November 2014 – Page 34 – ArtsJournal Wayback

For The Centennial Of The Great War, A Reimagined Imperial War Museum

“Nothing symbolizes the mayhem of the 1914-18 war more than those crude lines of defense, so it is fitting that one of the most dramatic features of London’s newly redesigned [IWM] is a re-creation of a trench. More than 52 feet of dark, claustrophobic passageway, 8 feet high, filled with the infernal racket of whizzing shells, the rat-a-tat of machine guns, the roar of planes.”

London’s Imperial War Museum, Newly Redesigned, May Have To Close Its Library

“Coming just months after the museum’s reopening following a vast refurbishment,” a £4 million cut in annual funding “will result in the loss of up to eighty jobs” and a loss of access, for both academics and the public, to a major collection of documents and photos from World War I and all of Britain’s subsequent wars.

When I Met Henri Matisse

Françoise Gilot remembers that February day in 1946. (Pablo Picasso was there, too.)

What’s “Airbnb” In Esperanto? Stay For Free If You Know The Answer

“Through a service called ‘Pasporta Servo,’ speakers of this artificial language invented over a century ago have access to a directory of hosts from all corners of the globe, willing to open their houses free to promote a tongue with no home of its own.”

Using Culture To Combat Ebola

In Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, where many local communities deeply mistrust central governments, pop songs and radio soap operas are proving to be useful tools for convincing skeptical villagers to take safety precautions.

“The Realism Canard” And What Movies Do To Our Brains

“The realism canard” is what critic Isaac Butler calls the tendency to find fault with works of fiction, especially films, because events and conditions in them aren’t like real life. (For instance, in outer space, you can’t hear explosions.) Problem is, our brains are fooled by filmed images a lot more than we’d like to think.

Alt-Rock Becomes Chinese

Liang Long, lead singer of the band Second Hand Roses, “strutted across the stage … wearing a red floral-print jacket and snug red shorts. The jacket, adorned with dozens of gold tassels, was as majestically fussy as Michael Jackson’s, but with a more playful touch. … [The guitarist’s] red tutu bounced in time with the beat, and the crowd jumped along with him.”

The German TV Talk Show That Traumatizes American Celebrities

“Not only does the 33-year-old Wetten, dass …? seem to confirm a lot of the world’s less generous stereotypes of Germans – e.g. humorless, weird, with terrible taste in formalwear – its concept is also awkwardly difficult to explain. … The concept: Invite a mixture of German and Hollywood celebrities onto a live stage, interview them, and then make them wager whether a number of ordinary Germans can complete a series of stunts.” And those stunts can be positively bizarre.

Watching Ballerinas Prepare Their Pointe Shoes

Some dancers rip them apart and glue them back together, some shellac them, some cut out the material around the toes, some yank out the sole lining. Everyone does it differently, and many spend hours at it. (includes videos)

Month: November 2014