“Mary Seacole was a Jamaican-born nurse who cared for wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War in the 19th Century. … The statue was created by sculptor Martin Jennings and stands opposite the Houses of Parliament in the grounds of St Thomas’ Hospital.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Composer Suffering With Alzheimer’s Completes New String Quartet
“Alzheimer’s Masterpiece: It is a striking title for a string quartet, and not atypical of the creativity shown by Canada’s best-known living classical composer during a career that has spanned more than 60 years. But there is more than artistic significance to the name of this composition … R. Murray Schafer has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.05.16
This Week in Audience: Boston Ballet’s Dive Into Data
This week: Boston Ballet has done some serious data diving to produce a successful season at the box office … NPR is finding gold in podcasts … When news becomes unmoored from its sources, do we care? … A “young” (didn’t know it was a noun, eh?) declares what will get “youngs” to the arts … Will the machines eventually determine our tastes in art? … read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts Audience Published 2016-07-05
When communities become markets, citizens become consumers, and culture becomes an exploitable products
A couple weeks back I had the privilege to give a talk in Christchurch, NZ at an event called The Big Conversation—hosted by Creative New Zealand, the major arts funding body for the country. … read more
AJBlog: Jumper Published 2016-07-05
Injured Elvis’ Secret Tryst with Conservators: SFMOMA’s Neal Benezra Tells All
Journalists (including me) extracted only minimal information from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s press office about the “minimal” damage suffered by Warhol‘s celebrated “Triple Elvis [Ferus type],” 1963, … But Neal Benezra, the museum’s director, was more forthcoming when I caught up with him last week … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-07-05
Monday Recommendation: John Hollenbeck
John Hollenbeck Claudia Quintet, Super Petite (Cuneiform) Hollenbeck’s little band has unity of thought, purpose and execution more often found in long-lived classical ensembles than in jazz. The difference, of course, is improvisation. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-07-04
‘Dadaglobe’ — Show vs. Catalogue
Although “Dadaglobe Reconstructed”at MoMA is a magnificent project of deep-dive reclamation, the catalogue that recreates Tristan Tzara’s never-realized Dadaglobe anthology also recreates the limitations of Tzara’s original concept. … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-07-05
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Why Some Bad Ideas, Like Zombies And Kudzu, Just Won’t Die (There Are Still Flat-Earthers, For Pete’s Sake)
Yes, “the belief that the best ideas will always succeed is rather like the faith that unregulated financial markets will always produce the best economic outcomes. … But in the marketplace of ideas, zombies can actually be useful. Or if not, they can at least make us feel better. That, paradoxically, is what I think the flat-Earthers of today are really offering – comfort.”
There Is No Such Thing As A Distinct Scientific Method
James Blachowicz argues that what we think of as the scientific method is basically the same as the process by which one edits a poem or hones a philosophical argument.
Seven Ways To Find Meaning At Work (Actual Good Ideas From David Brooks)
Two professional conservatives, the New York Times Op-Ed columnist and Arthur Brooks (no relation), president of the American Enterprise Institute, offer some ideas convincing enough that the leftish Atlantic is willing to post them.
Ukrainian Opera Star Killed By Sniper In Separatist War
Baritone Vasyl Slipak, 41, “had left his native Ukraine in the 1990s to settle in France, where he regularly sang at the Paris Opera. But after war erupted in 2014, he decided to return home and join a volunteer battalion to fight Russian-backed separatists on the country’s eastern front.”
Iranian Cartoonist Who Drew Government Ministers As Goats And Monkeys Is Finally Released From Evin Prison
“When a cartoon in which [Atena Farghadani] depicted government officials as farm animals appeared on [Facebook] in 2014, it led to her receiving a prison sentence of more than 12 years. During her ordeal Farghadani was beaten, strip-searched, went on hunger strike and – despite being only 29 – suffered a heart attack.”
Gay Talese Disowns His Creepy New Book – Kinda Sorta
“I’m not going to promote this book. How dare I promote it when its credibility is down the toilet?” said the author of his soon-to-be-released The Voyeur’s Motel after being confronted with evidence that his source and subject had lied to him. Liam O’Brien observes, “Talese neatly distances himself from his own work, which defuses any pressure on him to defend his choices – except not really, because, you know, he wrote the damn thing.”
What’s Behind The Disaster At USC’s Art School?
The departure of HaeAhn Kwon, this year’s only enrolled MFA student, “a year after an entire class of seven studio art MFA students withdrew from Roski to protest curriculum changes and staff defections, is prompting new questions about USC’s commitment to the fine arts and renewed accusations that the university cares more about buzzy programs.” Carolina Miranda reports.