“If, as many people think, the type of culture you enjoy is one marker of class, then by definition the arts can never be ‘working class’ because class and culture define each other. By this argument, if the working or lower classes (cringeworthy terms) leave their cocoons and somehow emerge as middle-class butterflies because they listen to Radio 3, then they no longer count as working class precisely because they listen to Radio 3. We are still stuck in this catch-22.” – Arts Professional
Author: Douglas McLennan
Critic John Ruskin Was A Blazing Intellect Who Fell Out Of Favor. (But He Was Prescient About Today)
Ruskin was a man who believed in angels but championed the most radical British artist of his time. He was a social reformer and utopian who was at heart a conservative reactionary and a puritan. He was a brilliant artist who ought to have been a bishop. He hated trains but invented the blog. How can it be that a man so celebrated in his time is only fitfully remembered now, 200 years after his birth – and then mostly for a salacious story. – New Statesman
Sotheby’s Plans An Enormous Expansion
The expansion project—which will be done by New York-based architect Shohei Shigematsu, a partner in the Rem Koolhaas-founded firm OMA—will drastically grow the auction house’s gallery footprint. It will expand the gallery space to more than 90,000 square feet, from a current total of 67,000 square feet—a growth equivalent to more than half an acre. A total of 40 galleries of various sizes will span four transformed floors. – Artnet
After 40 Years, Seattle Weekly Is No More
“A series of ownership changes — including Village Voice Media and Voice Media Group — left Seattle Weekly on shaky financial footing by the time Sound Publishing acquired it in 2013.” – Crosscut
New York Review of Books Chooses New Top Co-Editors
Rea Hederman, the publisher of the intellectual journal, announced Monday that Emily Greenhouse, 32, and Gabriel Winslow-Yost, 33, have been named co-editors, and that Daniel Mendelsohn, a longtime contributor to the Review, will assume the newly created role of editor at large. – The New York Times
Mary Boone Galleries Will Close In April Before Boone Goes To Jail
The final exhibitions at the galleries—Julia Wachtel at her Chelsea location and Derrick Adams in her 5th Avenue Midtown space—will open in March and close 27 April as planned. Boone has been ordered to surrender herself to authorities by or before 15 May. – The Art Newspaper
Damaged NY Pier Forces Art Show To Relocate
The annual Armory show decided to move a show off the pier. “Following a routine inspection, we discovered structural issues at Pier 92, Out of an abundance of caution, we have made the decision to relocate any activity to Pier 90 while we conduct further analysis at the site.” – The New York Times
Leader of Orange County’s Performing Arts Center Abruptly Leaves Under Mysterious Circumstances
A look at Terry Dwyer’s nearly 13-year tenure at the Segerstrom Center offers no obvious rationale for such a hasty and undignified goodbye. By many measures, he was the most effective leader in the institution’s 33-year history. – Voice of Orange County
Is The Optimization Culture Killing Us?
As employees in a hyperproductive, work-obsessed world, we’ve become acutely aware of any opportunity for optimization. Attempts by companies like Google or Freshly to create services that save you time misfire, as millennials see them not as services that will give them more time to relax, but as services that will increase the amount of time they’re available to work. – Medium
Kids, Atlanta Symphony Make A “Cultural Symphony”
A collaboration between students, dancers, choreographer and musicians in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.