Ayman Safiah, the first (and only) Palestinian man to go through ballet training, just graduated and simply wants to make his art. Can he go home? “The arts in Israel are more segregated than before, but I am not interested in that sort of environment. I don’t like politics having a role in the arts. I just want to dance.”
Tag: 08.10.12
St. Petersburg, Cultural Mecca Of The 18th Century, Goes Culture-Mad Again
The island of New Holland sits at the center of the Russian city that Peter the Great hoped would be a “new Venice.” Now a Russian oligarch has created a mixture of contemporary arts center and something like New York’s High Line (organic garden included, of course).
You Want Data Protection? Move To Europe
Google just got handed a fine of $22.5 million for “making erroneous statements” in its privacy policy, but that’s nothing for the giant. And it doesn’t look like the U.S. will have any privacy laws in place anytime soon.
David Rakoff, 47, Essayist, Humorist, Voice Of This American Life
“Rakoff, a prizewinning humorist whose mordant, neurotic essays examined everything from his surreal stint portraying Sigmund Freud in a Christmastime shop window display to his all-too-real battles with cancer, died on Thursday in Manhattan.”
The Future Of T.V. Might Be Really, Really Boring
As in, nothing may change. That means bundled services and cable. Forever.
The Artists In Bryant Park Aren’t Just Painting For Love
The corporation that runs Bryant Park picked four artists who are being paid to paint, in public, for a couple of weeks apiece. Why? “”The public loves to watch painters.”
How Does The Mars Rover Help The Art World?
“An X-ray diffraction and fluorescence instrument the robot uses to study the composition of rock on the Red Planet’s surface has found an application in an unlikely field: art conservation.”
Artist-Led Real Estate
“Today, as widespread civic enthusiasm for “creative” projects has begun to spawn skepticism, the Northern Warehouse may be one of the clearest case studies of the role of artists in rejuvenating decayed neighborhoods–and sticking around afterward.”
Birmingham’s Street Performers Protest New Regulations
“Would-be performers in Liverpool city centre must now sign up to a mandatory licensing scheme and obtain a photo ID card before they can book a two hour slot to play in council-designated pitches. The scheme requires that entertainers be bound by a number of restrictive terms and conditions.”
What Sells In New York (Depends On Your Ethnicity)
“In the Babel that is New York City, where nearly 200 languages are spoken and read within the public school system and nearly 40 percent of the population was born abroad, literary tastes among immigrant cultures turn out to be as different as their cuisines.”