While demand for contemporary art from Africa is growing in the developed world, “the continent itself, with its reputation as a relatively high-risk business environment with a still nascent domestic collector base, remains unexplored by many international galleries. Is that changing? Yes, but slowly.” – The Art Newspaper
Author: Matthew Westphal
Bibi Ferreira, Brazilian Theatre’s Grande Dame, Dead At 96
“Ms. Ferreira, who sang in English, French and Spanish as well as in Portuguese, began acting when she was a child and continued performing well into her 90s … Her voice was powerful and protean, capable of making material identified with artists like Édith Piaf and Frank Sinatra entirely her own.” And she made history as Brazil’s first Eliza Doolittle and Dolly Levi. – The New York Times
Forget Living Your Best Life — Here’s An Argument For Living The Good-Enough Life
Western philosophers from Aristotle to Kant to Marx to Ayn Rand (okay, bear with us here) may have differed on what constitutes greatness, but all of them held it as an ideal. Avram Albert argues for a different goal, one espoused by Buddhist thinkers and Romantics (and which we might call the Lake Wobegon ideal): good enough. And even that is difficult. – The New York Times
J.P. Morgan’s Fixer-Upper: Conserving His Library, “A Building Unlike Any Other in New York”
Having reviewed the Morgan Library & Museum’s extensive 2010 renovation, I didn’t expect to be writing about another major Morgan re-do any time soon. – Lee Rosenbaum
Google Translate Is Actually Wittgenstein In Action
“Google employees have previously acknowledged that Wittgenstein’s theories gave them a breakthrough in making their translation services more effective, but somehow, this key connection between philosophy of language and artificial intelligence has long gone under-celebrated and overlooked.” Here’s an explanation. – Quartz
‘Be More Chill’ And The Family That’s Been With It All Along
The sleeper-hit musical’s composer and lyricist, Joe Iconis, has kept around him a group of performers (who call themselves the Family) who’ve all been waiting for their big breaks together — and now that Iconis’s show is taking off, he’s keeping Family members on board, resisting every request to replace one of them with, say, a TV star. – The New York Times
Louisville Orchestra Names Its Next CEO
Robert Massey comes to Louisville from the Jacksonville Symphony and previously held executive positions at Orchestra Iowa and the Washington Bach Consort. – Insider Louisville
Watching Two New York City Ballet Dancers Get Ready To Star In ‘Sleeping Beauty’ For The First Time
Anthony Huxley (the Prince): “For me [the difficult thing] always is the acting and being a presence onstage … because I’m not a natural projector with my face.”
Indiana Woodward (Aurora): “The suitors are all rooting for you. They’re all like [whispers]: ‘You can do it. You can do it.’ I’m like, ‘Help.'” – The New York Times
How Barber’s ‘Adagio For Strings’ Went From National Mourning Music To Dance Club Hit
It was played at the funerals of Einstein and FDR; TV and radio stations played it after JFK was shot; it’s been used to signify sadness in numerous films; orchestras added it to their concerts after 9/11. Then the electronica DJs got hold of it, and the remixes went over surprisingly well on the dance floor. – NPR
At Home With Jasper Johns
“He has been one of the primary architects of the contemporary art world, and has also opted out of its social trappings entirely. For decades, he has divided his time between quiet towns along the East Coast and a remote retreat designed by Philip Johnson in St. Martin. Now, he rarely leaves Connecticut. The curator John Elderfield has called him ‘the hermit of Sharon.'” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine