“The total number of visits to [German] museums and exhibition halls was 112 million, about 2.5 million fewer than in 2015. The number of visits to art museums declined by 7.4%, while natural science museums reported an increase of 4.1%.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Pop-Up Theatre From The Calais Refugee Camp Is Popping Up Again In Paris
“When the tent in Calais that housed the Good Chance Theatre came down in the spring of last year, as the refugee camp known as ‘the Jungle’ was cleared, the two 25-year-old British playwrights who set it up pledged that the story would not finish there.” And they’re as good as their word.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 12.18.17
What have you LEARNED from 2017?
No doubt you have worked hard. You have challenged your creativity, stretched every penny, and exhausted every option. Good job! So, in these last two weeks of this year, how about taking a moment to … read more
AJBlog: Audience Wanted Published 2017-12-18
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Boeuf
We have so many ways nowadays to discover how boeuf en daube is pronounced without having to tap a French shoulder, human or beef. Raise your hands, readers, if you know what novel lists this dish as an ingredient. … read more
AJBlog: Out There Published 2017-12-18
Touched by a Virtual Hand
Charles Atlas, Rashaun Mitchell, and Silas Riener collaborate on a video/live performance. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-12-18
Kevin Mahagony RIP
The singer Kevin Mahagony has died at the age of 59. As The Kansas City Star’s Timothy Finn reported today, Mahagony had only recently returned to his hometown. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-12-18
‘Youthquake’ Is Oxford Dictionaries’ 2017 Word Of The Year
The term isn’t actually new – Diana Vreeland coined it for Vogue in the 1960s – but use of it quintupled over the previous year. Other (newer) words in this year’s shortlist included “antifa”, “kompromat”, and “broflake”.
The Eccentric (Okay, Bizarre) Architecture Of Queens
Says Rafael Herrin-Ferri, who has been photographing the houses of the New York City borough for five years, “I have always been interested in houses and was impressed by how idiosyncratic – and unorthodox – the low-rise housing stock is. They express the personal preferences and cultural backgrounds of their owners without much regard for what is ‘correct,’ marketable, or fashionable.”
Welcome To The Molly House: The Gay Bars Of Georgian England
“In 1709, the London journalist Ned Ward published an account of a group he called ‘the Mollies Club.’ Visible through the homophobic bile (he describes the members as a ‘Gang of Sodomitical Wretches’) is the clear image of a social club that sounds, most of all, like a really good time. Every evening of the week, Ward wrote, at a pub he would not mention by name, a group of men came together to gossip and tell stories, probably laughing like drains as they did so, and occasionally succumbing to ‘the Delights of the Bottle.'”
Smellscapes: Mapping A City By Its Scents
Smellmaps, developed by English artist Kate McLean, “can come in handy for people interested in new ways of exploring both the cities they live in and the ones they visit. So far, McLean has led small armies of urban explorers on ‘smellwalks’ around 12 other cities, including New York, Singapore, Barcelona, and Kiev.”
Orchestra Mashes Up Beethoven And Kanye West
Time magazine spoke to Johan and Yuga Cohler, creators of Yeethoven and Yeethoven II, “about their process of piecing together the perfect orchestral mash-up, how a ‘risky project’ like this one can help popularize classical music and why Kanye makes a great case study as an artist with unexpectedly broad appeal.”
A Requiem For The Victims Of The Khmer Rouge, Created By Survivors
Reporter Joshua Barone meets Rithy Panh and Kim Sophy, the director and composer of Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia, which uses both Western and Cambodian instruments as well as traditional smot singing in a memorial for the two million people – and the huge parts of Cambodian culture – wiped out by Pol Pot’s dictatorship in the late 1970s.
After #MeToo, What Next For Theaters And Actors?
“To fix a broken system is a daunting challenge. But many individuals and institutions around the country have been stepping up to the plate to do just that, in big and small ways.”