Tag: 11.29.17

How Superstar Mentality Is Endangering The Art World

“The superstar phenomenon is pervasive in the art market. My research of the last few years has documented the increasing dominance of the top end of the market. A very small number of artists, and the galleries representing them, drive the bulk of sales value, while others struggle to survive.
While this top-heavy bias has increased over the last 10 years, the superstar effect has been observed for at least a century.”

James Salter: Why I Became A Writer

“Why was I writing? It was not for glory; I had seen what I took to be real glory. It was not for acclaim. I knew that if the book was published, it would have to be under a pseudonym; I did not want to jeopardize a career by becoming known as a writer. I had heard the derisive references to “God-Is-My-Copilot” Scott. The ethic of fighter squadrons was drink and daring; anything else was suspect. Still, I thought of myself as more than just a pilot and imagined a book that would be in every way admirable.”

‘The Music Of The Plants’ Is A Real Thing (Meaning Plants Are Really Playing Music)

“During a small lecture at a private residence in Delray Beach earlier this month, I watched a houseplant play music, unabashedly and beautifully. Potted and still, it was hooked up to a MIDI machine via electrodes, its bio-emissions creating twinkling melodies. Attached to the same machine, an orchid and rosemary plant played nothing, but this one was active and virtuosic, as though it enjoyed playing.” A reporter talks to a leader of the Music of the Plants project about how all this works.

This New Concert Hall Really Is Pulling In A New Audience

Before the Philharmonie de Paris opened in early 2015, many observers fretted that the mostly older, well-heeled classical music fans in the city would not travel out to a big, modernist venue on the northern edge of the city. Nearly three years later, concerts are selling better than they used to at the (older and smaller) Salle Pleyel, and the crowds are younger and more diverse.

MPR Cuts All Ties With Garrison Keillor Over ‘Inappropriate Behavior’; Keillor Responds With His Version

In response to the accusation from an unnamed former co-worker, Minnesota Public Radio will cease distributing reruns of old Prairie Home Companion shows and merchandise as well as Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac; the current PHC with Chris Thile will be renamed. Keillor himself has given responses to The Star Tribune and on Facebook.

El Sistema Comes To Kenya

“Though Faith Syovata had almost lost her voice because of a cold, the students still hung on her every whispered word. With violins tucked under their chins, the 14-year-olds at Kawangware Primary School here had their bows at the ready as she pointed out notes for the song on the blackboard.” A reporter visits a Sistema classroom in a Nairobi slum.

The Digital World Isn’t Subverting Democracy, It’s Helping It (Really?)

“Digital technologies are changing politics as we know it, but not because of some inherent or immutable characteristic that stands apart from the world in which they were created. Instead, these technologies have helped an underlying condition, namely growing discontent at marketisation – the privatising of ever more goods, services and social interactions, and the ideologies that justify that process – to find meaningful expression in the formal political arena.”

Holland Cotter: Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Rewrite Of Art History

“The Louvre Abu Dhabi is banking on the theory that pointing out links among a wide variety of cultures will make all art feel more approachable to the global audience it hopes to attract. Once viewers gain the habit of spotting connections, they may come to accept that all cultures are equally valuable and personally relevant. That, at least, seems to be the thinking, and it makes sense.”