“Different parts of our gray matter respond to different timing tasks, and brain imaging has helped us parse which areas do what. From drumming along with a musical phrase to figuring out how long a lecture has lasted, these specialized areas work together to shape our temporal perception.”
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Dancing With Technology Amplifying Movement From Above
One line of experimentation has involved electronic shadows on the stage floor, an effect that can be hard to see from the seats of many conventional theaters. That’s not a problem at the Guggenheim, where the audience is above the dancers. Here’s how it works: An infrared camera scans the dancers’ outlines, 60 frames per second, even as they move, and transmits that information to a computer, which then projects images around the dancers. As Mr. Simkin explained during a recent rehearsal, the speed of the computer processing is crucial. “If there is a lag, the brain sees it as a technological trick,” he said. “If there is no lag, as we can do it now, it is like magic, giving another layer to the movement — like a big dress, my father says.”
The Art And Science Of Stage Blood
“Though all Shakespearean characters may bleed, at [DC’s] Shakespeare Theatre Company, they don’t all bleed the same blood – or at least, not the same fake blood. Chris Young, the theater’s properties director, mixes a unique version of the vital fluid for every gory scene in every show. No ketchup or red food dye here: Young’s complex recipes vary depending on the color and fabric of the actor’s clothes, the nature of the stage lighting and the type of theatrical injury at hand (or leg, or heart).”
Has The Berkshire Museum Overstated Its Financial Difficulties?
The Berkshire Museum wouldn’t need to sell some of its most prized works of art to remain operational if it grew its endowment by $4.5 million, according to an expert on nonprofits. “I continue to believe that they have overstated how much of an emergency they are in,” said Stephen C. Sheppard, “and I think there would exist a clear path to a sustainable, essentially status quo, outcome that would not require deaccession of the 40 artworks.”
Here’s One Texas Museum That Was Ready For Hurricane Harvey
“Back in 2008, when Hurricane Ike pummeled Texas, the Galveston Arts Center sustained steep losses. … Art valued at more than $100,000 was ruined, and the storm caused upward of $1 million in damage to the historic, 19th-century bank building that houses the Arts Center. … So this time around, the team was prepared.”
Ufizzi Director Leaving To Lead Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum
The first non-Italian to head the Uffizi, Eike Schmidt will leave at the end of his four-year tenure, not entering a second mandate as many had expected he would. The 49-year-old director was initially appointed as part of the Italian government’s sweeping overhaul of the leadership positions in Italy’s leading cultural institutions under culture minister Dario Franceschini.
We’ve Had The ‘Fake News’ Debate Before – In The Early Days Of Radio
Adrian Chen looks back at Orson Welles’s 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, the wildly exaggerated newspaper reports of public panic over it, and the anxieties behind the entire uproar, noting the parallels with today’s concerns over false reports spread via the internet.
Top Street Artist Designs The Egyptian Palaces Of ‘Aida’
Anne Midgette meets Retna (aka Marquis Lewis), who created the sets for Washington National Opera’s new staging of the Verdi evergreen (co-produced with San Francisco Opera).
Dakota Elders Decide Not To Burn Sam Durant’s Controversial ‘Scaffold’ – They’ll Bury It Instead
The sculpture, which references the hanging of 38 men during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, was greeted with protests when it was installed at the Walker Art Center this summer and was quickly removed. Chief and spiritual leader Arvol Looking Horse dissuaded his fellows from following the original plan to burn the disassembled work.
Creating A Dance-Only TV Episode For HBO
The new Duplass brothers anthology series, Room 104, just aired an episode that included no spoken text – only dance. Dance Magazine talks with choreographer Dayna Hanson, who created both the storyline and the movement of the episode.