Philosophers in the 18th century defined taste as a moral capacity, an ability to recognize truth and beauty. “Natural taste is not a theoretical knowledge; it’s a quick and exquisite application of rules which we do not even know,” wrote Montesquieu in 1759. This unknowingness is important. We don’t calculate or measure if something is tasteful to us; we simply feel it. Displacing the judgment of taste partly to algorithms, as in the Amazon Echo Look, robs us of some of that humanity.
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The Fascinating (And Enduring) Conspiracy Industry Around Leonardo Da Vinci
A vast quantity of Leonardo’s notes and manuscripts survives, filled with his thoughts on such themes as the motion of water and human anatomy. But there are no intimate letters; there is no emotional self-revelation.
Canada’s Local News Problem – A Role For Public Broadcasting?
I believe the CBC should make a big push to fill the yawning gaps in local news and cultural production created by the decline of private sector providers. I think it should do so even though it will harm some of its competitors because doing nothing won’t save them. Local news is too important to the functioning of our local democracy and our local communities.
The Museum Test: Amazon’s Second HQ City Must Have A Great Museum
You can’t help noticing the correlation. Of the 238 cities and counties that applied for consideration, plenty have the population (over a million), the pleasant environs and the basic infrastructure Amazon seeks. But if they don’t also have an exceptional art museum — and preferably more than one — those cities didn’t make the cut.
Actors Union Gives Up Using “Gypsy”
The union that represents stage performers announced this week that it would cease using the title “Gypsy Robe” to describe one of its most cherished insider rituals — the passing of a colorful patchwork garment from one chorus to another on a Broadway show’s opening night — citing the potential offense to Roma people.
How The World Turned Off Mid-Century Architecture
Buildings long deemed passé and unsuccessful can suddenly seem fresh and intriguing to a new generation, just as yesterday’s tacky decorative designs can become tomorrow’s next cool thing. This has been evident in the steady postmillennial flow of monographs on mid-twentieth-century architects who have undergone a downward critical reversal akin to that of Yamasaki—especially Saarinen, Edward Durell Stone, and Paul Rudolph, none of whom now commands the high artistic respect they all enjoyed around 1960.
What’s It Like Photographing Life In The Poorest County In The U.S.?
Jane Rule Burdine: “I could have lived anywhere. I’ve traveled a great bit for work, but I came back to Mississippi because it’s what I know. When I go out hunting for these photographs, it’s not like a stranger coming to town. I can move fluidly. I know what I’m seeing. There’s so much here that I know and can discover within my knowledge. How could I ever exhaust it?”
After The Sale Of A Rockwell, The Berkshire Museum May Get Its Local Government Grant Back
The Massachusetts Cultural Council grant, frozen in September when the museum decided to deaccession and sell some of its art, represents a tiny fraction of the money that’s coming in from art sales. But, after a bruising fight, the museum wants the money anyway. A state representative says, “These are funds paid for by the residents of the Commonwealth. This is where they belong.”
The Soul-Crushing Burden Of Writing, And Reading, The College Student Essay
U.S. college students just aren’t good at essays, says one prof, and that’s because no one takes those students seriously, not even themselves. “A decade teaching young writers has taught me a great deal. First, we need to value more the complete and complex lives of young people: where they come from, how they express themselves. They have already lived lives worthy of our attention and appreciation. Second, we need to encourage young people to take seriously those lives they’ve lived.”
Art Photography From Ethiopia Does More Than Just Give Us Nice Pictures To Look At
Aïda Muluneh brought East Africa’s first (and still only) international photography exhibition into being, but she’s doing more than that with her color-saturated studio images. “This place has so much complexity, and I’m witness to that complexity. There are so many subcultures, there are so many contemporary things happening here, there are so many cities with interesting people who are trying to change the continent.”