Arts news

• Walter Benjamin’s reading list of crime and classics revealed

  06-06-2016 23:00
  
  Stuck for summer reading ideas? Why not find inspiration from Walter Benjamin? Since he was a student, the German philosopher and culture critic wrote down and numbered every book he read in a journal. The small black notebook catalogues Benjamin’s reading from the age of 22 in 1917 until 1939, shortly before he left Paris fleeing from the Nazis. It begins with number 462—earlier entries are lost—and ends with number 1712, Robert Hichens’ Le Toque noire. P
  
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• Venice Biennale: the multiple fronts of architecture do not disappoint

  06-06-2016 23:00
  
  The Venice Biennale organised by the Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena does not disappoint. Above all, in this fluid world where everyone knows everything before it happens, this is no déjà vu. In most cases, this also applies to the famous works, which are held hostage by installations: some symbolic, hermetic and evocative, others highly material, some both.And the challenge of not only addressing architects is, at least in part, well met. Here are some of the trends running t
  
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• The artist formerly known as Antony turns curator

  06-06-2016 23:00
  
  The enigmatic singer Antony Hegarty, who identifies as transgender and now goes by the name of Anohni, has turned to curating, with plans to show pieces that are “important to her” in a show at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld in northern Germany next month (Anohni: My Truth, 23 July-16 October). The musician, who founded the avant-garde group Antony and the Johnsons, has chosen works by Peter Hujar, the late US photographer who chronicled the Aids crisis in New York, the late Japanese
  
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• London’s Fine Art Society turns 140

  06-06-2016 23:00
  
  While new art galleries seem to pop up (and down) at an alarming rate these days, the Fine Art Society stands proud as a gallery that opened in 1876 in the same New Bond Street, Mayfair townhouse where it operates today. Originally founded by collectors as a print and publishing business, the popular response to its fine art exhibitions pulled the gallery into a different direction, says Gordon Cooke, its director of 19th- and 20th-century prints. He cites an 1881 exhibition of works by Millais
  
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• Josef Sudek and the language of loss

  06-06-2016 23:00
  In Prague at Night, a photograph taken by the Czech artist Josef Sudek (1896-1976) sometime between 1950 and 1959, the city is bare but bright. There are no people, but the light of a nearby lamp and the glow of buildings in the near distance brighten an otherwise quiet scene. Walter Benjamin wrote in 1916 that all things, whether animate or inanimate, speak some language. Sudek understood that point intuitively.He was a sensitive and astute observer of the ordinary things in the world around h
  
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• Artists invited to illuminate the river Thames

  06-06-2016 23:00
  
  A new charity spearheaded by Hannah Rothschild, the award-winning author who is chair of the National Gallery’s board of trustees, plans to transform central London’s many bridges with the help of artists working in collaboration with engineers. Illuminated River, a £20m scheme, was launched last week, backed by the new Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan—his first endorsement of an ambitious cultural project.
  An international design competition has begun to find a team capable
  
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• Martos Gallery Announces Move To Chinatown, Names Ebony L. Haynes Director

  06-06-2016 22:21 via artnews.com
  Martos Gallery has announced that it will be moving from its Chelsea location at 540 West 29th Street to a new, two-story space in Chinatown at 41 Elizabeth Street. The gallery been located in Chelsea for the past 16 years. Coinciding … Read More
  
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• New York Academy of Art Names Four New Trustees, Including Brooke Shields and Naomi Watts

  06-06-2016 19:40 via artnews.com
  The New York Academy of Art has announced the appointment of four new trustees: Christina DiDonna, Alexander Gilkes, Brooke Shields, and Naomi Watts. These new members will be joining Eric Fischl, Nicolas Bos, Bob O’Leary, Maureen Chiquet, and chair Eileen … Read More
  
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• Russian prosecutors ask for artist Petr Pavlensky to be released with fine

  06-06-2016 19:27
  
  Court hears unexpected request for leniency for man on trial for torching door of security service headquartersIn a rare appeal for leniency, Russian prosecutors have asked a judge to release radical artist Petr Pavlensky with a hefty fine as he faces prison for torching the door of the security service’s headquarters.Pavlensky doused a massive wooden door at the FSB security service’s Moscow headquarters with gasoline and set it on fire in a November performance he called Threat. Re
  
