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Theatre And Critics Are Not On Opposite Sides

The artist–critic war of attrition is boring. It’s a cliché — and if there’s a common enemy that all artists and all critics should share, then cliché is that enemy. When people give me that look upon discovering that I’m a critic and I’m a director — that look that says they’re suddenly not sure where to put me, that I must be a traitor to one camp, and which one is it? — I generally laugh it off, as if to say, Yeah, crazy world isn’t it? But what I really want to tell them is that at heart, criticism and directing are the same. – New York Magazine

The 15 Biggest Art History Stories Of 2018

There were new finds of art from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Mesoamerica, as well as discoveries of art tens of thousands of years old in Indonesia and South Africa. Two stolen paintings were discovered in odd places: a de Kooning in a New Mexico bedroom and a Degas in the baggage compartment of a bus. And then there were the Michelangelo bronzes identified by their abs. — Artsy

Study: Important World Heritage Sites At Risk In Climate Change

The vast majority—47 of the World Heritage Sites studied—were found to be potentially threatened by coastal erosion or storm surges by the end of the century. Specifically, 37 of the sites were found to be at risk from a 100-year flood or storm surge, and 42 to be at risk from coastal erosion. Just two of the sites studied, Medina of Tunis and Xanthos-Letoon, were found not to be facing any risk from either of those two hazards by 2100. – Pacific Standard

Edward Gorey And Frank O’Hara Were The Lucy And Ethel Of Harvard’s Postwar Gay Underground

“Insatiable in his cultural cravings, all-embracing in his tastes, unreserved in his opinions, O’Hara was in many ways Gorey’s intellectual double, down to the fanatical balletomania. … They made a Mutt-and-Jeff pair on campus, O’Hara with his domed forehead and bent, aquiline nose, broken by a childhood bully, walking on his toes and stretching his neck to add an inch or two to his five-foot-seven height, Gorey towering over him at six two.” — Literary Hub

Creative Publications Are Being Swallowed By New Digital Publishing Realities

In one sense, “the end of Rookie represents another nail in the coffin of small, independent internet publishing. But in another sense, it is an object lesson in how voraciously creative writing is being absorbed by the online marketplace. Maintaining a publication’s integrity in that environment is an exhausting challenge.” – The New Republic

The Complicated Story Of Frankincense And Myrrh

The plant-based aromatics are known to most people through the story of the Three Magi and the Christ Child, and frankincense is known to some through the incense used in some churches, but both substances have histories that go back to pre-Christian antiquity. In fact, over the centuries, even Christianity’s relationship with the pair has been ambivalent. — Aeon

The Art And Science Of Hollywood Prosthetics (Or, How Christian Bale Was Metamorphosed Into Dick Cheney)

“Bale’s startling transformation is just the latest step forward in Hollywood for a booming prosthetics industry. For years, prosthetics were deep in the uncanny valley, making actors who wore them look not quite human, but recent advances in materials and expertise have allowed artists to create remarkable likenesses.” — The New York Times