“Not even 20 years ago we mostly read about things in lag, on thin slices of tree, whereas now we do — well, this, whatever this is. Yet instead of technology superannuating literature once and for all, it seems to have created a new space in our minds for it.” – The New York Times Book Review
Tag: 11.19.19
Public Art in Erie
My work in the Pennsylvania city came in the middle of a long-term project of commissioning murals for the city. In October one was completed that impressed me so much I had to share it here. – Doug Borwick
Wall Street’s Charging Bull Sculpture Is Being Moved. The Artist Is Unhappy
“I feel very disappointed about the way my sculpture is treated, with nothing but contempt and not the appreciation that should be, since Charging Bull became one of the most visited attractions of New York City,” said Arturo Di Modica. – Artnet
We’re Facing A Collapse Of Information
We are currently facing a new systemic collapse, one that has built far more swiftly but poses potent risks for all of humanity: the collapse of the information ecosystem. We see it play out every day with the viral spread of misinformation, widening news deserts and the proliferation of fake news. This collapse has much in common with the environmental collapse of the planet that we’re only now beginning to grasp, and its consequences for life as we know it are shaping up to be just as profound. – The Guardian
Meet The World’s Oldest Living Drag Queen
Even at age 89, Walter Cole dons a sequined gown and frizzy wig four nights a week to perform as Darcelle XV. And he does it at his own bar, which he opened with his first wife a few years after coming home to Portland from the Korean War. (It was his second wife that convinced him to try drag.) – American Theatre
New Study: Here’s How AI Will Impact Your Job (And Whether You’ll Still Have One)
“Fully 740 out of the 769 occupational descriptions Michael Webb analyzed contain a capability pair match with AI patent language, meaning at least one or more of its tasks could potentially be exposed to, complemented by, or completed by AI.” But less than a fifth (just under 18 percent) of U.S. jobs, 25 million or so, are threatened by high exposure to AI. – CityLab
A Deaf, Mixed-Race Dancer Finds Her Dream Role In ‘For Colored Girls …’
Ntozake Shange didn’t write the role of the Lady in Purple in her “choreopoem” for a deaf performer, but she happily approved casting Alexandria Wailes in the current New York revival. Gia Kourlas talks with Wailes about integrating American Sign Language with choreographed movement and how dancing has helped her communicate all her life. – The New York Times
After 19-Year-Ban, Opera Returns To Turkmenistan
The country’s first post-Soviet president, the autocratic and eccentric Sapurmurat Niyazov, banned opera in 2001 as “incompatible with Turkmen mentality.” His successor (and former dentist), Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, maintained the ban until this week, when Pagliacci was presented as part of a joint Italian-Turkmen cultural festival. – Yahoo! (AFP)
Conviction Of Picasso’s Former Electrician And Wife For Hoarding Stolen Art Confirmed
“Pierre and Danielle Le Guennec were first given two-year suspended terms in 2015 after being convicted of possession of stolen goods over the huge trove of works by Picasso, including nine rare Cubist collages and a work from his famous Blue Period. That verdict was upheld in 2016 by a higher court but then quashed by the Cour de Cassation, which ordered a retrial. The former electrician, 80, and his wife, 76, were not in court Tuesday when they were found guilty for a third time.” – Yahoo! (AFP)
Playing On Broadway… But What, Actually, Is Broadway?
The Times Square area was never the exclusive preserve of theatergoers, but Broadway culture elevated the neighborhood’s rough and raffish character. Today, not even all Broadway theaters have Broadway theater happening inside them. – Los Angeles Times