In fits and starts, the professional curator arrogated responsibilities once held by the artist, the collector, the historian, or indeed the critic, becoming the figure who assigned meaning and importance to new art: someone the art historian Bruce Altshuler has called “the curator as creator.” Soon after, the curator stepped beyond the single museum or institution to become a roving organizer and analyst of contemporary art. – New York Review of Books
Blog
For First Time In 27 Years, And Despite The Rules, Booker Prize Is Shared By Two Titles
Yes, one of them is Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments; the other is Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. Over more than five hours of debate, the judges were told repeatedly that splitting the prize was not permitted, so the panel unanimously made the decision “to flout the rules.” – The Guardian
MoMA’s Opportunity To Tell New Stories
Peter Schjeldahl: “The renovation is a big deal for the global art world, and certainly for New York. It runs up against problems old and new. Generously enlarged quarters will only marginally relieve a chronic crush of visitors, the museum victimized by its own charisma. Enhanced representations of art by women, African-Americans, Africans, Latin-Americans, and Asians can feel tentative, pitched between self-evident justice and noblesse oblige. But such efforts are important and must continue. We will have a diverse cosmopolitan culture or none worth bothering about.” – The New Yorker
Boris Johnson’s Government Proposes £250 Million In Culture Infrastructure Support
The bulk of the new fund is being directed towards “major infrastructure and maintenance work at local and regional museums” and capital and technology upgrades at public libraries. – Arts Professional
Hong Kong Has A New Protest Song Anthem
The orchestra wear hard hats and gas masks, the choir emerges from a swirl of tear gas-like smoke, and as the music swells, cutaway shots show crowds thousands-strong marching through the streets of Hong Kong. – The Guardian
Should People Have The Legal Right to Change Their Age?
If chronological age doesn’t matter, as I have argued, then people should be allowed to change this ‘age’ in their IDs to match their biological rather than their chronological age. – Aeon
Streaming Wars: Challenging The Binge-TV Model
“Having had roughly six years to figure out how to best attract TV viewers trained to feast on content, none of the streaming services set to debut between now and next spring will be exclusively adopting the binge model, and veterans like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have tried different release strategies themselves.” – Los Angeles Times
Is Porgy a “Stereotype”? — Take Three
Kevin Deas, the exceptional bass-baritone who is the anonymous “Porgy” of my previous blog, has written to me at greater length about singing the part – and the importance of the view “from below.” – Joseph Horowitz
Hannah Svensson And Friends
One of the highlights of the 2019 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival was a concert by Hannah Svensson. Now, Ms. Svensson’s new album, Places And Dreams, presents her along with the colleagues who backed her at Ystad. – Doug Ramsey
Books that made me
Clive James recently filled out the Guardian’s “Books That Made Me” questionnaire. I was so struck by his answers — as well as the questions themselves — that I decided to play along. – Terry Teachout