“One could say that capitalism produces greater artistic variation, thereby speeding up aesthetic evolution. But if the species is rapidly evolving toward decadence and possible extinction, then its proliferation of increasingly varied forms of art and music is destined to be short-lived, however ingenious and enjoyable those forms may be.” – Resilience
Tag: 08.19.20
The Music Of Biology And The Biology Of Music
The argument that there is both an aliveness and a wholeness to organic life which is potentially recognizable to musicians in musical terms has in the past been easier to make for those immersed in the invisible, mycorrhyzal webs of oral traditions than in the architectural solidity of art music, with its notations, institutions, theories and formal pedagogies. But let’s not get stuck in these academic distinctions. – Resilience
How I Learned To Be A Kinder Critic
Josh Kosman: “If you’d asked me at the time, I could have unreeled a fairly high-minded manifesto about the central importance of honesty in criticism. None of it would have been wrong, exactly, but it also wouldn’t have been the whole truth. The rest of it — the part I left unacknowledged, even to myself — was that this philosophy was expressly designed to let me off the hook for whatever harm my writing might cause.” – San Francisco Chronicle
Google’s Plan To Disrupt Education
“College degrees are out of reach for many Americans, and you shouldn’t need a college diploma to have economic security,” writes Kent Walker, senior vice president of global affairs at Google. “We need new, accessible job-training solutions–from enhanced vocational programs to online education–to help America recover and rebuild.” – Inc.
Minneapolis Theatre Looks Into The Future, Decides To Shut Down After One Last Season
The company realized last November that, given the current funding climate, it would not be able to sustain itself beyond the coming year. State and private grant priorities were shifting, Avitabile said, and a few key donors were no longer in a position to give. Rather than go into debt, 20% Theatre will use its last season to celebrate accomplishments. – MPR
Can Reading Fight Racism?
The pandemic changed some things, and then came the murder of George Floyd – and the largest civil rights movement in U.S. history. “Anti-racist manuals have been cleaned out from virtual bookstore shelves and pushed to the top of bestseller lists. And often, these buyers don’t want to read alone. Enter the anti-racist book club.” – BuzzFeed
This Artist’s 2014 Paintings Perfectly Envisage The Pandemic Lockdown
Thuy Van Vu’s empty classrooms feel eerily familiar right now, almost photographic. “The spaces she portrays are vast and full of potential, and also of a great, yawning absence. Where are the children? Their teachers? The chairs are piled awkwardly on top of the desks, everything pushed together, as if those who left were in a rush. There’s a sense that these desks and chairs have been lingering and might never be used again.” – Catapult
Museum Director Who Wouldn’t Certify Belarus Election Found Dead
Kanstantsin Shyshmakou, the 29-year-old director of a military history museum in Vawkavysk, refused to sign anything certifying the re-election of Lukashenko – and was found dead in a river after disappearing. Authorities claim there’s nothing criminal about his death. – KHPG (Ukraine)
No One Is Listening To The Radio, But Everyone Is Listening To NPR
The drivetime listeners are gone, sending NPR’s radio ratings into the sub-sub-basement. Yet NPR is reaching 10 percent more people than at the same time last year. What gives? “Bringing a younger, more diverse audience into the NPR fold means reaching listeners on the platforms they’re already on — whether that’s putting podcasts on Spotify, music on YouTube, or newsy explainers on TikTok. … Executives are putting two and two together from the demographic reports and, bubbling up from the bottom, junior producers and interns want to produce content that their digital-native friends will actually see.” – Nieman Lab
Why A California Motorist’s “NULL” License Plate Set Him Up For $1000s In Tickets
That setup also has a brutal punch line—one that left Joseph Tartaro at one point facing $12,049 of traffic fines wrongly sent his way. He’s still not sure if he’ll be able to renew his auto registration this year without paying someone else’s tickets. And thanks to the Kafkaesque loop he’s caught in, it’s not clear if the citations will ever stop coming. – Wired