“The result was an immersive layering of experimental, otherworldly soundscapes, evocative one minute of Sun Ra, the next of Aphex Twin or Autechre. Glitch and drone melded with desert-blown free jazz. Mournful loops of electrified cello overlaid throbbing synthesizer, the music constantly spinning apart and reassembling into a whole.” (includes audio)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Writer Attacked And Harassed In His Home Village, Even As His Books Draw Acclaim In English Translation
“After undergoing a vicious attack by caste leaders in his home state of Tamil Nadu, his novel One Part Woman last month was the subject of a landmark court decision defending the right of artists to critically depict their own communities. Recent interest in [Perumal] Murugan’s work has exploded, with five novels coming out, translated into English from the original Tamil. But Mr. Murugan seems unsure of what kind of writer he will be now.”
What About The Money We Lose While You’re Fixing Our Home? Sydney Opera House’s Resident Companies Ask Government
“Opera Australia and the Australian Ballet have lashed out at the [New South Wales state] government for failing to provide any compensation for the arts companies being shut out of the Sydney Opera House while it undergoes renovations in 2017.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.22.16
How Dance Will Help Teach Us About The Next Transformative Technology
Dance is the most physical art. Bodies moving, yes, but also because of how bodies relate to the space they’re in. Much of the energy in tech innovation right now is exploring the edges between physical and virtual worlds, … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-22
The Fisher Folly: SFMoMA’s Bad Deal
We’ve never known exactly the details of the deal that the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art made in 2009 with the Fisher family to get its collection (better described, actually, as access to the family’s collection … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-08-22
SFMOMA’s Seismic Fisher Fissure: “Integration with the Museum’s Collection”?
The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Charles Desmarais last weekend blasted the lid off a huge hole in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s description of the strictures governing its 100-year mega-loan of the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-08-22
Toots Thielemans 1922-2016
Toots Thielemans, the man who made the harmonica a well-known jazz instrument died today in Brussels, Belgium, his hometown. He was 94. Thielemans was recently hospitalized after a fall that resulted in a broken arm, … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-08-22
Monday Recommendation: Toots Thielemans
Toots Thielemans, Yesterday & Today (Out Of The Blue) The loss today of the harmonica virtuoso makes this survey of his career poignant and rewarding. Two CDs with thirty-eight tracks, most previously unreleased, follow Thielemans … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-08-22
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‘The Myth Of Cultural Authenticity, One Of The More Bizarre Delusions Of Contemporary Life’
C.B. George: “It is a mindset that can mock a rapper who fabricates a criminal background and idolize the authenticity of a convicted felon. Seriously? Me, if I must choose between someone who pretends to have shot people and someone who’s shot people, I go for the fantasist every time. It is a mindset that holds dear an essentialist view of “indigenous culture” even as it disdains the same essentialism in the nationalist intolerance currently blighting the US and much of Europe.”
Smacked Back Into Place: Pop Music And Musicians After 9/11
As the 15th anniversary of the attacks approaches, Scott Timberg talks with scholar Mark Anthony Neal about the taboos that sprung up in the wake of the events (and the ensuing wars) and what happened to the artists who tried to challenge those taboos.
We’ve All Been Misunderstanding Robert Frost’s Most Famous Poem
Even the first person to read “The Road Not Taken” first understood it the way generations of schoolteachers have explained it; Frost himself had to explain (several times) what he meant. Other readers have taken the poem to be a parody of the lofty individualistic sentiments of the interpretation we learned in grade school. David Orr takes apart both those readings, and provides alternative versions of the poem that would actually fit them, to highlight what Frost actually did write.
A Completely Untraditional New Mosque (No Minarets Allowed!)
Instead of the traditional towers, “ninety-six hand-painted gold lanterns encrust the roof of the Australian Islamic Centre in Newport. Fitted into each lantern is a different coloured glass that filters light into the mosque through triangular shaped skylights. As the sun moves through the day, the lanterns illuminate a different colour. In the morning yellow streams in, representing paradise. Through the middle of the day, blues (symbolising sky) and greens (nature) filter in. In the afternoon the lanterns draw in red (blood for strength).”
Three Olympics Story Lines That The Media Should Just Drop Already
“Doping scandals, dubious economic benefits of hosting, and nail-biter badminton finishes aside, the Olympics are really the world championships of #content. Small wonder, then, that some media narratives emerging from the games are more tired than Katie Ledecky’s competitors in the pool.”
Whistleblowing Website Collects Accounts Of ‘Exploitation And Abuse’ At Edinburgh Fringe
“Called Fringe Whistleblower, the site states it has become ‘dismayed at the state of the Edinburgh Fringe’ and claims many artists do not get paid. It adds that many venue staff ‘work in very difficult working, and sometimes unlawful, conditions’. It is now calling on people performing and working at the event to share their ‘stories of abuse’, which can be published anonymously on the site.”