Use the long weekend to read this four-part series from RogerEbert.com, covering everything from exoticization to contemporary depictions of Muslims in the U.S.
Inside The Head Of A Chief Curator
Nancy Spector, new chief curator at the Brooklyn Museum: “There’s all the essential work that we do to create our central product, and there’s all of the scholarship and thinking and educational components that are really critical to what we do, and then there’s the fact that you have to raise money for everything — absolutely everything. So that is just a parallel track that’s always there.”
Venice Is Screwed. Can It Be Saved?
“No effective provision on Venice’s behalf has been enforced so far by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, although protection of environment and cultural heritage is among the fundamental principles of the Italian Constitution. Nor are authorities developing any project whatsoever aimed not just at preserving the monuments of Venice, but at ensuring its citizens a future worth living.”
Debating The University Of Chicago’s “Intellectual Freedom” Letter
“To those who regularly campaign against what they see as political correctness, and to plenty of others, the letter was the message they have been waiting for—and that they think students need. But to many others, the letter distorted programs on which many students rely, ignored the hostility many students feel on campus, and belittled the sincerity of faculty members who work to make higher education more inclusive.”
Guardian Editorial: “Unacceptable” That Our Orchestras Aren’t Being Led By More Women
“London has five permanent symphony orchestras, all full of female players. Yet of the 20 conducting posts at these orchestras, just one is held by a woman – and the temporary post held by the London Symphony’s assistant conductor Elim Chan ends this season. It wouldn’t be acceptable in other professions. It isn’t acceptable here either.”
‘Birth Of A Nation’/Nate Parker Controversy Leaves Oscars Race Wide Open
“Months ago, insiders would have called Birth of a Nation a Best Picture lock … if everything went right. It hasn’t. … What remains to be seen is whether the film can still have an impact, and whether Oscar voters can separate the art from their feelings about the artist … But based on the buzz we’re hearing, we can start to take a closer look at the movies and performers that are expected to contend in the six biggest Oscar categories.”
Met Museum And Tate Join New Online Video Portal For Museums
This week Sotheby’s launched the online “Museum Network,” which will host video tours and other content from such institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate galleries, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, and the National Palace Museum in Taiwan.
TV Ratings For MTV Awards Plummet 30%. But Streams Hit 68 Million
“Ratings for Sunday’s broadcast of MTV’s Video Music Awards plummeted, drawing an audience of 6.5 million viewers, about a 34 percent drop from last year’s total of 9.8 million.”
The Idea Of Multiple Universes Is A Poorly Thought-Out, Faith-Based Mess
Sam Kriss: “You might not like what I’m about to say about the multiverse. But don’t worry; you’ve already had your revenge. If there are an infinite number of parallel universes, there will be any number of terrible dictatorships, places where life has become very difficult for people who like to string words together. Somewhere out there, there’s a society in which every desperate little essay like this one comes with a tiny, unremarkable button: push it, and the author will be immediately electrocuted to death.”
Why The Age Of The Jingle Is Over
“Despite its effectiveness, the jingle has become a relic of the mid-20th-century commercials it once dominated.” (Even Oscar Meyer has retired its two classics.) “Meanwhile, marketers are focusing their efforts on licensing existing music from recording artists. … What killed the jingle? It owes its demise not only to shifts in the advertising business but also changes in the music business, and how the two industries became more entwined than ever.”
Ballet For The Blind In Mexico
“Teachers and advocates say Psicoballet, like most forms of dance, improves balance, posture and mobility, while also boosting self-esteem and reducing anxiety and depression. According to estimates, the Cuban dance therapy has benefited over 20,000 people in the last four decades and has spread to 17 nations, including Mexico, where it arrived in 1984.”
‘Why We Never Die’: An Atheist Philosopher Explains How He Realized That Death Is Not The End Of Existence
Gabriel Rockhill: “Since I recognized eternal transcendence as nothing more than a comforting illusion, the only thing left was my finite life in the here and now, which was destined to disappear forever in an instantaneous blackout. It is now patently unclear to me, however, that we ever actually die in this way. Our existence has numerous dimensions, and they each live according to different times.”
