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COVID May Have Changed Arts Criticism For Good — And For The Better

Philip Kennicott: “Freed from the obligation of keeping up with a regular calendar of exhibition openings, or a concert schedule or a weekly march of theatrical premieres, critics have written more about the personal experience of art rather than the specific content of art in particular. … This more reflective, more personal [approach] may widen the audience for arts writing. Because critics deal with art on a daily basis, they sometimes fail to communicate something more fundamental: the daily, lived experience of having art in one’s life, the ‘why it matters’ that keeps you coming back, again and again, year after year.” – The Washington Post

Hegra, Petra’s Sister City And Saudi Arabia’s First Secular Tourist Attraction, Is Now Open For Business

“Once a thriving international trade hub, the archeological site of Hegra (also known as Mada’in Saleh) has been left practically undisturbed for almost 2,000 years. … Hegra was the second city of the Nabataean kingdom, but Hegra does much more than simply play second fiddle to Petra: it could hold the key to unlocking the secrets of an almost-forgotten ancient civilization.” – Smithsonian Magazine

“Reimagining” Your Orchestra Season? Really?

“When, over the summer, orchestras began making known their fall plans, the operative word was “reimagined.” At least twenty orchestras, from Albany to St. Louis, announced reimagined seasons. Yet, because so many institutions were using identical language, it didn’t seem that anything particularly imaginative was going on. A certain herd mentality also surfaced in the programming.” – The New Yorker

In Virtual School Test-Taking, Surveillance AI Is Intruding On Students

“In the swift and chaotic pivot to virtual test-taking, companies like Respondus — along with competitors including Honorlock, ProctorU and Proctorio — have stepped in to help schools keep watch on students. Because the new digital tools are required in certain courses, students are being forced to subject themselves to surveillance inside their own homes and open themselves up to disputes over “suspicious activities,” as defined by an algorithm.” – Voice of San Diego

Our Mythology Of Failure On The Road To Success Is Wrong

“Tech companies have created a “fail-fast” system; a culture in which there is no room for what could be genuinely called failure, but only a series of experiments which lead inevitably and inexorably to the conclusion of success. I find it all exhausting. Failure once allowed you to stop trying – that was, famously, the one good thing it has going for it. Having agonised over a doomed project for years, at least you might have the cathartic relief of finally and permanently throwing it away. You were allowed self-pity. You were allowed, crucially, silence.” – New Statesman

John Luther Adams – Composer Of Places

“What sets Mr. Adams’s seething, shimmering, preternaturally patient sound forces apart is their absence of a definable human anchor. The pieces that make up the “Become” trilogy are neither stories about nature nor pictures of it. Rather, as Mr. Adams writes in an essay accompanying the excellent recordings, ‘this is music that aspires to the condition of place’.” – The New York Times