CTG Artistic Director Michael Ritchie said in an interview that he would like to make the Digital Stage a permanent fixture, even after the threat of the coronavirus fades. The hope is that the kind of work appearing on the Digital Stage will transcend COVID-related restrictions to establish a new language for theater. – Los Angeles Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
Mellon Foundation Gives $250 Million To Reimagine Monuments
The Monuments Project, the largest initiative in the foundation’s 50-year history, will support the creation of new monuments, as well as the relocation or rethinking of existing ones. And it defines “monument” broadly to include not just memorials, statues and markers but also “storytelling spaces,” as the foundation puts it, like museums and art installations. – The New York Times
The “Structural” Color That Comes From Butterflies And Could Cool Cities
Cypris Materials has created a paint inspired by blue morpho butterfly wings, which get their color from blue lightwaves reflecting off the nanostructure of the wings themselves (up close you’ll see they’re actually translucent). Like butterfly wings, Cypris’ paint works through reflection, so color comes from particular lightwaves that reflect off the nanostructure of the paint. In short, this paint functions through structural color rather than chemical pigments or dyes. – Fast Company
London’s Royal Academy Considers Selling Michelangelo Sculpture To Save Jobs
Considered to be a national treasure, “The Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John” (c. 1504–1505) is the only marble sculpture by Michelangelo in the country. – Hyperallergic
Tom Stoppard’s Charmed Life
Stoppard sails through customs: his charm – not the calculated sort – fuels his success. Friends and acquaintances are almost comically diverse: Harold Pinter, Mick Jagger, Samuel Beckett, Princess Margaret, Kenneth Tynan, Steven Spielberg … No one is charm-proof (including Lee), although the charm is impermeable, making her task harder. The great man continues not to see himself as one. He is happiest drifting into a writing day. And once a play goes into rehearsal, he is not stuck up about practical details. – The Guardian
Why Do We Let Social Media Control Us?
Jill Lepore: “Things are briefly upended by new technologies before finding a new equilibrium. With social media, that equilibrium has not happened. The question is how do you repair the fabric of democracy when the technology is itself built to polarise us? It is like we have built a perfect trap for ourselves. That is what leaves me so frankly terrified.” – The Guardian
Soon DeepFake Video Might Throw Doubt On Historic Events Of The Past
This new technology doesn’t just threaten our present discourse. Soon, AI-generated synthetic media may reach into the past and sow doubt into the authenticity of historical events, potentially destroying the credibility of records left behind in our present digital era. – Fast Company
China Is Planning A Giant New Green City Run By AI
This data would be used to inform various aspects of city planning, including security systems and tourist areas. As more data is collected and analysed by the AI, the city will be continuously “upgraded”. – Dezeen
A Pocket History Of All The Times Hollywood Has Died
In fact, morbidity is an old habit in Hollywood. The trick is to know what is really an existential threat—this one certainly seems real—and what is just another stage death in an industry that is forever deciding the show is finally over. – Deadline
When Is It Okay To Break The Rules?
The law doesn’t say: ‘Do not drive over the speed limit, unless you are heading to the hospital for an emergency and are a really good driver.’ It says: ‘Do not drive over the speed limit,’ period. – Aeon