Particularly in the United States, it would be wise to consider the health of artists as a sort of canary in the coal mine for the health of society at large.
Tag: 09.06.18
Prado Spotlights Two Female Renaissance Painters Who Aren’t Artemisia Gentileschi
“Lavinia Fontana [was] a Mannerist widely considered to be the first professional female artist, and Sofonisba Anguissola [was] an Italian noblewoman who served as King Philip II of Spain’s court painter.” Both women were praised by the likes of Michelangelo, van Dyck, and Vasari, and Fontana was blessed with an extraordinary husband who — in the 1580s, mind you — put her career ahead of his own.
Magazines Are Threatened. But The Magazine Cover Still Has Great Power
One very public-facing fragment of the medium remains: the cover. A magazine cover is all at once a cultural statement, a conversation starter, a negotiating asset, a digital selling point, a mood.
What Are Our Ethical Responsibilities To Our AI Creations?
What sorts of responsibilities would we owe to these simulated humans? However else we might feel about violent computer games, no one seriously thinks it’s homicide when you blast a virtual assailant to oblivion. Yet it’s no longer absurd to imagine that simulated people might one day exist, and be possessed of some measure of autonomy and consciousness.
Michelle Dorrance Will Put Tap Dance Anywhere
Sarah Kaufman doesn’t just mean lofty ballet companies like New York City Ballet and ABT or lofty venues like the Kennedy Center: “In Dorrance’s pieces you might find a high-tech electronic floor that enhances the music of her dancers’ feet. Or maybe there’ll be a live funk-blues band, or flamenco dancers. Dorrance has knocked about, vaudeville-style, with Bill Irwin, the stellar clown. She’s made a site-specific work on the spiral ramp of New York’s Guggenheim Museum.”
How Do Our Brains Process Art? (It Depends…)
In some cases, the questions that preoccupy philosophers are identical to the questions of psychologists and so are amenable to straightforward scientific research. Sometimes, though, the philosophical questions aren’t empirical—nobody is going to do an experiment to answer the question “What is art?”—but, still, one can study an interesting near neighbor, in the style of what’s sometimes known as “experimental philosophy.” For instance, you can look at what people (art experts, laypeople, four-year-olds) think is art.
Contractor Who Built New Metro DC Museum Sues It For $24 Million
“A month before the much anticipated unveiling of the revamped Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Md., a contracting firm that oversaw the ambitious expansion there has sued the foundation that runs the institution … [for] breach of contract and mismanagement, adding that a ‘torrent of changes’ the foundation had demanded repeatedly disrupted and delayed work” — work which the contract claims it still hasn’t been paid for.
Florence Outlaws Eating In Downtown Streets
“As of September 6, anyone caught eating food outdoors during peak hours in four central streets in the Tuscan capital could face a fine of up to €500. When a city proposes a penalty this steep for the modest crime of nibbling on a snack, it’s clear that tempers must be running high — and indeed they are.”
Reviving The First-Ever Updated Shakespeare (It’s From The 1660s)
“The big changes to the Macbeth at the Folger Theatre include famous monologues that have been substantially trimmed; a newly heroic Macduff and Lady Macduff, who have bigger roles than Shakespeare dreamed of; and witches in extended sequences of song and dance. … This Macbeth is a painstakingly assembled revival of a version that’s about 350 years old, adapted by William Davenant as London’s theaters reopened after being shut down for 18 years during England’s Civil War.”
Academy Backs Off ‘Best Popular Film’ Oscar
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that it will “postpone” introducing the new category, which was met with widespread scorn when it was announced last month. Said the AMPAS president, “There has been a wide range of reactions to the introduction of a new award, and we recognize the need for further discussion with our members.”