From the point of view of evolution, casting others as monsters would have been extremely adaptive and helpful to your own survival as a group. Nature was not a warm and fuzzy place. Some of these horror stories were helpful in getting you to be nervous about real predators—both non-human animals and human predators.
Tag: 10.25.18
Remembering New York City Ballet’s Original Home, City Center
“Jacques d’Amboise, Patricia Wilde, Allegra Kent and Edward Villella talk about the roles they danced at the theater, which is celebrating George Balanchine and its 75th anniversary as a palace of the arts.”
Portrait Created By AI Sells For $432K At Auction
A member of the art collective (called Obvious) behind this project explained, “On one side is the Generator, on the other the Discriminator. We fed the system with a data set of 15,000 portraits painted between the 14th century to the 20th. The Generator makes a new image based on the set, then the Discriminator tries to spot the difference between a human-made image and one created by the Generator. The aim is to fool the Discriminator into thinking that the new images are real-life portraits. Then [when the Discriminator can no longer tell the difference,] we have a result.”
Museums Are Now Using AI To Engage And Manage Visitors
“Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used today by museums of all sizes worldwide, which employ it to develop everything from robots, chatbots and websites, to tools that help them analyze visitor data and their collections, and determine admission policies and exhibition content.” One notable example, a fleet of robots, called Pepper, used by five Smithsonian museums to interact with visitors.
New Fellowship Program In L.A. To Train Young Musicians Of Color For Orchestral Careers
“Three of the city’s powerhouse musical institutions — the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, [the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles], and USC’s Thornton School of Music — have come together to create the Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship. Launched in August, the program selected four fellows who, over the course of two years, will be trained by LACO musicians, perform in concerts throughout the city, instruct aspiring young students at ICYOLA, and pursue a music certificate at USC.”
Artwork Worth $1 Million Sets Itself On Fire (No, This Is Not Banksy’s Doing)
A blaze broke out last Saturday at the Dia:Beacon museum in upstate New York. The cause: overheating of an electrical element in a newly-acquired work by artist Mary Corse, reportedly worth $1 million. (The artwork was unnamed but was likely Untitled (Electric Light).)
Cincinnati Ballet Is Shaking Us Down For $1 Million, Says CEO Of City’s Pro Soccer Team
“The Cincinnati Ballet is pressuring FC Cincinnati to pay it $1 million for land it doesn’t own, knowing the team needs at least some of the land it uses for a Major League Soccer stadium, the team president says. … ‘This sure feels like a shakedown to me.'” Responds the CEO of the ballet company, “This is patently false.”
What Will Brexit Do To British Arts And Culture? (Not Much Good)
Reporter Olivia Bridge gives an overview of what we know and don’t know about the effects that the UK’s departure from the EU will have on the arts sector. The biggest problem? Personnel.
The New Big Thing On Israeli TV These Days? Ultra-Orthodox Jews
“The hottest TV shows in Israel right now are not about sex, drugs or violence. Instead, they are about the insular Haredim, or ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, whose everyday dramas — albeit fictionalized — are Israeli TV’s latest obsession.”
Study: More Than Twice As Many Students Are Paying Attention To Political News Than In 2014
Students felt, even in their short lives, news had changed. Part of it’s the Trump effect, but I think it’s really that the Parkland generation is paying attention. They have an issue. I can’t tell you how many times school shootings came up. It’s definitely on their minds. They’re going to hear about it on their phones. The 24-hour news cycle has spun out of control to this hyper-velocity model that’s coming at them. The technology feeds them these stories in a way that news always has urgency. So much of news is treated like breaking news, whether it is or not. Kate Spade, she made nice purses, and her suicide is a tragedy. But is it breaking news? It’s confusing to students.