Author: Douglas McLennan

MoMA Slashes Budgets, Staff, Exhibitions

Before the shutdown, the museum had around 960 staff members, director Glenn Lowry said. Through a combination of voluntary retirement packages and general attrition, the new staff count will be about 800. “We will learn to be a much smaller institution,” he said. The museum administration also took what Lowry described as a “chainsaw” to its exhibition budget, cutting it from $18 million to $10 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and runs through June 30, 2021.  It also cut its publications budget by about half. Overall, the museum will have slashed its annual budget to about $135 million, from close to $180 million. – Bloomberg

The Debate Over Rebuilding Notre Dame

“I thought it was really bad that they called for an international competition,” says another heritage architect, Charlotte Langlois. “The message it sends is we need international architects to have good ideas on how to restore our heritage and in particular our emblematic cathedral. And it’s very demagogical, to let people think that having well-known architects is the only way not to rebuild in the same way. It’s not true.” – Apollo

Pandemic Is Spurring Operatic Innovation

The covid-19 crisis has forced a sacrifice of so much of what makes opera so powerful — the massive casts, booming orchestras, elaborate staging and singular thrill of being present to experience it all. But it also presents an unlikely opportunity for the form itself to get more intimate and accessible, reach new audiences and evolve in different directions. It’s an art form in survival mode, and it may well come back stronger. – Washington Post

The Neuroscientific Explanation For Why You Need A Hug Right Now

Without touch, humans deteriorate physically and emotionally. “We know from the literature that lack of touch produces very negative consequences for our wellbeing,” says Alberto Gallace, a neuroscientist at the University of Milano-Bicocca. He explains that humans are inherently social creatures; studies have shown that depriving monkeys of physical contact leads to adverse health outcomes. – Wired

Movie Theatres Can’t Reopen Yet, So They’re Finding Novel Ways To Connect

“The Music Box in Chicago has a kind of tip-line where people can call in and describe what streaming services they have and their programmers will recommend what to watch. It’s been wildly popular and it’s so funny,” she says. “The Brattle in Cambridge, Mass., had a movie trivia night to support them, which became an opportunity for people from all over the country to join each other. Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, N.Y., has been working with their audience to care for them. Calling them on the phone just to make sure they’re doing all right.” – NPR

Sotheby’s Deeply In Debt, Tries To Reopen And Cut Costs

To date, the company’s outstanding debt stands at $467 million (plus interest), according to the latest documents. It has to pay more than one quarter of that—$119 million—in interest and principle this year, and around $84 million for each of the next four years. That debt burden, coupled with an extended period when Sotheby’s isn’t generating the kind of revenue it would in a non-pandemic year, resulted in the release of Deloitte’s “emphasis of a matter” related to Sotheby’s own focus on the business as a “going concern.” – Artnet

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Egyptian Funeral Workshop

When at last the chamber was empty, the team was surprised to discover that it wasn’t a tomb. The room had a raised, table-like area and shallow channels cut into the bedrock along the base of one wall. In one corner, a barrel-sized bowl was filled with charcoal, ash, and dark sand. An older tunnel—part of a network of passages that honeycomb the rock beneath Saqqara—moved cool air through the space. The clues suggested that the chamber had been a mummification workshop, complete with an industrial-strength incense burner, drainage channels to funnel blood, and a natural ventilation system. – National Geographic

Hans Ulrich Obrist: Gaming Out Scenarios For A New Art World

The scenario that pays off in the end is the Leviathan Scenario, where everyone makes sacrifices and is mobilized to develop local solutions, creating bottom-up experimentation with government support. There is a focus on public goods and social welfare, transforming the economy and creating a more resilient and sustainable foundation. This will lead to post-crisis recovery and result in a New New Deal. – Artnet

Broadway Ponders The Scope Of Issues Before Shows Can Reopen

Actors’ Equity Association is rethinking almost every direction: How can more space be added to dressing rooms? Which costume fabrics resist the virus better? How many people need to touch a prop in a 10-minute period and how can that prop be cleaned? They’ve hired David Michaels, who ran the Occupational Safety and Health Administration under President Barack Obama, to advise. – AP