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• Artist Mary Heilmann: the Californian surfer still making waves in her 70s

  06-06-2016 18:58
  
  She could have been an Olympic diver. Instead, she hung out with Hockney and brought her hippy spirit to the macho New York art scene. Now, in her eighth decade, Mary Heilmann has finally caught the curl with her riotous, rainbow art
  Mary Heilmann is remembering the day David Hockney came to teach her a class at college. “He was only a few years older than we were. Already famous. He came in with his chartreuse suit, white-blond hair. The painters didn’t really want to take his class
  
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• MoMA PS1 Communications Director Allison Rodman Departs Institution

  06-06-2016 18:56 via artnews.com
  Allison Rodman, who has served as director of communications at MoMA PS1 for nearly two years, is leaving the Long Island City institution, ARTnews has learned. Her last day is June 10.“After two years at MoMA PS1—which I personally think … Read More
  
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• Playwright Peter Shaffer, Writer Of Equus And Amadeus, Dies At 90

  06-06-2016 18:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “His agent, Rupert Lord, said: ‘He was simply at the end of his life but delighted to have been able to celebrate his 90th birthday with friends and then, I think, decided it was time.'”
  
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• If The European Union Goes For A Proposed Cinema Strategy, You Can Kiss Euro Art Movies Goodbye

  06-06-2016 18:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “If left unopposed, this misguided DSM strategy will only serve to buffer the power of monopolistic players in the new online marketplace, squeezing out opportunities for thought-provoking European films to be made, and fostering a monoculture of formulaic blockbusters.”
  
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• Annie Proulx Is Way Over Navel-Gazing Novels

  06-06-2016 17:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “I think people probably miss those books that were written some time ago – the big book that was written with care.”
  
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• Harvey Quaytman Estate Now Represented by Van Doren Waxter

  06-06-2016 17:29 via artnews.com
  The estate of Harvey Quaytman, the late-20th-century American abstract artist, is now represented by Van Doren Waxter, the Upper East Side gallery announced today. It had been represented in New York by McKee Gallery, which closed last year. Van Doren Waxter will … Read More
  
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• Banksy leaves mural and cheeky note in Bristol school as thanks for tribute

  06-06-2016 17:07
  
  Artist shows gratitude to Bridge Farm primary for naming house after him, but tells pupils ‘forgiveness is easier to get than permission’ The street artist Banksy has painted a primary school playground wall and left a note that could cause havoc with the school’s code of discipline – “remember it’s always easier to get forgiveness than permission” – in gratitude for the honour of having one of the houses of the school in Bristol named after him.Th
  
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• Then and Now: The Transforming Tate

  06-06-2016 17:01 via artnews.com
  From its beginnings in 1897, when it had but one modest site in London housing a small collection of British artworks, to the present, Tate Gallery has grown to boast four venues—London’s Tate Britain and Tate Modern, as well as … Read More
  
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• Montreal Is Throwing A 375th Birthday Party And Arguing About Whether History Should Figure In

  06-06-2016 17:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “The party crowd, for once, holds all the power.”
  
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• The Dance Troupe That Brought Ballet To Britain

  06-06-2016 16:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “Adding to Rambert’s troubles was the prejudice, still strong among the British public, that ballet was a foreign art form: Russian with a dash of Italian and French. A homegrown ballet company could only be an amateur aberration.”
  
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• Mélanie Matranga at Karma International, Los Angeles

  06-06-2016 16:22 via artnews.com
  Pictures at an Exhibition presents images of one notable show every weekday Read More
  
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• They Named A Schoolhouse After Banksy, So The Artist Left Them A ‘Present’

  06-06-2016 16:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “It was discovered as teachers returned from the half-term break along with a letter saying ‘it’s always easier to get forgiveness than permission’.”
  
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• How Muhammed Ali Influenced The Golden Age Of Rap

  06-06-2016 16:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “He stood for much more than boxing success, and for reclaiming the title after suffering defeats. His pronouncements on race, his religious conversions and his refusal to go to war in Vietnam all meant as much within hip-hop as anything he did in the ring.”
  
