“In this technology-ridden world, it’s easy to assume that the seat of human intelligence is similar to our increasingly smart devices. But the reliance on the computer as a metaphor for the brain might be getting in the way of advancing brain research.”
Tag: 06.22.17
Does The Public’s “Julius Caesar” Controversy Prove Theatre Still Matters?
“Amid all the dumbed-down outrage, it’s good to be reminded that theater is still a dangerous art form. The reason Plato, the church fathers, generations of Lords Chamberlain and Jesse Helms and his National Endowment for the Arts-axing kind distrusted the stage had little to do with its use as a forum for intellectual debate. Rather, it is the power of spectacle — the symbol made flesh — that has made theatrical performance throughout history so disconcerting to those in authority.”
The First Known Poet In History – Why Have So Few People Heard Of Her? (Yes, Her)
“Though hardly anyone knows it, the first person ever to attach their name to a poetic composition is not a mystery. Enheduanna was born more than 4,200 years ago and became the high priestess of a temple in what we now call southern Iraq. She wrote poems, edited hymnals, and may have taught other women at the temple how to write. Archaeologists discovered her in the 1920s and her works were published in English beginning in the 1960s. Yet, rarely if ever does she appear in history textbooks.”
‘There Is No Individual Who Has Done More To Change The Way This Country Sees Art’ – Nicholas Serota Transformed More Than Just The Tate Galleries
“There is no one in the British cultural world more single-minded, more monkishly devoted to the arts as a civic and public necessity, more able to bend events to his will. … When he arrived at the Tate in September 1988, it was an affectionately regarded and faintly parochial museum; he left it earlier this month one of the most powerful forces in the international art world.” In a Guardian Long Read, Charlotte Higgins looks at Serota’s career as he moves on to lead Arts Council England, the country’s cultural funding body.
‘Indecent’ Isn’t Closing On Broadway After All
“In a rare, almost unheard-of move, the play’s producers announced late Thursday that the production – which was set to close on June 25 because of poor ticket sales – would in fact stay open through Aug. 6 at the Cort Theater. The play, which was written by the Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel, won two Tony Awards and was nominated for three.”
The Arts’ Economic Impact Around The U.S.: Richard Florida Crunches The Numbers
“Across the nation, arts and culture industries employed roughly 1 million Americans in 2014. That’s less than 1 percent of all workers. … [Yet] arts and cultural economic activity accounted for 4.2 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), or $729.6 billion [that year], … growing by roughly 2 percent annually.” With colored maps and charts, Florida shows the impact this activity has in various states and cities. And there are some surprises.
Creating A True Democracy Of The Arts, Using People’s Everyday Creativity
“Only 8% of people regularly engage with publicly funded art, but every day people are creating their own versions of culture. Nick Wilson and Jonathan Gross report on research that makes the case for a new approach to cultural policy.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.22.17
Dancing into Summer
Jacob’s Pillow opens its season with a Gala performance. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-06-22
Propwatch – all the stuff in Hir
‘No good ever came from things.’ This line from Hir by Taylor Mac is guaranteed to strike fear into propwatchers. For what is this series but an act of devotion to the innate goodness … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2017-06-22
Recommendation: Miles Davis At Newport 1955-1975
Miles Davis At Newport 1955-1975:The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4 (Columbia/Legacy)
Miles Davis’s importance and recognition grew dramatically in the decades covered by the recordings on these four volumes. When he played in … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-06-22
Great new jazz photography #2: Lauren Deutsch’s Made in Chicago portfolio
“Made in Chicago” is true of the photography of Lauren Deutsch, and also the name of the four-day-long collaborative jazz festival she’s organized in Poznan, Poland for the past 12 years as artistic director (formerly with Wojceich Juszcsak) on behalf of the Jazz Institute of Chicago. … read more
JBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-06-22
The Mystical Monumentality (Or Monumental Mysticism) Of Louis Kahn
Martin Filler: “How odd that the towering genius of architecture during the third quarter of the twentieth century – when his most conventionally successful colleagues prized innovation over tradition, analysis over intuition, and logic over emotion – was a mystically inclined savant who sought to reconnect his medium with its spiritual roots. Indeed, he ran wholly counter to prevailing images of the modern architect.”