“A half-mile apart on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, two buildings claim to be putting on theater for the PUBLIC, using boldfaced font to advertise their mission. … The Public Theater, which opened its first show in the 1960s, claims that the Public hotel [which has a performance space] is essentially siphoning off its business by riding on its theatrical coattails.” – The New York Times
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Met Museum Gets Major Gift Of Colonial South American Art
“It was either a dream come true or a prank: a man living in São Paulo with no previous relationship with Metropolitan Museum of Art cold-called the New York institution one day in 2017 and said he wanted to donate some of his paintings. And not just any paintings, but Spanish colonial works, a category that the Met publicly said it wanted to build up. It was not a prank, and in early March, the museum will unveil the gift from James Kung Wei Li — ten 17th- and 18th-century works from Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, in a gallery in the American Wing called Art of the Colonial Andes.” – The Art Newspaper
Peter Martins Is Retired From New York City Ballet, But He Won’t Go Away
“More than a year after he left amid allegations of sexual harassment and physical and verbal abuse, he continues to make his presence felt in ways both big and small — including by ordering last-minute cast changes in performances of his ballets and showing up backstage after a show,” much to some dancers’ discomfort. – The New York Times
Michael Jackson Estate Sues HBO Over ‘Leaving Neverland’ Documentary
“On Thursday, Optimum Productions and the two co-executors of the Jackson estate sued HBO and parent company Time Warner claiming the documentary constitutes a breach of a non-disparagement clause in an old contract.” – The Hollywood Reporter
How I Reconcile Being A Committed Muslim And A Committed Dancer
Hala Shah: “Growing up, I never saw a problem with my dancing and neither did my Muslim-Egyptian dad or my non-Muslim, American mom. … When I married my Pakistani husband, who comes from a more conservative approach to Islam, I suddenly encountered perceptions of dance that made me question everything: Is it okay to expose a lot of skin? Is it wrong to dance with other men? Is dance inherently sexual? What guidelines come from our holy book, the Quran, and what are cultural views that have become entwined in Islam?” – Dance Magazine
Plan For Jane Austen Statue At Winchester Cathedral Dropped After Public Objects
“The cathedral had commissioned the sculptor Martin Jennings to create a statue of Austen for its inner close … [But] residents and local groups submitted ‘a barrage of criticism’ in response to the plans. ‘There is a strong body of opinion that rejects the idea of another Jane Austen statue anywhere, or any statue at all in the cathedral close,’ wrote one resident.” – The Guardian
Eduardo Chillida’s Sculpture Park In Spain To Reopen For First Time Since Financial Crisis
“Chillida Leku, the private museum and sculpture park devoted to the work of the Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002) in the Basque countryside, will reopen fully to visitors on 17 April.” Since 2011, it had been only by appointment. – The Art Newspaper
In The 1930s, The Hammond Organ Took America By Storm, Setting A New Standard
The Federal Trade Commission held an entire hearing in 1937 to evaluate the Hammond’s sonority. The Commission sought to determine whether a series of advertising claims about the Hammond’s timbre were “deceptive, misleading and false.” Though many of the hearing’s participants believed their testimony would go down in history as an important reckoning of what constituted “real” and “good” musical sound, the affair is largely forgotten today. What the hearing does offer is an unusually detailed record of contemporaneous arguments over the quality and value of a new electronic sound. – New Music Box
Reasons To Care About The Bauhaus 100 Years On
“If you like airy, light-filled buildings, functional furniture, elegant, affordable design, sans-serif typography and clean-lined graphic design, you care about the Bauhaus. Equally, if you hate boxy, flat-roofed buildings, relentless standardization, the death of curves, ornament, the ironing out of cultural differences and overly rational planning, you care about the Bauhaus.” – Washington Post
The Case Against The Obama Presidential Library
In the Obama center case, foes of the $500 million plan have centered their objections around the site location—a perch in an historic park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1871. Almost no one objects to the Obama Presidential Center coming to Chicago’s South Side, but some feel that it hoovers up an existing community asset instead of creating a new one. The question has lingered over the project since its introduction near the end of the president’s tenure in 2015. – CityLab