How bleak is it out there? Well, how many politicians are quoting Yeats’s “The Second Coming”? And the poet made it that way deliberately: “Early drafts of the poem illustrate Yeats’s dedication to universalising his message, as he deletes specific references to the French Revolution and the first world war and replaces terrestrial images of judges and tyrants with figures from dreams and myths.” – The Guardian (UK)
Month: May 2020
How Covid-19 Will Reshape Building Design, According To Architects
In short: “COVID-19 is likely to reshape the ways in which today’s architects design houses and offices, transit hubs and medical facilities. It will have architects reaching for new technologies and reintroducing old ones — say, a little less air conditioning and a lot more cross ventilation.” – Los Angeles Times
So Here’s The Sotheby’s Plan: One Auctioneer And A Lot Of Screens
This is the scintillating way auctions will happen this summer (and perhaps beyond, of course): “The Sotheby’s auctioneer, Oliver Barker, will be live, by video, in London, looking at screens showing his associates live in New York, Hong Kong and elsewhere, who will be on the phone with live bidders all over the world.” – The New York Times
Little Free Libraries’ Significance Grows With Every Day The Public Libraries Are Locked
Some have become a combination book exchange and pantry. One is cat-focused; another (at a church) has mostly Christian texts. Says one LFL caretaker, “People have been adopting and donating books at an astonishing rate, as well as exchanging other items like art, pet toys and shelf-stable food.” And Little Free Libraries give a map, or some markers, for those long Covid-19 walks everyone seems to be taking. – Seattle Times
As Asian And European Orchestras Open Concerts Up, U.S. Orchestras Wonder When They’ll Be Onstage
Take a look at Taiwan: “A livestream of the May 24 concert offered a possible crystal ball for post-coronavirus concerts: temperature checks, face masks and enhanced disinfection protocols. On stage, adjusted layout created 1.5 meters between musicians. Unmasked musicians used plastic guards.” – The Observer
A New British Task Force Is Missing Everything Important About British Music
Well, perhaps not orchestral music in Britain, but with club music of all kinds, “We transcend this realm. It is a secular spiritual experience. The energy with which Britain has pursued that escape has made it one of the global centres of music culture.” So why does a cultural renewal taskforce have no representatives from live music venues? – The Guardian (UK)
Eliza Dorfman, Cambridge Artist Famous For Her Giant Polaroids, 83
Dorfman began with the giant Polaroids in a pushcart in Harvard Square. When the police tried to chase her away, she won a civil rights case against them. “Her work is widely praised for showing people unguarded, and many times joyful. It wasn’t unusual for her ‘sitters,’ as she called them, to say they enjoyed the posing as much as the portrait. Those sittings would include lots of banter and Dorfman’s infectious laughter.” – WBUR
Police Fire Rubber Bullets, And Use Batons On, Actor On HBO’s ‘Insecure’ During LA Protests
Kendrick Sampson of Insecure and The Flash was streaming LA’s protest on Instagram Live “when the officers began firing rubber bullets at protestors. He was also hit by police multiple times with a baton in a moment that was captured in a CNN live broadcast as well as on his Instagram.” Sampson wrote, “This was completely peaceful. All these folks started in a park, pouring libations, praying, and talking about what we can do to build up our communities. I was about to go home.” – Vulture
Why Did The Guggenheim Decommission A Donald Judd?
The work is part of the controversial Panza Collection. “In the mid-‘70s Panza acquired from Judd a paper ‘certificate’ for an unconstructed work known as Untitled [Seven plywood boxes: open back] (1972–73). That document contained a rough sketch and dimensions for instantiating the work — a series of large, open, plywood cubes. When Panza later had the work made in Milan in 1976, based on the certificate and other more detailed instructional papers, Judd raised concerns.” – Hyperallergic
Jane Moss, Director Of Lincoln Center, Will Step Down After 28 Years
As the pandemic has wiped out all cultural programming at Lincoln Center for months, Moss has been thinking harder about something she’d been considering long before Covid-19 hit the city. She says, “Now is the obvious time,” though that may not seem true to those who would like to see strong leadership during the crisis. – The New York Times