“On Saturday, 7,548 musicians assembled in a Frankfurt sports stadium to smash the world record for largest musical ensemble. … The orchestra performed the 9th symphonies of Dvorak and Beethoven, as well as lighter numbers by Andrew Lloyd Webber and pop music composer John Miles.” (includes video)
Month: July 2016
What It’s Like To Get Naked And Turn Blue For Spencer Tunick
“I was silently bombarding myself with questions: ‘Did I remember to shave my armpits?’, ‘Will people notice the freckle on my bum?’ and the big one: ‘What if I’m dyed Avatar blue forever?’ As it happens, my fears were totally unfounded; it was the best and most surreal morning of my life.”
Disappeared Hong Kong Bookseller, Now Back Home, Says He’s Being Followed And May Flee To Taiwan
Lam Wing-Kee, one of five booksellers who vanished from Hong Kong last year and turned up in the People’s Republic confessing to “mistakes” on TV, says mainland agents are tailing him “without restraint” and has requested protection from Hong Kong police.
This Company Doesn’t Make Forgeries Of Great Art, It Makes ‘Clones’
Artevera “promises to produce ‘clones’ of any work of art ‘with stunning accuracy’ according to their full-color brochure. … Such an audacious business plan could only originate in the state of the Home Shopping Network and the birthplace of schemes for fleecing retirees: Florida.”
Six UK Museums Have Installed Fake Paintings To See If Visitors Can Spot Them
“The secret ‘heist’ has been orchestrated by Sky Arts as part of a month-long national art competition for the new television series Fake! The Great Masterpiece Challenge, where the public are invited to have a go at spotting the counterfeit paintings displayed at six different galleries in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London and Manchester.”
6,000-Year-Old Astronomical Observatories (And We Thought They Were Just Tombs)
“Astronomers are exploring ancient tombs in Portugal that they believe may have been used by prehistoric humans to enhance specific views of the night skies. Researchers are focusing on the alignment of the stars with … dolmens that feature long narrow entrances that act as apertures, essentially zooming in on stars and planets that wouldn’t always be visible from the outside.”
Philly’s New-Music Orchestra Has New Music Director
“After spending last season trying out candidates, Orchestra 2001 says it has hired a new artistic director: Jayce Ogren. He starts the job at the group’s concerts in late October.” He is only the second director Orchestra 2001 has ever had.
Opera San Antonio Chooses Its New Director
“Enrique Carreón-Robledo has been named the new general and artistic director for Opera San Antonio. He will step into his new role Aug. 1. He succeeds composer Tobias Picker, who left the company in January 2015.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.11.16
Do Artists Have A Vision For The Future?
Around the beginning of the 20th Century, several French artists were asked to design a series of cards that would imagine what life would be like 100 years in the future in the year 2000. … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-07-10
Today in mathiness
Suppose I suggested that we can think about how the plot of a work of fiction is progressing according to whether the emotional valence is rising or falling. … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2016-07-11
I’m Back — With A Masterpiece
Caspicara. Never heard of him? He was an indigenous artist of whom Spanish King Charles II once said, “I am not concerned that Italy has Michelangelo; in my colonies of America I have the master Caspicara.” … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-07-11
A visit to the memory hole
In December of 1969, Esquire invited twenty-five venerable celebrities to offer end-of-the-decade advice, most of it predictably platitudinous, to the magazine’s younger readers. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-07-11
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There Is Badness In The World. We’re Closer To It Than Ever. How To Deal With It?
“Social media makes the joy, suffering and anger of millions of people feel like our own. That is empowering and overwhelming. Social media also gives us the illusion that we can be effective merely by talking or feeling. The technology of this new form of mass communion has probably developed faster than our emotional capacity to process it. We do, however, have a tried and true method of communion with other people, the past and things that are foreign or unsettling to us: These include art and literature and honest colloquy, in which people speak not for victory but for truth and understanding.”