“‘He was embarrassed that he took them,’ Anita Thompson told The Associated Press on Thursday, noting the deep respect her husband had for Hemingway’s work. ‘He wished he hadn’t taken them. He was young, it was 1964, and he got caught up in the moment.'”
Is It Rude To Walk Out Of A Performance Before It’s Finished?
“Maybe 30 years ago walking out of a performance was a big deal. These days—with the lure of social media and 5 million TV options, not to mention over-the-top ticket prices—many choose to reject what isn’t working. And why not? It’s your money and time, so why be miserable?”
How A Small-Town Bookstore Is Born
“Before there can be books, there has to be work: cleaning, sanding, painting, moving.”
There’s A New Video Game Starring A Ballet Dancer Pirouetting Through A World Inspired By Abstract Art
“There’s not a single game made with ballet dancers in the past so many years — why is that? … How many other ideas haven’t been used?”
The Internet Is Changing The Ways We Think (But Then, So Did Writing)
For “writing” read “Google” and you have much of the burden of current worries about how use of the internet may be degrading our minds. Writing itself is just as much an external prosthetic technology (“characters which are no part of themselves,” as the Egyptian king complains) as the internet is. Writing is also a tool of extended cognition. The difference is that we have had thousands of years to get used to it. The truth about the question of whether our reliance on modern electronic prostheses is better or worse for us is that it’s simply too early to tell.
Organic Cultural Spaces Versus The Top-Down Kind
“We have many spaces that are organized from the top down, that are well-renovated and secure, and that people don’t use. We call those places the hospitals of culture. What interests us is a new model of collective creativity, not just working away in our own corners but making something together.”
Scientists: Michelangelo’s “David” Is Suffering From A Balance Problem
The seed of the problem is a tiny imperfection in the statue’s design. The center of gravity in the base doesn’t align with the center of gravity in the figure itself; when the base is level, in other words, the David’s body is slightly off-balance. There is, as the article nicely puts it, “an eccentricity of the loads.”
The Artist Behind The Naked Trump Statues (And How He Did It)
“Monroe was chosen to create the likeness of the “monstrous” presidential candidate because of his experience designing monsters for horror movies and haunted houses, including serving as the director for Eli Roth’s now defunct “Goretorium” in Las Vegas.”
Trolls Are Killing Our Lives Online
“Internet trolls have a manifesto of sorts, which states they are doing it for the “lulz,” or laughs. What trolls do for the lulz ranges from clever pranks to harassment to violent threats. There’s also doxxing–publishing personal data, such as Social Security numbers and bank accounts–and swatting, calling in an emergency to a victim’s house so the SWAT team busts in. When victims do not experience lulz, trolls tell them they have no sense of humor. Trolls are turning social media and comment boards into a giant locker room in a teen movie, with towel-snapping racial epithets and misogyny.”
‘The Myth Of Cultural Authenticity, One Of The More Bizarre Delusions Of Contemporary Life’
C.B. George: “It is a mindset that can mock a rapper who fabricates a criminal background and idolize the authenticity of a convicted felon. Seriously? Me, if I must choose between someone who pretends to have shot people and someone who’s shot people, I go for the fantasist every time. It is a mindset that holds dear an essentialist view of “indigenous culture” even as it disdains the same essentialism in the nationalist intolerance currently blighting the US and much of Europe.”
Daniel Barenboim, Fanatic
“Barenboim still boils over with plans. He wants to tackle the gulf between a class of musicians who are technically skilled but ignorant of their society, and a wider society that can’t understand classical music. This autumn his Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin begins teaching a degree course in music, coupled with twice-weekly philosophy lessons. He is also looking for a primary school in Germany to follow a programme of music education set by him and the Berlin Staatskapelle.”
We’ve All Been Misunderstanding Robert Frost’s Most Famous Poem
Even the first person to read “The Road Not Taken” first understood it the way generations of schoolteachers have explained it; Frost himself had to explain (several times) what he meant. Other readers have taken the poem to be a parody of the lofty individualistic sentiments of the interpretation we learned in grade school. David Orr takes apart both those readings, and provides alternative versions of the poem that would actually fit them, to highlight what Frost actually did write.
Whistleblowing Website Collects Accounts Of ‘Exploitation And Abuse’ At Edinburgh Fringe
“Called Fringe Whistleblower, the site states it has become ‘dismayed at the state of the Edinburgh Fringe’ and claims many artists do not get paid. It adds that many venue staff ‘work in very difficult working, and sometimes unlawful, conditions’. It is now calling on people performing and working at the event to share their ‘stories of abuse’, which can be published anonymously on the site.”
