Tim Page: “To those who knew only Mr. Bernheimer’s prose, it came as a surprise to learn that he was a gentle, gracious and tender man to his colleagues. He supported the early careers of many young critics who disagreed entirely with him, simply because he believed in their talents.” – Washington Post
Author: Douglas McLennan
How Ryan Heffington Is Changing How We See Dance
Heffington moves like a trailblazer because he is one. His creative visions have rebooted the way the pop-culture world thinks about dance, and the way the dance world thinks about success, because his achievements — in music videos, film and television, onstage and in the business realm — have been as untraditional as his choreography. – Washington Post
Seth Pinsky Will Be 92nd Street Y’s New Leader
Mr. Pinsky, 48, was appointed by Mayor Bloomberg as president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation just before the height of the 2008 financial crisis. In that role, he negotiated on behalf of the mayor for the new Yankee Stadium and the World Trade Center; as for the arts, he worked on the deal to sell city property to the Whitney Museum for its second location and on the renovation of the Kings Theater in Brooklyn from a vacant and deteriorating movie theater to a multipurpose arts center. – The New York Times
How Tiny Intimate Sounds Have Become A YouTube Phenomenon
Over the past two years, ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos have ballooned on YouTube, where some of their creators — known as “ASMRtists” — boast millions of subscribers and hundreds of millions of views. Popular ASMR video-makers include Gibi, Fluffy, Pelagea, ASMR Darling, Sophie Michelle, Tingting, and Caroline. Perhaps the most famous is Maria, whose channel, Gentle Whispering, has more than 630 million views. – Los Angeles Review of Books
The Illusion Of Consciousness And Our Perceptions
“As yet, we have only a sketchy understanding of access consciousness, and there are many controversies over the details of the neural systems involved, but in time we should be able to fill in the picture and settle the disputes. Yet, many philosophers would say, even then we wouldn’t have a full understanding of consciousness.” – Aeon
Roomful Of Teeth As Living Organism
With a dedication to diverse input, RoT seems less a performing ensemble and more a living organism. The group has studied yodeling, Tuvan throat singing, Korean p’ansori, Persian classical singing, Inuit throat singing, and, closer to home, belting and death metal. Collaborators include an illustrious list of contemporary composers. – San Francisco Classical Voice
There Are 633 Languages Spoken In New York City
Some have few speakers, 12 speakers of Wakhi, for example. “For all the justifiable concern about language loss — thousands may go dormant globally — there have been success stories, like Irish, Maori and Hawaiian. These are languages that overcame considerable stigma.” – WNYC
Why Our Symbols And Monuments Aren’t Permanent
We create symbols, then alter their meanings. Some argue vehemently that monuments, such as Confederate statues, should be left in place—that their part in history should not be “erased.” But change is not an erasure of history; it is a part of it. – Nautilus
Do We Need A Public Broadcasting Version Of Social Media?
What if the problem is something that can’t be solved by existing for-profit media platforms? Maybe the answer to fixing social media isn’t trying to change companies with business models built around products that hijack our attention, and instead work to create a less toxic alternative. – The New York Times
Counting Error: British Museum Was In Fact Britain’s Most-Visited Last Year
The original statistics were 5,799,000 for Tate Modern and 5,709,000 for the BM in the financial year 2018/19. But the BM’s original figures for October-December 2018 appeared too low, and a later investigation suggested that 316,000 visitors had been missed by the counting system. Adding these means that the BM’s revised number for the financial year should be 6,025,000, comfortably beating Tate Modern. – The Art Newspaper