Category: issues

“The latest is the Catalan photographer known as Colita, born Isabel Steva Hernández, who last week refused to accept the National Photography Prize, worth €30,000, … [writing,] ‘The situation of culture and education in Spain is shameful, embarrassing and heartbreaking. It is not possible that such a ministry exists. It is a chimera.'”

“The striking workers are all employed at companies that have federal contracts with the U.S. government. They include food service workers, cleaning staff and other privately contracted employees who labor on federal properties such as the Smithsonian Institution’s museums and the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.”

“Elite campuses across the country have emerged from the recession riding a multibillion-dollar wave of architecturally ambitious arts facilities, even as community arts programs struggle against public indifference. … But the seeming boom also comes at a time of unprecedented criticism of how colleges teach and how they spend money, and amid a push to measure what students learn.”

“Construction of a $235 million arts district near Palm Drive, the grand tree-lined campus entrance, is well underway here. Last year, the $112 million Bing Concert Hall opened. This year came the $36 million Anderson Collection, a new American-art museum … Next up is the $87 million McMurtry Building for the art and art history department, to open in 2015.”

“Now, as the [New York Philharmonic] prepares for a major renovation expected to cost more than $500 million, the Fisher family has agreed” – in exchange for a payment – “to relinquish the name, so the Philharmonic and Lincoln Center can lure a large donor with the promise of rechristening the building.”

“Putting on an arts biennale anywhere is complicated. Here, the festival, Qalandiya International, faced special challenges in catering to a Palestinian society that is highly politicized, physically fragmented, internally divided, partly autonomous but still struggling against Israeli occupation, and not given to displays of frivolity or celebration.”

“We’re already so accustomed to mobile technology that experiencing art through it feels as natural as any other interface. It can be hard to see just how categorically it changes (and could yet change) art. Think wearable tech: Google Glass, for instance, or Oculus Rift, both of which extend the possibilities even further to virtual or augmented realities and audiences existing within artworks, not simply looking on.”

In Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, where many local communities deeply mistrust central governments, pop songs and radio soap operas are proving to be useful tools for convincing skeptical villagers to take safety precautions.

“The upshot: Just as with the nation as a whole, rural geography is becoming more concentrated and spiky. The rural economy has the same fundamental drivers as the metro economy: access to knowledge institutions and the clustering and concentration of talent and skill. No longer can rural areas expect to prosper based just on natural amenities like ski mountains and national parks.”

Matthew Inman explains it all simply and clearly for those who don’t yet get it. (includes gratuitous references to crab tacos)