“At its best, artist development is terrific, providing opportunities and genuine benefits for early-career artists; at it’s worst, it can be like butterfly collecting, and just as cruel. That’s because too many artist-development schemes are not designed to support ambition and scale and so they don’t help artists develop sustainable careers in the industry.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
Do We Want Bots Determining Ownership Of Art?
“It seems outrageous to demand a photographer be asked to pay for the use of her own work, particularly when she has gifted that work to the public. It seems like another example of corporate bullying. But the suit will undoubtedly be complicated, as everything to do with posting images on the Web is. If, for example, an image is free, does it mean anyone else is free to charge for cataloguing it and giving access to it? If you put your old dresser on the curb and I pick it up, can’t I sell it myself?”
The Happiness Industry – Narcissism For The Masses?
“You can’t really be happy if you are a victim of injustice or exploitation, which is what the technologists of joy tend to overlook. This is why, when Aristotle speaks of a science of well-being, he gives it the name of politics. The point is of little interest to the neuroscientists, advertising gurus or mindfulness mongers, which is why so much of their work is spectacularly beside the point.”
Now We Have Books That Are “Born Translated”
Many literary works today do not appear in translation, but are written for translation from the beginning. They are “born translated.” Adapted from “born digital,” the term used to designate artworks produced by and for the computer, “born-translated literature approaches translation as medium and origin rather than as afterthought. Translation is not secondary or incidental to these works. It is a condition of their production.”
New Harry Potter Book Is UK’s Fastest Seller This Decade
“It has sold more than 680,000 copies in its first three days alone, beating Fifty Shades of Grey which sold 664,478 in a single week in 2012. At its current rate, it is on track to become the second biggest single-week sales for a book since records began.”
The Olympics Promised London A Legacy. Sure, What What Did It Turn Out To Be?
“That London has a lasting physical inheritance from its two-week £12bn jamboree is indisputable, but what kind of place is the promised Legacy-land turning out to be?”
Book Publishing Has Always Been A Gut Instinct Business. Data Is Changing That
“Digital books made it possible to track the way people read and companies like Amazon and Apple could gather that data, but didn’t share it with publishers. Now a number of businesses have sprung up that specialize in reader analytics and they are sharing their findings.”
People! You Need To Dress Better In Public! Especially In The Theatre!
“When people were invited onstage at a recent performance of “Penn & Teller on Broadway,” many women looked as if they had stepped out of a jazzercise class, while men ambled around in hideous cargo shorts.”
What Does It Matter What People Wear To The Theatre?
“Theater today is ridiculously inaccessible as it is, and to tell people they have to dress a certain way to participate is unfair.”
James Houghton, 57, Founder Of Signature Theatre And Director Of Juilliard Drama Program
“I don’t think there was anyone in the theater community more beloved than Jim,” the playwright Tony Kushner, whose work was featured in Signature’s 2010-11 season, wrote in an email. “He had a great soul and a grand capacity for friendship and love. He was smart and passionate. He built his singular legacy, founded on his devotion to playwrights’ work and to playwrights themselves, with a uniquely sweet, generous spirit; with unflagging optimism; and with grace.”