Is it working? Yes, but in a different way than they’d hoped – one artistic director says, “It’s really instructive and inspiring to have regular contact with my colleagues, and that’s sharpening our artistic processes and our work” – and without nearly as much money as they’d wanted.
Author: ArtsJournal2
Making Art Out Of Cowhide
South African artist Nandipha Mntambo “started college studying forensic pathology. (As a 10-year-old, she and her family came home after dinner one evening to find their dogs had been killed by a stalker, and she said she believed that was where her interest in death began.) But she soon realized it was not the career for her.”
Wait, Why Are Americans Eligible For The Man Booker Prize, Again?
It makes no sense, says novelist Tibor Fischer, and it hurts British writers. “British writers aren’t eligible for the big American awards. The stipulation that American writers have to be published in the UK doesn’t help much as, by definition, the strongest and most successful American authors are the ones that cross over.”
Billboard Will Stop Letting YouTube Weigh So Heavily In Rankings
Why? Someone was gaming the system, of course: “On Monday, word spread that Post Malone’s ‘Rockstar’ hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Three years ago Billboard decided to take YouTube plays into account for its Hot 100 ranking system and, through that technicality, a sneaky video of the song’s chorus on repeat with over 40 million views helped push ‘Rockstar’ to No. 1.”
Without The Humanities, Preparing For Endless War, Or Endless Work, Whichever
Marilynne Robinson: “There is an impulse behind the recent assaults on great institutions that is historically expressed as social engineering. The ideal worker will not have a head full of poetry, say the neo-Benthamites. It is assumed, of course, that he or she will be potentially omnicompetent in service to the ever-changing needs and demands of the new economy—highly trained, that is, to acquire some undescribed skill set that will be proof against obsolescence. We await particulars. But the object is clear — to create a virtual army out of the general population who will compete successfully against whomever for whatever into an endless future, at profound cost to themselves.”
Norman Rockwell’s Children Sue Berkshire Museum To Stop The Sale Of Their Father’s Art
The plaintiffs argue that the controversial plan – much derided in the art world, but seeming to steamroll ahead – “would violate the statute that established the museum, which requires it to maintain any gifts it receives for ‘the people of Berkshire County and the general public.'” Besides, they say, the museum doesn’t need the money.
Thirty-Eight Women Come Forward To Accuse Director James Toback Of Sexual Abuse
The stories are consistent, and consistently horrifying: “He prowled the streets of Manhattan looking for attractive young women, usually in their early 20s, sometimes college students, on occasion a high schooler. He approached them in Central Park, standing in line at a bank or drug store or at a copy center while they worked on their resumes.”
Welcome To The Catalan Republic – At Least In Its Theatre Of The Street Version
The Catalan independence movement garnered plenty of media attention when Spanish federal forces cracked down on a vote. But none of this was entirely new: “Since 2012, the Assemblea Nacional de Catalunya (ANC) and other independence activists have been staging large-scale, theatrical protests to garner internal and external support. Through these organizations, repertoires of theatricalized protests have developed on Barcelona’s streets seeking to shine the spotlight on the merits of Catalan independence.”
The Lie That George Bernard Buried A Century Ago
Poverty is not a moral flaw, as anyone can see from Pygmalion, but that lie is like a vampire – it’s undead, and returning now, a century later. Perhaps it’s time to read Bernard Shaw again (and not just watch My Fair Lady).
Learning From Ken Kesey And Other Literary ‘Misfits’
Lidia Yuknavitch: “If he had not whispered into my ear the words that he did the first time I met him, ‘I know what happened to you. Death’s a motherfucker,’ bonding us in a single second with two dead children between us, my beautiful tiny girl infant and his beautifully strong wrestler son, second selves, hovering between our bodies, I don’t know if I would have trusted anyone or anything in the world again.”