“Issues-based theatre when it happens falls into two categories at the moment. Moscow’s Teatr.doc embodies the company that produces grimy work to challenge society – and gets targeted and closed down by the authorities, often violently. Not to be confused with productions that push the wider boundaries, like the Bolshoi’s lavish Nureyev, which got pulled for its overtly gay themes. The difference? Oligarchs, ministers and prestigious Golden Mask awards go to one and not the other.” – The Stage
Author: Douglas McLennan
A Life In Art: Dick Waller At 90
He was a clarinetist who jammed with Bernstein and Duke Ellington, played with the Cincinnati Symphony for 35 years, then gave it up to open an art gallery. Oh, and he founded a chamber music festival to continue feeding his interest in music. This is what it’s like to have a life in art. – Cincinnati Enquirer
We Are Our Memories, Right? So When We Get Dementia…
Of course, people with dementia experience significant changes in their self-concept, self-knowledge, social relationships, perception of their own capacity, and even their physical appearance. Yet the essence of the person endures. Recognising this has important implications for approaches to care. – Aeon
Good Vibrations: A Theory Of Our Consciousness
How is each of us our own center of experience, receiving information about the rest of the world out there? Why are some things conscious and others apparently not? – The Conversation
The Dismal Art: Economics Seems To Have Detached From Reality. So Why Does Anyone Listen?
Mainstream economists nowadays might not be particularly good at predicting financial crashes, facilitating general prosperity, or coming up with models for preventing climate change, but when it comes to establishing themselves in positions of intellectual authority, unaffected by such failings, their success is unparalleled. – New York Review of Books
Michael Kaiser’s Prescription For Saving The Baltimore Symphony
“I do not believe in board retreats,” Kaiser said. “I believe we make a mistake by trying to engage everyone equally in developing a quality plan. Good plans are not written by committees. Good plans are vetted by committees. – Baltimore Sun
Will The New Streaming Landscape Help Or Hurt The Movies?
“Abundance can be its own kind of scarcity. Without a sense of occasion, without the idea that a given experience is special, even rare, all experiences become equivalent, and our attention follows the path of least resistance.” – The New York Times
City Of Seattle Is Reorganizing Support For A “Creative Cluster.” Movie And Music Unions Aren’t Happy
Seattle is losing music and movie production. The City is “reorganizing” its film and music office into a a larger office that broadens the definition of creative industries to software and gaming. Workers in the film and music industries say they fear support for their work will diminish. – Crosscut
Fans And The False Intimacy Of Podcasts
All across the podcast realm, from the heights of self-help to the depths of true crime, imagined relationships are blossoming. Listeners may press play for the content, but many of them eventually come to nurture something like a one-way friendship with the hosts. – New York Times Magazine
Anish Kapoor: On The Artist’s Voice
“So there are two different things that happen. One is, this is what I am as an artist. I have nothing to say as an artist. I let the work do its thing. The other is, of course I have a voice, and I will use it as best I can, and fight for causes as a citizen and as a human being, alongside compatriots of all kinds. I’ll use my voice as best I can. I feel they’re important but they’re different from each other.” – Artnet