Cultural democracy is, in its essence, anti-elitist. It denounces the superiority of one form of culture over others and includes amateur arts, lifestyles, folk creativity, and traditional practices. Diversity and free choice are key, and culture should be available as an integral part of everyday life. It was the kind of thing I benefited from in my childhood. It comes as no surprise that the term “cultural democracy” is still on the table as the buzz answer to the figures that show only a small slice of society benefits from the subsidies for the arts. – Howlround
Author: Douglas McLennan
Is Practicing Philosophy In Public A Good Thing?
It is one thing to share information about philosophy and another to offer non-philosophers a way of participating in the activity. Public philosophy aspires to liberate the subject from its academic confines: to put philosophy into action. Is that a good thing? I’m not sure it is. – The Point
Prediction: Half Of All Colleges Will Go Out Of Business In Ten Years
Compare Amazon’s ability to deliver what you want, how you want it, and when you want it, to that of the average college or university. Or even to the growing number of online universities, hybrid universities… and especially to the “traditional” institutions that offer online learning options. Amazon would crush those folks. – Inc.
Okwui Enwezor, Documenta And Venice Biennale Curator, 55
Born in Kalaba, Nigeria, in 1963, Enwezor studied political science in the U.S. He entered the contemporary art world by founding a magazine focussed on African art in 1994. He curated the Johannesburg Biennale in 1997: other credits include the 2006 Seville Biennial and the 2008 Gwangju Biennial. – The Art Newspaper
China’s Art Collectors Open Up About How China’s Art Market Works
China now has around 5,000 museums, of which around 1,500 are privately run. Asked why they opened private museums, the collectors canvassed are candid. “It was good for my collection. It is easier to acquire high-quality works as an institution.” – The Art Newspaper
The Mysterious (And Disgusting) Pooper Of Broadway
The stealthy stink bomber struck during tryouts for the “Magic Mike” musical at Pearl Studios at 500 Eighth Ave. on Feb. 26, and again on March 6 at the Ripley-Grier space down the block. “There was a lot of disbelief,” said actress Eunice Bae of the first incident, when she saw a show rep slip on something on the floor. – New York Post
EU’s Proposed Copyright Directive Would Make YouTube, FB, Others Not Viable (Do They Care?)
More people are creating than ever before, and they’re using the tools that Article 13 will punish to do so. When people have fewer places to share their content or to make money from their content, that’s not helping creators or the “creators industry.” Sure, it might help a very small number of old gatekeeper companies — record labels, book publishers, movie studios — be in a position to demand more money from internet companies, but thinking that those old gatekeepers represent the “creators industry” is ludicrously out of touch. – TechDirt
The Internet Is Being Walled Off Country By Country. There Are Dangerous Consequences
As the web becomes more splintered and information more controlled across the globe, we risk the deterioration of democratic systems, the corruption of free markets and further cyber misinformation campaigns. We must act now to save a free and open internet from censorship and international maneuvering before history is bound to repeat itself. – TechCrunch
Hudson Yards’ Monument To Wealth
Rather than a vision of the future, Hudson Yards takes a snapshot of the concentrated-wealth present. It is the physical expression of the tensions between the developer’s focus on moneymaking, the complications of the site, and complex public agendas. Hudson Yards is an untidy collage of all the forces that have acted on it. – CityLab
When Culture Is At The End Of An Algorithm, We Lose The Juice Of Engaging With It
Christian Lorentzen: “The new books coverage is more like litter. Endless lists of recommendations blight the landscape with superlatives that are hard to believe, especially, as is inevitable, when they aren’t drawn from the work of critics but compiled by poorly paid writers who haven’t read the books they’re recommending, a standard practice in preview lists. Proliferating recommendations become what Elizabeth Hardwick called ‘a hidden dissuader, gently, blandly, respectfully denying whatever vivacious interest there might be in books or in literary matters generally.’ Readers are better served by the algorithm, which never pretends to have an actual opinion.” – Harper’s