“We might feel overwhelmed, occasionally or often, by all the stuff that is out there — by the trove of global knowledge so vast that it would seem to defy comprehensibility, let alone comprehension. In all that, however, we are in good company with humans of prior generations.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
Will Amazon Completely Destroy Newspapers (And Main Street) With Its New Moves?
“Amazon, of course, isn’t targeting newspaper revenues. It’s targeting customers — selling more to current ones and engaging new ones. Further hits to newspaper revenue are just another unintended consequence of accelerating disruption of all business as usual. The same-day push is built on strategies long in the making. Amazon knew its day of reckoning on its sales tax exemption would come. Like all big, smart companies with legions of lawyers and lobbyists, it delayed the inevitable, and with each delay, built market strength and cash.”
Ballet At The Bar – And Other Unconventional Buildings
“Eschewing the more conventional model of producing full-length ballets in proscenium theaters, the Blankenships have instead pursued a uniquely hybrid mission of staging informal Cuban ballet exhibitions and cabaret-style shows in historic buildings that have often demanded significant repair.”
Another Classical Music Store Bites The Dust (Wait, There Still Was One Somewhere?)
“What! No more wandering up and down those creaky-floorboard aisles tucked below the high-octane din of Music Millennium’s bigger, brassier boom of sound next door? Entering Classical Millennium was – is – like tumbling into a particularly inviting rabbit hole, with rarefied attractions so exotic and alluring that you might not reemerge for hours. And when eventually you do, you’re likely to be ever so slightly, and fortuitously, changed.” But not after September, when the Portland, Ore., institution folds into its parent company.
Do We Really Want Books To Last Forever?
“If the internet is a medium of memory, what does it mean to forget a book? One of the advantages of ebooks might in fact be that they are easier to move on from, to delete, to forget, preventing us from getting bogged down in bad books and past selves.”
What Inspires Alison Bechdel, Creator Of Bestselling Graphic Novel Memoirs?
“What book had the greatest impact on you? What book made you want to write?
Harriet the Spy in both cases. As a kid I just thought it made me want to be a spy. But now I see that it’s an excruciatingly accurate depiction of the compulsion to write (and draw — Louise Fitzhugh illustrated the book herself), and the toll that this exacts on one’s life.”
Walter Pichler, 75, Austrian Architect And Artist Who Walked Away From Fame
“Pichler was a sculptor and illustrator whose works included a white, torpedo-shaped helmet with a television inside it (Portable Living Room), a rusty bed frame supporting a humanoid form divided by sheets of jagged glass, and numerous drawings and models of fantastical structures, among them floating cities and underground buildings.”
New York: Glamour, Artistic Explosions, AIDS, And Revival
“Manhattan’s compact geography, points out Pfahler, means many artistic projects begin with chance encounters. ‘No matter what neighbourhood it is, no matter what decade it is, if you walk down the street you’ll have a chance of running into someone you know.'”
Artists Need Day Jobs (No, It’s Not Surprising; Yes, It’s Hard On The Art)
“Is it possible, in the current economic climate, for someone working in the creative arts to make a living from it? Unless you have the good fortune to be a Damien Hirst or a JK Rowling, the answer increasingly seems to be no. For artists who are already faced with low job security and the absence of company benefits such as pensions or paid holidays, the impact of the global financial crisis has been keenly felt.”
Massachusetts’ Statehouse Keeps Losing Its Art. Where Has It All Gone?
“More than any other state, Massachusetts has a heritage that runs deep, from the Sons of Liberty to John Singleton Copley and a host of other American masters. But this heritage has been slowly, quietly ransacked. Over the years, countless items have disappeared — and unlike the Cod and the Charter, most have never been seen again.”