Stella Duffy of the Fun Palaces movement: “Our commitment to ‘excellence and quality’ as defined by mainstream, metropolitan-based thinking many decades ago, might need to shift to a new version of ‘excellence and quality’, one defined by a new generation of makers and creators – and this time from every part of society. If we want cultural democracy, genuine culture for all, elitism must make way for creativity and community-led culture. We need to offer everyone not only access to the products of creativity, but access to the means and processes of creativity.” (By, say, funding Duffy’s project.)
Author: Matthew Westphal
All That Arts Funding Going To London Benefits The Entire Country, Says London Mayor
Sadiq Khan, responding to Arts Council England’s decision to shift some funding from the capital to the regions: “I’m not saying we deserve a bigger slice of the cake for the sake of it. I’m saying that actually, if the arts in London does well, the whole country benefits.” (Well …)
Paris Opera Ballet Star Nicolas Le Riche To Head Royal Swedish Ballet
“He has signed a five-year contract with the Royal Swedish Opera and will arrive in Stockholm mid-August. … Like his predecessor, Le Riche sees no difference between classical ballet and contemporary dance: ‘both are facets of the same Art,’ he says.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.04.17
The purpose of panning
My Wall Street Journal review of the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! stirred up a good-sized dust storm of controversy, as pans are wont to do. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-07-03
Kusama Exhibit Is A Wow – And More
Yayoi Kusama is one of those artists whose work is easy to love. Although she made it (or much of it) as therapy for herself … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-07-04
Rethinking “Classical Radio”
When commercial radio was new, the airwaves were saturated with classical music – not just recordings and live concerts, but highly produced pedagogical programs. You could tune into Abram Chasins for tips on playing Chopin … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2017-07-03
The Problems With (Writing About) Florida
Kristen Arnett: “Florida is no place for those who want to view it from a safe distance. This state is invasive, creeping, needy. Hardy and scrabbling, our peninsula’s sour with poison and rot and choking vines. You fight for the right to live in its greenery, and once you’ve finally carved out a space, you stay tangled in the wreck. Once you’ve left, there’s no coming back. The best you can do is hack out a different life somewhere else. This place isn’t yours to write about. It’s barely mine.”
Here’s An Artistic Medium We’ve Never Encountered Before: Grass (Actual, Growing Grass)
“British artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey … are elevating grass into something quite beautiful. They have been creating large-scale canvases of living grass, by tinkering with the natural growth process of this little plant in order to create impressive, photographic-like images.” (includes video)
Roger D. Abrahams, 84, Pioneering Folklorist Of African-American Street Culture
“Earlier folklorists had focused on black religious expression, the language of the church and pulpit. Mr. Abrahams described a new and vibrant verbal world, exuberant, profane and endlessly inventive. He explained the fine points of the dozens – a street-corner battle of wits in which participants traded insults … [as well as] jump-rope rhymes and counting rhymes.”
The Metal Whose Discovery Made Artists’ ‘Blue Periods’ Possible
Kat Eschner tells the story of cobalt and the many shades of blue pigment that the element made achievable and affordable (no more finding and grinding lapis lazuli!).
The Lost Medieval Arabic Poetry That Survives In Hebrew
The literary culture of al-Andalus, Arab-ruled Spain in the Middle Ages, was as splendid as its architecture – and much of the era’s poetry was destroyed when the Inquisition burned the library at Granada in 1499. But there were Jewish Andalusian writers in the 10th and 11th centuries who adopted the poetic forms and subjects used by their Arab colleagues, and much of that work survives. Benjamin Ramm tells us about the most admired of these writers and offers samples of their verse.
Watching Calder’s Mobiles Actually Be Mobile
“Alexander Calder is famous for having made sculptures that move, but conservators and collectors are cautious about showing them that way.” The current show at the Whitney is changing that, and the Times here offers a set of video animations that show the works in motion.