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The Case Of The Revered Scholar, The Chain-Store Mogul, And The Stolen Papyri

Dirk Obbink was perhaps the world’s most admired expert in Greek-language papyrus fragments from the early centuries of the Christian era — which is why he was recruited by Hobby Lobby president Steve Green around a decade ago to work on acquiring material for his major project, the Museum of the Bible. Now, almost ten years later, Obbink stands accused of stealing and reselling papyrus fragments under his care at Oxford and trafficking in other pieces that were looted. – The Atlantic

Next-Level Zoom – The Virtual Reality Version

“The weird feel of us meeting in a virtual fishtank, with real people able to peek in, makes me think of a possible future where performers work in VR, while directors or creators observe in video panels, able to provide more emotional nuance with their faces. VR isn’t able to blend moving around and using real facial expressions yet, which makes VR theater performances feel more like dance and puppetry than real living, talking faces. But this hybrid of VR and video chat feels like something new.” – CNET

Kinetic Art Pioneer Abraham Palatnik Dead Of COVID At 92

“Most often associated with the Grupo Frente movement of the 1950s and ’60s, Palatnik was among the first Brazilian artists to take up a style called Concretism, which envisioned formalist geometric abstraction as a pure style of art-making that referred to nothing other than itself. … While he was a member of that group, Palatnik produced works that he called ‘Kinechromatic Devices’. … Composed of lights and industrial materials such as metal, fabric, and wood and positioned somewhere between painting and sculpture, these objects seemed to make lush abstractions lurch into motion when activated.” – ARTnews

The World Has Suffered A Trauma – So How Might Trauma-Care Inform Our Response?

“We will need to be prepared for an entirely new and multi-phased approach to audience and community engagement—both at the organizational and industry-wide levels. When there is no precedent, there is also no case study, so in my own formulation of possible ways forward, I’ve turned to approaches from outside our field and outside of our own literal context. In fact, this ultimately led me back to my training in social work.” – Tom OC

Can Slapstick Comedy Work On Zoom? Bill Irwin’s About To Find Out

“‘Oh, I hope it holds together,’ he fretted the other morning, between rewrites and rehearsals of In-Zoom, his new 10-minute play. Performed by Irwin in New York and Christopher Fitzgerald, in North Carolina, it will have its livestream premiere Thursday evening on the website of [San Diego’s] Old Globe [theater].” The Tony- and MacArthur award-winning clown talks to Laura Collins-Hughes about how he’s putting it together. – The New York Times

America’s First Subsidized Artists’ Housing Complex Turns 50

“Many of the community’s original tenants remain, and with rents for a live-work studio in the building maxing at about $1,200 per month — $1,900 less than the median rent for a studio in the neighborhood, according to StreetEasy — who could blame them? But residents of Westbeth have found more than cut-rate rents among the 383 lofts designed by a young Richard Meier. Their Hudson River-facing community is a stronghold of creative output and unyielding spirit in a neighborhood that’s now at odds, at least financially, with the reality of being a working artist in New York.” – New York Post

John Macurdy, Who Sang 1,001 Performances At Met Opera, Dead At 91

“While he did take star turns, his many ‘comprimario’ roles, as opera’s supporting roles are known, increased his performance total to sixth among basses in Met history. He sang 62 roles with the company.” He also performed in six major world premieres at various houses, including Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra at the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in 1966. – Yahoo! (AP)