“A generation emerged in the 1970s that wondered why it was still, so late in the 20th Century, watching men in kilts dancing around swords … when none of us knew anyone who actually did this kind of thing … Scottish national identity began to wrap itself in the cause of social justice – in the idea of resistance to unaccountable wealth and power imposing its will from outside. … This Scotland was also irreverent, self-mocking, and hilariously funny.”
Tag: 08.27.14
Asheville Art Museum Is Fine, Says Local Official
An official with the local Tourism Development Authority says the museum is “strong financially” and that an independent auditor confirms that fundraising pledges will be made good. The committee then voted unanimously to extend a grant of $1.5 million for the museum’s expansion.
How Virginia Woolf Invented Modern Literature (And The Contemporary Essay Too)
“Her drive to observe her own perception, to take an ice-core sample of an instant, or of a day, or of a memory, is at heart a restorative gesture in the face of her era’s intensified speed, instability, and violence.”
Have We Entered The World Of Vampire Boomers And Preyed-Upon Millennials?
“No matter how much a culture congratulates itself on being science-minded, we wrestle with a deep-seated tendency towards magical thinking – in this case, sympathetic magic, the idea that one can exert magical influence through contact or kinship.”
New Opera Cancelled In Russia After Venues Refuse To Host It, Composer Gets Beaten Up, And Death Threats Are Made
Ilya Demutsky’s New Jerusalem is about a vigilante who tracks down and kills pedophiles. Once a video trailer for the premiere was made and word got around, all hell started breaking loose.
Six Steps To Restore People’s Faith In The (Divvied-Up) Corcoran Gallery
“There’s no rescuing the institution known as the Corcoran from this final crisis. And neither the National Gallery nor George Washington is obligated to try, truthfully. But under the new dispensation, leaders at the college and gallery can restore and even improve upon the things that the old Corc got right. Here are six suggestions for ways that the National Gallery and GW can build stronger institutions for the District.”
Spiraling Tensions At Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture School
The board of the Wright Foundation has decided not to incorporate its school at Taliesin as a separate entity – an organizational decision that, thanks to a change in the Higher Learning Commission’s rules, means the school will lose its accreditation in 2017. The school’s governors and faculty are, unsurprisingly, unhappy about this, amd they’ve begun rebelling against the Wright Foundation.
Shigeru Ban And The Limits Of Virtuous Architecture
Dana Goodyear considers the tension between the Pritzker Prize winner’s very-high-profile designs for quick, inexpensive temporary structures for use after natural disasters and his very-high-priced work for wealthy clients like the Aspen Art Museum.
William Greaves, 87, Pioneering African-American Documentarian
“Greaves made hundreds of movies, and in the 1960s, he served as co-host and executive producer of Black Journal, among the first TV news programs designed for a black audience.”
Against [Whatever] (Susan Sontag Has A Lot To Answer For)
“In recent years, there has been an ‘Against [X]’ epidemic: against young-adult literature, against interpretation, against method, against theory, against epistemology, against happiness, against transparency, against ambience, against heterosexuality, against love, against exercise, etc. The form announces a polemic – probably a cranky one, and very likely an unfair one.” Exhibit A: Sontag’s “Against Interpretation,” from 1964.