Does any of this seem like a good idea right now? “The scheme is set to bring a 12,500-seat arena, 300-room hotel and three vast exhibition halls to the 10-acre waterside site, along with shops and restaurants, all packed inside a crumpled mishmash of competing structures. It looks like the compromised result of design-by-committee, employing a plethora of materials and awkward angles in a vain attempt to break up the lumpen mass. Public reaction has been caustic.” – The Guardian (UK)
Author: ArtsJournal2
A New PBS Series Is (Depressingly) Relevant Right Now
Actor Daniel Dae Kim, one of the first celebrities (after Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson) to reveal that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, is one of the narrators for a new series that chronicles the centuries-long history of Asian Americans in North America. Kim: “What will it take for us to be considered American? I think that’s a central question of this documentary, as you see even today elderly Asian-Americans being beaten and taunted in the midst of this virus.” – The New York Times
Museums In Europe Reopen Slowly, Cautiously, And With Both Joy And Fear
This is the way it’s working in Germany and (soon) Belgium: “How are art museums to reopen without endangering staff and visitors? Cimam, the international committee for museums and collections, has already laid out some unarguably rational rules. Timed entry, limited viewing slots, one-way systems. Online booking, plexiglass barriers, face masks and hand gel. No paper, no maps, no headphones; obviously no group tours.” – The Guardian (UK)
TV Advertising Pitches Run Into A Few Dense Coronavirus-Related Roadblocks
This is when networks usually spend millions of dollars for a live show to gain billions of dollars in advertising for the upcoming year. “Advertising has long served as a media-industry lifeline. This year, with the pandemic forcing the closure of the big media companies’ other lines of business – it will be even more critical.” But no one knows how it will work. – Variety
Satish Gujral, Indian Painter, Sculptor, And Architect, 94
Gujral studied with Diego Rivera and David Siquieros, recorded the pain of 1947’s Partition, and designed the Belgian Embassy in New Delhi – among his many, many, many other accomplishments. – The New York Times
Starring The Mothers Of Movies In A 14-Hour Showpiece
The herstory is real: “This is not about slamming the patriarchy, but a joyous trip through women’s work on screen, puckishly curated into 40 chapters on different themes including openings, interiority, meet cutes, sci-fi, tone, love, death, editing and musicals. The clips cover six continents, 13 decades and 183 directors.” – The Guardian (UK)
With No Live-Action Filming, Animated Production Continues During Lockdown
Animation studios, like the one that produces (all parents and grandparents may now groan) Paw Patrol, are still going full force – from home studios. It’s not always simple: “the biggest challenge has been keeping the sense of collaboration that’s critical to the art of cartooning alive.” – CBC
Just Read. In Quantity. Any Book.
Seriously, the lists stopped mattering around the second, or was it third, or fourth? week of quarantine. “Our rapid shift from laser-focused self-improvement to read-all-the-things omnivorousness is a welcome reminder of something that’s long been true of modern civilization: All reading is quarantine reading.” – The Washington Post
The Theatre Is Empty, But On Its Abandoned Set, A New Show Is Going On
An art installation called Caretaker will run on the Royal Court’s stage until the theatre reopens. The show “is a livestream of the theatre’s uninhabited main stage, with intermittently broadcast ‘witty, playful and supportive audio messages’ accompanying the Shoe Lady set.” – The Guardian (UK)
The Ballerinas Raising Money For Other Dancers
The video, conceived of by Misty Copeland and another ABT dancer, stars 32 ballerinas from 14 different countries and is meant to raise money for dancers who depend on performance income to cover basic necessities like rent and food, and are now struggling financially as dance companies close their doors because of the pandemic.” – CNN