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Using The Arts To Help Rebuild Mosul, Ravaged By Three Years Under ISIS

The Iraqi city was the largest one that the violent extremist group conquered, and while it was liberated last year, there is still wreckage (physical and psychic) everywhere. Late last month, a group from the Iraqi National Symphony organized an orchestral concert in Mosul, and the city is hosting more cultural events as well — not least to get attention from international donors who could fund reconstruction.

Using Music To Help Rebuild Mosul, Ravaged By Three Years Under ISIS

The Iraqi city was the largest one that the violent extremist group conquered, and while it was liberated last year, there is still wreckage (physical and psychic) everywhere. Late last month, a group from the Iraqi National Symphony organized an orchestral concert in Mosul, and the city is hosting more cultural events as well — not least to get attention from international donors who could fund reconstruction.

‘I Never Stole Or Embezzled Anything’: First Day Of Director Kirill Serebrennikov’s Trial In Moscow

“The artistic director of the Gogol Centre theatre said he did not understand the meaning of the prosecution’s indictment, which he compared to a ‘broken printer’ that repeats ‘absurd’ claims over and over. … Last week, Serebrennikov was nominated in three different categories for Russia’s prestigious Golden Mask theatre award,” and his staging of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, which he directed remotely while under house arrest, opened in Zurich.

Are Our Theatres Too Intimidating To First-Timers?

What if you have never been to the theatre before? Could the entrance also be seen as a barrier that feels as if it is there to keep you out just as much to welcome you in? Once you get inside, how do you know what to do and where to go? It can make theatregoing feel as if it’s an exclusive club to which you don’t have the right membership, and one that is likely to fill you with rising panic, adding to the sense that you don’t belong there.

How Political Should The Art World Be?

“There’s a tendency to see the art world as separate from broader cultural, social, or political worlds, which I think is not helpful or accurate. Particularly with protests against institutions we’ve seen that issues of class, race, gender, and access are vital. Protesters come to us because they see us as part of the world, and hold us to task accordingly. We have greater legitimacy and more importance than we sometimes think we do. We have a responsibility towards the public.”

Short Attention Span? There Are Some Upsides

An 1897 article in The American Electrician worried that a growing dependence on the telephone would turn us all into “transparent heaps of jelly.” But while the notion of addiction to our smartphones (the most usual suspects in the current attention crisis) is contested, numerous studies have found that compulsive phone use can lead to separation anxiety, chronic fear of missing out, and a painful thumb condition known as de Quervain’s tenosynovitis—signs worrying enough that we can’t rule out the eventual jellification of humanity.

Did That Russian Researcher In Antarctica Really Stab His Co-Worker Because He Gave Away Book Endings?

It has been widely reported that Savitsky “snapped” because Beloguzov repeatedly revealed the endings of the books that Savitsky was reading. However, it is unclear where this detail originated; an unnamed source told Russian news agency Interfax that tensions likely sparked from the men spending six months together in close quarters, but the source offered no further insights into what may have led Savitsky to pick up the knife and plunge it into Beloguzov’s chest.

Elena Ferrante Says Using Stereotypes In Fiction Is Fine

Within reason, that is. “It’s useless to point out to the storyteller that stereotypes are abundant in real life. The narrator says he’s sorry: look, the thief really was Neapolitan, and there really was laundry hanging in the alley. … In this case stereotypes become functional” — they become a shorthand for the reader, helping the narrative flow smoothly — “the writer obeys rules; the story is a journey with inevitable stopping points – very familiar, yet always enjoyable.”