Today’s fun-to-argue-over listicle features a mix of famous and lesser-known title, no Disney productions, and at least one film that, while it’s wonderfully executed and a total blast, isn’t what one would call pretty.
Michael Clark Has Become Part Of The Dance Establishment (Imagine That!)
“Despite his reputation as a punkish provocateur and iconoclast as well as his own self-destructive behaviour, the Michael Clark Dance Company is now 32 years old, an achievement that, one senses, surprises its founder as much as the rest of us.” And he himself has a CBE.
Once They Thought It Was A $25 Copy – Now They Think It’s A $25 Million Raphael
“The painting, a Madonna composition, had been obscured by discoloured varnish and was attributed to a minor hand. Its potential as a work of one of the giants of art history, as revered as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, was initially spotted by the historian Bendor Grosvenor.”
Groups Are Smarter Than Individuals. But Groups Are Stupider Too. So How Do You Get Smart Groups?
“Over the past decade, study after study has attempted to decipher and bottle the qualities of the ‘smart group’. Just as psychologists have tried to uncover the ‘g’ factor responsible for an individual’s general intelligence, they’re digging into the ‘c’ factor – the secret sauce of collective intelligence. And most importantly, we want to know how to bring that ‘c’ factor to all our collaborative work, whether that’s in the boardroom, the classroom, the lab, backstage, the woods or even in space.”
For Some Reason, We’re Still Obsessed With Mid-Century Design. Why?
“Art Nouveau, 1920s Spanish and shabby chic were all looks that the cognoscenti embraced at one time or another, but never for this long. It’s as if the mechanism that refreshes cultural trends every few years has developed a glitch.”
Norman Lebrecht: Remembering Neville Marriner
“He loved orchestras, couldn’t get enough of their gossip and intrigues while always respecting the players’ craft and commitment and never indulging in malice. Those who fell out with him – Christopher Hogwood, for instance – found themselves embraced in reconciliation. So many musicians, down in the dumps, were picked up and set on their feet again by the ever-patient Neville.”
Remembering Neville Marriner
Mr. Marriner and his group were part of a huge revival of scholarly and popular interest in music of the 18th and early 19th centuries that began in the 1960s and has continued to this day. Washington Post arts critic Philip Kennicott once described the original appeal of the St. Martin’s performances and its interpretation of classics. “The Academy played them like chamber music,” he wrote in 2001, “with reduced forces and an emphasis on clarity; it also played them fast, which produced a broad architectural overview. This was revelatory in an age when conductors often got bogged down milking each phrase for its maximum romantic yield.”
Looks Like Publishing Powerhouse Gannett Is About To Buy The LA Times And Chicago Tribune
“Confidential sources have told POLITICO that asset purchase agreement drafts have been exchanged by Gannett, the country’s second-largest newspaper chain and publisher of USA Today, and Tronc, formerly known as Tribune Publishing and the publisher of such broadsheet mainstays as The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and The Baltimore Sun. The announcement of a deal could come as soon as business opens on the fourth quarter of the year, as early as Monday morning.”
A Cartoonist Who Used Kickstarter To Document The Lives Of Refugees In The Middle East
“Even as her friends hunted down compelling stories – here was a group of refugees living in one of Saddam’s former prisons; there was a supposedly innocent man who’d been deported from America after his name appeared in the 9/11 commission report – they always had to keep one eye pragmatically, even ruthlessly, on what might go down well at home.”
Online Reaction To The Italian Journalist Who ‘Investigated’ The (Possibly) Real Name Of Elena Ferrante Is Fierce
“Readers called the alleged scoop an intrusion into the life of one of the world’s most influential female writers. Some were afraid it would stop Ferrante from ever writing again, saying the story had been driven by the ego of the reporter and the New York Review of Books.” (The alleged author is identified in this article as well.)
Director Amma Asante Says The Entire Movie Industry Has To Change
“Your expectations are disrupted. And I believe that’s what I’m here for. I hold that flag.”
The New Face, And Brains, Of The Washington Ballet
“As she introduced each segment of the nearly three-hour salute to the company’s history, Kent led the audience members elegantly — and cannily — to an undeniable conclusion: She stood before them as the visionary queen of the Washington Ballet’s future.”
What It Means To Direct And Act In A Beckett Play [VIDEO]
“The last time Lisa Dwan was in a Samuel Beckett play, her mouth was all that appeared on stage. Now, as she acts and co-directs her latest adaptation of the writer’s work, Dwan has decided to suspend herself in mid air above a bog.”
