“In December, documentary photographer Carol Highsmith received a letter from Getty Images accusing her of copyright infringement for featuring one of her own photographs on her own website. It demanded payment of $120. This was how Highsmith came to learn that stock photo agencies Getty and Alamy had been sending similar threat letters and charging fees to users of her images, which she had donated to the Library of Congress for use by the general public at no charge.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Women Of Abstract Expressionism – Why Were They Written Out Of Art History?
“We talk to Denver Art Museum curator Gwen Chanzit about her important exhibition, speak with the artist Judith Godwin – an Abstract Expressionist who has largely been ignored in the history books, I travel to the Upper West Side to get feminist art historian Linda Nochlin’s thoughts on the matter, and finally I chat with curator and critic Karen Wilkin, who was friends with Helen Frankenthaler.” (podcast)
The Problem With Yahoo: The Snapchat Generation Barely Even Knows What It Is
Om Malik: “The $4.8-billion acquisition of Yahoo … by a telephone company, Verizon, is a watershed moment in the history of the Internet. It caps off an era – Web 1.0, for lack of a better term – that will soon be remembered much like telegraphs and rotary phones.”
The Real Problem With Playing Pokémon Go At The Holocaust Museum Isn’t (Just) A Lack Of Respect
“The museum, like the video game, relies on careful curation to furnish an alternate experience of reality. Playing Pokémon Go at a memorial isn’t just disrespectful – it interferes with the augmented reality you’re already in.”
Why Are Zombies Scary? It’s Not Because They Want To Eat Your Brains, Even Metaphorically
“Zombies belong to the realm of horror stories that reappear over and over throughout history – from ancient Mesopotamia to modern-day sci-fi – because they raise a more terrifying fear than merely that of a gory death: the threat of eternal life.”
Here Comes The First Feature Film (Co-)Written By Artificial Intelligence Software
Perhaps fittingly, it will be a horror film. “Impossible Things will be partly written by software that has analysed successes in the genre [and] uses that data to formulate a script that [incorporates] successful plot points. The goal: engineer a hit film.”
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Dean Of Finnish Composers, Dead At 87
He was, after Sibelius, “the most famous and popular of Finnish composers … In an output running to over 150 compositions, with dozens of orchestral pieces, Rautavaara’s eight symphonies are one of his important contributions to 20th-century music.” The Seventh, titled Angel of Light, “marked a new breakthrough for Rautavaara to a newer, wider audience, his music no longer the preserve of the critics and cognoscenti.”
Pope Julius III’s Nymphaeum Restored By Mysterious Japanese Donors (What’s A Nymphaeum?)
A nymphaeum is a type of old Roman monument meant to honor nymphs, and this 16th-century version in the Villa Giulia (Julius’s palace) was moldy and monochromatic and overgrown until these anonymous Far Eastern donors came forward.
New Boss Has Big Plans For Texas Ballet Theater
Incoming executive director Vanessa Logan’s goals include “joining the national touring circuit and expanding the group’s presence in Dallas … [as well as making TBT] a tier-one ballet company within the next 10 years. For that, the organization will have to reach an annual budget of at least $14 million.”
The Big Plans For Cambodia’s Floating Arts Center
“The arts are an integral part of the fabric of [Phnom Penh], but, most days, art isn’t a major priority for those scraping by in one of the world’s poorest countries. That’s just one reason why The Boat is so important.”