The growing presence of the elite in Burning Man is not just noticed by outsiders — long-time attendees grumble that Burning Man has become “gentrified.” Commenting on the New York Times piece, burners express dismay at attendees who do no work. “Paying people to come and take care of you and build for you . . . and clean up after you . . . those people missed the point.”
Tag: 08.25.16
Louvre’s Attendance Down 20% So Far This Year
“In a phone conversation with a representative for the Louvre – which is the most-visited museum in the world – artnet News discovered that attendance from January through June dropped 20 percent compared to the previous year.”
Dance Is The Perfect Art Form For Export, Which Is A Business Opportunity For Companies
Anthony Missen, director of Britain’s Company Chameleon: “From [our company’s] perspective, dance as an international export works because our dance pieces are scalable. Working both indoors in theatres and studio venues, and outdoors at events and festivals, our work can be presented in small squares, big plazas and huge theatres in sprawling cities, busy towns and relatively isolated rural communities. This flexibility means we can perform in a huge number of contexts and within a wide range of budgets.”
Woody Allen, At 80, Says That What Didn’t Kill Him Did Not Make Him Stronger
“I don’t believe in the Nietzschean notion that what doesn’t destroy you makes you stronger. You see these soldiers come back with PTSD; they’ve been to war and seen death and experienced these existential crises one after the other. There are traumas in life that weaken us for the future. And that’s what’s happened to me. The various slings and arrows of life have not strengthened me. I think I’m weaker. I think there are things I couldn’t take now that I would have been able to take when I was younger.”
‘Project Prospero’ – Shakespeare’s Globe Plans Major Expansion
“Shakespeare’s Globe is planning a major redevelopment project that will create a new library and archive facility, rehearsal studios underneath the theatre and an upgrading of its production departments.”
How Harvard’s American Repertory Theater Came Back From The Brink
“The past several years have marked a revival for the Cambridge theater, which in 2008 was mired in financial and artistic distress. Since then, the ART has doubled its revenue as it launched 10 plays and musicals that ended up in New York, a record pace for the theater. The shows have won a bevy of Tony awards, notice that’s led to regular sellouts of its 534-seat Loeb Drama Center.”
After 400 Years, Giordano Bruno Is Still A Free-Speech Hero
“Go to Campo dei Fiori in Rome on 17 February and you will find yourself surrounded by a motley crowd of atheists, pantheists, anarchists, Masons, mystics, Christian reformers and members of the Italian Association of Free Thinkers … In the four centuries since he was executed for heresy by the Roman Inquisition, this diminutive iconoclast has been appropriated as a symbol by all manner of causes, reflecting the complexities and contradictions inherent in his ideas, his writings and his character.”
This Ballet Studio That’s Been Above A Hardware Store Since WWII Must Close
“‘Nobody threw us out the door,’ Gleason said. But Gleason said the 25-by-30 foot rehearsal room above the hardware store, which an athletic dancer could bound across in about three leaps, is too small to train dancers for professional careers.”
On Sunday, Italian Museums Donated All Of Their Profits To Earthquake Victims
“As rescue efforts continue in the town of Amatrice and the surrounding area, where the death toll has risen to 247, the culture minister Dario Franceschini urged Italians to ‘go to museums in a sign of solidarity with the populations involved in [the] earthquake.'”
When Works Of Art Come Apart (Or Get Knocked Down, In Banksy’s Case)
“Often, the issues can be traced back to the artists themselves. While painting’“The Last Supper’ in Milan in the 1490s, Leonardo da Vinci tried a number of oil-paint experiments, hoping to achieve better effects by painting on dry wall rather than on wet plaster. Within 20 years, the masterpiece was flaking off the wall, creating an ongoing headache as experts argued over which parts were authentic and which had been added by overzealous restorers.”