Matt Trueman: “The sad truth is that a proper old-fashioned panning is good for a critic – and, by extension, good for criticism. … Hard hits get hits [i.e. page views]. It’s the critical equivalent of slowing down at a crash site. Because a great critic going full-pelt, venting his or her vitriol on to the page, is a thing of real beauty. Dark, splenetic, grisly beauty, but beauty nonetheless.” (He thinks hatchet jobs are good for theatre, too.)
Tag: 04.20.17
‘Art Criticism Shouldn’t Be The Consumer Reports Of Art’ – Blake Gopnik On The Art Of Art Journalism
“I think art critics should be more like science journalists. We should be some kind of intermediary between the smartest people who talk about art, the smartest writing from art historians and the general public.” (podcast)
The Art World Has Gone To War With Trump – But Will It Shoot Itself In The Foot?
“The protests started almost immediately after the presidential election. … And it hasn’t let up. Each Trump proclamation has seemed to inspire a new round of agitation and action. … Whether this ideological high alert will produce good art is one question; whether the art will do any good is another.” Carl Swanson explores the battle lines.
What Kinds Of Protest Art Actually Work?
Rachel Corbett of New York magazine asked 22 artists, curators, and critics what works of political art they found genuinely powerful. Here’s a slideshow gallery with their answers (with which one may or may not agree).
Two Big Architecture Schools, Two Outgoing Deans, One (Neutral Territory) Meeting
Christopher Hawthorne interviews UCLA’s Hitoshi Abe and USC’s Qingyun Ma. One of the amusing exchanges:
“Dean Ma, you’ve been at USC during the presidency of C.L. Max Nikias, who’s been ambitious about raising money and building new facilities in a very consistent and conservative architectural style, which he calls Collegiate Gothic.
“Ma: This is where I made the decision not to bring my own personal design agenda to the job.”
If You Truly Want To Bond With Mozart, You Need To Adopt A Starling
He bought the starling and, when it died, wrote an elegy for it. Yes, really. “He paid a few kreuzers for a starling in that notebook. And he called the bird Vogelstar.”
Vancouver Opera Is Trying To Be A Festival. But First The Company’s Director Has To Get Off Crutches
VO moved to a festival model to ensure the future viability of the company as it deals with universal challenges facing the opera world. Kim Gaynor says tickets are selling, but she concedes the buzz has been slow to build.
The Art Market Is Brutal – For Gender Equity
From 2011 to 2016, just two in 100 of the top lots sold by living artists at auction were works by women. Of 2,300 artworks in the National Gallery, only 20 are by women, and none of the top ten richest living artists in the world are women.
Are Internships Threatening Diversity Of The Arts?
“The fact that internships are so prevalent in the creative industries is concerning, because the creative workforce lacks ethnic and socioeconomic diversity, particularly at entry level. If internships without measures to ensure equal access are common, there is a risk that the diversity of the sector will suffer.”
When Was The “Golden Age” Of Pop Music? Researchers Conduct A Fascinating Study
Overall, “Music of the 1940s was preferred to music of its neighboring decades, and the same was true for music of the 1960s. The music of the 1980s also showed a peak, but … only for the younger participants.”