Category: AJBlogs

Did you see that video of two teenagers baffled by a dial phone? Nothing is guaranteed to make you feel jurassic like watching the routine technology of your childhood appear irrefutably foreign. But cometh the play, cometh the phone. The defining prop, sound effect and plot device of Present Laughter, Noel Coward’s 1942 comedy of vanity, is an ink-black dial phone. – David Jays

Fertility in the arts at the Jacob’s Pillow Gala. – Deborah Jowitt

The singer’s first album since 2011 shows off the depth and layers of her career. – Doug Ramsey

We’ve all seen museums do a lot of odd things in recent years in attempts to draw people into their galleries – cat video contests, crowdsourcing curatorial decisions, and so on. Some may have “worked,” in the sense that they did attract visitors – but generally only for the one exhibit or particular gesture of outreach. Instead, the Getty, with Book of Beasts, generally took the high road. No dumbing down, no “unicorn days,” no silly contests. – Judith H. Dobrzynski

With less than two weeks’ notice, the Whitney Museum has announced that Donna De Salvo “has decided to leave” the museum where she served with great distinction for the past 15 years, in order to “pursue other interests.” Adding to the mystery of why this news was sprung on us so precipitously, Adam Weinberg, the Whitney’s director, enigmatically commented: “We wish her the best as she embarks on the next phase of her career.” – Lee Rosenbaum

This flight from public accountability will deal a knockout blow to whatever transparency remains in “willing buyer-willing seller” auction transactions. Adieu, fair market value. – Lee Rosenbaum

At the CircuitWest Showcase in Perth, Australia, I discussed with artists, producers, and presenters the issues around community engagement in a state (Western Australia) where, outside the capital, the cities and towns are small and far from each other, and the visits from touring artists are necessarily brief. – Doug Borwick

The young Scandinavians of the Eka Trio combine the relaxed sensuosity of trends in Nordic music with their underlying commitment to the adventurousness that goes to the heart of jazz. – Doug Ramsey

Inspired by a series that The New York Times describes as “Modern Love in miniature, featuring reader-submitted stories of no more than 100 words,” I thought I’d try to sum up the wildly improbable but nonetheless true story of our courtship and marriage in one hundred carefully chosen words. – Terry Teachout

Having controversially deaccessioned a classic Rothko (given to it by the artist himself) in order to fund future acquisitions, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is now raiding its collection for another dubious purpose — adorning a new for-profit sports arena. – Lee Rosenbaum