Arts news

• Learning A Second Language? You May Also Be Learning To Handle Ambiguity

  23-12-2016 23:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  Basically, what you don't know when speaking a second language is as important as what you do know. "Weirdly, not needing to exhaustively know everything lets you learn more."
  
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• Denver Evicted A Bunch Of Artists From An Underground Space, So Does It Need To Give Up The 'Artist-Friendly' Label?

  23-12-2016 23:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  Perhaps there's a crisis in the arts in rapidly gentrifying Denver. A new researcher at the University of Colorado Denver has some thoughts: "I want the city to work together with creative producers to benefit both. Sugar-coating anything or obscuring facts is not going to help either side."
  
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• When Opera Stars Actually Have Chemistry Onstage (It's A Bit Rare)

  23-12-2016 22:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  "It’s like when you want to make a dish in the kitchen, you have good prime materials. Good tomato, good zucchini, good fish. Everything is so fresh. You just need to put it on the grill. Me, Diana, a good conductor, a good director: The ingredients are so good that it’s going to come out something nice."
  
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• The State Of The Play In London's West End

  23-12-2016 22:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  You want a good ticket to a play in London? Head to the box offices on September 20, when about a quarter of tickets haven't sold just before the curtain rises.
  
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• Gilbert collection returns to the V&A with one notable absence

  23-12-2016 22:00
  
  The Gilbert collection reopened in refurbished galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London on 15 November. The collection of around 1,200 decorative art objects was donated to the UK in 1996 by the late British-born, Los Angeles-based property tycoon Arthur Gilbert and his first wife Rosalinde. The works were once promised to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where Gilbert was a trustee, but negotiations broke down over the amount of space the collection would recei
  
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• Why Did This Daily Paper Let Its Arts Critic - Who Writes *250* Articles A Year - Go?

  23-12-2016 21:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Austin arts community is furious with the Austin American-Statesman, which decided to lay off Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, the paper's full-time arts critic - and use freelancers instead. But, says the rival weekly, "The critic has a unique strength coming from 19 years on the beat, not only reporting but actively shaping the cultural landscape with access to the wide and the long views."
  
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• What Makes Kids Stop Believing In Santa? The Real Question Is Why They Keep Believing In Him For So Long

  23-12-2016 21:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  "When it comes to evaluating information - and separating the real from the bullshit - kids aren't that different from adults. .. [So why do] kids still happily wait on line to sit on a jolly guy's lap and throw their energy into composing letters to the North Pole? The answer: Because we tell them it's worth their while."
  
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• A (UK-Focused) Classical Music Quiz For The Tail End Of 2016

  23-12-2016 20:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  The quiz is cheeky but smart - for instance: "'A civilisation that conserves is one that will decay' said which composer, whose life and music nonetheless were celebrated throughout the year?"
  
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• Can China's Film Industry Serve Up A Global Blockbuster? We're About To Find Out

  23-12-2016 20:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  "The Great Wall, an epic fantasy film that cost at least $150 million to make, opens with Matt Damon fleeing on horseback through red stone formations in Northwest China. A snarling swarm of razor-toothed green monsters is hot on his heels."
  
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• Alone For The Holidays? Here's Some Bibliotherapy, Or Just Some Good Books, For Your Free Time

  23-12-2016 19:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Truer words were never written: "The important thing is deciding which book you’d like to spend those long empty days with."
  
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• Why It Took Almost 30 Years To Get August Wilson's 'Fences' Onto Movie Screens

  23-12-2016 19:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  "The saga started in 1987, when Eddie Murphy ... thought the role of the son would be an opportunity to tackle serious material for a change, and Paramount Pictures bought the rights for him for more than $1 million, at that time one of the highest sums ever paid for a theatrical property."
  
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• The Most-Read Articles of 2016

  23-12-2016 19:00 via artnews.com
  Let’s keep this introduction short. Below is a chronological list of the 20 articles that were read most on ARTnews.com this year. They range from profiles of artists, like Kerry James Marshall and Kenneth Anger, to news reports (New York dealer Lisa Cooley closing … Read More
  
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• The Arts Buzzword Of 2016: Immersive

  23-12-2016 18:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  The list of "immersive" events on any given day is extensive. Why? "Immersive events carry the promise of intimacy and interactivity, of a unique experience, of relevance with youthful audiences who increasingly yearn to participate in their art experience rather than view it from afar. "
  
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• Ballerinas Take Back The Streets Of Cairo For Women [VIDEO]

  23-12-2016 18:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  In a smart, arts-focused campaign that's gone viral, the ballerinas use photos and video to show off the ancient city in a new way.
  
