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Black Artists In Portland Create A New Map For Cities Confronting Their Past, And Present

Portland doesn’t exactly have the best history with its Black populations, including forced gentrification after decades of intense redlining. A 69-year-old artist says, “They tried to scoop us out of the city. … Now there are generations of Black artists working in Portland to create historical artifacts around our own existence to show that we have always been here.” – The New York Times

Germany Stages Three (Sort Of) Fake Concerts In One Day To Find Out More About Risks Of Coronavirus Spread

The idea was to figure out what could make for a safe return to live music, using healthy volunteers who had tested negative before the concerts. “The first of Saturday’s three concerts aimed to simulate an event before the pandemic, with no safety measures in place. The second involved greater hygiene and some social distancing, while the third involved half the numbers and each person standing 1.5m apart.” – BBC

This Artist’s 2014 Paintings Perfectly Envisage The Pandemic Lockdown

Thuy Van Vu’s empty classrooms feel eerily familiar right now, almost photographic. “The spaces she portrays are vast and full of potential, and also of a great, yawning absence. Where are the children? Their teachers? The chairs are piled awkwardly on top of the desks, everything pushed together, as if those who left were in a rush. There’s a sense that these desks and chairs have been lingering and might never be used again.” – Catapult

How To Make A Four-Part Rom-Com During Hollywood’s Lockdown

It wasn’t easy to film Love in the Time of Corona. But it was doable, with a lot of care – and a lot of house-cleaning for the actors whose homes hosted the shoots. Some of the details: “Filming over two-plus weeks in July, Johnson worked with a crew of seven who were tested before spending three days at each location. The showrunner monitored scenes from a van parked outside the actors’ homes, and gave direction via walkie-talkie.” – Vulture

Netflix Screws Up The Advertising For A Movie About The Problems With Sexualizing Young Girls

So here we have a movie, Cuties, that “has been praised for questioning how society and social media pressure young children into acting in sexually explicit ways.” Best way to advertise it, Netflix, probably isn’t with ” a picture of four young girls posed provocatively, some twerking while wearing hot pants.” (The streaming service learned that quickly, and changed things.) – The New York Times