Three Years After A Car Bomb Damaged It, A Cairo Museum Reopens

The museum houses more than 9500 pieces of Islamic art from all over the Islamic world. One professor of Islamic art history: “‘I think the reopening of the museum is extremely important because there’s been so much negative propaganda’ about Islam, she says. ‘I think it will show people that this was one of the most advanced cultures — and how better to see it than through art?'”

Theatre – Like Most Of The Arts – Is Struggling With This Sudden Shift In Political Climate

Theatres usually plan seasons at least a year and sometimes several ahead, but they’re starting to reshuffle and change the lineups, partly because “artistic directors and theater producers — positioning themselves as first responders in a time of political and humanitarian upheaval — grapple with how to jump-start a current-events conversation with audiences.”

When A Maori Painter Was Accused Of Terrorism

Tame Iti, a member of the Tūhoe Nation, returned from prison and shifted his focus to art: “Art is an intricate part of activism. To be an active participant, to try and provoke people’s thinking, to capture your audience. People that come and look at art, they’re looking for something. They’re looking for the moments, looking for the magic.”

Top AJBlogs From The Weekend Of 02.05.17

Political Dispatches
Caught the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) exhibition Dispatches this weekend.  Dispatches was mounted just before the 2016 election; in its own words it “includes a survey of works from 2010 – present and … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2017-02-05

When the Last is not the Last
Batsheva Dance Company, live and on film, performs in New York. Or Meir Schraiber (L) and William Barry of Batsheva Dance Company in Ohad Naharin’s Last Work. At back: Rani Lebzelter. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu The … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-02-05

Weekend Extra: Louis Stewart Wailing In Wales
A Rifftides reader who requests anonymity has made us aware of a video featuring the remarkable Irish guitarist Louis Stewart. Stewart died at 72 in a London hospice last August following a short … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-02-04