The horror of the Great War consumed the lives of soldiers and civilians alike; it sought them out in their sleep, their imagination, and, bizarrely, in their entertainments. The “horror film” had existed almost from the time of the invention of the motion picture itself in the late 19th century. But a new kind of terror film manifested in the years following the Great War.
Author: Douglas McLennan
Nine Artists Working With Artificial Intelligence
While we wait for the next AI-generated work to hit the block, there’s a lot more to learn. To find out about the interesting work being created with machine learning—and the complex boundaries it’s pushing—we’ve assembled a list of nine pioneering artists to watch.
Report: Poor Are Losing Out In Music Education In The UK
Children in low income households were half as likely to take music lessons. The report suggests only 19% of children from families earning less than £28,000 learned a musical instrument, compared with 40% of those in high-earning households. This is despite similar levels of interest from both groups of children. The report also suggests higher-earning parents were twice as likely to want their children to learn an instrument.
LA Times Critics Reflect On How The Arts Changed Since The Great Recession
“Tough times are not always bad times, and so many factors are involved in the evolution of the arts that cause and effect are simply not quantifiable. Technology. Entrepreneurship. Audiences. The economy. You name it. All play ever-changing parts. Institutions die and new ones are born. Look around downtown L.A. and elsewhere. Young musicians have begun their own ensembles. To be an outlier is to be in. Composers have found the players they need. New music and new opera are thriving throughout the country like never before. What matters in the end is not money but priorities.”
How International Arts Institutions Have Supported Saudi Arabia
Though commonly viewed as disparate, the arts establishment often works in parallel with political and corporate establishments. Despite Saudi’s well-documented involvement in 9/11, its deplorable human rights record, its support of militias in Iraq and Syria, and its war on Yemen, which has caused the most extreme, and preventable, humanitarian crisis of our time, a positive relationship with the Kingdom, and certainly MBS, has been pursued. Far from hidden prior to Khashoggi’s murder. It simply didn’t matter.
We Seem To Be In Love With Miniatures. Why?
What can possibly be the appeal? The answer lies in our desire for mastery and elucidation. The ability to enhance a life by bringing scaled-down order and illumination to an otherwise chaotic world – a world over which we may otherwise feel we have little control – cannot be overvalued. The fascination of holding in our hands something completely realised at an impossibly reduced scale is a wholly fulfilling one, and the satisfactions of inquisitive observation will never tire. At its simplest, the miniature shows us how to see, learn and appreciate more with less.
Seeing Is Believing? With AI, Not Anymore
“Why did Stalin airbrush those people out of those photographs?” he asked. “Why go to the trouble? It’s because there is something very, very powerful about the visual image. If you change the image, you change history. We’re incredibly visual beings. We rely on vision—and, historically, it’s been very reliable. And so photos and videos still have this incredible resonance. How much longer will that be true?”
How Do You Reinvent Talk Shows For A Post-TV World?
The genre has had an especially tough time adjusting to an era where the TV channel is just one media pathway among many. Who needs a late-night chat with the stars when stars are available on Instagram and Twitter, 24/7 and without intermediation? What is “late-night” talk on a streaming platform, where, as on a casino floor, neither day nor night exist?
Are The Days Of Stadium Rock Concerts Over?
After a decade of pop acts dominating the hallowed ground – the only artists to have headlined this year being Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran – is it too late? Has the era of stadium rock been unplugged and relegated to smaller venues?
China’s Disabled Dance Company Gives Dance A Different Meaning
To be a professional-level dancer demands incredible discipline and years of training. It also requires an acute sensitivity to music, which in most instances serves as a choreographic propellant. Imagine, then, the challenge of becoming a dancer if you are seriously hearing impaired.