Nate Freeman recaps the story of financier Jho Low and 1MDB, the enormous Malaysian government investment fund whose billions were diverted into the personal accounts of former prime minister Najib Razak and his family and friends — and from there into extremely high-priced art. — Artsy
Tag: 01.17.19
A Scaffold Is Intruding On A Historic James Turrell Ceiling “Window”
The obstruction seems to be protruding from the gargantuan high-rises going up across the street from PS1, at 22-44 Jackson Avenue. These two residential buildings, which replaced the former legendary graffiti haven 5Pointz, are also called 5Pointz and will house 1,115 units total (including 223 affordable housing units) when they’re finished. – Gothamist
‘Turning The Usual Pattern Of Arts Engagement On Its Head’
An Arts Council England-funded program called Creative People and Places “aims to increase arts participation in places where people are less likely to take part in arts activity” — and it seems to be succeeding with the groups least likely to engage with the arts generally. What’s the secret? Nothing very secret at all, actually. — Arts Professional
How Do You Make ‘Twelve Angry Men’ Relevant In 2019? Cast Six White And Six Black Jurors
Director Sheldon Epps: “There is language in this play that you may have heard in a CNN report the night before. … It’s always been about racial issues; we’re just heightening what [the playwright] wrote about. He was specifically writing about how the American justice system is different for white Americans than it is for Americans of color.” — The Washington Post
America’s Oldest Jewish Newspaper, The Forward, Shuts Down Its Print Editions
“[Founded in 1897 and] once known as The Jewish Daily Forward, the [Yiddish] publication first put out supplements in English in the 1980s and started a weekly edition in English in 1990. Since 2017, The Forward has been a monthly magazine. It will continue to publish in both languages online after it stops appearing on newsstands.” Almost a third of the staff, including editor-in-chief Jane Eisner, has been laid off. — The New York Times
Gary Indiana Didn’t Care About His Village Voice Reviews. But He Had Fun
Sometimes he wrote columns in which all of the proper names had been excised, which rendered them useless as gallery PR; others featured pseudonymous composite characters like “Gaston Porcile Vitrine,” an allegory of art-world fickleness who finds himself suddenly, humiliatingly shunned at downtown hangouts after a season or two in the limelight. – The Baffler
Report: UK Publishing Industry Workforce Fails To Reflect The Population
The industry has failed to represent the working population of the capital, and continues to fail to connect with regions outside London. “The report shows we have a passionate industry full of people who are having to move away from their homes across the country in order to work in books – but we’ve also neglected to include the local population.” – The Guardian (UK)
The Mister Rogers Phenomenon
“When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see, or hear, or touch. That deep part of you, that allows you to stand for those things, without which humankind cannot survive.” – New York Review of Books
DNA From Ancient Bones Has Researchers Rewriting Ideas About Our Origins. But.
But – these stories have been rewritten before in earlier scientific study. And before we declare a definitive new theory, there are questions… – The New York Times
Developing Authentic Disability Theatre, And Bringing It To The Public
“Theatre has the power to help us recognize the social forces that we have created as a society and allows us to envision how we can change them. To incite positive social change and critically alter the way society views differences, voices from the disability community must be included in what we present onstage.” Seattle dramaturg Andrea Kovich, who identifies as disabled, writes about two projects focused on the work of Deaf and disabled playwrights that she recently did with Sound Theatre Company. — HowlRound