This week investigators accused professor Dirk Obbink, one of the most celebrated classics professors in the world, a Nebraska native and MacArthur “genius grant” recipient who had long directed — and allegedly looted — Oxford’s Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project, a collection of centuries-old literature recovered from an ancient Egyptian garbage dump in 1896. – Washington Post
Author: Douglas McLennan
How Curators Took Over Creativity
In fits and starts, the professional curator arrogated responsibilities once held by the artist, the collector, the historian, or indeed the critic, becoming the figure who assigned meaning and importance to new art: someone the art historian Bruce Altshuler has called “the curator as creator.” Soon after, the curator stepped beyond the single museum or institution to become a roving organizer and analyst of contemporary art. – New York Review of Books
MoMA’s Opportunity To Tell New Stories
Peter Schjeldahl: “The renovation is a big deal for the global art world, and certainly for New York. It runs up against problems old and new. Generously enlarged quarters will only marginally relieve a chronic crush of visitors, the museum victimized by its own charisma. Enhanced representations of art by women, African-Americans, Africans, Latin-Americans, and Asians can feel tentative, pitched between self-evident justice and noblesse oblige. But such efforts are important and must continue. We will have a diverse cosmopolitan culture or none worth bothering about.” – The New Yorker
Boris Johnson’s Government Proposes £250 Million In Culture Infrastructure Support
The bulk of the new fund is being directed towards “major infrastructure and maintenance work at local and regional museums” and capital and technology upgrades at public libraries. – Arts Professional
Hong Kong Has A New Protest Song Anthem
The orchestra wear hard hats and gas masks, the choir emerges from a swirl of tear gas-like smoke, and as the music swells, cutaway shots show crowds thousands-strong marching through the streets of Hong Kong. – The Guardian
Should People Have The Legal Right to Change Their Age?
If chronological age doesn’t matter, as I have argued, then people should be allowed to change this ‘age’ in their IDs to match their biological rather than their chronological age. – Aeon
Streaming Wars: Challenging The Binge-TV Model
“Having had roughly six years to figure out how to best attract TV viewers trained to feast on content, none of the streaming services set to debut between now and next spring will be exclusively adopting the binge model, and veterans like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have tried different release strategies themselves.” – Los Angeles Times
The Nobel Literature Prize Has Lost Its Way
Once the ultimate arbiter of great literature, it has struggled to remain relevant at a time of cultural fragmentation. It could not continue on its historical course—awarding unknown European poets who would fail to stir excitement in the media (and social media)—and remain relevant. – The New Republic
Why Theatre In Los Angeles Is Missing Its Potential
Charles McNulty: “What is the distinctive stamp of L.A. theater? In posing this question to myself, I find my answer to be dismayingly similar to what I would have said when I moved to Los Angeles from New York 14 years ago to be The Times’ theater critic. The theater has remained decentralized, widely variable in quality and ambition, and sorely in need of institutional leadership able to meet the self-regard of a city that, long out of New York’s shadow, has come to recognize itself as a global metropolis.” – Los Angeles Times
Dance Company From Barcelona Denied Entry To US For LA Dance Festival
The company, Perra da Nadie, released a statement: “Marta and 3 gentlemen who accompany her on this tour, flew from Barcelona with an overlay in Seattle where we were denied access to enter the country. Without knowing why they took us to a secluded room, they warned us from touching our phones, they took our passports.” – Broadway World