“[There’s] a new class of augmented reality (AR) technologies like the Magic Leap, a headset that allows users to superimpose digital media atop their seen reality, innovatively combining recorded dance with real space. Director and founder of the MAP Design Lab Melissa Painter recently collaborated with Pilobolus to produce a bonkers AR choreography called YouDanceWeDance. This project, which began its life on the Magic Leap, allows viewers to use their smartphones to observe (from any angle, and anywhere) Pilobolus dancers moving according to selectable emotional themes.” – Dance Magazine
Blog
Let’s Use COVID Shutdown To Bring Major Reforms To Theatre, Criticism
“Bad habits may be broken. Theater companies large and small will be weaned off the conservative commercial values of Broadway, freed of the timidity of white theater artists and audiences who are interested in seeing shows that assert their rectitude. Enough stage works that chronicle families under pressure. Where are the innovative scripts that explore thorny issues of race, corruption, income inequality, starvation, gender, global warming, philosophy, metaphysics?” – Arts Fuse
Minnesota Museum Fires Longtime Director
When Kristin Makholm took the helm in July 2009, the museum was virtually bankrupt and had been closed for about 18 months after losing its lease at the Ramsey County Government Center. But she soon found a new space at the historic Pioneer Endicott building, where it celebrated a grand reopening in December 2018. – The Star-Tribune (Mpls)
Reckoning On Race In Classical Music
“The systemic racism that runs like rot through the structures of the classical music world exists somewhere between broad statistical data and intimate personal disclosure. And right now, in what seems like a promising turn, a range of responses to it — individual, artistic and institutional — feels, at long last, audible.” – Washington Post
The Weird Conspiracy Theories Around The Art At Denver’s Airport
“You may have heard of the Blue Mustang, the infamous giant blue equine sculpture outside Denver International Airport. But the Blue Mustang is only one of many conspiracy theories circling the DIA’s artwork. When Leo Tanguma painted a series of murals for the Denver International Airport, he had no idea that they would become a lightning rod for conspiracy theories and controversy over the murals’ perceived meaning; despite his attempts to explain the true meaning behind the murals, the firestorm of negative conjecture continues to roll on.” – Atlas Obscura via YouTube
New Waves Of Arts Layoffs In Chicago – A Profession Dismantling
You might argue that furloughs are inevitable, given the inability of theaters to perform indoors in front of more than 50 people under current city and state guidelines. But it’s not the furloughs that have been so surprising: It’s the permanent layoffs, indicating that the boards of non-profit organizations just don’t see any imminent return to normal operations. Time and time again, I’ve heard that the job losses were necessary to protect the future of the institution. – Chicago Tribune
How We Moved An Entire Dance Festival Online
Cameron Ball, Festival Manager of the UK’s U.Dance National Youth Dance Festival: “The energy of sharing a studio space and the buzz of a live audience is hard to imitate, so inevitable compromises have to be made when access is via video conference or social media stream. But this jolt into a new format has some benefits and has revealed some ways to work technology into future events, which will be retained once the industry rebuilds.” – Arts Professional
Leonard Slatkin: Here’s How I Would Change Orchestra Auditions
“In a way, the screen now represents a bit of an insult to those who are making the decision as to who will join the orchestra. Do we really believe that today’s musicians cannot come to a fair conclusion because they have seen who is playing?” – Leonard Slatkin
Portland Artist Space Suspends, Turns Its Building Over To Native Americans
Under its new ownership, Yale Union will be christened the Center for Native Arts and Cultures, serving as the new national headquarters for the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. “This repatriation is symbolic in that it’s not often, or perhaps has never happened, where the owners just hand over a building to a Native organization,” T. Lulani Arquette, the CEO of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, told Artnet News. – Artnet
Jazz Trumpeter Eddie Gale Dead At 78
“Gale walked on jazz’s cutting edge from his childhood. He was taught to play trumpet by bebop legend Kenny Dorham; as a teenager in the 1950s, he jammed with such titanic figures as Art Blakey and Jackie McLean; and he joined the Sun Ra Arkestra at 21. In addition to Ra, with whom he would work until the mid-1980s, Gale appeared on iconic and important recordings by Cecil Taylor and Larry Young before releasing two highly acclaimed albums of his own in the late 1960s on Blue Note Records. … Relocating from New York to San Jose in 1972, Gale built … a strong profile as an educator … [and] a passionate advocate and activist for musicians’ health and wellness.” – JazzTimes