The Museum of Ice Cream. The Museum of Feelings. The Candy Museum. And, inevitably, the Museum of Selfies. Mitchell Kuga argues that these often-corporate-sponsored projects (the Museum of Feelings was an advertisement for Glade air freshener) could change Americans’ idea of museums – and not for the better.
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Why Hamlet Is Different From The Rest
It’s a truism that no one accepts anyone else’s reading of Hamlet. And for at least two hundred years, no generation has been comfortable with its predecessor’s take on the play. It’s hard to think of another work whose interpretations so uncannily identify what the play calls the “form and pressure” of “the time.”
How Women See How Male Authors See Them
“The canon is lousy with authors who yearn to be admired for their sensitivity to the full range of female personhood, be that personhood luscious, pert, or swelling coyly against a sheer camisole. These are writerly men confident that they’ve nailed women’s psyches, all because of how single-mindedly they want to nail women.” Katy Waldman calls out “the ridiculousness that ensues when bookish men perform interest in women’s inner lives out of a misbegotten sense of nobility. No one is fooled. “
The Revival Of ‘Roseanne’ Has Split The American Left
Emblemizing the split are author Roxane Gay (“[the show is] further normalizing Trump and his warped, harmful political ideologies”) and comedian Sarah Silverman (“I like that Trumpers will watch and embrace it because it’s secretly liberal as fuck”). Conor Friedersdorf unpacks the arguments.
National Symphony Of Cuba Forced To Cancel Next Year’s U.S. Tour
The February 2019 tour, with vocalist/bassist Esperanza Spalding as guest artist, has been called off because the U.S. Embassy in Havana, which has withdrawn 60% of its staff after many of them suffered mysterious health problems, is no longer able to process visa applications.
First Of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s ‘Translated’ Shakespeare Plays Scheduled For Staging
In the fall of 2015, OSF announced the controversial project “Play on!”, in which 36 playwrights were commissioned to “translate” the 36 plays into modern English, creating companion works for the originals. The first product of the initiative, an English-Spanish version of The Comedy of Errors by Luis Alfaro, will debut in the summer of 2019.
‘Dancers Are More Intelligent Than They Get Credit For’, Says Dance Magazine
Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they? Even so, Jennifer Stahl reports: “Dr. Matthew Henley, a professor at Texas Women’s University [and a former dancer for Seán Curran], is gathering data to advocate for the value of dance as an intellectual practice – and build a framework for how to describe dance intelligence to non-dancers.”
‘King Of The B-Movies’ Roger Corman Sued By Sons Over Film Archive
“The sons, Roger and Brian, claim that the sale of 270 films under their father’s New Horizons Picture Corp banner – which they refer to as ‘stolen film properties’ – violated an irrevocable trust agreement that would have provided them and their two sisters with $30 million-$40 million each. They are also suing [purchasers] Ace Film and Shout! Factory, claiming they ‘knew or should have known that the purported sale of the New Horizons catalog included film properties owned by the trust.'”
Frick Collection Reveals Its Fourth Expansion Plan, Hoping This One Will Actually Get Built
“The irony is not lost on Ian Wardropper, the director of the Frick Collection: The very gated garden that upended the museum’s previous attempt to renovate its 1914 Gilded Age mansion is now the centerpiece of its revised design. … The new plan, by the architect Annabelle Selldorf, has situated several new elements precisely so that each provides a tranquil view of the garden.”
The First Federally Subsidized Artists’ Housing In The U.S., Now In One Of The Country’s Priciest Neighborhoods
“Created in the 1960s [on the western edge of Greenwich Village], Westbeth brought together icons such as Diane Arbus, Robert De Niro Sr. and Benny Andrews. Merce Cunningham headquartered his dance company in a cavernous space in the building in 1971. Once verified as a working artist – meaning a person derived a significant portion of his or her income from the production and sale of their work – residents were admitted by disciplinary committees ranging from music and performance to visual arts and writing. Rent was determined by income. But what was meant to be a short-term solution for looking to build their careers quickly became a stronghold for artists as the city’s real estate prices rose” – and many of those early residents have never left.