“When associates at Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong went missing about two years ago – and its scandalous books about mainland Chinese politicians were destroyed not long after – Woo Chih-wai thought he’d lost everything.” Reporter Vivienne Chow recounts how, partly to earn some money back, he republished a very long, very graphic erotic novel from the 1730s titles Preposterous Words.
Tag: 10.18.17
How The Dutch Golden Age Gave Us Today’s Art World System
Today, the artist as a visionary with ideas and aesthetics of her own is taken for granted. But it emerged during this vibrant period in the Netherlands, pioneered by Rembrandt van Rijn, alongside many of other features of the modern art market.
Mystery Solved: New Zealand Library Figures Out Who Was Hiding Books
“They initially thought kids playing pranks were to blame, but later discovered it was the city’s rough sleepers who were actually stashing the books so they could return the next day to continue reading.”
Art Behind The Scenes: How Paintings Get Framed, Sculptures Get Forged, And Art Gets Moved Around And Installed
“With a sense of craft and care comparable to that of the artists whose work they tend, art-service professionals play a crucial role in making sure artworks get where they need to go, in preserved condition and suited to be seen in the proper light. … ARTnews visited art services in and around New York City to see how [the work gets done].”
Scientists Compare Brain Activity Of Jazz, Classical Musicians. Turns Out There Are Differences
“The researchers used EEG to compare the electrical brain activity of 12 Jazz musicians (with improvisation training), 12 Classical musicians (without improvisation training), and 12 non-musicians while they listened to a series of chord progressions. Some of the chords followed a progression that was typical of Western music, while others had an unexpected progression.”
The “Arts” Are Determined (And Controlled) By Too Few
“Just as foreign aid ends up in the pockets of tyrannical kleptocrats rather than reaching the desperate and the starving, so does art aid go to the arts rather than to artists. This is not to suggest that the arts nomenklatura peculates with the licence that politicians enjoy. Nor that it feeds its critics to crocodiles in the time-honoured manner. What it does suggest is that the fate of artists and of art itself is in the hands of too few persons, who share kindred tastes and cultish dogma.”
Welcome To The Catalan Republic – At Least In Its Theatre Of The Street Version
The Catalan independence movement garnered plenty of media attention when Spanish federal forces cracked down on a vote. But none of this was entirely new: “Since 2012, the Assemblea Nacional de Catalunya (ANC) and other independence activists have been staging large-scale, theatrical protests to garner internal and external support. Through these organizations, repertoires of theatricalized protests have developed on Barcelona’s streets seeking to shine the spotlight on the merits of Catalan independence.”
The Lie That George Bernard Buried A Century Ago
Poverty is not a moral flaw, as anyone can see from Pygmalion, but that lie is like a vampire – it’s undead, and returning now, a century later. Perhaps it’s time to read Bernard Shaw again (and not just watch My Fair Lady).
Trying To Keep Up On A 12-Hour Lunch Date With Joni Mitchell
It was a trip: “As urban centers all over America were banning smoking in public places, life for Joni Mitchell was still a noir film from the 40s, full of nicotine and screwball repartee. She kept smoking in public as long as she could, until she was eventually reduced to e-cigarettes…. She loved to be what she called a ‘pot stirrer.’ She was trouble—and she was really good at it.”
Jean Nouvel Talks About His New Abu Dhabi Louvre
The building is a giant dome that lets some light through. When tests were carried out in Stuttgart, Germany, and on a scale mock-up in Abu Dhabi, Nouvel found that even the 5 per cent of sunlight he intended to allow through was too much. In the finished museum, “Only 1.8 per cent of light goes through all layers of the dome,” Hala Wardé says. “We reduced the light to achieve the effect and level of comfort we were seeking.”