“New episodes of ‘Sesame Street’ are going on TV in Israel and the Palestinian territories, producers report, years after the original versions signed off because of a lack of funds. … Gary Knell, president of Sesame Workshop, the New York-based nonprofit group behind ‘Sesame Street’ programming worldwide, said the goal was to counter the potentially negative influences of society, because children as young as 3 can begin to demonstrate prejudice.”
Tag: 05.01.07
New Orleans Fest Signals An Upswing For The City
“The culture of New Orleans — the thoroughly local music, food and rituals that are connected to African processions, European carnivals, Caribbean rhythms and America’s history of slavery and intermingling — is a draw not just for tourists, but for New Orleanians. Through sheer perseverance, it is being rebuilt.” Over the weekend, the “38th annual Jazzfest was its old celebratory self, with an undercurrent of determination.”
Can Robots Teach Us How Culture Develops?
“We actually know surprisingly little about how culture develops. We understand a great deal about the emergence of social, cooperative behaviour – hunting, genetic diversification etc – but not very much about the development of cultural artefacts, such as dance, art and humour. We can theorise from archaeological finds, but the science is necessarily inexact as no one has ever been around to record the birth of proto-culture. Until now.”
Warhol Is Top-Selling Artist
“Despite the glut of works circulating worldwide, the 15-minutes-of-fame Pop artist has now become the second-highest-grossing artist after Pablo Picasso. Indeed, auction houses are discovering that the world’s art-collecting glitterati are happy to pay several million pounds for ‘original’ Warhols.”
The Great Chinese Art Swindle
“One of the most deadening trends in recent years has been the Great Chinese Art Swindle. For years now we’ve been hearing about the vibrancy of the art coming out of Beijing and Shanghai – and it’s all baloney. Time after time, I’ve gone to shows of this stuff only to find that it wasn’t worth taking the trouble to review, only to read a few months later about the record prices the very same works were fetching at auction.”