“Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei called an appeal hearing against a tax fine unfair after police warned him to stay away and blocked journalists from approaching the cramped court room which only had five seats.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Britain’s National Theatre Postpones New Count Of Monte Cristo Indefinitely
“Richard Bean’s first new play since One Man, Two Guvnors has been indefinitely postponed by the National Theatre ‘to give the project some more development time’. The Count of Monte Cristo, Bean’s family-friendly adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s swashbuckling novel, had been scheduled to run in the National’s largest theatre, the Olivier, over the crucial Christmas period.”
Revisiting The Soviet Union’s First Great Photographer (Just Let’s Not Talk About Communism, Okay?)
The Russian curators of a touring exhibition of Alexander Rodchenko’s photographs documenting the early years of Soviet society insisted that no mention of Communism be made in the show’s materials. “Yet Communism, both as a utopian ideal and as a despotism, intermediated Rodchenko’s career. Can you discuss the art of Michelangelo without mentioning Christianity?”
Merge: Noam Chomsky On The Cognitive Function That Made Language Evolve
“You got an operation that enables you to take mental objects [or concepts of some sort], already constructed, and make bigger mental objects out of them. That’s Merge. As soon as you have that, you have an infinite variety of hierarchically structured expressions [and thoughts] available to you … a second-order theory of mind, so you know that somebody is trying to make you think what somebody else wants you to think.”
Joffrey Ballet Increases Roster To 45 Dancers
“Good news for the Joffrey Ballet. The company is expanding its roster of dancers to 45. The three new company members have widely diverse backgrounds” – there’s a woman from the southern US who apprenticed in Orlando, a Japanese man who studied at Britain’s Royal Ballet School, and a French male graduate of the Paris Opera Ballet’s academy.
Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago Drops The ‘Jazz’
Nan Giordano, artistic director of the company now called Giordano Dance Chicago (and daughter of the troupe’s founder): “We’ve grown into a repertory company. Our mission has always been to take audiences on a journey we call jazz dance. But I don’t think that means we necessarily have to perform to jazz music.”
Once-Promising DC-Area Arts Center Swamped By $56M Debt
A decade ago, Fairfax County, Virginia had dazzling plans for the Workhouse Arts Center, housed in a former prison in Lorton. But with the first phase of construction completed one year ago and operations underway, the center is carrying a $56 million debt load, and management is scrambling to change offerings and business models to keep the enterprise from collapsing.
Margaret – Kenneth Lonergan’s Thwarted Movie Masterpiece?
“After You Can Count on Me, Lonergan made what may be the best film of the decade.” (So legend has it.) “So why did you never get to see it?” (Just about nobody did.)
Musicians’ Union Tries To Get EU To Make Airlines Accept Instruments
“Musicians across the globe have launched a petition demanding European legislation be updated to ensure fair treatment for performers travelling on planes with their instruments. The International Federation of Musicians (FIM) has launched the petition.”
There’s A Place Where People Still Flock To Bookstores – France
“The French, as usual, insist on being different. As independent bookstores crash and burn in the United States and Britain, the book market in France is doing just fine. France boasts 2,500 bookstores, and for every neighborhood bookstore that closes, another seems to open.”