Never mind that Guston, who was Jewish and died in 1980, had a powerful record, going back to his youth, of anti-racist actions and imagery. Never mind that two of today’s leading African American artists, including Glenn Ligon and Trenton Doyle Hancock, have contributed essays to the catalogue (Ligon even praising Guston in his essay as “woke”). And never mind that it’s absurd to require artists to pass such litmus tests in the first place. – Washington Post
Author: Douglas McLennan
Philadelphia’s BalletX Experiments With A Virtual Subscription
To watch them, you have to subscribe to BalletX Beyond, which also gives you access to premieres later in the season, along with extras like interviews and making-of documentaries. The cheapest plan is $15 a month — less than a ticket to a live show but almost as much as premium Netflix. It’s a necessary experiment, especially for companies without huge endowments. Somebody has to figure out how to get people to pay for digital dance. – The New York Times
How Creativity Changes As We Get Older
We tend not to associate aging with creative bursts. Historically, critics saw advancements by elderly artists as peculiar. According to twentieth-century art historian Kenneth Clark, the work of older artists conveyed a feeling of “transcendental pessimism,” best illustrated in the weary lined eyes and pouched cheeks of Rembrandt’s late self-portraits. – The Walrus
David Attenborough Break Instagram Record In First To 1 Million Followers
Attenborough stated the reason he decided to join Instagram simply: “The world is in trouble. Continents are on fire, glaciers are melting, coral reefs are dying, fish are disappearing from our oceans. The list goes on and on,” he said. “But we know what to do about it, and that’s why I’m tackling this new way of communication.” – NPR
British Royal Family Sees $35M In Lost Tourist Revenue
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and her family are facing a 35-million-pound ($60 million Cdn) hit from the coronavirus pandemic, partly due to a shortage of tourists, the monarch’s money manager said Friday. – CBC
A Central Park Playlist That Geo-Tags You And Plays The Right Music When You’re There
For those who never manage to create an iPhone playlist that delivers the right thing at the right time, Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Ellen Reid and the New York Philharmonic have created Soundwalk, a free app that plays music through your phone, programmed for each section of the park. A built-in GPS knows right where you are and how to give the setting an extra atmospheric layer, whether earthy or ethereal, which evolves with whatever way you turn. – WQXR
Our Theatre On Zoom? Feel-Good Escapes. Shouldn’t We Be Wanting More?
What is on offer from our stages, via podcasts, Zoom presentations, and the rare live productions? Mostly escapes to comfy territory rather than confrontations with the difficult present. These approaches often reflect a yearning for the ‘old normal’ via a focus on Boston’s history. – ArtsFuse
Shakespearean Sensibilities In The Context Of Now
We are in increasing danger of reducing public language to spectacle. We are urged to judge performance in terms of crowd-pleasing; we don’t want to see our leaders engaged in reflection, or inviting us to look behind and around issues. Fascism is one of the most extreme forms of the triumph of spectacle. In such a context, theatre is all the more vital. – New Statesman
Are We At An Inflection Point In World History?
Leading philosophers and researchers are debating whether the events that occur in our century could shape the fate of our species over the next thousands if not millions of years. The “hinge of history” hypothesis proposes that we are, right now, at a turning point. Is this really plausible? – BBC
Some Cultural Attractions Are Reopening. Should You Chance It?
When making your decision, John Swartzberg, an infectious disease specialist and clinical professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests asking yourself: How important is this versus the risk of it? – The New York Times