David Haglund: “While unabashedly lowbrow art has long ceased to be disreputable, has the term ‘middlebrow’ also lost its sting? It may be a tougher category to rehabilitate: Neither quite one thing or another, ‘middlebrow’ suggests something mushy and unsure of itself – and this in-between-ness evokes status anxiety far more than the art on either extreme of the spectrum.”
Category: issues
New York City Center Set To Sparkle Following Renovation
Poor sightlines, cramped lobbies, and a literal whitewash of the interior are among the problems addressed by the $57M revamp. The venue now has a restored, multi-colored Moorish interior, fewer and bigger seats, a much higher street profile, and (yes) more restroom space.
Renovated Bolshoi A Godsend For Performers
Before the 1856 theater was closed for its years-long reconstruction, there was a severe lack of rehearsal space, overcrowded dressing rooms, problematic climate control, and a single shower and commode for all the performers to share. Now there are 11 rehearsal rooms, and each dressing room has its own facilities.
Bolshoi’s Acoustics Have An Unanticipated Problem: The Moscow Metro
The central section of the system’s Green Line passes about 40 meters from the Bolshoi’s main hall, and the trains can be heard inside the newly- (and expensively-) repaired auditorium. The tunnels will have insulation added during a system closure next month.
What Does Toronto’s Mayor Plan For The Arts? (It’s So Confusing!)
“I would like to radiate optimism, but this strikes me a sideshow that should be called Ford’s Follies. And I almost burst out laughing when I received an invitation to the annual Mayors’s Arts Awards Lunch later this month.”
Brazilian Industrialist Unveils Plans For Giant Arts Complex
Bernardo Paz, 60, unveiled plans to build a mecca for contemporary arts fans around the Inhotim Cultural Institute, a sprawling rural estate in the hilltops of Minas Gerais state, already one of the most talked-about and unusual arts destinations in Latin America, if not the world.”
Reconsidering The Great American City
Many of America’s “great cities journeyed to the brink of expiration before eventually finding new life. Many of the cities wracked by riots, deindustrialization, and depopulation in the 1960s and 1970s enjoyed a renaissance in recent decades.”
The “Creative Class” Is Getting Smushed
“Book editors, journalists, video store clerks, musicians, novelists without tenure — they’re among the many groups struggling through the dreary combination of economic slump and Internet reset. The creative class is melting, and the story is largely untold.”
Actually, The Creative Class Is Alive And Well
“As bad as the overall economic situation may be, the creative class has in fact gotten off comparatively lightly.”
Should We Include Happiness in The GDP? Probably
The U.S. loves being number one — but is nowhere near that on the happiness scale. Why? And what policies could change that performance?