“Despite having published more than 30 books, reinventing himself every time and coaxing new forms of experimentation and innovation from the rigid structures of Arabic poetry, [Mahmoud Darwish] is still generally considered a nationalist. This is a source of pride for some, a serious hang-up for others.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
Let’s Go Hiking, With John Ruskin As Our Guide
“If you’ve just had a bad week at the office, then spare a thought for 19th-century artist John Everett Millais whose famous painting of the art critic and social commentator John Ruskin is now being celebrated by a new trail in the Trossachs.”
Rebellion Leads To No Lost Art — Except For A Few Of The Dictator’s Cars
“Hewn from marble 2,000 years ago, the giant statues of the Roman emperors Augustus, Claudius and Tiberius command the floor at Libya’s National Museum. But they have to settle for ground level. Muammar Gaddafi reserved the top floor for himself.”
PoMo: Actually, Possibly, Destroying The World
“All this stuff was way beyond surrealism. It was deliberately indiscriminate weirdness: the ordinary was made to seem in some way excessively other, like stage props for a chaotic rather than reasoned reality. It was almost pose-modern.”
Don’t Fly Solo; Playing Doubles Means More In Real Life
“People spend more time playing doubles than watching it for a reason. It parallels too closely the struggles of our own lives: working with others; toiling in the shadows; getting second billing. Not getting paid enough. Maybe we don’t watch doubles because we are all doubles players.”
Sometimes, Wordless Movement’s The Way To Deal With Emotions
Since the horrors of 9/11, “choreographers have responded with works that attempt to make sense of the senseless.”
No PoMo! Artists Need Convincing To Identify With The Label
The Victoria and Albert Museum had a bit of a problem getting artists to agree to participate in its ‘Postmodernism’ exhibition: “It is a real issue that so few people identify positively with postmodernism,†said Mr. Adamson. “And a whole list of people do not want to be identified with it.â€
You’re Being Watched. Yes, You. And You. And Us Too.
“After a decade, the country is left with a legacy of secret and unilateral executive-branch actions, a surveillance infrastructure whose scope and inner workings remain secret with little oversight, a compliant judiciary system that obsequiously bows to claims of secrecy by the executive branch, and a populace that has no idea how its government uses its power or who is watching out for abuses.”
Who Gets To Talk About A Work In Progress? Good Question
“Given the growing power and influence of consumers, and given that we have welcomed them in and charged them money and promoted the importance of their presence and opinions, is it any wonder that they now want (or feel entitled or even encouraged) to blog about their experiences?”
You, Too, Can Be An Angel Investor, With As Little As £500 Down
“Judy Craymer, producer of Mamma Mia!, is now the 38th richest music millionaire in the UK, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. She is worth £62m since remortgaging her home to finance her idea of a musical based around Abba’s hits.”