“At the forefront of this growing field is Sydney Skybetter, a former dancer and a professor of what he calls choreographics at Brown University, where his students approach dance in a way that is heavily computational. … By the end of the 20th century, motion capture, wearable tech and virtual reality had arrived on the scene. Then came A.I.” – The New York Times
Blog
What The American Election Means For The Art Market
“What’s the difference between the government bond that pays 0% and a Rothko painting that pays 0%? They’re both things that have some kind of value and they can go up in value over time or down in value over time. And you’re not going to be able to live off either of them, but at least the Rothko makes you feel cultured.” – The Art Newspaper
A Brief History Of The Ballpoint Pen (It’s Older Than You Think)
“Its evolution is, in many ways, an example of a game-changing design waiting until outside factors – in this case the rise of plastics and mass-production infrastructure, and a brilliant marketeer – allowed it to achieve its full potential.” – BBC
Alan Pierson On Rehearsing New Music With Conventional Orchestras Vs. Specialists
“You have to listen. It’s not just about following me, you have to know how what you’re doing relates to what other people are doing. Have your ears out. … Another [issue] is time: With a group like Alarm Will Sound, it’s in everyone’s DNA that the default is: We’re going to play in a steady pulse. … That’s not necessarily the ground that people walk on in the orchestral world.” – Van
Betty Dodson, Evangelist Of Female Sexual Pleasure, Dead At 91
An artist who turned to leading workshops and writing when her art career faltered, “[she] taught generations of women how to masturbate in workshops, books and videos, seeing the do-it-yourself climax as a liberating social force.” – The New York Times
Where Was Commercial Radio In Britain Born? In Biscuit Factories
Back in 1970, the United Biscuits Network was created for workers mass-producing Jaffa Cakes and McVitie’s Digestives who had gotten fed up with the Muzak bosses piped to the factory floor. With daring programming inspired by the pirate radio stations that used to broadcast from ships offshore, UBN was the first legal non-BBC radio in the UK and the first to operate 24 hours a day. – The Guardian
For Arts Workers In Europe, This Second COVID Lockdown Feels Different
“To understand how people are feeling about the situation, we spoke to six cultural figures, including an Italian opera star, a renowned Parisian bookseller and the head of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Here are edited excerpts from those conversations.” – The New York Times
French Senate Approves Return Of Artworks To Benin And Senegal
The legislation, required for museums to release the items and ratified unanimously by the senators, concerns 26 statues in the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris that were taken from Benin by French soldiers in 1892 as well as a ceremonial sword that came from Senegal and is currently on loan to a museum there. – ARTnews
Sinkholes Threaten To Swallow Historic Churches In Naples
No, not the city in Florida, America’s sinkhole hub. “Many of the historic cathedrals, churches and chapels of Naples, Italy are at risk of vanishing into the earth, according to new research published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage. … Nine [churches] are built over subterranean cavities, on ground affected by ‘ongoing deformation’, making these areas highly susceptible to sudden collapse … [while] a further 57 places of worship lie above ‘potential future cavity collapses’.” – The Art Newspaper
Time To Take Out The “Word Trash”
Here’s why word trash is a problem: If language isn’t specific, it’s hard for us to connect with it—and with each other. And it’s 2020, which for some of us has been a year already devoid of physical contact. – Fast Company