

What Defines Your Identity? Your Moral Compass, Suggests Study

IDEAS Posted:

“What defines a person? Is it their memories? Their hobbies? … According to a new study, kindness, loyalty, and other traits of morality are what really constitute someone’s being. … Contrary to what generations of philosophers and psychologists have thought, memory loss doesn’t make someone seem like a different person.”