More than 5,000 visual artists from around the world are based here, according to statistics compiled by city authorities. Despite high-profile closures, there are still more than 300 galleries, and before Covid-19 restrictions, there were public art talks nearly every night. The postponed Berlin Biennial is going forward on Sept. 5, and Gallery Weekend, an event in which about 50 local galleries court international collectors, has moved to mid-September from its usual springtime slot. Many art world insiders blame Berlin’s policymakers, however, for failing to develop a solid institutional infrastructure for contemporary art, including securing real estate for its display. – The New York Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
Staff At Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Say Director’s Firing Was Justified
Nathalie Bondil was ousted on 13 July by the museum’s board of directors, which cited “disturbing” reports from staff members about a “toxic” workplace atmosphere. The dismissal followed an investigation into the employee allegations that the board commissioned from a consulting firm. – The Art Newspaper
How Swedish Culture Explains Its Response To COVID
It also helps explain the Swedish policy response to Covid-19 — banning gatherings over 50, encouraging home working and social distancing, shielding of vulnerable groups, while keeping society as open as possible — which can be seen as typically lagom. It was designed to be proportionate to the threat, but unhysterical, and sustainable over the long term. To rip up a long-prepared pandemic plan and impose unprecedented measures just because everybody else was would be considered reckless; to close schools would have been considered morally unacceptable. – Unherd
Why Exams Continue To Be The Gold Standard For Education
Many of the criticisms levelled at exams as a framework for learning and a means of assessment have validity. There have been valiant attempts over the years to provide a balance between formal assessment and coursework-based, teacher-assessed learning, and this trend rightly continues in many vocational and technical courses. However, despite their drawbacks, exams do encourage and promote a much wider set of skills and values than is often acknowledged by their child-centred opponents. – Unherd
How The Internet Turned People Into Users
Google is, as Joanne McNeil writes, “the intermediary between my ideas and action forward, the glue between my questions and answers, a placeholder for thoughts and a way to sort my desires.” But it’s also an advertising, machine-learning, and data-collection regime, with material incentives for addressing it as an advice column rather than an algorithm. – The Nation
The End Of Second-Hand Bookstores?
Decades, even centuries, of history and tradition are disappearing because of market forces, and the pandemic that we are all suffering through has sped matters up. – The Critic
Singer Trini Lopez, 83, Of COVID
At the peak of his popularity he was asked by guitar manufacturer Gibson to design two models, the Trini Lopez Standard and the Lopez Deluxe, owners of which include Dave Grohl and Noel Gallagher. In the mid-60s he was releasing as many as five albums a year, though that slowed in the late 70s. While he continued performing, he released very little music until 2000, when he began recording again and released a further six albums. – The Guardian
In Malawi Theatre Artists Debate: Low Ticket Prices Or Making A Living…
On one side of the debate, there were those who said the low prices were a way of coping with the prevailing circumstances in our economy. On the other were those who want art to claim its value and who feel like arts students should know better the value of art. They believe low prices undercut the theatre groups that charge a higher, more professional rate. – Howlround
The Museum Problem – Is It More A Relevance Problem?
In reality, museums merely reflect the massive inequalities in society at large. After the pandemic, museums may represent an even greater concentration of wealth in fewer hands. The American Alliance of Museums has repeatedly warned that roughly a third of museums may never reopen. Almost half of those that will reopen expect to do so with reduced staff. A study of the arts and culture sector of New York City suggests that the revenue of smaller institutions has been disproportionately affected by the lockdown. – Hyperallergic
Trump’s TikTok Ban: National Security Or Freedom Of Speech?
The company — which operates its U.S. headquarters out of Los Angeles and hired Disney veteran Kevin Mayer as its CEO this spring — said it has been working with the government for nearly a year to find solutions to the concerns, including expressing a willingness to sell its U.S. operations to an American company. “What we encountered instead was that the Administration paid no attention to facts, dictated terms of an agreement without going through standard legal processes, and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses,” TikTok said. – The Hollywood Reporter