Category: issues

“The takeover began on Monday when fans began posting photos and memes of the acclaimed actor and recording artist. ‘The One True Donald,’ one user posted on Monday, along with a black-and-white head shot of Glover. … ‘Not a racist. Not a rapist. Can read. Was never bankrupt. Likes Mexicans. Talented. Pays his taxes. Handsome. Loves immigrants. Not a puppet for Russia. Doesn’t want to [redacted] his daughter. Must be the real one true Donald,’ another posted above a picture of Donald Glover. Others posted artwork of Glover and calls to vote for Donald Glover for president.”

If design thinking (for short, let’s call it the DTs) merely involved bilking some deluded would-be entrepreneurs, well — no harm no foul. The problem is that faddists and cult-followers are pushing the DTs as a reform for all of higher education.

This brings up a problem that often arises in conversations about art: how can it participate in networks of power that its content willfully rejects? Often, so-called ‘political art’ simply aestheticises protest or resistance. Sometimes, it has the effect of moral licensing – instilling in its viewer a false sense of having accomplished something. Art and power have always been begrudging bedfellows. After all, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto from the comfort of La Maison du Cygne, a gilded restaurant in Brussels.

“There is a sense that history’s alleged tendency to repeat itself is particularly pronounced in the cultural value debate, and with respect to efforts to ‘demonstrate’ the value of arts and culture. Have we made progress in the past 30 years, or is it true that we have been going in circles? … Patrycja Kaszynska, the lead on the Cultural Value Scoping Project, spoke to Ian David Moss, founder of Createquity, about ideas and emerging trends in cultural value research.”

Saying that the move would send “a strong signal that culture is the foundation for our open and democratic society,” culture minister Monika Grütters announced that Angela Merkel’s government plans to increase the arts budget by 23%. In the five years that Grütters has been in office, the national culture budget has grown by 38%, roughly $548 million.

“If you need an electrician, you hire somebody to do the work. That person invoices you, you pay. But when it comes to paying an artist or designer for a service that adds significant value — such as revitalizing neighborhoods, making venues attractive, providing entertainment, designing clothes — there are completely different expectations.

“The fierce, unwavering Ms. Argento added that there were those in the auditorium who needed to be held accountable for their conduct toward women. ‘You know who you are,’ she said, ‘but, most importantly, we know who you are, and we are not going to allow you to get away with it any longer.'”

Spencer Kornhaber: “The New York Times article, ‘Welcome to the Age of the Twink,’ that Twitter has gleefully torn apart this week is a bit too slight to sustain a full reckoning with the very real questions it raises. … Certainly, if it’s the age of the twink now, it’s been the age of the twink all along. Slender, smooth types have achieved dreamy superstar status at a pretty steady pace over the years … Yet there’s something poetic in the otherwise risible idea that the ’emo boy’ of 2006 is the hetero ‘twink’ of 2018. Because if anything has shifted with regards to straight men’s bodies, it’s that they have slowly begun to be subjected to the same scrutiny women’s and gay men’s have.”

Buried in an otherwise harmless act, passed by the House and now being considered in the Senate, this new bill purports to create a new digital performance right—basically the right to control copies of recordings on any digital platform (ever hear of the internet?)—for musical recordings made before 1972. These recordings would now have a new right, protected until 2067, which, for some, means a total term of protection of 144 years.

“In a world of hot takes, criticism is cold, slow and distant … and, once everyone can voice an opinion, their value is diminished. … Readers want to consume art, not consider it. They’ll take recommendations, sure – but reviews? Save your prose for Medium.” What the Web and social media have nurtured instead, writes Rowland Manthorpe, is fandom. “Fandoms do provide criticism, albeit of a different sort. For one thing, it’s more likely to be well-informed. … [Fans] also have a more creative relationship with the creator, so criticism takes the form of remixes, or fan fiction, or animation, or cosplay. The critic has been replaced by the co-creator.”