“The concert, to be performed amid the splendour of Michelangelo’s frescoes on Saturday, will be attended by a select group of about 40 high-paying tourists who have signed up to an exclusive tour of Italy organised by Porsche.”
It’s Time To Retire The Idea Of “Genius”
“From the ‘genius bar’ at the local Apple Store to bestselling books that trumpet ‘the genius in all of us,’ geniuses seem to abound. But if we consider the idea of ‘genius’ as it has evolved across history, it starts to look like we don’t really need geniuses as we once did. … The increasing banality of genius in the contemporary world has begun to dissolve it as a useful category.”
Neanderthals Weren’t Actually So “Neanderthal”
The idea of homo sapiens‘ predecessors having been “savage” and “primitive”, in contrast to our own intelligence and ingenuity, has been fundamental to our species’s modern idea of itself. “[Yet] Neanderthals created complex tools, buried their dead, had an organized use of space, probably cared for the infirm, and perhaps even conversed vocally.”
As Taboos And Norms Fade, What Happens To Fictional Tension?
“Readers have become so canny about the way fiction works, so much has been written about it, that any intense work about sexuality, say, or race relations, will be understood willy-nilly as the writer’s reconstituting his or her personal involvement with the matter.”
How Museums Have Become Diplomatic Tools
“Not long ago, our top national art collections were focused primarily on the custodianship of objects in their care, on scholarship and on exhibitions. Today, our museums are also politically engaged, globally connected and incredibly skilled in the arts of international cultural diplomacy, their reach sometimes extending beyond that of governments.”
Ten Things We Should Change In Classical Concerts
“I often find myself sitting in a concert thinking I would never be here were it not for professional interest. This is a real shame, because to sit down in a concert hall and not do anything else other than listen for two hours is a great and quite radical experience in our lives. But there are many unspoken ‘rules’ and conventions at classical concerts that we often accept quietly and which make the experience of classical concert worse than it should be.”
The Aromas Of Books (An Infographic)
A chart explains the chemistry behind the smell of new books – and how it changes as books get old.
Learning Narrative From Your Pet Wolf
“Depending on the details I selected, the story could be comic or sad. My parents could be painted as reckless or heroic. I could accept one teller’s version over another. I could create my own. Fiction, through fabrication, finds the truth that real life tends to cover up.”
Dead Authors Get The Best Book Covers (Wait – Why?)
“Reading takes place in this nebulous kind of realm, and in a way, the jacket is part of the thing that you bring back from that experience. It’s the thing that you hold on to.”
The Conscious Unconscious (What Science Is Learning)
“After a severe brain injury, some people remain in a vegetative or minimally conscious state, unable to speak or move intentionally, and seemingly unaware of the world around them. In recent years, however, neuroscientists have found signs that some of these patients may be conscious, at least to a degree.”
The Need For Critics In The Internet Age
“Perhaps it is the civic responsibility of the millennial age, one that so eagerly devours electronically its personal content (and that of “friends”) to assure that arts reporting and arts criticism remain central to broad-based media consumption. That responsibility extends to upholding standards, even if they are defined in new terms, lest the biggest loss be the pursuit of truth and an understanding of what has come before and the continuum on which we ride.”
Woodruff Arts Center Hits Back At Atlanta Symphony Musicians Over Pace Of Mediation
Responding to the players’ complaints that Woodruff’s negotiators have been wasting time because they had neither a ready proposal nor authority from the board to reach an agreement, the Woodruff team’s leader said, “In the words of the mediators, it was time to put some of the shared ideas ‘on paper’. This was precisely what [the musicians] had asked us to do – make new proposals to show our good faith.”
Finally, Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial Design Gets The Go-Ahead (With An Asterisk)
“The Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday approved the concept of the revised Frank Gehry design for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial [on the National Mall] but asked its creators to return with more details about the plan’s landscaping, statuary, pathways and lighting.”
Well, Of Course My Adaptation Of “The Cherry Orchard” Isn’t Accurate – That Would Be Impossible
Simon Stephens, who worked from a literal translation by a professor: “It seems especially odd to suggest that a play text, out of any literary form, should be carved out of an attempt to accurately translate the original language of an author writing a century ago. … The nature of translation means that to think otherwise is folly. The nature of theatre means that to aspire to do so is slightly perverse.”
Actress Misty Upham, 32. Found Dead In Washington State Woods
The Native American performer, known for her roles in the films Frozen River, August: Osage County, and Django Unchained, had gone missing earlier this month.
Al Pacino Will Be Doing More Mamet On Broadway
Following on the huge commercial success of the 2012 Broadway revival of Glengarry Glen Ross that starred Pacino, David Mamet has wriiten a new play for the actor: China Doll. (The playwright says his new work “is better than oral sex.”)
Rossen Milanov Adds Another Music Directorship To His Portfolio
The 49-year-old Bulgarian, who was appointed to the Columbus Symphony in Ohio last month, will lead the Chautauqua Symphony in western New York State, effective immediately. (Milanov also directs two orchestras in New Jersey and one in Spain.)
How Many Online Video Ads Are Too Many? Or Too Few?
Is the problem how often those damned ads for Prius or Geico or Viking River Cruises interrupt the stream you’re trying to watch? Or is it that those same damned ads play over and over? (Which would be because there aren’t enough different ads in rotation.)
Did Jesus Save The Klingons, Too? How Human Religions Would Cope With Extraterrestrial Beings
(And yes, “Did Jesus Save the Klingons?” is an actual Scientific American headline.)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.16.14
At The Philbrook: Retrospective For A No-Longer-Needed Exhibition
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2014-10-16
What’s new in dynamic pricing?
AJBlog: For What it’s Worth Published 2014-10-16
Was Beethoven a Bad Influence?
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2014-10-16
Quiet Flowering
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2014-10-16
King Henrietta IV?
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2014-10-16
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Chinese President Lectures Artists On What Their Role Should Be
“Artists should not be “slaves” to the market or “lose themselves in the tide of market economy”, Mr Xi told them. Nor should they “go astray while answering the question of whom to serve, otherwise their works will lack vitality”, he warned.”
Paris’ Picasso Museum Is About To Reopen. Here Are Pictures
“After a renovation marred by delays, infighting and controversy the Picasso Museum in Paris is due to open on the anniversary of the artist’s birth on 25 October.”
National Gallery Of Australia Gets A New Director
“Gerard Vaughan previously spent 13 years as director of the National Gallery of Victoria, leaving the role two years ago. He was also previously the director of the British Museum development trust and held an arts role at Oxford University.”
Netflix Is Going To Change The Movie Business? Not So Fast, Says Time-Warner
“Netflix looked like a lightweight yesterday. It may have revolutionized streaming. It may have ambitions to upend tired business models with digital age know-how. But it forgot that you never bring a knife to a gunfight.”
Is TV As We Know It About To End?
“If content providers continue to launch their own platforms, as HBO and CBS have done, the future of internet TV will not just be unbundled. It will be deeply fragmented. That could threaten the very companies that pioneered this space to begin with—and make it more difficult and more expensive to get everything you want to watch.”