More than 5,000 visual artists from around the world are based here, according to statistics compiled by city authorities. Despite high-profile closures, there are still more than 300 galleries, and before Covid-19 restrictions, there were public art talks nearly every night. The postponed Berlin Biennial is going forward on Sept. 5, and Gallery Weekend, an event in which about 50 local galleries court international collectors, has moved to mid-September from its usual springtime slot. Many art world insiders blame Berlin’s policymakers, however, for failing to develop a solid institutional infrastructure for contemporary art, including securing real estate for its display. – The New York Times
Tag: 08.12.20
Staff At Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Say Director’s Firing Was Justified
Nathalie Bondil was ousted on 13 July by the museum’s board of directors, which cited “disturbing” reports from staff members about a “toxic” workplace atmosphere. The dismissal followed an investigation into the employee allegations that the board commissioned from a consulting firm. – The Art Newspaper
Why Exams Continue To Be The Gold Standard For Education
Many of the criticisms levelled at exams as a framework for learning and a means of assessment have validity. There have been valiant attempts over the years to provide a balance between formal assessment and coursework-based, teacher-assessed learning, and this trend rightly continues in many vocational and technical courses. However, despite their drawbacks, exams do encourage and promote a much wider set of skills and values than is often acknowledged by their child-centred opponents. – Unherd
The Anonymous Armies Of Culture Cops Who Actually Police The Internet
“What sometimes gets obscured is the fact that many online-censorship decisions are made not by powerful actors” — for instance, senior execs at Facebook or Twitter — “imposing their will on average internet denizens, but by an army of users who have, in effect, been deputized as censors” — for instance, moderators at Reddit or the people who report tweets they find offensive to Twitter. “This massive, mostly anonymous and pseudonymous group of internet culture cops is doing a large and likely growing share of the daily work of content-policing.” Jesse Singal looks into who they are and why they do it. – Nautilus
If COVID Means Audiences Can’t Sit Through These Shows, Then They Can Walk Through Them
“Now several companies are attempting variations on what is sometimes called promenade theater — outdoor productions in which audiences move as they follow the action. The form — a cousin to street theater — has a long tradition, particularly in Europe, but has new appeal in the United States this summer because of the relative ease of keeping patrons apart outdoors.” – The New York Times
Five Months Into The Pandemic, How Are The National Theatres In England, Scotland, And Wales Holding Up?
Some better than others. The big, building-based, high-overhead companies in England, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Co., are “haemorrhaging money,” while their smaller counterparts in Wales and Scotland, without theatre buildings to maintain, are doing surprisingly well. Lyn Gardner reports. – The Stage
Tribune Company Closing Newsrooms At Five Papers, Including New York And Orlando
Not to worry (yet): the papers will continue to publish. But since most newsroom employees have been working from home for months and the timeline for safely returning to offices isn’t clear, Tribune Co. execs have decided to stop paying for the real estate. The papers are the New York Daily News, Orlando Sentinel, The Morning Call of Allentown (Pa.), the Carroll County Times (Maryland), and the Capital Gazette in Annapolis (Md.), site of the 2018 newsroom shooting. – Yahoo! (AP)
Tate Galleries To Eliminate Half Of All Retail Jobs
“Tate has announced 313 redundancies across its commercial enterprises, which include staff who work in publishing and in gallery shops, cafes and restaurants in London, Liverpool and St Ives. … The figure – almost half of the 640 workforce – is bigger than the 200 redundancies which had previously been speculated on.” – The Guardian
Singer Trini Lopez, 83, Of COVID
At the peak of his popularity he was asked by guitar manufacturer Gibson to design two models, the Trini Lopez Standard and the Lopez Deluxe, owners of which include Dave Grohl and Noel Gallagher. In the mid-60s he was releasing as many as five albums a year, though that slowed in the late 70s. While he continued performing, he released very little music until 2000, when he began recording again and released a further six albums. – The Guardian
Second City Tries To Give Itself An Anti-Racist Makeover — Will It Work This Time?
“In interviews with more than 20 past and present performers, staff members and others, as well as with the leadership, the challenge of making these enormous changes becomes clear. This is at least the fifth time Second City has tried to reconcile the concerns of employees of color. … Yet the culture that many found deeply offensive was ingrained for decades.” – The New York Times