“There’s a long and noble tradition of literary critics misunderstanding Joseph Conrad. … Far more words have been written about him than he ever wrote himself – and not everyone can get it right all the time. Especially when you throw combustible postcolonial issues into the mix. Time has a cruel habit of amplifying those mistakes. A century after he was writing, any negative predictions about Conrad’s long-term durability, for instance, seem hilariously misguided.”
Tag: 10.13.15
Yes, There’s Going To Be An 80-Part Telenovela Exploring The Life Of Celia Cruz
“The only thing more unforgettable than the rich, sonorous voice of the Queen of Salsa was arguably her big, brilliantly-colored stage ensembles, set off with Vegas-proportioned headwear.”
Tania Bruguera Vows To Return To Cuba Despite Eight-Month Ordeal
“After she was detained by the Cuban authorities and had her passport confiscated, [the artist and activist] suffered harassment, surveillance and physical abuse. Her ‘crime’ was proposing to restage Tatlin’s Whisper #6, a performance piece about free speech, in Havana’s Revolution Square.” She was granted an exit visa to go to London for this year’s Frieze, but warned that she might not be allowed back.
Why We So Often Fail To Predict What Will Improve Our Future Happiness
Miswanting. “It’s the name for the scrambled logic behind our wants, and our tendency to poorly align those wants with what we’ll actually enjoy.”
Why The Art World Hates Renoir
“His beliefs are disappointing, of course, if maybe not the right frame for understanding Renoir’s paintings. But if God does in fact hate Renoir, at least he has a decent moral reason to do so. For the rest of us, his insipid, chintzy, gauzy paintings will simply have to do.”
Is Cultural Appropriation Bad?
“At a time of heightened racial tensions across the world, with police shootings of black men in the United States and Islamophobia (and phobias of all kinds) seemingly on the rise, this rage against cultural appropriation is understandable: no right-minded liberal wants to cause unnecessary offence, least of all to minorities. Yet simply to point out instances of appropriation in the assumption that the process is by its nature corrosive seems to me a counterproductive, even reactionary pursuit; it serves no end but to essentialise race as the ultimate component of human identity.”
Village Voice Sold To Man Who Wants To Boost Arts Coverage
“I realize that The Voice has had a unique journalistic role in New York and the country as a whole,” Mr. Barbey, 58, said. “That deserves to survive and prosper.” The paper, he said, was once an essential “voice of the arts and cultural community in New York.” While he will not take over full control of the paper until February, Mr. Barbey said he would focus first on bolstering its arts coverage — mainly by attracting top writers.
The Decline Of America’s Alt-Weeklies (And Why It Matters)
“The top 20 alternative weeklies in the nation have seen their annual print circulation, which is still responsible for the great majority of revenues, drop every year since the Great Recession. In 2013 they fell by six percent, and then another six percent in 2014. But it’s not so grim everywhere. In mid-level markets like Denver, Boise, and Charleston, alternative weeklies are often the only publications left with the infrastructure to support in-depth investigative reporting.”
Yes The Art Market Has Become More Globalized. But It Consolidates In London And New York
“Putting down roots in tried-and-tested cities is partly a reflection of the fragile economic and political environment elsewhere. Trading is already a challenge in many developing countries, and recent economic turmoil has increased the risks for overseas businesses.”
Playboy To Stop Publishing Pictures Of Naked Ladies
As of next March, the rest of us really can read Playboy for the articles – which the editors plan to beef up, harking back to the glory days of the 1960s and ’70s, when the magazine published stories by the likes of Gore Vidal and Margaret Atwood and interviews with Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Carter, and John and Yoko. Says company CEO Scott Flanders, “The difference between us and Vice is that we’re going after the guy with a job.”