Lost Pre-Columbian Manuscript Discovered Under Another Manuscript (Hooray For Palimpsests!)
Scholars have suspected for decades that the Codex Selden (also called the Codex Anute), a Mixtec document in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, had an earlier document underneath the one visible, but modern hyperspectral imaging technology has now confirmed it.
Esa-Pekka Salonen Takes Newly-Created Post At Finnish National Opera And Ballet
For five years beginning next month, Salonen will be the company’s first Artist-in-Association. “[He] will take on responsibilities as a conductor, composer, artistic advisor and ambassador. He will also act as an ambassador for the FNOB in developing new partnerships, and will mentor emerging Finnish conductors.”
Guerrilla Artists Erect Nude Donald Trump Sculptures In Five Cities
“Members of the anarchist collective INDECLINE … unveiled life-size statues of Trump in the nude Thursday morning in public spaces in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle.” (The New York City Parks Dept. removed the statue in Union Square, saying in a statement, “NYC Parks stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small.”)
Toronto Symphony Brings In Cleveland’s Retired Chief To Steady The Ship
“The TSO have announced Gary Hanson, former Executive Director of the Cleveland Orchestra, as the incoming Interim CEO effective September 26, 2016. A native of Toronto and trained as a double bass player, Hanson is a bit of welcome news for the TSO, who have been struggling to regain their stride after a surprisingly salacious year to date.”
Finally, A Video Game With A Ballet Dancer At Its Center
Michal Staniszewski, director of the studio which created Bound: “The character we had, with her mindset, she has these kind of emotions in her. I realized we should use dancing. … There’s not a single game made with ballet dancers in the past so many years – why is that? How many other ideas haven’t been used?”
Saratoga Performing Arts Center Names New CEO
“Elizabeth Sobol, formerly president and CEO of Universal Music Classics and managing director of IMG Artists in North/South America, has been named the new president and CEO of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center … [which] has been the summer home of the New York City Ballet and Philadelphia Orchestra since it opened in 1966.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.18.16
Ystad Followup: Kathrine Windfeld
The Rifftides wrapup report on the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival included a brief, enthusiastic comment about a performance by the Kathrine Windfeld Big Band of her piece “Aircraft.” This young Danish composer, arranger and pianist … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-08-18
MCA-Chicago’s Terrace concerts, acing outdoor presentation
Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art has aced outdoor music presentations with its Tuesdays on the Terrace series, most recently featuring the string trio Hear In Now performing strong yet sensitive chamber jazz. … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2016-08-18
Twerking the Berkshires: Storify & Video from My Workation
If you’ve been following my @CultureGrrl Twitter feed, you know that I made the rounds of Berkshire museums this week. It was meant to be a mini-vacation. But then I kept seeing things that … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-08-18
[ssba_hide]
Royal Ontario Museum Removes Chihuly Quote From Show As Inappropriate
The museum, by way of explanation, says: “Once the exhibition installation was complete, and the text was seen in context, it became clear that it did not reflect the voice of the museum, nor did it reflect the experience of the work.” The ROM also pointed out that the original quote “was provided as part of the exhibition text,” which had been featured in several other museums before arriving here.
Brazilian Artists Launch Huge Demonstrations Over Cuts To Culture
Ocupa MinC began in May when Michel Temer became interim president and promptly announced that the government was going to deal with one of the worst budget deficits in years by absorbing the Ministry of Culture into the Ministry of Education. In response, thousands of artists and musicians occupied MinC buildings in at least 18 cities nationwide, camping out in tents and performing songs in protest.
Bosch Was A Realist
“There has never been a painter quite like Jheronimus van Aken, the Flemish master who signed his works as Jheronimus Bosch. His imagination ranged from a place beyond the spheres of Heaven to the uttermost depths of Hell, but for many of his earliest admirers the most striking aspect of his art was what they described as its ‘truth to nature.'”
Riches To Rags: Secrets Of A Costume Distressor
“The nicest thing you can say to Hochi Asiatico is that his work looks like hell. That’s because Mr. Asiatico is one of a small number of Broadway distressors, artisans who make costumes look beautifully bad. … Here, in four relatively easy steps, is Mr. Asiatico’s guide to D.I.Y. distressing.”
I’m Not Scared Of The Edinburgh Fringe, Says New CEO Of Edinburgh Fringe
Shona McCarthy, on whether she’s daunted by the pace of the Fringe’s growth: “I’m not intimidated, and continuous growth is not our primary objective. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe should be whatever size it needs to be to accommodate the artists from all continents who want to have a voice here, and the venues who want to host them.”