In an essay that makes actual sense of phrases like “the ethics of awesomeness” and “[the] existential disposition to suck,” philosopher Nick Riggle explains why being awesome doesn’t simply mean excellence and someone or something isn’t merely bad when it sucks.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Now You Can Buy Art With Your Venti Latte At Starbucks
“Starbucks has started selling art from a new coffee bar in Chelsea, amid some of the biggest galleries in New York. The Fortune 500 company opened a branch in the neighbourhood in late November with an exhibition of paintings and drawings by the young US artist Robert Otto Epstein, each of which was on sale for between $1,000 and $3,000.”
In Defence Of Pretentiousness
“Pretentiousness is always someone else’s crime. It’s never a felony in the first person. … The pretentious flaws of others affirm your own intellectual or aesthetic expertise. Simultaneously, their fakery highlights the contours of your down-to-earth character and virtuous ordinariness. … It is axiomatic that pretentiousness makes no one look good. But pretension is measured using prejudiced metrics.”
‘The Only Thing We Know Is That We Have No Clue’: Eight Oscar Nominees On Awards Season
“From an upstart ingenue like Alicia Vikander, tapped for Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl, to a veteran producer like Steve Golin, who has two films (Spotlight and The Revenant) competing for Best Picture; from a writer like Andrea Berloff, who co-scripted the unexpected blockbuster Straight Outta Compton, to documentary director Liz Garbus, nominated for her defiant and heartbreaking What Happened, Miss Simone?, all the assembled were equally eager to share their insights about the craziness (and necessity) of Oscar campaigning.”
Ballerina Violette Verdy, 82
“Prized for her vivacious charm, instinctive musicality and sparkling, light-footed technique, Miss Verdy danced in the works of more than 50 choreographers. But she is most closely linked with George Balanchine, with whom she worked from 1958 to 1976, in the heyday of his New York City Ballet.”
Long Island Philharmonic Shuts Down, Effective Immediately
“The Island’s longest continuously operated performing arts institution … suspended its subscription concert season more than five years ago due to financial shortfalls. It shut down after a failure to reach an agreement to renegotiate terms of a loan that would allow the Philharmonic to continue paying its freelance musicians and skeleton staff.”
Tulsa Opera Hires Back CEO Seven Months After He Left
Gregory Weber was first hired as the company’s general manager in the fall of 2014; he left the following June for an executive job at Michigan State University’s arts center. Now Oklahoma has lured him back with a newly created position, general director and CEO.
Staging A Comeback: How The Nonprofit Arts Sector Has Evolved Since The Great Recession
“Our purpose here is to consider preexisting conditions that made the arts sector particularly vulnerable to the recession, as well as to evaluate actions taken by arts leaders – first to stabilize their organizations, then to experiment with new approaches to delivering their missions.”
Midgette: How Touring Puts Orchestras On The Map – Even With A Lame-Duck Leader
“Tours … are morale-boosters for an orchestra, building a sense of solidarity … and bringing the group in front of new audiences – something more important than ever, since there are fewer opportunities for an orchestra to be heard in today’s uneven recording landscape. … They’re also hugely expensive – and more popular than ever.”
Reviving Alwin Nikolais, The First Multimedia Master Of 20th-Century Dance
“Before Pilobolus, before Momix, before Mummenschantz, there was Alwin Nikolais, … [who] created shape-shifting, otherworldly visual wonders through original experiments with bodies, space, light and sound, and his work was hugely popular and influential from the 1950s until the 1990s. Today, however, it’s not well known to general audiences.”