Two separate developments are driving the trend: the advent of computer-controlled robots which can drill ornate designs quickly, precisely, and relatively cheaply; and the impetus to return to traditional building materials which are less carbon-intensive than steel, cement, and curtain-wall glass. - Slate
Given the vast difference in agency prevailing between artists and patrons, is an intellectual, artistic, ethical discussion on equal terms even possible? - 3 Quarks Daily
It was a big surprise when word came down that not only had Sondheim finished his long-rumored adaptation of two Luís Buñuel films, he had authorized a production. Here's an extended conversation between Rich, playwright Davd Ives, and director Joe Mantello about how Here We Are came together. - New York Magazine
Players who succeed at solving the game's levels are "rewarded by a dozen or so pieces scrolling together to create one of the impressionist master’s full works." - Washington Post
Social media companies are receding from their role as watchdogs against political misinformation, abandoning their most aggressive efforts to police online falsehoods in a trend expected to profoundly affect the 2024 presidential election. An array of circumstances is fueling the retreat. - Washington Post
The 36-year-old music director of the Louisville Orchestra has largely eschewed the touring-guest-conductor circuit many of his peers use to build careers. He stays put in Kentucky, putting time and attention into involving himself and the orchestra in the community of the city and the state. - The New York Times
The discrepancy between the way digital download storefronts like iTunes and streaming platforms like Spotify value the worth of a song is going to be hard to reconcile in a satisfying way. - The New Inquiry
The Wildensteins' business goes back five generations and 150 years; family members have always been secretive, even by art-world standards. But a lawsuit by a disinherited widow has uncovered what a prosecutor alleged is "the longest and most sophisticated tax fraud" in modern French history. - The New York Times Magazine
"Developed by the Philadelphia-based company Music: Not Impossible, the device consists of two ankle bands, two wrist bands and a backpack that fastens with double straps over the rib cage. ... (These) suits are unique because the devices turn individual notes of music into specific vibrations." - The New York Times
In theory, nothing about the brain’s squishy wetware prevents its internal states from being observed. “If you could measure every single neuron in the brain in real time, you could potentially decode everything that was percolating around in there.” - The Atlantic
All of these power-adult former theater kids exist in a moment when the very things that used to make drama-loving teenagers an easy punchline have become strengths. Today, performing an outsize version of oneself is often rewarded. - The New York Times
If we focus on independent artists — writers and artists who say they’re either in publishing or outside of any defined industry — D.C. remains on top. But that little data clarification clamps shut the yawning gulf between D.C. and the rest. - Washington Post (Scroll down)
The musicians voted just before the season begins. The union local's president said, "Management has shown that musicians are a cost to be contained, rather than the most important asset." - The New York Times
"It has struck me lately that the recurrent frenzy of destruction of prized objects in popular culture may tell us less about our current relationship to the past than it does about our fears for the future." - Public Books
Also known as content houses or TikTok mansions, collab houses are grotesquely lavish abodes where teens and early twentysomethings live and work together, trying to achieve viral fame on a variety of media platforms. - Harper's
Besides the much-discussed problems facing most American theaters, and that leadership at many of the city's companies has changed virtually all at once, there's this: "what once were internal disputes, such as debates over hiring, programming and the allocation of scarce resources, (have spilled) over into the public sphere." - Chicago Tribune
"Now Morris, long a poked-fun-of example of British eccentricity, is opening up to younger dancers who approach it as a living tradition. For some, this means exploring ways to pull apart and reinterpret the form. And for traditionalists, it means perfecting ancient technique." - The New York Times
"(The museum) has sued its former director, Aaron De Groft, as well as others who were instrumental in bringing the now disgraced 'Heroes & Monsters' exhibit of work attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat to the institution in 2022." - Orlando Sentinel
"Like Callas, Ms. Scotto possessed a voice that was riveting without being traditionally beautiful. … Also like Callas, she was known for fully inhabiting her roles, bringing intense dramaticism to an art form in which singers had once been content to stand onstage and trill." - MSN (The Washington Post)
The company has cut this year's budget by about 20% and eliminated six positions. One of this season's productions, Joseph Bologne's The Anonymous Lover, is postponed to 2024-25, the Opera Philadelphia Channel (paid streaming) will be shuttered, and President David Devan will depart next summer. - The Philadelphia Inquirer
