Over the years, the blockbuster has been frequently called into question, and with good reason. Do these shows really serve our audiences or do they just pander to the crowd in order to attract large numbers of visitors? – The Art Newspaper
Author: Douglas McLennan
The Tragedy Of Philosophy
To live is to encounter the tragic — a reality shot through with utter strife, and covered in complete darkness. Despite our best attempts, we are not going to get out of it. For philosophers to overlook, sugarcoat, or rationalize this fact is to deny something essential about who we are and what we might become, both intentionally but also in spite of ourselves. – Los Angeles Review of Books
When Art Became “The Show”
Today the more relevant split is the more recent one between modern and contemporary fields (the latter has no exact date of origin—1968, 1980, 1989?), which is a schism less between the university and the museum than between scholarly curators and flashy exhibition-makers. This split was opened up when the 20th-century art museum was penetrated by the culture industry, and it was deepened when the contemporary art world expanded into the global business of art biennials and fairs. With the first development came a demand for on-site entertainment, and with the second a need for far-flung attractions. – Artnet
Kennicott: Online Arts Experiences That Work For Me
“I want stuff that has not been made in response to the pandemic, that would exist if we weren’t all in the same boat. Or things I know I won’t have time for once the real world begins to make its usual demands once again. I want to use my brain in ways that it didn’t ordinarily get exercised in the pre-pandemic world, things that I know I probably won’t have the time or patience for once this all gets back to some kind of normal.” – Washington Post
Remembering Larry Kramer
For Kramer, who died at age 84 in Manhattan on Wednesday, not speaking up was a signal of a dishonorable combination — of cowardice, willful blindness and greed. He was constitutionally incapable of self-serving apathy, but that’s not to say that he didn’t recognize the cost of his conscience to that quieter corner of his identity as an artist. – Los Angeles Times
Cruise Ships Have Gone Away. And Port Cities Are Reconsidering…
In ports of call known for their cruise appeal, the disappearance of boat-borne tourism has been greeted with mixed feelings. Many towns and cities depend in part on revenue from these vacationers. But the boats bring problems, too: Critics often cite the industry’s environmental record and dubious economic impact — study after study show that passengers on short stopovers contribute relatively little to the local economy. – CityLab
Italian Book Buying Habits Have Changed. Will They Change Back?
In a shift of consumer patterns, in the first 16 weeks of the year, 47 percent of Italy’s trade book sales, both in fiction and nonfiction, took place online. In the same period of 2019, only 26.7 percent of those sales were made online. Like France, Italy is a market that buys its books in normal times primarily through physical stores, and some observers wonder if the move to online commerce during the pandemic will permanently change consumer behavior. – Publishing Perspectives
How Coffee Has Powered (And Destroyed) Societies
There have been times that coffee as a commodity was more valuable than most currencies. Cultures have been built around the bean, and destroyed others who have been exploited for it. – Times Literary Supplement
Loneliness As Punishment And Inspiration
In 2018, the first British Minister for Loneliness was appointed and the government published A Connected Society. In the preface, the country’s then prime minister Theresa May referred to research that “shows that loneliness is as damaging to our physical health as smoking”. – Times Literary Supplement
The Thought Experiment Problem
While thought experiments are as old as philosophy itself, the weight placed on them in recent philosophy is distinctive. Even when scenarios are highly unrealistic, judgments about them are thought to have wide-ranging implications for what should be done in the real world. – Aeon