Does arts policy require quantification?
The NEA has posted a very interesting interview between their Sunil Iyengar and the critic Leon Wieseltier. It raises interesting questions about the role of measurement in arts policy, and so here is something of … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2016-07-25
non-majority rules
We live in a democratic culture – in so many aspects of our day-to-day existence, there is at least the perception that the majority should rule. This goes for our elections, it goes for artistic trends, it goes for interpersonal interactions – at least in theory. … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2016-07-25
Willful Wilsey Wilts: Regime Change at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The long overdue wresting of control over the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco from a bejeweled socialite and consummate fundraiser, Diane “Dede” Wilsey, is finally occurring under the museums’ new director, Max Hollein, who … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-07-25
Monday Recommendation: DeJohnette, Coltrane, Garrison
Jack DeJohnette, Ravi Coltrane, Matthew Garrison, In Movement (ECM). Drummer DeJohnette leads John Coltrane’s saxophonist son Ravi and Jimmy Garrison’s bassist son Matthew in an album that has majesty, reflection, calm and flashes of fire. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-07-25
Community: An etymology of sorts
Being happily nerdy, I immediately went for the etymology of the word community. I got comuner, “to make common, share”; comun, “to talk intimately”; and commun, “free city, group of citizens.” Also, … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-07-25
Community is:
Awkward beers shared at a high school reunion, the Reddit thread I visit to share research about Game of Thrones episodes, an annual yelling match whose origins no one remembers each Thanksgiving, … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-07-25
Complexities that make us whole
Community, as a singular plurality, encompasses the people who, and places that I endear and embrace as an extension of my identity. … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-07-25
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Month: July 2016
What Makes A Great Museum? (We Asked The Insiders)
“In the public imagination, museums have been transformed from cultural destinations into leisure ones, and there has been a global rise in visitor numbers.”
The Greatest Literary Fraudster In Our Time (So What Is Fiction Anyway?)
Literature is full of impostors and noms de plume, from George Eliot to “Robert Galbraith” (aka JK Rowling), but JT LeRoy is something else. George Eliot never did high-end fashion shoots, or received backstage passes to U2 gigs, or was sent Kabbalah books by Madonna.
What Will The Internet Of Things Mean For Theatre?
“Performers, audiences, and spaces can influence and manipulate each other, and the input-output system. In the classic theatre—the technician over there is sitting in the dark and is not supposed to be seen. But they’re there and they’re everywhere. The interesting thing is the whole theatre space is rigged in a very hierarchical way. But the Internet of Things is modular, so the idea is that everybody in the room can potentially become the operator or performer of a given system.”
We Have A Complicated Attitude Towards Poetry. Why?
“Somehow saying something is like a poem serves as a better advertisement than identifying something as a poem. Aren’t we supposed to prefer the actual to the resembling?”
We Live In A Public Time. So What Is The Role Of Public Intellectuals?
The real interest in the term “public intellectual” lies in what its usage can tell us about ourselves: how we imagine the links between politics and prose, thought and action, individual contemplation and social congregation. Why, for example, has the notion of publicness itself become such a high value for some, practically synonymous with benevolence, as if to attach “public” to the name of a discipline grants it a special dignity?
This Startup Says It Can Help Artists Painlessly Protect Their Copyrights
“Using the same technology that verifies the world’s bitcoin transactions (the blockchain), Blockai wants to assist artists by making it easy to timestamp your protected works all while attempting to spot those infringing on your intellectual property by scouring the Web for offenders.”
Three Ballerinas Talk About The Reality Of Dancer Wellness
“Wellness among women in the ballet world is a complex and evolving subject. There’s the constant threat of injury ending an already short career, the mental pressure to excel within an elite company, the physical demands of ten-hour rehearsal days and evening performances — all being juggled by dancers who are in many cases still teenagers.”
Why Did Google Delete A Literary Critic’s Blog? (And What Does It Mean For The Rest Of Us?)
“In his attempts to answer these questions, Dennis Cooper has submitted numerous requests for information via the channels that Google has put in place, but all of them have been ignored. He has worked with a Google employee, who attempted to launch an internal investigation on the writer’s behalf, but found herself stonewalled and unable to help.”
The Troubled Relationship Between Creators And Fans
Author Neil Gaiman: “Fans are still creators. Fans demand and make things happen. Mostly, that’s great. But it can tip, and when it tips, it goes into strange places where people feel that by having watched a TV show or bought a book, they feel that you owe them something huge for having done that. Watching the level of crazy that can sometimes happen is hard.”