Otto Neurath’s “system of reductive images, which portrayed people through the use of clichéd characteristics (laborers holding hammers, office workers at typewriters, farmers with hoes), were so easy to recognize that words were superfluous.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
Cost Per Seat? $390,000: Bolshoi Reopens Amid Fraud Investigation
“Gold leaf has been meticulously layered on carved mouldings and light fixtures glisten. Seats have been re-covered in plush red velour. … But the project is years overdue and so far over budget no knows for sure how much it will end up costing.”
We Get The Movies We Deserve – Especially If They’re ‘Conspiratorial Bunk’
“Professors of Shakespeare — and I was one once upon a time — are blissfully unaware of the impending disaster that this film means for their professional lives. Thanks to ‘Anonymous,’ undergraduates will be confidently asserting that Shakespeare wasn’t Shakespeare for the next 10 years at least, and profs will have to waste countless hours explaining the obvious.”
The Art Of The Sesame Street Celebrity Performance
Lena Horne, Stevie Wonder, Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts – the history (and present) of “Sesame Street” thrives on celebrity guests interacting with the show’s fuzzy cast of characters.
Freedom Of Speech’s Best Year Ever?
“Nostalgia is a temptress who sometimes persuades us that our once-good world is racing for hell, but in terms of free speech, things are looking up.”
Sleeping Around With Great Artists – And A Camera Or Two
Museums now try to stake a claim for all hours of the day, including the ones where you’re sleeping. Sleeping on the floor, that is, in the museums themselves.
Who Will Control The Future? The Big Four Start Their (Tech) Engines
Who’s going to win all of our info – Google, Facebook, Amazon or Apple? Farhad Manjoo says, “The four American companies that have come to define 21st-century information technology and entertainment are on the verge of war.”
Ugly Characters Need (Publishers’ And Readers’) Love, Too
Lionel Shriver (“We Need to Talk About Kevin”): “Do we always want to read about characters who conform to current political conventions–who don’t smoke, never say anything bigoted, and always recycle their yogurt pots?”
Can A Company Recover From The Loss Of Its Star? Morphoses Says Maybe
Big-name artistic director Christopher Wheeldon took off after a public spat. Now dance company Morphoses is reconfiguring just about everything in order to adapt and survive.
We’re Celebrating Liszt. Was He Good Enough For That?
Liszt was “an unrivaled performer (‘A god for pianists’ in Berlioz’s words), a man of unusually catholic artistic interests and the 19th century’s nearest approach to a Hollywood superstar. But although he is surely significant enough to celebrate, the question whether his music is actually any good has never really gone away.”