“A decision from Italy’s MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Art to postpone the Italian premiere of a controversial documentary examining the ‘decline’ of Italy under the leadership of media mogul Silvio Berlusconi is sparking cries of censorship in the Italian capital.”
Tag: 02.04.13
Harvard MBA Students Help South African Ballet Company Hang On
Johannesburg’s South African Mzansi Ballet has been trying to get by without state funding for a dozen years, and the struggle doesn’t get any easier. Last month, six Harvard Business School students came to get some real-world experience and offer some marketing expertise. Together, they found some surprising things – for instance, that there’s a potential fan base for European ballet in Soweto.
The Death And Defilement Of Richard III: What His Bones Tell Us
How did the archaeologists recognize the king’s body? Amy Davidson explains – and also tells us about the “humiliation injuries” his dead body suffered after the Battle of Bosworth.
What’s The Best Day Job For A Writer? Running A Brothel (Said William Faulkner)
“It gives him perfect economic freedom; he’s free of fear and hunger; he has a roof over his head and nothing whatever to do except keep a few simple accounts and to go once every month and pay off the local police. The place is quiet during the morning hours, which is the best time of the day to work.”
Harrod’s Quits Selling Pianos (Nobody’s Buying Them)
“Today, only about 4,000 acoustic pianos are sold in Britain each year — around 800 grands and 3,000 or so uprights — compared with 14,000 in the late 1960s.”
How Creativity Is Being Debased By Our Language About It
“The specific meaning of creativity being a gift granted to artists – a composer such as Brett Dean or a writer such as Anna Funder – has been diluted by banality. Creativity is not a byword for innovation, lateral thinking or business solutions, but the rare spark of artistic imagination.”
Time To Get Rid Of The Artspeak Jargon
You might, for example, wonder why they seem to think it’s better to use the word “notion” than “idea”, or the word “narrative” than “story”, or the word “interrogate” than “ask”.
What’s The Point Of Reading? Of Ideas?
“Much thinking, in the humanities, has shifted from the answer-oriented to the question-centred. It’s a commonplace, these days, that what makes any idea vital is its capacity to keep the mind engaged.”
Do Other People Sell More Things On Amazon Than Amazon Does?
“Amazon’s reported revenues continue to rise, but the rate at which they’re going up is slowing. That slowdown makes the growth of third-party sales all the more important as a measure of Amazon’s power as a platform for selling things to the world.”
Mother Jones Probes The State Of Orchestras
“It’s telling that most orchestras weren’t bothering with these new ways to connect with their communities until the recession drove them to it. But they seem to be awakening to the fact that they will have to innovate in order to survive–to figure out ways they can maintain the traditional repertoire while adjusting to the tastes of a modern audience.”