While society is constantly redefining what constitutes as fine art, Killer Mike has a plethora of ideas to broaden the High’s scope, including more involvement by members of Atlanta’s infamous hip-hop and R&B community to deeper reflect the city’s culture. – ArtsATL
Author: Douglas McLennan
Igor Says: Orchestras! Take Risks!
We think we’ve learned not to overlook outsiders. Yet the orchestral scene today remains in thrall to safety. It favours those who’ve studied with the right people, at the right schools and universities and have the right profile and publishers. Composing in the approved idioms is always preferred over something more raw, exploratory, problematic or new. Look at the recent major orchestral commissions, or the annual Proms new music programme. – The Guardian
She Plagiarized Poetry, Tattooed It On Her Arm… And Now Her Career Is In Shreds
Ailey O’Toole’s bizarrely brazen act of plagiarism — stealing lines, phrases, and structural elements from the work of at least three other writers — was uncovered last Friday, unraveling her career at the speed of Twitter, the medium by which her fledgling reputation lived and died. Within 24 hours, the literary press Rhythm & Bones had canceled her forthcoming book of poems, and the insular world of poetry Twitter had already gone through a cycle of blame, bafflement, and measured defense. – New York Magazine
Miami’s City Theatre – America’s Master Of Short-Form Plays?
With Kentucky’s Actors Theatre of Louisville ending its short-play contests and festivals in 2017, City Theatre has emerged as the professional company most committed to championing an art form as formidable as any other. After all, short stories are recognized as a literary form of comparable value to novels; why not short plays? – American Theatre
Our “Algorithmic Music Culture” Is Making Music Poorer
On the consumer side, streaming and social-media platforms have transformed the nature of music discovery, which was previously more proactive by necessity—requiring manual effort to open up a newspaper, dig through crates at a record store, or attend a live show. Nowadays, “discovery” can be as easy and passive as scrolling mindlessly through a personalized feed or shuffling an algorithmically -curated playlist in the background of a holiday party, without help from a critic or other human guide. Because of its inherently passive nature, algorithmic curation has also made one core function of criticism defunct. – Columbia Journalism Review
End Of An Era: Denver Public Library Will Stop Charging Fines On Overdue Books
Starting Jan.1, Denver Public Library will be eliminating fees for overdue materials to help reduce barriers for low-income patrons. Library administrators are even letting most customers’ existing overdue fines slide to get them back in the door, according to a Wednesday news release from the library. That’s $474,000 owed right now by 85,000 people. – Denver Post
Women Are Leading The Arab Gulf’s Surging Art Scene
To the women themselves, gender is almost a non-issue. The Art Newspaper spoke to three female directors who are shaping the future of museums in the Gulf about their efforts to build creative communities, embrace inclusivity in the workplace and reveal the relevance—beyond the beauty—of Islamic art. – The Art Newspaper
This Year’s Additions To The Rock Hall Of Fame
Since 1986, the Hall has added 323 inductees to its rolls; they include 220 performers, 33 “early influencers” (a category largely composed of rock and roll’s African-American founding mothers and fathers, such as Lead Belly, Robert Johnson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and 34 non-performers (generally music-industry executives, but also songwriters, producers and instrument makers). – NPR
Uh Oh: Now We Have To Worry About Provenance Of AI Art?
In the fallout of the Christie’s sale it emerged that the AI was actually the work of another artist, Robbie Barrat. He had programmed it, trained it on works from Wikiart and used it to generate very similar portraits, before he posted the code online with an open-source licence, so others could use it freely. So not only is the Obvious portrait not attributable to the AI – it’s not even really attributable to Obvious. – BBC
Why Beauty Pageants Still Have A Hold On The Popular Imagination
Pageants still tend to fascinate. The very word suggests why: The ceremony and accoutrements of beauty contests play a powerful role in the national imagination, with their sashes and their tiaras and their inevitable rows of machine-stitched sequins. The ratings for Miss America have fallen consistently since its heyday, but 4.3 million viewers still tuned in to ABC to watch Nia Franklin triumph at this year’s ceremony in September. The pageant, despite everything, still catches the eye, a shiny, contoured, rose-clutching cultural behemoth. – The Atlantic