“In 2011, Jean-Baptiste Michel and multiple co-authors published an article in Science, helpfully if not colorfully titled “Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books,” which announced that more than five million books had been digitized, thus giving us a new tool by which to identify cultural trends and to quantify changes over time.”
Bolshoi’s Chief Conductor Explains Why He Quit
Vasily Sinaisky said that he and former Bolshoi general director Anatoly Iksanov, who was replaced in July, “did our job hand in hand, and I was absolutely happy. Now, the new general manager – Mr. Urin – is a completely different person.”
Will This Be The Conductor Who Finally Ends Israel’s Ban On Wagner?
In a brief essay, Asher Fisch, a native-born Israeli and a protégé of Daniel Barenboim, explains how he believes his mentor went wrong in his 2001 attempt to break the Jewish state’s longstanding Wagner taboo – and how he hopes to succeed. Says Fisch, “It’s up to me, and it’s waiting to happen.”
Sam Shepard On Why He Writes
“I couldn’t do anything else but drive a tractor. I felt like this is the only thing I had. … I don’t do it to get a message across. I’m writing just because there are certain kinds of raw material. The material may be very strange, but it takes shape in the course of writing. Whether that has a message or not is not my concern.”
Silicon Valley’s “Permissionless Innovation” Is Oppressive, Hypocritical, And Ultimately Dangerous
“The bigger fight here is that if they can do this with our songs, with our lyrics, then they can do it with your Instagram photos, they can do it with your Facebook profile, they can do it with anything you put on your Web page without your permission. That’s what permissionless innovation is.”
The Next Industrial Revolution – Things That Make Themselves
“When you 3-D-print an object, it’s a fixed, static thing. If you want something more complex, you need to print it as parts and then assemble it. We thought, instead of assembling intelligence into it afterwards, why not print intelligence into it?”
So Objectifying People Is Okay?
“If we view people as capable of feeling, but not capable of action, we’re still failing to understand them as fully human. Someone who is incapable of thinking for herself, and yet feels very much, is essentially a puppy.”
A Global Conversation – Miami’s New Museum Opens
“The diversity of display styles suits a young institution that lacks deep holdings of major figures. Instead the museum layout convenes a conversation among local artists and global ones. That’s just perfect for Miami, the restless nexus of the Americas and Europe.”
Figuring Out What’s Excellent Used To Be Easier
“Defining quality used to be easy, although taste was always a mitigating factor. Now in our multicultural society, it is more complex. No longer can we calibrate merit solely through a Eurocentric framework.”
Irony: Giant Retailer Walmart Sells Anti-Capitalist Banksy Art
“Apparently, a third-party vendor sold the prints to Walmart, which in turn thought nothing of selling ripped off versions of the most famous anti-consumer street artist in the world.”
Another Study Equates Higher Academic Performance With Music Lessons
While it doesn’t provide a definitive answer, new research from Germany presents evidence that improved academic performance truly is a result of musical training.
New Bill In U.S. Congress Could Make College Textbooks Free
“[That] is the idea behind the Affordable College Textbook Act, a bill recently introduced in Congress by Senators Dick Durbin and Al Franken. The bill would create a grant program that would support the creation and use of so-called ‘open textbooks,’ meaning textbooks that are licensed under terms that allow them to be accessed and distributed for free.”
Donmar Warehouse Settle Suit By Blinded Actor
“Actor David Birrell has received ‘substantial’ damages after he was blinded in his right eye when a prop gun misfired during an onstage duel at the Donmar Warehouse” in 2010.
Rambert Dance Co. Opens New Home On London’s South Bank
“Claiming it to be the first major purpose-built dance venue to open in London for a decade, the touring dance company’s new six-storey base includes three main rehearsal studios, an archive, and physiotherapy facilities.”
One Of New York’s Top Culturecrats To Step Up Campaign For Arts Education
Mary Schmidt Campbell: “It is a demonstrated fact that if you put well-designed arts programs into the schools – particularly in areas that are underserved – and you integrate them into the curriculum, you can raise the performance in reading, math and science. … It drives me crazy that we are still struggling to make that case around the country.” T
Bob Dylan Charged With ‘Inciting Hate’ Under French Law
“To people who follow the pronouncements of Bob Dylan, his comment in a Rolling Stone interview in September 2012 suggesting that American blacks could sense whether whites had slave-master blood ‘just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood’ may have seemed just the sort of vaporously impressionistic, emotionally pointed kind of thing that Mr. Dylan has been known to say for decades.” Some Croatians in France beg to differ.
How Do You Cram An Epic Novel Onto A Stage?
“Mike Poulton, the man charged with condensing [Hilary Mantel’s] Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies for the Royal Shakespeare Company” and “Geoffrey Beevers, [who] has hacked George Eliot’s Middlemarch (904 pages) into a trilogy for the Orange Tree theatre in London”, try to explain.
Barnes Foundation Director Stepping Down
“Derek Gillman, the British-born executive director and president of the Barnes Foundation who guided it through the latter stages of a controversial move from its longtime home in suburban Merion to a grand new gallery on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, announced his resignation Tuesday.”
Saint Nick’s Evil Sidekick
“While Saint Nicholas may bring gifts to good boys and girls, ancient folklore in Europe’s Alpine region also tells of Krampus, a frightening beast-like creature who emerges during the Yule season, looking for naughty children to punish in horrible ways – or possibly to drag back to his lair in a sack.”
Cleveland Orchestra Looks To Expand Its European Bases Further
In addition to its growing residencies in Vienna and Linz (music director Franz Welser-Möst’s hometown), the Clevelanders are working on launching ongoing partnerships with venues in Bratislava and Paris (at the soon-to-open Philharmonie).
Laure Prevost Wins Turner Prize 2013
“Laure Prouvost was the rank outsider from a particularly strong 2013 shortlist that included the higher-profile artists Tino Seghal and David Shrigley. She was awarded the £25,000 prize by the actor Saoirse Ronan at a ceremony in Derry, Northern Ireland.”
Serbian Composer Djuro Zivkovic Wins Grawemeyer Prize
“Zivkovic, who is also active as a violinist, has a mystical bent. He characterizes his winning piece as an “instrumental cantata” inspired by the religious music of J.S. Bach and especially the Philokalia (love of the beautiful), a collection of ancient Eastern Orthodox texts.”
Bolshoi Dancer Convicted, Sentenced To Six Years In Acid Attack
“Although the charge carries a maximum of 12 years, state prosecutors had sought nine years for Dmitrichenko, who is best known for his portrayal of villains in Swan Lake and Ivan the Terrible.”