That was the title of a panel discussion at Art Basel Miami Beach that “included artist Jordan Casteel, Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston director Bill Arning, and writer and photographer Teju Cole. While there weren’t many concrete solutions drawn, the conversation offered a clear diagnosis of the key issues facing art and culture and, at the very least, a starting point for how we can understand and address them going forward.
Category: AUDIENCE
Is The Internet Making Us Into Worse Writers?
“It is difficult to prove that digital technologies are actually making people into worse writers. It is likely that the world is just seeing more unfiltered thoughts written down than at any other time in history. People are not writing worse so much as writing and publishing far more. But the internet is changing language.”
A Problem For Museums: How Do You Keep Your Images Compelling?
Museums in the 21st century face particular and special challenges: in an age of digital communication, when an image – almost any image – can be summoned up effortlessly on an electronic device, why go to the trouble of visiting an actual institution just to see the supposed “original”? Does the word “original” have meaning any longer in this context? In other words, the mere displaying of objects, even uniquely valuable objects, no longer, of itself, justifies a museum’s existence; something more is required to render a visit to a museum worthwhile.
Why Hearing The Sounds Of Nature Make Us Feel Physically Better
“A study published in March demonstrated that natural sounds have the ability to relieve psychological and physiological stress. Using fMRI and heart-rate monitoring, researchers Gould van Praag, et al, of the University of Sussex found that listening to natural sounds improved parasympathetic activity, whereas listening to artificial sounds prompted sympathetic arousal.”
Quincy Jones And The Netflix Of Jazz
“Qwest will operate like a highly specialized version of Netflix: Members pay a small fee each month for access to the full video library. It also resembles more boutique streaming platforms like Mubi, the art-film streaming service, or Boiler Room, an organization that archives its own underground-music concerts on its website.”
A Startling Decline In Admissions At London Museums
Between June and August 2017 a record 11.5 million overseas visitors came to the UK, up 6% on the same period last year. Among holiday-makers the increase was greater still, with 13% more choosing to spend their vacations in the UK. Despite this, a year-on-year comparison shows that visitor numbers from June to August were down at: British Museum (-3%), National Gallery (-19%), National Portrait Gallery (-41%), and Tate Modern (-37%)
Four In 10 Brits Would Never Go To The Opera Because It’s Too Hard To Understand: Survey
“The survey, commissioned by [radio station] Classic FM, … explored reasons why people did not attend opera shows as well as general public opinion on the art form. …One in ten of the participants who had attended an opera performance in the past claimed that they ‘felt nervous, self-conscious and like they didn’t fit in’.”
Indianapolis Symphony Posts Record Ticket Sales
“The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra experienced its fifth straight year of record ticket sales during the 2016-17 season while meeting budget projections for the fourth time in five years.”
Movie Critiques Are Thriving On YouTube
Some of their “trailer reaction” videos actually boast more views than the trailers they reference, meaning that, mathematically speaking, a significant portion of their audience watch the reaction but not the trailers to which the reaction is, um, reacting.
Canadians Make Some Great Movies. Pity No One Sees Them (Here’s Why)
“There is a paradox in the missing cohort of current homegrown films and filmmakers at the box office. It’s not a lack of talent. Canadians make movies for Hollywood every day. We have the best movie craftspeople on the planet. It, X Men: Apocalypse and Blade Runner 2049 are recent Hollywood releases made mostly by Canadian crews. It’s also not a lack of market. Canadians spent around a billion dollars on movie tickets last year. So why has it become so rare for an English-language Canadian film to connect with audiences?”