Between June and August 2017 a record 11.5 million overseas visitors came to the UK, up 6% on the same period last year. Among holiday-makers the increase was greater still, with 13% more choosing to spend their vacations in the UK. Despite this, a year-on-year comparison shows that visitor numbers from June to August were down at: British Museum (-3%), National Gallery (-19%), National Portrait Gallery (-41%), and Tate Modern (-37%)
Author: Douglas McLennan
The Science Of Art Of Science And The Creative Impulse
The optimum complexity principle is just one of many examples that Wilson rallies in The Origins of Creativity, his latest plea for the grand unification of the sciences and the humanities. The two camps are often viewed as enemy combatants, or at least paisley and plaid—best kept apart—but Wilson is deeply impatient with academic partitioning. Artists, he argues, should have a grasp of basic neuroscience and how the brain evolved. Scientists must appreciate the humanities for infusing human life with meaning.
Are These The Next Models For Arts Criticism?
Is this caste system the future of theatre criticism? On one side a wading pool of compensated pros, on the other a swarming mass of unedited amateurs with domain names and hot takes? There must be alternatives. Luckily, new models have emerged to pick up the slack left by local media and elevate arts writing above snarky, thumbs-up-or-down consumer reporting.
How The Trisha Brown Company Is Reinventing Itself After Her Death
The continued growth of the company is rare, given what often happens to dance organizations after their founder dies and there is no new repertory to tour. Ms. Brown, part of an influential generation that ushered in postmodern dance — she was an original member of the experimental 1960s collective Judson Dance Theater — was a maverick.
A War Over Cuban Culture Is Playing Out In Miami
“At the end of September, county commissioners voted to remove $550,000 from the $4m grant promised to the Pérez Art Museum Miami (Pamm) for the current financial year. The money was allocated instead to the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, a small institution in Coral Gables, which opened in January.”
Egypt Is Cracking Down On Reading
“Nothing seems to disturb Egypt’s ruling cadres more than the written word. The recent litany of bans and shutdowns, including blocking hundreds of web pages online, illustrates what Cambridge University’s Khaled Fahmy, a prolific historian of the Middle East, called “an alarmist moment of crisis,” one in which Egypt’s authoritarian state of emergency laws have turned something as simple as reading into a dangerous act.”
Post-Weinstein, Will Hollywood Really Change?
What now? Sexual predators can be fired; assaulters presumably punished. These measures may bring relief and perhaps justice to victims, and they may scare abusers from doing more harm. But we are talking about the movie business, an industry that has systematically exploited some women while shutting others out of positions of power. Integrating more women into this male-dominated sphere may not automatically right the balance.
Cleveland Orchestra Reports A Widening Deficit For Second Year In A Row
Executive director Andre Gremillet said three factors contributed to the shortfall: a decline of $383,000 in Annual Fund giving, a drop of $551,000 in “special” fundraising and, most significantly, a loss of major gifts in support of the orchestra’s Miami residency. Earlier this year, the orchestra reduced its presence in South Florida from four weekends to two.
When Rome’s Colosseum Was A Wild, Mysterious Botanical Garden
Today, the Colosseum stands bald and bare. But for centuries, it was a wild and overgrown place, and its lost history as a primeval garden ruin has left traces in the art and poetry of countless generations that walked among its stands.
It Took An Army To Install The Met’s Michelangelo Show
Among the most complex of the installations was the effort to mount a large-scale drawing that was a preliminary study for a fresco in the Vatican’s Pauline Chapel. The work arrived inside a metal case weighing 650 pounds, and required not only a forklift to install it securely, but also scissor lifts and 40 people to help with the task. Marcello Venusti’s famous copy of Michelangelo’s Last Judgment was even heavier, weighing in at 750 pounds.