Tag: 12.02.19

When Classical Music Mattered

“As a common language of celebration or eulogy, as a means of expressing collective joy or sorrow, classical music is indeed a dying tongue. Would 2,500 people cram into the nave and transept  of the National Cathedral today to hear Haydn’s Mass in the Time of War, as they did in January 1973, when Leonard Bernstein conducted a concert in protest of President Nixon’s second inaugural?” – American Scholar

A Crisis Of Truth?

It seems irresponsible or perverse to reject the idea that there is a Crisis of Truth. No time now for judicious reflection; what’s needed is a full-frontal attack on the Truth Deniers. But it’s good to be sure about the identity of the problem before setting out to solve it. Conceiving the problem as a Crisis of Truth, or even as a Crisis of Scientific Authority, is not, I think, the best starting point. There’s no reason for complacency, but there is reason to reassess which bits of our culture are in a critical state and, once they are securely identified, what therapies are in order. – Los Angeles Review of Books

Vijay Iyer: Artist As Ally Of Adjacent Cultures

“This can’t just be about me sounding cool or looking awesome. It has to be in service of something larger. You want to actually open a conversation and activate people’s imaginations, and allow them to imagine a different world than the one we’re in. And that’s the kind of work that an artist can do, because we’re not there to answer questions exactly. We’re there to stir something up, and also to offer an alternative to the reality that we’re inhabiting.” – Boston Review

Saddam Hussein Tried To Reconstruct The Ancient City Of Babylon, And His Abandoned Buildings Are Still There

“In the 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Hussein became obsessed with the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar, who is notorious for waging bloody wars to seize large swaths of current-day Iran and Israel. Saddam saw himself as a modern reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar, and to prove it, he spent millions building a massive reconstruction of Babylon. … Today, it seems to fall between picnic site and abandoned theme park.” – Atlas Obscura

Why Do We Only Equate Innovation And Creativity With Cities?

Few people, particularly those cognizant of current writing on cities, culture, and technology, would blink at the sentence above. “Urban innovation,” the “smart city,” and the “triumph of the city”—these have become familiar as buzz phrases and even book titles. But what about peripheral regions, rural areas, and small towns—can’t they be smart and innovative? And what exactly is meant by “the triumph of the city”? Triumph over what? – CityLab

What I’ve Learned About Arts Journalism In The Past Decade

Diep Tran: “When I was first hired at American Theatre, I thought arts journalism was two things: reviewing shows and interviewing celebrities. But as I’ve grown in my career, I realized that it has become something else for me: Journalism is an act of service. The theatre industry, like most industries, is notoriously tight-lipped in many sensitive areas: compensation (or the lack of it), race and power dynamics, and sexual harassment, to name just a few. Those in power would rather you, the reader and the viewer, look at the art and not look too closely at what’s going on behind the curtain.” – American Theatre

Russia And Syria Make Deal To Restore Ancient Palmyra, Damaged By ISIS

Among the long-term goals of the agreement are the Hermitage and the National Museum of Oman working together to restore 20 Syrian antiquities, primarily from Palmyra; an international campaign to restore Palmyra, seriously damaged by Isis; and the formation of an international expert group under the auspices of Unesco and DGAM, together with the Hermitage and Aga Khan Foundation. – The Art Newspaper