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• The Louvre's closure proves art cannot survive climate change

  06-06-2016 15:54
  
  The flooding in Paris is a stark warning of the danger posed by climate change to everything human civilisation has achieved – no matter how priceless Related: Strikes, floods, protests and sense of betrayal pile on misery for France One of the oldest human illusions is that culture is a conquest of, or an escape from, nature. It is an illusion we need to abandon fast. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Shuffle Along’ Wins Best Musical At Drama Desk Awards

  06-06-2016 15:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “The awards were for Broadway, Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway productions that opened during the 2015-16 season. Excluded was ‘Hamilton,’ which is up for a record-breaking 17 nominations at the Tony Awards on June 12 but originally opened during the 2014-15 season at the Public Theater Off Broadway. (It won seven Drama Desk Awards last year.)”
  
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• Can Maya Rudolph Make Variety Shows Cool Again?

  06-06-2016 15:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “‘Maya and Marty,’ a collaboration with the producer Lorne Michaels, grew out of her successful 2014 NBC special ‘The Maya Rudolph Show,’ which drew 7.2 million viewers. Every week, the new show will feature a lineup of skits and celebrity guests. The first episode included Miley Cyrus, Larry David and Mr. Hanks and brought in 6.4 million viewers.”
  
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• Art Is Doomed (Says The Guardian’s Art Critic)

  06-06-2016 15:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “The selfie age is a tragedy for art. … We now want paintings to deliver the same cheap and instant illusion of connection selfies do. To fit into this age of rampant populism, all art has to do is descend into this vacuum of deluded sociability.”
  
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• Morning Links: Dominique Lévy Edition

  06-06-2016 14:48 via artnews.com
  Must-read stories from around the world Read More
  
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• Even Ben Kingsley Is Calling For More Women To Direct Movies

  06-06-2016 14:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Of course, it’s about how women can be useful to male actors: “I do feel that it is through the prism, the lens, the perspective of the female eye – the loving female eye – that a man is almost given permission to be vulnerable.”
  
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• Massive Plagiarism In The Age Of Self-Publishing

  06-06-2016 14:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “The offending books often stay up for weeks or even months at a time before they’re detected, usually by an astute reader. For the authors, this intrusion goes beyond threatening their livelihood. Writing a novel is a form of creative expression, and having it stolen by someone else, many say, can feel like a personal violation.”
  
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• The Future Manchester That Never Came To Be

  06-06-2016 14:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “I admire the chutzpah,. … Today, urban development lacks ambition. But you look at some of the st’ff from the 1960s, and you think: ‘Even if it didn’t work, these people were really going to do something, weren’t they?’ There was massive ambition there.”
  
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• Banksy painting appears on wall of Bristol Bridge Farm primary school

  06-06-2016 14:17
  
  The piece was a gift from the artist after the school named a house after him
  
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• This Painting Was Supposedly Wrecked ‘Beyond Repair,’ But Now It’s Restored

  06-06-2016 14:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “A glowing landscape framing a tender scene of the Adoration of the Shepherds, by the Italian Renaissance master Sebastiano del Piombo, has re-emerged from three centuries of overpainting, attempts to solve the original disastrous decision to lift it off the 16th century wooden panel and transfer it to canvas.”
  
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• Uh-Oh: Movie Audiences May Be Tired Of Sequels

  06-06-2016 14:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Or recent sequels – excepting “Captain America: Civil War” – may simply suck.
  
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• Art students: send us your end-of-year artwork

  06-06-2016 13:59
  
  In our Students Express series you have the chance to exhibit work and share ideas with readers. As the French artist Edgar Degas once said: “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” And what better way to make people see things than to share your art with the Guardian.Students Express is a way for students to send us their work through platforms including GuardianWitness, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. This month, we’re asking you to submit your end-of-year ar
  
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• This Is The Guy Who Knows What Broadway Stars Like To Drink

  06-06-2016 13:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “A few weeks ago, Mr. Estevez, 72, told the restaurant’s main owner, Max Klimavicius, that he was planning to retire. The word spread quickly, and during Mr. Estevez’s last shift, on Saturday, more than two dozen regulars gathered to wish him a fond, raucous goodbye.”
  
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• The Public Theater Has Had A String Of Hits, But Will That Last Next Season?

