“It is 46 years old, weighs nearly four pounds in paperback and is about as ill-suited for the internet age as they come: The book is not even available for digital readers. And yet, in certain circles, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, the 1,246-page tome by Robert Caro, has become a breakout star of the Covid-19 era.” – The New York Times
Author: Matthew Westphal
Novelist Robb Forman Dew Dead At 73
“Mrs. Dew emerged in the early 1980s as part of a group of prominent female novelists that included her friends Louise Erdrich, Anne Tyler and Nancy Thayer, a onetime neighbor in Williamstown, Mass. A master at breathing life into flawed and complex characters, she had … ‘a special gift for charting the subtle tidal flow of emotions that make up daily life.’ She was 34 when she published Dale Loves Sophie to Death (1981), which won [what is] now known as the National Book Award for a first novel.” – The Washington Post
Coming In 2022: A Virtual Reality Biennial, Curated By An AI Program
“That’s right: the chief curator of the 2022 Bucharest Biennial is Jarvis, an artificial intelligence program in development from the Vienna-based studio Spinnwerk. … Jarvis will ‘use deep learning in order to learn by itself from databases from universities, galleries, or art centers’ and select works that fit the chosen theme, Spinnwerk founder Razvan Ion [said]. … Instead of a traditional in-person exhibition, the show will take place in virtual reality, meaning that it will be accessible to anyone in the world who has access to a VR headset.” – Artnet
Minnesota State Troopers Arrest Black CNN Reporter And Crew Live On Air
“Police arrested CNN journalist Omar Jimenez and his crew on air early Friday during a live broadcast in Minneapolis, as they covered riots sparked by George Floyd’s death, sparking intense outrage as well as an apology by Minnesota governor Tim Walz to top executives at the cable-news network . CNN called the arrests a ‘violation of First Amendment rights.'” – Variety
Artists, Don’t Worry That The AI Robots Are Coming To Replace You
Ahmed Elgammal, director of the Art and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Rutgers: “Can an artificially intelligent machine be an artist in its own right? My answer is no. While the definition of art is ever-evolving, at its core it is a form of communication among humans. Without a human artist behind the machine, A.I. can do little more than play with form, whether that means manipulating pixels on a screen or notes on a musical ledger.” – The New York Times
Polish Government Fines Artists Who Protested At Parliament, Then Backs Down
Earlier this month, 11 artists from a collective called the Consortium of Postartistic Practices carried a 46-foot-long letter about 1¼ miles to the Parliament building in Warsaw as lawmakers debated whether to hold a presidential election during the COVID lockdown. The artists were subsequently fined about $2,500 for violating social distancing rules — until a public outcry led officials to reverse that decision. – The Art Newspaper
‘Deeply Disappointing’: Arts Officials Say Culture Is Being Cut In EU’s €750 Billion COVID Recovery Plan
“The European Commission announced an ambitious seven-year budget yesterday to bail out the EU’s 27 member states from the economic impact of COVID-19, but culture representatives say it fails to provide enough protection for their industry, which is one of the economic sectors that has been hardest hit by the pandemic.” In particular, the representatives say, “cuts to three programs — Erasmus+, Creative Europe, and European Solidarity Corps — send a ‘terrible message’ to the cultural, creative, and media sectors.” – Artnet
Instagram May Have Influencers, But TikTok Has Cult Leaders
“Much like the ‘stans’ of pop figures and franchises, members of TikTok cults stream songs, buy merch, create news update accounts and fervently defend their leaders in the comment sections of posts. The biggest difference is that TikTok’s cult leaders are not independently famous. They’re upstart creators building a fan base on social media.” And the biggest cult of them all is the Step Chickens, who are devoted to their “mother hen,” techie-turned-comedian Melissa Ong, who started the cult less than three weeks ago. – The New York Times
Broadway Folks Talk About How They Envision Going Back To Work
“As part of our ongoing coverage about the crisis theater faces, and the possible ways out of it, [Tim Teeman] spoke to a range of theater professionals, enduring unemployment and hoping one day to create once more: a producer, choreographer, stage manager, lighting designer, and union chief.” – The Daily Beast
How Natalia Makarova Made ‘La Bayadère’ Into A Worldwide Audience Favorite
“An icon of the stage, Makarova was beloved for her grandeur and spontaneity, the same qualities that led her, in 1970, to become the first Russian ballerina to escape the Soviets. But she had never put together a full-length ballet. The one she chose — an overhaul of the 1877 original by the great Marius Petipa, who gave the world Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty — had never been seen in the West,” writes Sarah Kaufman. Says the 79-year-old legend now, “How I had the guts to do it, I don’t know.” – The Washington Post