“Rather than offering viewers immediate access to information about the world or simply how some given portion of it looks, artists working in this mode see the techniques, conventions, and history of photography as an interpretive grid that makes some things harder to see and other things easier. They consider that their work can only reflect on the world by looping back on itself—by rendering visible its photographic character as a pre-interpretation of the world that it claims merely to show.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
Ai Weiwei On The Toxicity Of Censorship
“The harm of a censorship system is not just that it impoverishes intellectual life; it also fundamentally distorts the rational order in which the natural and spiritual worlds are understood. The censorship system relies on robbing a person of the self-perception that one needs in order to maintain an independent existence. It cuts off one’s access to independence and happiness. Censoring speech removes the freedom to choose what to take in and to express to others, and this inevitably leads to depression in people. Wherever fear dominates, true happiness vanishes and individual willpower runs dry. Judgments become distorted and rationality itself begins to slip away. Group behavior can become wild, abnormal and violent.”
It’s 50 Years Since The Metropolitan Opera Moved In To Lincoln Center – Here Are The Numbers
To date, 251 productions have been mounted in the Lincoln Center opera house, which has staged 164 different operas and given more than 11,000 performances.
Today’s AJBlog Highlights – 05.05.17
Songwriting’s Roots in Poetry and Prose GENERALLY, I’m skeptical of the glib and automatic denoting of any intelligent or articulate musician as “a poet.” But the connection between popular song and literature go back, in the Anglo-American tradition, at least … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-05-05
Weekend Extra: Billy Hart Seen And Heard At the Portland Jazz Festival earlier this year, photographer Mark Sheldon captured a splendid image of drummer Billy Hart in action. There was no opportunity to use the picture in our Rifftides … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-05-05
Shortening Sondheim In today’s Wall Street Journal I review an off-Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Whenever John Doyle stages a Stephen Sondheim musical, you can always count on being … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-05-05
What’s that strange music you hear? In today’s Wall Street Journal “Sightings” column, I write about a new book on film music. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Because I’m a trained musician, I always notice film music, in much the … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-05-05
Economist William Baumol – Author Of Cost Disease Theory Widely Cited In Arts Economics
In the 1960s, Baumol was trying to understand the economics of the arts, and he noticed something surprising: Musicians weren’t getting any more productive — playing a piece written for a string quartet took four musicians the same amount of time in 1965 as it did in 1865 — yet musicians in 1965 made a lot more money than musicians in 1865.
A Strategy For Successfully Complaining
“Ear-openers represent the top slice of bread in the complaint sandwich. The meat of the sandwich is the complaint itself, or the request for redress, and the bottom slice of bread in the complaints sandwich is the digestive. The digestive is a positive statement much like the ear opener that comes at the close of the complaint.”
The NYC Public Library Currently Blocks 225,000 Kids From Checking Out Books. Should It?
“In their 2015 public tax returns, the city’s three independent library systems, the New York Public Library, the Queens Library and the Brooklyn Public Library, reported collecting a total of $5.5 million in fines. Just as adults discover they cannot renew their driving licenses if they have too many unpaid tickets, children discover that they lose library privileges if they rack up more than $15 in late fees. The library is the Department of Motor Vehicles on training wheels.”
The Library Of Congress’s Porn Collection (And How It Came To Define Obscenity)
“Libraries will often have a restricted collection—a locked case, a unit of shelving behind the circulation desk, or a special room—that requires readers to obtain permission from a librarian to view the books within. Very often the restricted materials contain explicit adult content or valuable illustrations. During and after World War II the Library of Congress held one of the largest collections in the world of this kind, composed mostly of erotica and items considered to be pornographic or obscene.”
Ticket-Pricing Strategies? The Scottish National Orchestra Has Figured It Out To Audience Goals
“Working in a multi-city and multi-venue environment requires an approach to pricing that is adaptable in the different marketplaces in which we operate. Pricing is therefore viewed as a flexible tool that helps us achieve the central and multiple imperatives of the organisation: generate revenue, encourage attendance, reach new audiences, offer new experiences and promote the artistic reputation of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. To translate these imperatives into tangible tactics, our pricing strategy focuses on the simple question: How do we want our audiences to behave? We have identified five behaviours.”
From Phone Sex To The Oscars – The Irrepressible Gabourey Sidibe
On her start after filming “Precious”: “Phone work paid well, but she quit to play Precious. Money was tight after the film wrapped; she was paid scale, about $2,500 a week, but it took a month for her to receive her first check. After “Precious” made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, Ms. Sidibe experienced fame without fortune, riding subways and buses to red carpet events. Life at home was still precarious. On the morning of one event, her landlord tried to evict the family for what turned out to be a clerical error. Her income that year was about $50,000, just under half of which was from the phone-sex work — and almost double what her mother made, earning Ms. Sidibe head of household status on the family tax returns, a position that made her anxious.”