“[This study] provides empirical support for the idea that loneliness acts as a signal—just like hunger—that signals to an individual that something is lacking and that it needs to take action to repair that.” – Smithsonian
Muslims Have Been Visually Depicting The Prophet Muhammad For Centuries
Certainly, images of the Prophet of Islam have been far, far less common than those of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and other Christian figures, and Muslim culture, especially in the Arab world, has tended to disapprove of pictures of any human or animal. Yet miniatures and manuscript illuminations featuring Muhammad did start appearing in the late Middle Ages in the Persianate world, and a calligraphic equivalent in Arabic was developed as well. – The Conversation
Why We Need To Rethink The Idea Of Public Statues
Ideas about statues change as society changes. As this happens, different groups contest the meanings behind the sculptures, leading to disagreement about whether they should be kept or taken down. But while ideologies can change, causing this iconoclash, communities retain their collective memories about something, whether they are good or bad. – The Conversation
What Will The Biden Administration’s Arts Policy Look Like?
“The big idea was to create a White House office on arts, culture and the creative industries,” says Megan Beyer, the co-chair of the campaign’s Arts Policy Committee and a former executive director of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities under Obama. She compares this to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which was established by Congress in 1976 with a broad mandate to advise the president on domestic and international policy that could be applied across federal agencies. – The Art Newspaper
Theatres Are Becoming Media Companies
As the theater’s biggest commercial motor, Broadway, has languished, resourceful artists and producers are making work that incorporates video, gaming and interactivity into hybridized digital-theater forms that, rather than serving as mere stopgaps, stand poised to endure even after the return of theater as we knew it. – Variety
Simon & Schuster – A “Bargain” At $1.7 Billion?
The sale of S&S will be the largest acquisition in North American trade publishing since HarperCollins bought Harlequin in 2014. It will also be one of the few recent transactions in which the revenue of the target company is public and the purchase price may also become public. – Publishers Weekly
Of Long-Gone Jazz Clubs And Race
Oral histories suggest that jazz musicians have related to each other with more ease than can be found in other parts of the culture. At the same time, there’s no doubt that venues in general were hostile to racial mixing. So the degree to which jazz — the music and the business — contributed to a progressive model of race relations is an open question, one that generates many different opinions. – ArtsFuse
Boundaries: Our Brains Are Wired For Personal Space
Peripersonal space exists in various forms across the animal kingdom, from fish and fruit flies to wild horses and chimpanzees. The neuroscience behind it sheds fascinating light on how humans and other animals conceive of themselves and their boundaries. Where is the dividing line between you and the world? – Aeon
Classical Grammy Nominations: Dudamel/LA Phil, Danielpour’s ‘Passion of Yeshua’, Met’s ‘Porgy and Bess’, Ted Hearne’s ‘Place’
Richard Danielpour’s oratorio, performed by the Buffalo Philharmonic under JoAnn Falletta. was nominated in three categories; the Metropolitan Opera’s recording of Gershwin’s opera received two nods, as did the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s release of the complete symphonies of Charles Ives, Thomas Adès’s Piano Concerto (with Kirill Gershtein and the Boston Symphony), and composer Ted Hearne’s staged oratorio Place. Both Adès and the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas have two different recordings among the nominees. As usual in recent years, contemporary classical music has a major presence in categories beyond its own. – Los Angeles Times
Daniel Cordier, French Resistance Hero Who Became Prominent Art Dealer, Dead At 100
He and his mentor, Jean Moulin, spent part of World War II undercover as art dealers in occupied Nice, where they showed Matisse, Degas and Bonnard. After the war, Cordier took up art as his career, running a leading Paris gallery (with outposts in Frankfurt and New York) and giving Robert Rauschenberg his first major show in France. – Artnet
Cambridge Discovers That Two Of Charles Darwin’s Notebooks Have Been Missing For Up To 20 Years
“The notebooks were last seen in November 2000 after ‘an internal request’ to remove them from a special manuscripts storeroom to be photographed. They were taken to a temporary studio, … [and] it was only during ‘a routine check’ two months later that it was discovered they were missing.” Librarians at the time evidently assumed the notebooks had been misshelved; they’ve now concluded that the items were stolen. – BBC
Three Lessons Museum Leaders Learned From This Very Painful Year
“No museum has been able to escape the impact of the pandemic, from long periods of closure decimating revenues, to the continuous landslide of the exhibitions calendar. But in periods of crisis, there can also be opportunity. One idea that came up repeatedly throughout [the Louvre Abu Dhabi and NYU Abu Dhabi’s ‘Reframing Museums’ symposium ] was that many of these problems were identified years ago. But now, there is a real urgency to solve them. Here are three key takeaways for the industry from the discussions.” – Artnet
France To Reopen Theatres And Museums On Dec. 15
“Starting on Nov. 28, small shops and religious sites will be allowed to reopen. On Dec. 15, theaters, cinemas and museums will reopen but a 9 p.m.-7 a.m. curfew will be restored. A 9 p.m. curfew was previously put in place in mid-October, before the country went into lockdown.” – Variety
Yo Yo Ma Reflects On Life And Music
Music is not one thing. It’s something that people react to. But your question — “Is that good or bad?” — it depends on circumstances and individuals and timing. The invention of something starts out being more or less value-neutral. – The New York Times
Could The Pandemic Decentralize The Dance Industry?
Maybe — but, says Dance/NYC’s executive director, “In order for decentralization to be sustained, it must come with intentional investment and organization. … You need cities that invest in the arts as dignified work that should be paid.” – Dance Magazine
The Holy Grail of the Beat Generation
When Neal Cassady died in 1968, Carl Solomon recalled a conversation he had about him with Allen Ginsberg: “He told me about this fabulous hipster he knew. And I, defending something or other in my head, said deprecatingly, ‘Kinetic.’ Meaning that he was a man always in motion, jumping from one exciting thing to another.” – Jan Herman