Once upon a time — specifically, from the dawn of the “talkie” in the 1920s until just a few years ago — Hollywood’s calculus regarding how sequels got made was simple. A movie came out, did big business, won over fans, and the captains of industry in the studio C-suite called out for another one: the same again, only different. These days, however, the forces dictating which films get sequelized and which don’t has become a much weirder science.
Author: Douglas McLennan
How Do We Break Down Lines Between Everyday Culture And Institutional-based Culture?
“I believe there needs to be a radically different institutional framework for cultural intermediation that brings both official and everyday culture and cultural actors together in order to break down barriers between them. This must include the democratisation of cultural intermediation at management level to waft some much-needed fresh air into the corridors of cultural policy.”
The Tension Between Accessibility And Elitism
Museums, galleries and universities often find themselves confronted with a common problem here. On the one hand, they are working hard to make themselves more approachable and accessible – often with real success. On the other hand, they are simultaneously invested in building up ‘prestige’ in a way that can make those who work in them seem superhuman and the institutions themselves seem overpowering or otherworldly – distant from everyday experience.
Miami’s ICA Director Unexpectedly Steps Down After Museum Opens
In concert with news of Ellen Salpeter’s departure, which will occur in June, the museum announced a change in its leadership structure through which deputy director and chief curator Alex Gartenfeld will now work as artistic director and associate director Tommy Ralph Pace will now be deputy director. Citing their shared status as members of ICA’s founding leadership team, the museum’s announcement said, “Gartenfeld has spearheaded the museum’s curatorial voice in particular and Pace has been responsible for special initiatives, daily operations, and public affairs.”
So You Want To Be A Public Intellectual…
What should you do in order to become the kind of person an intellectual is? What kind of life permits doing what intellectuals do? How can you begin to have such a life? This is what you ask, and these are good, if grandiose, questions.
The New Met Museum Director’s First Two Big Challenges
When Max Hollein joins the Met he will share responsibility for running the institution with Weiss in a new power-sharing arrangement which may prove difficult to manage. Similar arrangements have proved dysfunctional at the Getty and at the Guggenheim, leading to premature departures by high-profile directors who felt interfered with or undermined. The leadership-by-committee model is in stark contrast to the Met’s hierarchy under Campbell and especially his predecessor, Philippe de Montebello, who ran the Met like a semi-divine sovereign.
Netflix Pulls Out Of Cannes
Cannes earlier banned any films without theatrical distribution in France from its Palme d’Or competition. That essentially rules out Netflix movies, which are released either day-and-date — on Netflix and in some theatres — or simply go straight to Netflix. In France, it’s a law that films can’t be released on home entertainment platforms until 36 months after their theatrical release.
Reining In The Surveillance Capitalists
These days, virtually every aspect of day-to-day life is fed into corporate databases and used to predict and influence all kinds of behavior. Surveillance corporations don’t just respond to consumer wants; they also shape and drive those wants toward their own ends.
How Dance Has Mitigated My OCD
Neurologists and psychiatrists admit they still don’t fully understand OCD or how it works. The condition can’t be cured, but it can be managed, dialing down the barrage of obsessive thoughts — and the compulsive behaviors or physical tics that briefly relieve them — so they aren’t so overwhelming. And for reasons that also aren’t fully understood, some highly trained athletes and performers find that being onstage or on the field, in front of thousands of people — an environment most people find highly stressful — actually reduces their anxiety.
Immersive Theatre Is Hot. But The Growing Pains Are… Growing
Even the term ‘immersive’ has become overused. It is being used to flog everything from fine dining to frozen roast potatoes. Some theatre companies liberally sprinkle their marketing copy with the word ‘immersive’ because they know it can add £10 to the ticket price. As Alexander Wright of the Guild of Misrule observes: “People know they can sell immersive shows. Audiences want them. But there can be a point where it stops being art and is just capitalism.”