Turning the past into a morality play, in which grandstanding politicians and academics act as saviours, can have deleterious consequences for the way we understand it. Looking back on earlier times is a privileged and elevated position from which to view it, one that is often distorted by current preoccupations and interests. It’s easy to launch a press conference and condemn colonialism, after all; what’s harder is tackling contemporary social problems, and Macron faces and ignores many of those. It is important to guard against the simplistic and all too easily acquired feelings of superiority that we can have by surveying the past through contemporary mores, centuries later.
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When Oxford’s Library Literally Branded Dirty Books With A Scarlet Letter
Well, okay, the letter wasn’t really scarlet; it was black, but nevertheless … Beginning in 1882, when the Bodleian Library overhauled its cataloguing system, the Greek letter phi (Φ) was branded onto the spines of books deemed to be “Obscene literature in general” or “Drawings and photographs of nudes and similar subjects.” These books — which ran from an illustrated edition of Ovid’s love poetry to Joyce’s Ulysses to Madonna’s Sex to a Monty Python volume — were kept under lock and key, available only with a specific referral from a professor. The Φ system was in use until, wait for it, 2010.
Why Do People Like Sad Music? It’s The Hormones
Yes, there are the obvious reasons: it can move us or validate our own sad feelings. And the human brain produces several hormones in response to music, including dopamine and serotonin. But sad music in particular induces production of a hormone called prolactin.
As Confederate Monuments Come Down, Whom Should 21st-Century Monuments Honor?
“What should a contemporary monument look like? Who deserves to go up on a pedestal? Should there be a pedestal at all? Five artists, or groups of artists, from each of the five cities involved in New Monuments for New Cities were invited to respond to the questions and to create a poster or projection of their ideal monument. The same 25 designs will travel to each location: Houston; Austin, Tex.; Chicago; Toronto; and New York.”
An Oscars Columnist Explains Why The Oscars Still Matter
Kyle Buchanan, the New York Times‘ new Carpetbagger: “This isn’t rah-rah boosterism: These awards can frustrate and often miss the mark, but that’s why they remain so crucial. If the Oscar nominations provide a snapshot of that year in Hollywood, and Hollywood helps shape the way we see ourselves, then examining them can tell us not only where the industry is headed but also where our cultural blind spots still lie.” Exhibits A, B, and C: #OscarsSoWhite, #MeToo, and #TimesUp.
Manchester Is Using The Arts To Address Its Homelessness Crisis
“The city council’s homelessness strategy for the next five years explicitly includes a commitment to increasing access to arts … [as part of] what is described as a jigsaw of homelessness support approaches.” Says one arts executive involved, “Funding to local government to help tackle homelessness was reduced, so for the first time the city council said they couldn’t solve it on their own – and we were there to offer a solution.”
Renoir Painting Stolen From Vienna Auction House
Shortly after 5 p.m. on Monday, three men dressed in ordinary clothes entered the Dorotheum auction house, walked up to Renoir’s Golfe, mer, falaises vertes, took it out of its frame, and walked right out. Said a police spokesman, “It was very quick. Nobody noticed.”
‘Growing The Southern Theater Canon’: Alabama Shakespeare Festival Launches Major Commissioning Project
“The Alabama Shakespeare Festival will commission 22 plays in the next five years, with more than half of the commissions set to go to female playwrights and playwrights of color. Rick Dildine, the artistic director of the [festival], … emphasized that the plays will focus on ‘transformative moments in the South that caused important and lasting changes to its people, culture and land.'”
Songs Sung By Auschwitz Inmates Discovered
University of Michigan musicologist Patricia Hall was doing research in the archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum when she found handwritten arrangements of popular German songs — titles such as “The Most Beautiful Time of Life” and “Sing a Song When You’re Sad” — assembled for prisoners to perform for their SS captors.
UK Parliament To Investigate ‘Class Ceiling’ In Arts
“A parliamentary inquiry has been launched to explore the lack of working-class performers, writers and musicians in the entertainment industry. … Topics such as arts education, access to training, low and no pay and recruitment will be covered in the wide-ranging review, which has been launched in response to the idea that social inequalities and class are often forgotten in the debate around diversity.”