“The Russian performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky set fire to an entrance of Bank of France in Paris this weekend. The artist also condemned bankers as the new monarchs in his latest act of political performance art in France, the country that granted him political asylum in May. Pavlensky came to worldwide attention for his previous performances in Moscow, such as nailing his scrotum to the ground in Red Square and setting alight an entrance of the Federal Security Service building.”
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Robbie Fairchild Gives His Farewell To New York City Ballet
“At his final curtain call, Mr. Fairchild, the youngest dancer to have a farewell event at City Ballet” – he’s 30 – “choreographed an unusual flower presentation: he stood by a basket of roses and handed a flower to fellow principal dancers, who came onstage one by one.”
New York City Ballet’s Summer Season In Saratoga Cut By Half
“The 2018 ballet season will be cut in half, from a two-week run in 2017 to just one week. … [Saratoga Performing Arts Center CEO Elizabeth] Sobol said the board decided to reduce City Ballet’s stay because it lost more than $1 million on the NYCB residency. She said continuing to lose money on the residency is ‘not prudent’.”
Structure Deemed Too Lewd For Louvre Will Go To Pompidou Centre
The architectural sculpture titled Domestikator was rejected by the Louvre for installation in the Tuileries Gardens because they were thinking of the children: the work was thought too sexually suggestive to be displayed outdoors. (A playground is not far away.) So the work will end up outside the Pompidou Centre instead.
Semyon Bychkov Named Chief Conductor Of Czech Philharmonic
“He will begin the role starting with the 2018-19 season – the post had previously been held by Jiří Bělohlávek until his death in June this year.”
Roy Dotrice, Star Of Screen, Stage, And ‘Game Of Thrones’ Audiobooks, Dead At 94
His six-decade career included plenty of television and film work (he played Mozart’s father in Amadeus) as well as an astounding number of stage appearances. He was an early member of Peter Hall’s Royal Shakespeare Company, won a Tony as the scheming father in A Moon for the Misbegotten, gave nearly 1,800 performances as 17th-century writer John Aubrey in the one-man show Brief Lives and hundreds more as the president in Mister Lincoln. He holds the world record for the number of different characters voiced in audiobooks – 224, in George R. R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Iceseries, the source for Game of Thrones.
Another Brazilian Arts Institution Attacked By Right-Wingers For ‘Pedophilia’
Last month, the country’s first major show of queer art was shut down in Pôrto Alegre after conservative groups began protesting, claiming that the art endorsed blasphemy and pedophilia. A couple weeks later, the same groups loudly objected to dancer Wagner Schwartz’s La Bête – in which he lies on the floor naked and invites audience members to manipulate his body – after a woman brought her five-year-old daughter to participate and video of the incident went viral.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.16.17
The Voracious Collector
That headline could apply to dozens of people, especially nowadays in this age of competitive, ostentatious collecting of contemporary and modern art. But I was referring to J. P. Morgan, who in his lifetime purchased … read more
>AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-10-16
Salvaging “Salvator Mundi”: Inside Look at “Extensive Restoration” of Leonardo at Christie’s
“Without question,” Christie’s confidently declared last week, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi (being auctioned on Nov. 15 in New York) is “the greatest artistic rediscovery of the 21st century.” Really? With 83 years still remaining in this century, we’re entitled to pose a few questions. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-10-16
Richard Wilbur, American Poet, 1921-2017
Just a quick post to note the death of the great poet and translator Richard Wilbur. Until two days ago, when he passed away at 96, I would have called him America’s finest living poet. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-10-16
Study: Dance Helps With Aging Health Compared To Regular Exercise
Over a year and a half, older adults who took weekly dance classes showed gains in their balancing ability. There were no such improvements in the traditional exercise group. Researchers also found hints that all those mambos and cha-chas had extra brain benefits.
Bewildering – The Inexplicable Re-Popularity Of Vinyl Records
“Plenty of technological advancements have followed the modern LP record, which debuted in 1948: audio cassettes, compact discs, MP3 files, and now streaming services. Yet vinyl sales skyrocketed by nearly 4,000 percent between 1993 and 2016. And while CDs still vastly outpace vinyl in total units sold—99.4 million to 17.2 million in 2016—CD sales have plummeted some 91 percent since their peak in 2000. Lest you think the vinyl phenomenon is contained to this side of the Atlantic, vinyl surpassed digital music in sales in England (about $3 million to $2.7 million) at one point last year.”