“Located on the grounds of the Ayers Rock Resort in the Northern Territory, this remarkable exhibition” – titled Field of Light Uluru in English and Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku (“looking at lots of beautiful lights”) in the language of the indigenous Pitjantjatjara people, to whom Uluru is sacred – “from artist Bruce Munro has already drawn some 120,000 visitors since it opened in 2016.”
Blog
Renovated Theatre Celebrates Reopening By Firing Staffers Who’d Been There For Decades
“Staff who are understood to have worked at the Hull New Theatre for more than 20 years were told they no longer had jobs at the venue just days before it reopened. Casual workers at the theatre were told they would need to apply for ‘newly created’ casual roles after its £16 million refurbishment.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 09.18.17
Kusama in Seattle, Post Script, And On to LA
When, on a recent day, The Broad museum announced that “due to overwhelming demand” additional tickets for the coming Yayoi Kusama exhibition would be available on Oct. 2, it added this to the statement: … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-09-18
“The Difference Between Quality Art and Crap” Take Four
Processing my exchange with Vladimir Feltsman, I find myself distracted by something I have long more or less ignored: the art of the piano as manifest by the young artists who today dominate the scene – what Feltsman calls “a new artform.” … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2017-09-17
Bausch Reborn
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch returns to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (through September 24). … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-09-17
Brad Mehldau and Chris Thile at the Ace Hotel/LA
In some ways, this pairing makes absolutely no sense — a jazz pianist and a bluegrass mandolinist, playing together? But in another, it’s nearly inevitable. … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-09-18
Monday Recommendation: Tatum’s Town
Bob Dietsche, Tatum’s Town (Bobson Press)
Most Art Tatum devotees know that Toledo, Ohio, was his hometown. It was where his genius became evident when he was a teenaged Fats Waller disciple. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-09-18
Netflix Announced A Major New Standup Comedy Initiative. Will It Help Or Hurt Comedy?
“I do feel like Netflix is commodifying stand-up. This boom, at least as defined by me, is about treating comics as individual artists with distinct points of view, not people providing a service. Stockpiling stand-up as content and telling people it’ll be there whenever you need a laugh is completely antithetical to that. Has the boom already given way to a bloat?”
New Banksy Murals Turn Up In London As Basquiat Show Opens
The works, near the Barbican Centre, mark the opening of an exhibition by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
How Hull Became Britain’s Ballet Talent Engine
Skip back a generation or two, and those to have emerged from other Hull dance schools include former Royal Ballet principal Mark Silver and ex-Birmingham Royal Ballet principal Robert Parker. Hull seems to have a particularly good record with male dancers.
Silicon Valley Companies Say They’re Building A Better World. But They Can’t Even Build A Better Silicon Valley
This failure to create places for people—our logical “target user,” in the region’s parlance—is, in part, to blame for the soul-crushing, NIMBY-inducing, place-agnostic sprawl we’ve idly cobbled together here. Planning-wise, the city that’s supposed to be inventing the future remains trapped in the 1950s, as Allison Arieff wrote recently in The New York Times. The Valley of Heart’s Delight’s once fine agricultural complexion is now forever marked with the suburban scars of endless tract homes, bland office parks, and a dogmatic adherence to California’s transportation motto—”Park Free or Die.”
Study: Medical Students Benefit From Studying Visual Art
“At the beginning and end of the program, all of the students took a series of tests. They were asked to describe, in detail, images that depicted artworks, retinas, and the faces of patients suffering from various eye-related diseases. The observational skills of the 18 students who took the art course increased significantly over the three months. Somewhat surprisingly, those of the 18 who did not take it actually declined during that same period.”
The Curious Case Of The Oregon Bach Festival Soap Opera
Previously undisclosed emails reveal that the colleague at the center of the inquiry, the countertenor Reginald Mobley, denied to festival administrators that Matthew Halls had been racially insensitive. But clear reasons for the firing remain elusive. And the attempt to deal with an ugly personnel issue sotto voce — last week, university officials agreed to pay Mr. Halls $90,000 as part of a settlement with a nondisparagement clause — has resulted in a crescendo of criticism, from the festival’s hometown, Eugene, Ore., to England.
Ever Noticed? That “Transformative” Technology Is Always Five To Ten Years Away
“Slate has noticed a wily hedging mechanism among Silicon Valley soothsayers to circumvent these uncertainties—make predictions for “five to 10 years out.” It hits that sweet spot: just close enough that people can begin to taste it, but just far enough away that (almost) no one is going to call you out if it doesn’t become true. A review of press releases and tech articles stretching back to the 1990s finds that these Goldilocks forecasts are abundant.”