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• The Importance Of Being Wrong Is One Of Jane Austen's Greatest Lessons

  23-12-2016 18:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  "Unlike other fictional heroines of the time, Fanny [Price of Mansfield Park] gains happiness because she is aware of her faults."
  
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• NPR Mainstay Diane Rehm Signs Off The Radio For Good

  23-12-2016 17:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  The host, whose style was to hold guests - especially politicians - to account in a polite and steady way, has to get Botox injections into her vocal chords several times a year.
  
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• The Sound Of Science: A Brief History Of The Bose Wave Music System

  23-12-2016 17:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  Sure, the infomercials speak all too highly of it, and it's kind of pricey, but the Wave was created from genuine engineering expertise and hard work. Here's the story of how the speaker system went from Dr. Bose's lab at MIT to the Sharper Image catalogue and QVC.
  
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• When Mariachi Ruled The Airwaves Of Yugoslavia

  23-12-2016 16:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  In the 1950s, thanks to an odd confluence of postwar economics and intra-Communist rivalry, Mexican music became arguably the top pop genre in Yugoslavia. Most of its practitioners weren't Mexican; they were local..
  
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• For Eight Years, A Ballet Company Performed At Austin's Funkiest Hippie Bar

  23-12-2016 16:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  From the fall of 1972 to December 1980, the Austin Ballet Theatre appeared monthly at the now-legendary Armadillo World Headquarters. The cover charge ran from $1 to $3; beer was ¢35.
  
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• We Know We're In A New Gilded Age, But We're Also In A New Age Of Gilt

  23-12-2016 15:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  "Gilt - gold's application to metal, whether powder, leaf or plate - is the assertive surface of self-importance. We seem to be having a Midas moment. With the election of the commercial Sun King Donald J. Trump to the presidency, and the pedestrian aristocracy of gold sneakers walking the street ... there is again the gleam of gilt in the public eye."
  
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• Why Courbet's 'Origin Of The World' Still Has So Much Power After 150 Years

  23-12-2016 15:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  It's not just because it's a picture of a naked lady, because there are plenty of those.
  
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• Morning Links: Lillehammer Edition

  23-12-2016 15:11 via artnews.com
  Must-read stories from around the world Read More
  
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• How Do You Get Ticket Pricing Right When You Know It's Not Just About Maximizing Revenue?

  23-12-2016 15:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  "Premium tickets for Broadway shows can cost north of $200. Adjusting for inflation, the $25 ticket in 1984 should cost only about $58 today. Something is not sufficiently aligned. The questions I often ponder are: How do high ticket prices limit accessibility? How much profit is profitable?" Marshall Jones III, producing artistic director of the Tony-winning African-American troupe Crossroads Theatre Company, discusses the ways he and some of his colleagues have addressed this issue.
  
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• 'Creative Hubs' May Be The Thing Every City Wants, But They're 'Still Largely Misunderstood And Undervalued', Says Report

  23-12-2016 14:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  "The British Council report, 'Creative Hubs: Understanding the New Economy', finds the tendency to conflate creative hubs with cultural quarters, clusters of economic activity and creative zones 'unhelpful'."
  
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• Jens Risom, Who Brought Scandinavian Design To The U.S., Dead At 100

  23-12-2016 14:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  "His most famous design emerged out of material restrictions imposed during World War II: The 1943 Risom Lounge Chair originally had a curved frame made from wood scraps and a seat and back woven out of a parachute producer's rejected nylon straps."
  
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• The Only Black Dancer In Tel Aviv Comes Home To Brooklyn

  23-12-2016 14:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  Shamel Pitts had spent seven years with Batsheva, Israel's most famous dance company, when he created a solo work to a spoken-word soundtrack he assembled and recorded himself. A director friend of his filmed the work, and now Pitts is back in New York, touring the film and live show around the Western Hemisphere.
  
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• Is This The World's Coolest New Library?

  23-12-2016 14:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  Inside, there's the collection of books, a center for city government services,a computer center, a cafe, lecture halls, playgrounds, and an interactive floor; outside, there's an even bigger playground and a giant tubular bell that rings every time a baby is born in town. Down below is a parking lot run by robots.
  
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• William Blake’s I Want! I Want! is an early fantasy of space travel

  23-12-2016 14:00
  
  In his 1793 engraving, the poet and artist finds a novel solution to getting to the moon: a really big ladderVisionary poet and artist William Blake’s little engraving, smaller than a playing card, is an early fantasy of lunar travel. The tiny figure who announces their desire to get to the moon with a child’s cry, “I want! I want!”, has a similarly child-like solution when it comes to transport: a really big ladder. Continue reading...
  
