Category: AJBlogs

George Floyd art gathered May 31 – June 11 in Over-the-Rhine and downtown Cincinnati – Margy Waller

My essay, “To What End Permanence?,” seeks to get beyond the question of economic solvency to examine other signs that it may be time to shut a thing down and other motivations for closing. – Diane Ragsdale

After initially resisting the resisters’ demands that it halt its production of napalm, Dow stopped making it in 1969. Now Warren Kanders, who resigned under political pressure last July from his position as vice-chairman of the Whitney Museum’s board, has announced a similar reversal. – Lee Rosenbaum

Long ago Barry Hessenius charged us to move from thinking of the pursuit of equity as a “issue” to making it an obsession. So, if “doing” is where we go now, what does the doing look like? – Doug Borwick

In a striking departure from their customary reluctance to take strong political stands that would alienate some visitors, art museums around the country, speaking separately but with one voice, responded to the asphyxiation of George Floyd. – Lee Rosenbaum

I hear from nearly all corners of the arts sector that there is “no going back to normal” — that something fundamental needs to be redesigned in our systems to make them more equitable, healthy, and sustainable. If so, it matters which arts organizations survive the next two years and which go away, and it matters how arts organizations are defining their short-term and long-term crises and goals. – Diane Ragsdale

Our loss yesterday of Christo, the canny conceptual artist with tangible appeal, is a poignant reminder of more innocent times — 16 days in early 2005 when New Yorkers from all walks of life converged on Central Park for one peaceful purpose — to walk together basking in the luminosity of flowing canopies of saffron rip-stop nylon that were hung in a procession of some 7,500 frames. – Lee Rosenbaum

The Gershwin threat was seemingly felt by all American-born classical musicians: they feared his genius. European-born classical musicians weren’t threatened, and the list of Gershwin admirers includes Otto Klemperer, Jascha Heifetz, Dmitri Shostakovich, etc. The Gershwin moment is right now. Music historians study and esteem him (they never did before). We no longer segregate Rhapsody in Blue on pops concerts (as the Boston Symphony did until 1997). – Joseph Horowitz

Some time ago, I wrote on Rifftides, “The Czech Frantisek Uhliř is one of the greatest bassists in the world.” Leading his septet on his new release, Story of my life, he is as powerful as when I first heard him in Prague in 1993. – Doug Ramsey

Clayton Patterson’s importance in general, but especially on the Lower East Side of New York City, comes from his commitment to social and political values for the good of his community. He has put his life on the line to document and preserve it in a way that few are brave enough to do. – Jan Herman