“To slip past censors, Chinese bloggers have become masters of comic subterfuge, cloaking their messages in protective layers of irony and satire. This is not a new concept, but it has erupted so powerfully that it now defines the ethos of the Internet in China.”
Category: issues
Canadian Arts Funding Is Changing (And There Are Risks)
“Can Canadian arts groups court enough new donors to copy the American model, where donations can cover up to half an institution’s costs? And, if they succeed, how will that dependency on wealthy patrons affect the art they create?”
Embedded, With Pencil And Brush, In Iraq And Afghanistan
Steve Mumford went to Iraq to draw the invasion – and returned many times. Now, he sees the art world differently. “I actually don’t think artists are that interested in politics, at least most of the painters I know,” he says. “They’re a bit like the soldiers I met in Iraq, quick to express a vague political conviction but really more interested in getting back to doing what they like.”
Hey Art World: You Eat Your Young (And Your Middle-Aged, And Your Elderly, Too)
Chris Kasper planned for a union for arts workers. Then he got his MFA and moved to New York. “When I would score jobs, I would just feel grateful to be working (no matter how insane or abusive the person or organization I was working for) at a rate of 15 to 20 bucks an hour. The people I worked next to were all in the same boat I was.”
An Artist Gives The FBI Everything They Ask, And A Whole Lot More
In 2002, the FBI detained artist Hasan Elahi at the airport after a false report about his storage locker. Elahi started emailing the FBI his whereabouts and plans. Then things got more complex – and he reports everything about his life to anyone who wants to know. (And apparently the FBI, CIA and Department of Homeland Security have an interest.)
Activists Don’t Laugh As Studio Films Comedy Near Imprisoned Human Rights Activist
Blind rights activist Chen Guangcheng has been imprisoned, his village turned into an armed camp. So why is U.S.-based Relativity Media filming a buddy comedy nearby?
Who Are The Artists? The NEA Has A Study To Let You Know
“More than half of artists (54 percent) work in the private, for-profit sector; 35 percent are self-employed.”
Pakistan’s Imperiled Arts And Culture
“Art and artifacts are expressions of the intangible; they are by definition tenuous and fragile. Pakistani art and music poised at the cusp of actual annihilation is even more so.”
NYC’s Ugly City Center Theatre Returns A Swan
“The center’s original designer, Harry P. Knowles, gave the building an over-the-top Moorish-style romanticism that has been wondrously restored.”
Kansas City Built An Arts Center – Will The Creative Class Come?
“[B]eneath the noblesse oblige and civic boosterism is a more hard-edged wager: that the performing arts are a great way for companies to promote development and grow their own business.”