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• Ten of the best exhibitions this week

  23-12-2016 14:00
  
  From Yves Klein in Liverpool to the Guerilla Girls in Whitechapel, here are the hottest art shows to see this week Continue reading...
  
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• Actress Michèle Morgan, 96, Legend Of French Cinema

  23-12-2016 13:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  She gave her star-making performance in Le Quai des Brumes at age 18, went to Hollywood at 22 (where "RKO didn't know what to do with me"), returned to France after World War II and became the first-ever best actress winner at Cannes.
  
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• A 'Massively Good Settlement': UK Equity Negotiates Healthy Raise For Actors, Stage Managers

  23-12-2016 13:29 via feedproxy.google.com
  "Wages for actors and stage managers working in subsidised repertory theatre are expected to increase by £50 per week, under what Equity is calling a 'massively good settlement'. The union estimates that the new agreement could result in 'at least' an additional £1 million going into members' pockets by 2019."
  
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• Lucian Freud's muse takes a pop at Theresa May

  23-12-2016 11:23
  
  The muse turned artist and author Sue Tilley, who famously posed for Lucian Freud's 36m nude, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995), has created a portrait of the British Prime Minister Theresa May that is less than flattering. In a pun on the Brexit-means-Brexit politician's name, it says: "YOU MAY WELL LOOK WORRIED." The work, entitled What have we done, what have we lost?, is part of a group show organised by fashion designer turned artist Nicole Farhi, her first foray into curating.
  
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• Look closer at nativity paintings – and see visions of apocalypse

  23-12-2016 11:00
  
  Christmas cards are full of cutesy depictions of nativity scenes, but Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli and Caravaggio remind us of the death in Jesus’s storyNativity scenes are the art we see at Christmas, often on cards that put a masterpiece on the mantelpiece. Baby it’s cold outside, so let’s warm our hearts with a bit of Piero della Francesca or Bruegel.Yet we close our eyes to the reality of this art. We turn Renaissance and baroque paintings into empty kitsch when we appropr
  
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• As The Music Business Re-Consolidates, The Promoter And Platform Become One

  23-12-2016 05:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Wild West of business models since music went digital hasn't worked out very well for musicians. The old record labels that controlled the industry might have been good for the artists they turned into stars, but they weren't particularly good for the average musician. When musicians suddenly could record, release and promote their own music, reaching fans directly, there was the brief hope that artists would have more control and that more musicians could make a good living. Hasn't turned o
  
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• How Women Changed The Television Industry In 2016

  23-12-2016 02:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  "It was a year when gender equity, racial visibility, and opportunity dominated the conversation in the entertainment industry and beyond. Provocative, representational, and entertaining content about women and for women was as crucial as ever. It was also a year when the best new programming and the strongest of the returning fare—Shonda, Lena, Tina, Rachel: We see you—was created by, starred, and concerned women, while demanding to be consumed by everyone."
  
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• This Is The Closest We Earthlings Will Come To Encountering Intelligent Aliens

  23-12-2016 00:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  "An encounter with an octopus can sometimes leave you with the strong feeling that you've encountered another mind. But that mind - if mind it is - has evolved along a route entirely different from the one that led to our own. The most-recent common ancestors of humans and octopuses lived about 600 million years ago, early in the evolution of animal life."
  
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• Untitled( thoreau wants professional bird watchers, professional hikers and professional hikers to settle at the base of mount hood.)

  23-12-2016 00:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  i threatened a thick hick with stellar blue eyes and reddish blond hair, he looked like he had a black leather hood on with a zipper mouth hole, not to tell me to close the door.     don’t you fucking tell me to close the door, i said.i left not having closed the door behind me.i ordered noodles, sea food and vegetables. i opened the door that led to the hallway and the bathroom. i had to take a shit. i felt a severe pressure in my anus. last week i had the same pressure and
  
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• How Did Red And Green Become The Colors Of Christmas? You Can Thank Coke For That

  23-12-2016 00:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  In 1931 "Coca-Cola hired an artist to create a Santa Claus. They had done this before, but this particular artist created a Santa Claus that we associate with the Santa Claus today in many ways: He was fat and jolly — whereas before he was often thin and elf-like — and he had red robes. ... And so the fact that all these things came together — this friendly, fat Santa in these bright red robes, which, I don't think is a coincidence, match the color of the Coke logo — this
  
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