  06-06-2016 13:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “What’s really impressive is the way the company, which was founded by Joseph Papp 62 years ago, has prospered artistically, doing fresh, challenging and entertaining work, while staying faithful to a mission to reflect the multicultural fabric of society. It should also be mentioned that the theater keeps a shrewd eye on the box office.”
  
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• J.K. Rowling Is Seriously Finished With Racists Attacking Hermione

  06-06-2016 13:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “‘With my experience of social media, I thought that idiots were going to idiot,’ she said in an interview with the Observer. ‘But what can you say? That’s the way the world is. Noma was chosen because she was the best actress for the job.'”
  
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• No, Indie Films Aren’t Dead (Say Indie Film Companies)

  06-06-2016 13:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  In other words, if you’re older than 35, you don’t have to give up the movie theatre quite yet.
  
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• An Art Project Shows Your Phone Is Leaking Data Over Any Wireless Connection

  06-06-2016 13:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “You can see exactly what articles people are looking at. … You can see exactly which comment they’ve thumbs-up’d.”
  
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• Sun king Olafur Eliasson takes over the Palace of Versailles

  06-06-2016 11:52
  
  The Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has transformed the palace of Versailles outside Paris with a series of dramatic installations, from a waterfall in the chateau’s Grand Canal to a veil of fine fog in the Bosquet de l’Etoile grove in the palace gardens. The exhibition of works dotted around the grounds and famous salons of the 17th-century chateau opens to the public tomorrow (7 June).
  The waterfall, located behind the Fountain of Apollo, cascades from a height of aro
  
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• Rubens painting unseen for 80 years unveiled in St Petersburg

  06-06-2016 11:44
  
  The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg is unveiling a painting today (6 June) that has been restored and authenticated as the work of Peter Paul Rubens after being hidden from view for over 80 years.Catherine the Great gave the painting, The Resurrection of Christ (around 1610-11), as a gift to the Trinity Cathedral at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the most important monastery in Russia’s imperial capital. It was there until the Soviet government shut the cathedral down in 1934 as part
  
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• Phyllis Curtin, Soprano And Beloved Tanglewood Teacher, Dies At 94

  06-06-2016 07:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  “Audiences knew the glamorous young singer best in such operatic roles as Verdi’s Violetta and Strauss’ Salome, but she was proudest of her role as a pioneering recitalist, championing American music, contemporary music and music to texts in English at a time when such things were not the custom.”
  
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• Top Posts For AJBlogs From 06.05.16

  06-06-2016 06:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  This Week In Audience, Universal Translator Edition How will our stories change when we have a universal translator? How will our relationships to things change when things respond to our voices? What is a live performance when the performer isn’t live? These stories and more in This Week In Audience … read more
  AJBlog: AJ Arts Audience Published 2016-06-05
  Country House Opera: Music and the Love of Food Eugene Onegin at Garsington Opera by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovs
  
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• Art and access to justice combine in the Northern Territory | David Morris

  06-06-2016 03:55
  
  After facing severe funding cuts last year, clients of the Environmental Defenders Office of the Northern Territory offered their art to be auctioned to raise money for the office. The second annual art auction is happening nowSee a gallery of the images being auctioned hereFor the second year in a row, artists and art centres (18 of them in fact) from across the Northern Territory have thrown their support behind the Environmental Defenders Office of the Northern Territory’s annual Aborig
  
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• Aboriginal art for auction to raise money for legal services – in pictures

  06-06-2016 03:52
  
  A selection of Australian Indigenous art is being auctioned to raise money for the Northern Territory office that represents Aboriginal people on environmental matters, often representing their interests in major development projects. This is a selection of the work for saleArt and access to justice combine in the Northern TerritoryContinue reading...
  
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• Painting 'wrecked beyond repair' to be shown again after intensive restoration

  06-06-2016 01:01
  
  Fitzwilliam Museum displays Renaissance painting by Sebastiano del Piombo after it was badly damaged in the 1700sA painting that languished in store for several lifetimes, regarded as too wrecked ever to be exhibited again at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, has been restored through thousands of hours of work by expert conservators. It will now go on display to mark the museum’s bicentenary.A glowing landscape framing a tender scene of the Adoration of the Shepherds, by the Italian Re
  
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