According to a new study in the UK, it is – both artistically and financially. “Research into the international activity of arts and cultural organisations, commissioned by Arts Council England, found that 243 of England’s National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) generated £34m through international activities in 2014/15.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
Vagueness Is A Useful Tool. But It Also Threatens Our Sense Of Logic
“You can find aspects of vagueness in most words of English or any other language. Out loud or in our heads, we reason mostly in vague terms. Such reasoning can easily generate sorites-like paradoxes. Can you become poor by losing one cent? Can you become tall by growing one millimetre? At first, the paradoxes seem to be trivial verbal tricks. But the more rigorously philosophers have studied them, the deeper and harder they have turned out to be. They raise doubts about the most basic logical principles.”
The Promise Of Augmented Reality In Theatre
The technology presents reality and and a technological overlay that alters that reality. “Altering the visual ‘reality’ of theatrical settings by forcing them to accommodate simulated imagery, AR complicates ontological distinctions between real and virtual environments, presenting both with equanimity.”
Why Hasn’t Art-Selling Been Uberized?
The art market has expanded enormously, but despite many schemes, selling art online in a big way has been elusive. “Most of its incumbent players recognise that technology is powering the sheer volume of interest in the market, but believe that, for now, it is more of a tool than a game changer.”
How The Oxford English Dictionary Reinvented Its Relevance
“To tell you the truth, the OED was going nowhere in 1976, when I signed on. We didn’t know that at the time, but the University Press—who controlled its purse strings—couldn’t see how they could restore its relevance. Behind closed doors, discussions raged on about whether the dictionary should be mothballed as soon as the current update had reached Z.”
Research Literature Is Growing Exponentially. Researchers Need Help. This New Search Engine Promises It
“Judging from the research papers already indexed by the new search engine, the volume of academic research is increasing at an exponential rate, and one independent study says that the number of papers is increasing about 4 or 5 percent a year, with 2.5 million published in 2014. That means researchers just don’t have the time to look through everything. They need some help.”
Bringing Sports Medicine Into Dance
Training for sports has become scientific, with athletes working with scientists to optimize their performance. Now the idea has come to dance – both to prevent and mitigate injury but also to maximize performance.
How The Royal Shakespeare Company Is Using Motion-Capture To Reimagine Shakespeare
“The tools are only interesting when they’re in the hands of artists who do new things with them. So we worked with Imaginarium, who are excruciatingly talented, and gave them these tools and said: ‘What else would you do? How do we make that happen?’ Teaching our team the agility and resourcefulness you need in live theatre has been great. It’s also been great to see the ingenuity of the designer and then rise to that, and think about how they can do their work.”
How Is Ballet To be Relevant If It Doesn’t Challenge Audiences?
“It is with both bewilderment and sadness that one might look over the National Ballet of Canada’s 2016/17 season and think: What can be considered vital among it? What conversations can these ballets possibly provoke?”
Why Did Book Reviews Get So Polite?
“A literary culture whose tough-mindedness 20 years ago often verged on outright cruelty, has turned horribly emollient, to the point where it sometimes seems that books are not so much criticised, favourably or unfavourably, as simply endorsed.”