Category: issues

“That the arts are central to the economy is not an isolated idea, or a new one. It’s one that has widespread support, refuses to go away and needs to be challenged by as many voices as possible, as often as is necessary; especially in these financially pressured times, when it is all too easy to give in to short-term thinking to please those handing out the paltry sums. It is a philistine approach that misses the value and point of culture.”

“Many political cartoonists have tried to become ambiguous and communicate a message in a way that it makes it hard for the government to come after them.”

“The conflict is often illusory: A cybersecurity law could easily be drafted that would accomplish all the goals of both tech companies and privacy groups without raising any serious civil liberties problems.”

“The art of city-building allows for the creative human spirit. If it doesn’t, architecture flatlines, streetscapes become samescapes, and anybody interested in wonky variations in scale and urban texture hightails it to Sao Paulo or Istanbul – cities of wild design difference – instead.”

“The prison colony also listed a penalty that Tolokonnikova received for failing to say hello to a prison official while she was in the hospital and noted that she was once reprimanded for her refusal to go out for a walk while she was held in a Moscow jail.”

“This idea that culture should be measured in economic terms is not just crass and wrong, but also dangerous. Culture is not about making money, it’s about creating, maintaining and commenting on that great work of humanity: civilisation.”

“The Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw will try to educate people about the community’s rich past, and, say its curators, might also help dispel some of the suspicion towards Jews that still now – seven decades after the Holocaust – lingers in parts of Polish society.”

“The original journalistic sin is that arts coverage has rarely been held to the same exacting editorial standards as news reporting. No one would tolerate such myopic coverage of politics, but when it comes to arts coverage the line between reporting and advertising is continually being erased, rubbing out critical honesty and independence.”

“Professional critics are increasingly necessary because a good deal of what appears online under the guise of criticism is highly dubious. Amateurs, God bless them, can be far more easily persuaded to give good notices to something.”

“The government wants participants – not bystanders. I need you all to accept this fundamental premise, and work with me to develop the argument.”