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Turkey’s Case To The EU: Our Culture

Turkey is trying to join the European Union. How to get member countries to vote yes on admittance? Through traveling shows of Turkish culture. “Before Europeans hold referendums on whether to admit Turkey, they must better know a people whose popular image is still largely shaped by the clichés of warriors, harems and immigrants. Certainly, few Europeans today recognize Turkey as a modern secular state with a rich and sophisticated past. So, yes, if “Turks” travels around Europe, as proposed, it should prove something of a revelation.”

Is There Still A Role For Art Criticism?

Get a group of critics together today and they’re as likely to talk about the sad shape of criticism as they are about art. “The arguments today are no longer over whether one view of art is better than any other. Rather, the argument has turned on what should be the most ‘appropriate’ relationship between a writer, his writing and the work of art. Instead of a discussion about the desirable future of art and culture, we’re presented with the cautious ethics of the responsible critic.”

The Oscar-Nominated Films The Rest Of The World Hasn’t Seen

Why does it often take so long for Oscar-nominated movies to play in countries outside the US? “The delay between US release and the rest of the world is often to the frustration of movie buffs keen to see the latest films before Oscar nominations are revealed. But it is the tactics adopted during the fierce competition of film festival season that determine when and where a movie will make its mark. The studios vying for cinema’s most prestigious prize know that when it comes to taking home the goods, timing is everything.”

Critics Just Wanna Be Liked?

“I often get letters from readers of the Sunday Telegraph literary pages complaining about misleading book reviews. Usually they say that a book they’ve bought on the strength of a favourable review was nothing like as good as our critic had made out. I have some sympathy for this, as reviewers on the whole want to be loved, like everyone else, and are rarely as harsh in print as they could be.”

A Machine That Learns By Reading

“Narrowing that cognitive gap between humans and machines — creating a computer that can read and learn at a sophisticated level — is a big goal of artificial intelligence researchers. The Pentagon has granted a contract worth at least $400,000 last fall to two Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professors who are trying to build a machine that can learn by reading. The academics hope to create a machine that can read sections of textbooks and answer questions based on the material. Down the road, professor Selmer Bringsjord believes such artificial intelligence, or A.I., machines might be able to read military plans or manuals and adjust on the fly in the heat of battle.”

The Language Of Music (Forget The Mechanics)

Today, however, the teaching of music—even at the great conservatories—is often a more mechanical affair. The problem, Bob Abramson says, lies in what these students have been taught about what matters musically—not experimentation, but repetition; not invention, but perfection. His students come to Juilliard knowing how to decode the symbols of music but not knowing how to infuse them with meaning. “We teach reading without literacy,” he says.

The Death Of Niche Theatre?

Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Outward Spiral Theater Company is Minnesota’s “longest-lived theater company dedicated to telling the stories of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender America.” But the company has suspended operations. What’s led to the crisis? “The very idea of gay theater has become – if you’ll pardon the expression – kind of a queer one”, writes Dominic Papatola. Why? Because niche theatre like this has been absorbed into the mainstream. Perhaps there is no longer a place for theatre with an issue-based focus…