“We saw the laser scanner and the laser cutter, which can etch metals, or cut cardboard, wood, paper, and even pumpkins, one of which Adam passed around. There was a wire bender, named Fender Bender Rodriguez. There was a milling machine that can make prototypes of wood or plastics or even soft aluminum.” Not to mention 3-D printers named Kevin Spacey, Johnny Pie, and Maria the Metropolis.
Category: issues
Arts Leadership? We Need A Broader Definition
“Members of younger generations often see leadership as the fostering of a culture of connectedness, collaboration, and change—they believe leadership is rooted in the efforts of many. This view is in contrast to the more traditional, hierarchical structures and practices of many arts organizations and funders.”
Stop Calling The MacArthur Fellowships ‘Genius Grants’
Joan Acocella: “Why that term? Well: vulgarity, addiction to hot air, and brain poisoning in consequence of exposure to advertising.”
Is This The Solution To The Cellphones-In-The-Audience Problem?
“Audience members using cellphones bedevil performers and presenters around the world. But in China, theaters and other venues have adopted what they say is an effective – others might say disturbing – solution. Zap them with a laser beam.”
Amid Massive, Nationwide Protests, Brazil’s Artists Blindfold Statues
“Statues of former leaders, writers and even international figures have had red blindfolds placed around their faces. It is the work of a Brazilian artist, who asked to remain anonymous and who described the effort as a silent protest.”
Facebook Keeps On (Stupidly, And Ironically) Suspending This Writer
Facebook is also suspending anyone who shares the original image. “Ironically, Liddle’s original speech notes: ‘Aboriginal women are not acceptable. Older women aren’t acceptable, particularly if their breasts are pendulous rather than perky. Women being semi-naked for the purpose of taking part in women’s culture are not acceptable. If they are going to be semi-naked, it needs to be for the enjoyment of men.'”
The Getty Director Who’s Changing Stock Photography Forever
“In 2007, the top image of a woman was a stereotypical objectified woman, looking passive while naked and tangled in sheets. In 2012, it’s actually a woman on a train. … She’s wearing clothes, and that’s thrilling! She has a journey and feels like the hero of her own narrative.”
Edifice Complex: Hungary’s Leader Wants To Restore Imperial Buildings To Their Old Glory – And Displace The Museums In Them
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wants to return the seat of government to the old royal palace (tough luck for the National Gallery of Art), move the country’s highest court to its pre-war site across from Parliament, and turn Budapest’s largest park into a version of Berlin’s Museum Island.
Now Even J.K. Rowling Has Been Accused Of Cultural Appropriation
“The Harry Potter author … has been accused of appropriating the ‘living tradition of a marginalised people’ by writing about the Navajo legend of the skinwalker in a new story” on her Pottermore website.
On Whose Authority? Finding A Critical Voice
“Is it possible to write criticism—or even to write critically—while at the same time refusing the critic’s authority? Can a work be coherent, meaningful, and precise without its author dressing it as a piece of art criticism—or as an interview, a short story, a book of photos, a psychoanalytic case study, an autobiography?”