“The violence in Greek tragedies is a form of therapy and education for the audiences both then and now, Doerries argues, a communal response to suffering. The violence in many of the contemporary American plays I’ve been seeing, by contrast, is intended as a form of entertainment, a thrill ride.”
Tag: 06.25.15
The Japanese Photographer Who Spent Decades Taking Pictures Of The Navajo Code Talkers
“‘My father said the war ended early so he could come home,’ Mr. Kawano recalled. ‘That’s why I was born and I came to America, taking pictures of the former enemy.'”
Projection: Netflix Will Have Bigger Audiences Than Traditional Broadcast Networks By End Of Year
“Analysts predict that if Netflix were measured as a 24-hour station by Nielsen, it would have more viewers than ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox within the year.”
Why Are We So Eager To Turn Humanism Over To The Machines?
“We’re eager to optimise our workouts, our sleep patterns, our pregnancies, our policing tactics, our taxi services, and our airline pilots. Even the academy is intrigued. From spatial history to the neurohumanities, digital methods are the rage. Lecture halls have been targeted for disruption by massive open online courses (MOOCs). Sometimes it seems as though there’s little that can’t be explained by scientific thinking or improved upon through digital innovation. What are the humanities for at such moments, when we’re so sure of ourselves and our capacity to remake the world?”
Conlon Nancarrow – Music Too Complicated For Humans To Play
“Nancarrow explored the limits of the player piano with staggering imagination and persistence, diligently punching piano rolls by hand and often with the aid of a magnifying glass. He lived in obscurity and near-isolation for many years before his work was championed by prominent composers such as the Hungarian experimentalist György Ligeti, who claimed that Nancarrow was the most important composer of the late twentieth century.”
Discovery Of Long Lost Trove Of Art That Hitler Loved
“The discovery of the horses, and of several sculptures and reliefs created by another Hitler favorite, Arno Breker, stunned researchers who had long lamented their disappearance.”
The Relationship Between Music And Technology Hasn’t Always Been So Obvious
“One of the most sweeping changes wrought by audio recording and broadcasting technology was that, for the first time ever, music was no longer, by necessity, a visual as well as an aural experience. Music had always been only heard in live performance—which meant the listener was there, looking as well as hearing. (Even exceptions—Vivaldi’s female choristers singing behind a screen or Wagner’s enclosed pit orchestra or the like—were more like unusual variations of the visual context.) But with recordings and radio, the visual portion of musical performance disappeared. All one had was the sound. The technology decoupled eye and ear.”
Taylor Swift Versus The Concert Photographers – What’s Rights For The Singer Is Right For The Photographer?
“On the one hand, I know a band has to protect its image. The problem with that is that we are living in an age where everyone literally has a camera in their pocket at all times. You can’t control all the fans who are posting terrible photos that they took with their phones all over the Internet. So it makes no sense to me to try to control the professionals—the ones out there to do a job, who are there to make you look good, to make your concert seem like one they just can’t miss.”
ISIS Posts Pictures Of Destroyed Historic Sites In Palmyra
“The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, also reported the destruction, releasing photographs online that showed fighters carrying explosives. The photos gave views of the sites before, during and after the detonation. The fate of the rest of Palmyra’s antiquities remains unclear.”
Plans For New Helsinki Guggenheim – Where’s The “Wow” Factor?
“It is extraordinary that a design that triumphed over 1,700 competitors should turn out to be rather ordinary. It is respectful, yet teases out no identity unique to Helsinki. Moreau Kusunoki makes nothing of the waterfront site (in contrast to the much-loved Oslo Opera House, where the alluringly warped roof dips into the sea). The design considers no new way to look at art that would make it a must-visit.”