Of the world’s 6000 languages, half are in linguistic collapse. A new film records their music. “The musical landscape is sometimes gentle, sometimes aggressive, but it always keeps our attention on the rich, incomprehensible, often overlapping chorus of words.” – The New York Times
Author: ArtsJournal2
A Massive Sculpture Of An African American Last Supper Was Hidden Behind Drywall Until A Theatre Moved In
The Studio Acting Conservancy was just starting demolition work at a former church that will be its new home in Washington, D.C.’s Columbia Heights when the crew boss called the theatre’s founder, Joy Zinoman, to tell her about a discovery, “an enormous frieze of the Last Supper that was hidden behind drywall for more than a decade.” And now there’s a bit of a problem: “Acting studios are supposed to be bare.” – Washingtonian
What’s The Difference Between Self-Confidence And Narcissism?
In the 1990s, teens were learned things that turned out not to be true. “Self-esteem would keep us from doing drugs, teachers told us; self-esteem would keep us from having premarital sex. (The first time I had sex with a confident stoner, I was very confused.)” But what is self-esteem? And how is it different from narcissism? – The Atlantic
Performance Artist Carlos Celdran Has Died In Exile At 46
Celdran was arrested and convicted in the Philippines for a dramatic performance protest, and he fled to Spain to escape his sentence. Celdran, who led walking tours all over Manila that he turned into plays, “had a charm that appealed as much to people in Manila’s glitzy hotels as to people in the slums, where his friends included cigarette vendors and drivers of the horse-drawn carts that plied the tourist neighborhoods.” – The New York Times
A Slate Of Recent Films Offers New Portrayals Of Asian, Not Tiger, Mothers
Films like Always Be my Maybe, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Farewell, and Searching create new images for larger mass consumption. “In these complex films, Asian American mothers are transmitters of domesticity, culture, and care, and their tragic deaths leave behind relatives who are struggling to find themselves in their absence. It’s a new and different kind of familial negotiation for Asian American families. On many shows, including All American Girl and Fresh off the Boat, Asian mothers are immigrants whose accents and domineering personalities are played for comedic relief.” – Bitch
The Hong Kong Protesters Are Making Excellent Use Of Instagram-Ready Art
What defines the protests in the public’s memory might just be the art, including statues likening protesters to the Statue of Liberty and pop-art posters of Chinese officials and the city’s leader, Carrie Lam. “Street art and graphic design are defining features of the pro-democracy demonstrations that have roiled the semiautonomous Chinese territory since June. Artists often work quickly and anonymously, and present their oeuvres either in Reddit-like internet forums or public places with heavy foot traffic.” – The New York Times
Students At A U.S. University Burn A Campus Speaker’s Book
One student recorded the burning of author Jennine Capó Crucet’s novel, which Georgia Southern had chosen as a campus read: “These people decide to burn her book because ‘it’s bad and that race is bad to talk about,'” she tweeted. Other outlets reported that “a group of apparently angry students had gathered outside” the author’s original hotel, so the college moved her to a different one. (The college’s response has been, shall we say, a bit tepid.) – Remezcla
The Messy, Textural, ‘Suitable For Ladies’ Medium Of Pastel
Hilariously to anyone who’s ever worked in, or anywhere near, pastels, “There’s one theorist who said it was better for women to use because they wouldn’t soil their fair hands the way that they would with oil paint.” – NPR
When A Star Stares Right Back
Why did The Washington Post reviewer (and the now-infamous headline writer) have such a hard time dealing with singer Debbie Harry’s memoir? Perhaps because “she always comes off as tough and matter-of-fact and New York–y,” and the Post reviewer wanted a lot more. – The Atlantic
The New Movie Tech Of Making Will Smith Look Like He’s A Quarter-Century Younger
Apparently this is, or was, a new process; “Digital humans have been put into shots before, but, according to Guy Williams, a visual effects supervisor at Weta who is quoted in the film’s press notes, ‘this is the first time where one of the leading characters of the film is a totally recognizable human.'” The details are new, but the fountain of youth for established actors isn’t (think, if you will, of Samuel Jackson’s Nick Fury and Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson in the set-in-the-early-1990s Captain Marvel). Will Smith’s digitally ageless baby face might be a harbinger of many, many movies to come. – The New York Times