Phil Kennicott: “The work done by these contemporary portraits is more fundamental. They are about seeing other people, rather than saving them. We are challenged simply to accept their existence as part of our world, no lesser or greater in importance than our own existence, which is the first and most daunting ethical challenge faced by every human being.” – Washington Post
Blog
Police Raids Across Europe Seize 10,000 Antiquities, Make 23 Arrests
“The large number of arrests and objects seized hints at the massive scale and global reach of the international trade in illicit artifacts,” says Tess Davis, executive director of the Antiquities Coalition, an American nonprofit dedicated to fighting cultural theft. “It demonstrates that such cultural racketeering is not limited to conflict zones in Iraq and Syria, but threatens any country with a rich heritage.” – Artnet
What The Rise Of Tweets And Emojis Did Has (And Hasn’t) Done To Literature
“Not even 20 years ago we mostly read about things in lag, on thin slices of tree, whereas now we do — well, this, whatever this is. Yet instead of technology superannuating literature once and for all, it seems to have created a new space in our minds for it.” – The New York Times Book Review
Public Art in Erie
My work in the Pennsylvania city came in the middle of a long-term project of commissioning murals for the city. In October one was completed that impressed me so much I had to share it here. – Doug Borwick
Wall Street’s Charging Bull Sculpture Is Being Moved. The Artist Is Unhappy
“I feel very disappointed about the way my sculpture is treated, with nothing but contempt and not the appreciation that should be, since Charging Bull became one of the most visited attractions of New York City,” said Arturo Di Modica. – Artnet
West Virginia Public Library Removes Gay Storybook; Author And Publisher Hit Back
“Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack was pulled from West Virginia’s Upshur County public library earlier this week, according to local press reports, after a local church minister called it … ‘an intentional leading of children into sin.’ … [Haack said that] anyone concerned the book could ‘turn someone gay’ should remember ‘all the gay adults who grew up only reading about straight romances.'” – The Guardian
We’re Facing A Collapse Of Information
We are currently facing a new systemic collapse, one that has built far more swiftly but poses potent risks for all of humanity: the collapse of the information ecosystem. We see it play out every day with the viral spread of misinformation, widening news deserts and the proliferation of fake news. This collapse has much in common with the environmental collapse of the planet that we’re only now beginning to grasp, and its consequences for life as we know it are shaping up to be just as profound. – The Guardian
Meet The World’s Oldest Living Drag Queen
Even at age 89, Walter Cole dons a sequined gown and frizzy wig four nights a week to perform as Darcelle XV. And he does it at his own bar, which he opened with his first wife a few years after coming home to Portland from the Korean War. (It was his second wife that convinced him to try drag.) – American Theatre
New Study: Here’s How AI Will Impact Your Job (And Whether You’ll Still Have One)
“Fully 740 out of the 769 occupational descriptions Michael Webb analyzed contain a capability pair match with AI patent language, meaning at least one or more of its tasks could potentially be exposed to, complemented by, or completed by AI.” But less than a fifth (just under 18 percent) of U.S. jobs, 25 million or so, are threatened by high exposure to AI. – CityLab
K-Pop, Bollywood, And Turkish Soap Operas: Why American Pop Culture No Longer Rules The World
“These are all cultural products set firmly in the realm of values. They are not concerned with which billionaire son inherits his father’s empire, but rather focus on ordinary people struggling to live lives of dignity with the force of the world against them. They are concerned with principles, with how one defeats temptation, greed, and avoids dishonor. … [And] you can listen to a K-pop song with your grandmother in the room, no lyrics have to be beeped out.” – The New York Times