Roy Lichtenstein Sure Loved L.A. (Or So Angelenos Claim)
“The New York art world, while burgeoning and exciting, was also pretty insular. Lichtenstein came out here, and he felt free.”
And The Strike’s Over, Folks: Philadelphia Musicians Agree To A New Contract
The cellist who is chair of the negotiating committee said “the final deal was an improvement over management’s original offer, and the players were eager to return to work. ‘We wanted to avoid harming the institution.'”
This Week In Audience: Measuring Audience Value – Three Things We Learned About Audiences
This Week: How are we measuring the value that audiences get for their money?… Think you own the culture you just bought? In the digital age, maybe you don’t… Wow! fan conventions are making stars really big bucks.
What Ails The Philadelphia Orchestra Won’t Be Cured When The Musicians Come Back
“Regardless of whether this is quick, or the kind of long, damaging strike the orchestra sustained in 1996, bigger problems loom. Musicians returning to work will no more end the orchestra’s troubles than the group’s exit from bankruptcy in 2012. The salient question: Is there enough willing philanthropy in Philadelphia to support this orchestra’s traditional spot as one of the top ensembles in the nation? Some believe wholesale change in the organization is what it will take to preserve that status.”
Highlights From This Weekend’s AJBlogs 10.02.16
This Week In Audience: Measuring Audience Value – Three Things We Learned About Audiences This Week: How are we measuring the value that audiences get for their money?… Think you own the culture you just bought? In the digital age, maybe you don’t… Wow! fan conventions are making … read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts Audience Published 2016-10-02
City Flock
Jennifer Monson/iLAND performs in towin St. Mark’s Church. Photographed in dress rehearsal: Jennifer Monson’s/iLAND’s in tow at Danspace Project. Visible (L to R): Valerie Oliveiro, Niall Jones, nibla pastrana santiago, and Jennifer Monson. Photo: … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2016-10-01
What arts legislation do we want then? A call for suggestions
A few days ago blog neighbour Doug McLennan lamented that Congress seems to have no interest in arts-related legislation, with no bills coming to floor on which we could even guess at how elected officials … read more
AJBlog: For What it’s WorthPublished 2016-10-01
Wilsey or Won’t She? FASMF’s Board Head Defies Regime Change (plus: Albright-Knox name change)
Now she’s a board chair, not president. But whatever names you call her, it appears that Diane (“Dede”) Wilsey has out-maneuvered the proponents of regime change at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The …read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2016-09-30
AJ Week In Review: Two Big Orchestras Strike, Two Others Report Record Success
This Week: Three orchestras now on strike as audience waits… Two other orchestras report record success… A museum raises $100 million in just three months… Bots are getting awfully good at making art… More links between being bored and being creative.
Sir Neville Marriner, Founder Of The Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields And Conductor Of Pretty Much Everyone, Has Died At 92
“He formed the Academy with the aim of forming a top-class chamber ensemble from London’s finest players. Ironically, it was conceived as a conductor-free refuge for string-players but Marriner became, as he put it, ‘a turncoat’ – a conductor who on stage, as often as not, held a violin in one hand and a baton in the other.”
By Following The Money, An Italian Journalist May Have Tracked Down The Identity Of Elena Ferrante
“But after a months-long investigation it is now possible to make a powerful case for Ferrante’s true identity. Far from the daughter of a Neapolitan seamstress described in Frantumaglia, new revelations from real estate and financial records point to … a Rome-based translator whose German-born mother fled the Holocaust and later married a Neapolitan magistrate.”
Is It Possible To Read A Book ‘The Wrong Way’?
Adam Kirsch: “The more you think about it, the less obvious it is that any use of a book can be ruled out in advance.”
Anna Holmes: “If we’re interested in figuring out what’s wrong about reading, we might be better off determining what’s right and working backward from there.”
Where Will Chris Thile Take ‘A Prairie Home Companion’?
“Thile’s plan, as suggested by his musical-guest choices, is to invert the formula of Prairie Home. Music will take the lead; guest comics like John Hodgman will provide side banter … His challenge is to curate a musical show that’s as attractive for the Prairie Home faithful as it is for a yet-unrealized younger crowd.” Says Thile about the show’s audience, “My goal is to lose one million and add two.”