“For years I have not participated in collective activities, especially if they force me to move from one continent to another. … The round table was a disaster, since the other two participants, very young, started a binge yesterday evening that has lasted throughout the day, and presented themselves in a deplorable state. As they are mystery authors, they feel obliged to show a degree of alcoholism that they may not have.” – El País (Spain)
Tag: 01.25.19
The Fight Over Repatriating African Skulls From European Museums
And not just skulls, but also entire skeletons: “For centuries, African bones have lay in boxes all across Europe, placed under microscopes or displayed in some attempt to better understand the role of humans through scientific endeavours.” – VICE Canada
An Actor From Mexico Has Been Denied Visas To Come To The U.S. For Oscars Publicity
Director Alfonso Cuarón and Netflix sent letters to assure authorities that actor Jorge Antonio Guerrero Martínez, who played Fermín in the movie Roma, wasn’t going to the U.S. to work but rather to give interviews – but the letters went unread. “I tried giving it to the consul. They grabbed the paper and literally just returned my passport through the teller window. … If they don’t want to read it, then it’s going to be very difficult.” – Los Angeles Times
Lamia al-Gailani Werr, Archaeologist Who Helped Rescue Iraqi Art, Has Died At 80
Werr, an expert on Mesopotamian stone seals, helped assess the damage to the Iraqi National Museum and its art, and also helped “catalog the objects that remained, found storage facilities for them and acted as an intermediary between the museum staff and occupying forces.” – The New York Times
The Newseum Is About To Be Homeless
It was a bad – even terrible – week for journalism, with layoffs left and right and center. Then Johns Hopkins bought the D.C. building that houses the Newseum. – NPR
That Shredded Banksy Will Rotate Through Galleries In A German Museum
Despite the fact that the shredding didn’t work as planned, the buyer agreed to purchase it – and now it’s going to the Stuttgart Staatsgalerie. But “Banksy being Banksy, it would not do for the work to simply hang on the wall where anyone can see it! … The museum plans to continually move the location of the Banksy work throughout the Old Masters and Modern masterworks collection.” – Hyperallergic
Hot New Startup: ‘LinkedIn For Opera Artists’
Seriously. The Danish start-up is meant for artists to be able to take some control over their careers, no matter what their agents do. “Truelinked will feature digital profiles of artists that can be searched by companies and opera houses.” – The Stage (UK)
Florence Knoll Bassett, Who Designed American Offices Into Modernity, Has Died At 101
Knoll Bassett was “a pioneering designer and entrepreneur who created the modern look and feel of America’s postwar corporate office with sleek furniture, artistic textiles and an uncluttered, free-flowing workplace environment.” – The New York Times
In A Surprise Move, Penguin Random House Shutters Prestigious Imprint Spiegel And Grau
The imprint, founded by Cindy Spiegel and Julie Grau, had one of its most successful years in 2018, but even if it hadn’t, the imprint had a prestigious run of best-selling nonfiction. What gives? “Penguin Random House, which houses around 275 imprints worldwide and generates some $4 billion annually, has begun to look for ways to streamline its publishing lines.” – The New York Times
The Wages Of Onscreen Interracial Friendship
Has the U.S. learned nothing since Driving Miss Daisy? Well … the Academy likes Spike Lee a tad bit more now, 30 years later. – The New York Times