A German couple going swimming in the Grand Canal. An Austrian breaking the toe off a statue when he climbed on it for a selfie. A French woman writing her name in felt-tip pen on the Ponte Vecchio. A woman posing for a selfie on top of 2,000-year-old thermal baths in Pompeii. Italians badly want to revive the all-important tourism industry in the wake of COVID, yes, but not if tourists vandalize. But which will be more effective, education or harsher punishment? – The New York Times
Tag: 08.19.20
U.S. Court Of Appeals Rules Madrid Museum May Keep Nazi-Looted Pissarro
“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California has ruled that the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation in Madrid is the owner of Camille Pissarro’s 1897 painting Rue Saint-Honoré, Après-midi, Effet de Pluie, which it purchased in 1993 from the collector Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. In 2005, the heirs to the work’s original owner, Lily Cassirer Neubauer, alleged in a complaint that the foundation knew upon acquiring it that the painting had been stolen by the Nazi regime in 1939.” – ARTnews
What We Learn From Book Manuscripts
The manuscripts of literary works-in-progress fascinate on many levels, from the flush-faced thrill of spying on something intensely private and the visceral delight of knowing that a legendary author’s hand rested on the paper before you, to the light that such early drafts shed on authorial methodology and intent. Sometimes, the very essence of what a writer is trying to express seems to hover tantalisingly in the gap between a word deleted and another added in its place. – BBC
Cameron Mackintosh Companies Eliminate 850 Theatre Jobs
Theatre union: “The entire industry has been shocked by Cameron Mackintosh’s unwillingness to use the coronavirus job retention scheme in full or deploy resources beyond the furlough months to support his backstage and front of house staff. Other West End employers have done their utmost to find creative ways to safeguard the livelihoods of their staff and pursue the bigger mission of saving the world class skills and talents critical to the success of theatres up and down the country.
Why Efficiency Can Be Too Much Of A Good Thing
Some motivation produces excellent performance; too much motivation produces choking. Some group collaboration produces cohesion and enhances productivity; too much of it leads to staleness. Some empathy enables you to understand what another person is going through; too much could prevent you from saying and doing hard things. – Psyche
Boogie-man Helfer bounces back from covid-depression
“People have been saying to me, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry you had to go through that!’ Well I’m not sorry — I think it’s the best thing that could have happened to me, considering where I am now. I feel reborn. Everything seems fresh to me. Now, how are things with you?” – Howard Mandel
Eastern Europe: Tension Between Trying To Forget Communist Past And Profiting From It
In many eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Czechia and Poland the locals’ desire to forget their collective traumatic past is paradoxically interwoven with the need for economic profit derived from commercialising remnants of the communist heritage. – The Conversation
At US Colleges: An Identity For Everyone
American academia is a hotbed of proliferating identities supported and largely shaped by the higher ranks of administrators, faculty, student groups, alumni, and trustees. Not all identities are equal in dignity, history, or weight. Race, gender, and sexual orientation were the three main dimensions of what in the 1970s began to be called identity politics. These traits continue to be key today. But affirmed identities are mushrooming. The slightest shared characteristic, once anchored in a narrative of pain, can give rise to a new group. – Harper’s
Mariinsky Ballet Restarted Performances, And COVID Struck. Now It’s Been Shut Down Again
“[The company] hosted galas at its St. Petersburg theaters, featuring solos and duets performed by dancers who had undergone weekly tests for coronavirus. More ambitiously, it had begun staging full-length ballets, with a run of … La Sylphide.” Audience members were kept masked and distanced, and the theatre was keeping the dancers on a fairly thorough testing and safety regime. That wasn’t enough: 30 company members have gotten sick, and ballet troupes elsewhere in Europe are watching nervously. – The New York Times
Radio Listenership Has Plunged. But NPR’s Listenership Is Up Ten Percent. Why?
Even as its legacy platform’s audience has declined, though, NPR says it is reaching more people than ever. The dip in radio listenership — 22 percent — has coincided with a record number of people turning to NPR on virtually every other platform. More people than ever are reaching NPR through the website, apps, livestreams, and smart speakers (“Alexa, I want to listen to NPR”). – NiemanLab