In The Live Storytelling Scene, The Storytellers Are The Last To Get Paid
“Mortified, like The Moth, Upright Citizens Brigade, and even TED Talks, is one of the hundreds of live events around the world that have sprouted up during an era in which experiential entertainment, or the IRL economy, were supposed to grow more cherished (and more lucrative) … [But] live events exist in the same way many independent publishers exist – on a shoestring budget in which the performer is usually the last to be paid.”
You Can Now Get Free E-Books On The New York Subway
“Subway Reads will last longer than a summer romance, but not much longer. It was intended to promote something that will not disappear, something that transit officials see as a milestone in the digital age: Wi-Fi service in 175 underground stations.”
She’s Only The Fourth Living Writer To Be Published By The Library Of America
“The Library of America usually restricts itself to Melville, Twain, Hawthorne and the other distinguished dead. But a handful of times it has been so sure of a novelist’s importance that its austere black volumes started appearing while the writer was still alive. Eudora Welty, Saul Bellow and Philip Roth got the call. Ursula K. Le Guin is now on this very short list.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.29.16
In The Church Of Big Data, Artistic Judgment Is Just A Data Point
Lately we’re seeing a steady stream of stories at ArtsJournal about attempts to algorithmatize creativity. But that’s merely the frontier of the data-driven gospel, the idea that algorithms and intelligent machines will more efficiently be able to create the things we want. The mainstream orthodoxy of Big Data, though, is … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-29
The “Scoop” that Wasn’t: Fisher Collection’s 75%-25% Rule at SFMOMA Exposed Six Years Ago
In my previous post about the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s deal to display the coveted Doris and Donald Fisher Collection, I took the San Francisco Chronicle‘s Charles Desmarais at his word and … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-08-29
Thrice more unto the breach
The Mosaic Theater Company’s production of Satchmo at the Waldorf, which began previews last Thursday, opens tonight in Washington, D.C. This is, unlikely as it may sound, Satchmo’s twelfth staging to date.… read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-08-29
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Gene Wilder, 83
The comic actor, who was twice Oscar nominated, for his role in “The Producers” and for co-penning “Young Frankenstein” with Mel Brooks, usually portrayed a neurotic who veered between total hysteria and dewy-eyed tenderness. “My quiet exterior used to be a mask for hysteria,” he told Time magazine in 1970. “After seven years of analysis, it just became a habit.”
America’s Newsrooms Don’t Reflect Diversity Of The Country. Here’s Why It Increasingly Matters
“If the minority population is growing steadily, then common sense would say news organizations should be doing everything they can to attract minority audiences and better explain the complex issues America faces. But in a 2014 study by the American Press Institute and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only 25 percent of African-Americans and 33 percent of Hispanics said they felt the media accurately reflected their community.”
Counting Up The Art Damages From Italian Quake
“No artworks with the cachet of a Leonardo, Michelangelo or Giotto are among those lost in the quake. But art historians stress that local art of whatever pedigree helps to explain the cultural and artistic contexts that inspired the great masters. And just as importantly, local pride over this artistic heritage in churches or piazzas binds these centuries-old towns to their past.”
Have We Lost Interest In Old Masters Art?
“At a time when contemporary art is all the rage among collectors, viewers and donors, many experts are questioning whether old master artwork — once the most coveted — can stay relevant at auction houses, galleries and museums. Having struggled with shrinking inventory and elusive profits, auction houses appear to be devoting most of their attention and resources to contemporary art, the most popular area of their business.”
As The Curtain Falls On Texas Rep, Does This Portend Bad Things For Theatres In The Suburbs?
“Funding isn’t there for the smaller groups. … The percentage that’s taken up by the bigger groups is really high and we have to share the rest.”
Why Tennis Is Acing It On The Theater Stage
“‘It’s always hard to put a finger on why something is suddenly in the zeitgeist,’ said [Sarah] Ruhl, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and a Tony Award nominee. ‘I don’t know why it is happening with tennis in theater right now. But for me, while researching the Bush dynasty, I realized tennis is such a big part of their lives and a wonderful metaphor for family competition and sibling rivalry.'”