Author: Matthew Westphal

What’s All This Fuss We Hear About Marina Abramović Being A Satanist?

“In one of the strangest art controversies in recent memory, a group of right-wing internet users and blogs have begun targeting Marina Abramović, accusing her of being involved in a Satanist cult. She has previously denied the allegations, but the claims have continued to be levied against her, and yesterday brought news that Microsoft deleted a YouTube advertisement for a new work by her after users had targeted it. But where did the claims come from in the first place? [Here’s] a guide to the controversy’s background.” – ARTnews

There’s A Whole New World Of Coronavirus Slang Out There

If you don’t want to be a covidiot, spend some of your quatorzaine at home boning up on the new words about Miss Rona, from the Chinese tagline for social distancing to the German term for sports played in empty stadiums (and the one for the weight fans at home are putting on) to the metaphor for hoarding that a Dutch sign language interpreter came up with on the fly. – 1843 Magazine

‘Reflective Nostalgia’: Alex Ross On Grieving For His Mother With Brahms

“Bach is undoubtedly music’s supreme companion of extreme distress. … But, on the plane to D.C. that night, Bach would have been too raw, too dire. With Brahms, everything passes through layers of reflection. He is the great poet of the ambiguous, in-between, nameless emotions: ambient unease, pervasive wistfulness, bemused resignation, contained rage, ironic merriment, smiling through tears, the almost pleasurable fatigue of deep depression. In a repertory full of arrested adolescents, he is the most adult of composers.” – The New Yorker

Envisioning A New, Post-Pandemic Dance World

“In many ways, we’ll have to start from scratch. So why not learn from this moment and rebuild our community on a stronger foundation? Why not use this opportunity to enact the desires, the dreams, the radical changes that we haven’t been bold enough to voice before? Why not reevaluate the systems and structures we’ve long seen as immutable? We talked to 10 leaders from across the field about how they’d radically reimagine the dance world.” – Dance Magazine

It Takes A Lot Of Work To Cancel A Big Arts Festival

“It’s bizarre to be this busy and not presenting music,” said an official at one festival; “We’ve had to unravel a pretty huge ball of yarn while transitioning to working remotely,” said another. Not only are there the issues of contacting patrons (individually, in some cases), testing the cancellation clauses of contracts, and dealing with lost income, there are problems like airlines giving (in place of refunds) travel credits to the ticket holder, not the festival who paid for the ticket. – The Post and Courier (Charleston)

How A Public Radio Station Raised $1 Million In 13 Hours With A Pandemic Pledge Drive

“[WBUR in Boston] had planned to return to a full eight-day campaign in 2020, after doing a marathon-themed 26.2-hour version for the past few years. … Months of planning for the original drive, however, went out the window when the coronavirus [hit].” Here’s what CEO Margaret Low (who had been in the job for less than three months) and the WBUR staff did instead. – Nieman Lab

Actor Brian Dennehy, 81

“Standing 6-foot-3, Mr. Dennehy had a booming voice and an often intimidating screen presence. … [He] was celebrated for his work as a character actor in Hollywood and on television, where he earned six Emmy nominations. But he received even greater acclaim for his performances on the stage, starring in revivals of classic plays including O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo,” as well as the two productions for which he won Tony Awards, Miller’s Death of a Salesman and O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night. “‘If it doesn’t scare me,’ he once said of theatrical roles, ‘I’m not interested.'” – The Washington Post

The Sacred, 370-Year-Old Kabuki In This Japanese Village May Fade Away For Lack Of Villagers To Perform It

Every year since the mid-17th century, when a freak snowstorm stopped the shogun’s enforcer and saved them from a death sentence, the people of the mountain hamlet of Damine have performed a kabuki play to honor the goddess of mercy. They’ve never missed a year, not even during World War II. But, as with so much of rural Japan, all but the oldest people are gradually abandoning Damine for cities with better jobs. – The New York Times

What Are The Thieves Who Stole That Van Gogh Going To Do With It?

Earlier this month, with the Netherlands under COVID lockdown, raiders broke into a small museum and took van Gogh’s Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring. Writer Daniel Dumas talks to two experts in the recovery of stolen art about where the painting might be now, how and where they might try to sell it, who likely buyers might be, and how art thieves get caught. – Esquire