As the monument “Rumors of War” prepares to leave Times Square for its permanent home in Richmond, some security officers talk about their time as special “art ambassadors” slash security guards for the work. “The ambassador training was minimal. Some preparation centered on the artist and how the statue was created, but a lot focused on anticipating what questions visitors would ask.” – The New York Times
Tag: 11.29.19
Why Do Music Fans Want ‘Constant Content’ From Singers Even After The Musicians Are Dead?
It’s generational, really: “The old consensus decreed that in order to build a respectable legacy, an estate should protect what the artist had already put out and be discerning with anything more. Fans were furious with Drake’s bungled attempts at putting together a posthumous Aaliyah album, and frustrations arise whenever a Prince release is announced. … But those artists come from an era where the album was the respected format and fans wanted little beyond the occasional alternate version of a hit they had known for 30 years. In the saturated streaming market, made up of audiences with shorter attention spans, the idea of a traditional legacy is being passed over for a more-is-more approach.” – The Guardian (UK)
The Boundary-Pushing Artwork Of 93-Year-Old Artist Zilla Sanchez
The Cuban artist has been making important work first in Cuba and then in Puerto Rico for decades. “But outside the Caribbean archipelago, she has been largely ignored. Until the mid-80s, major art institutions in Europe and the United States rarely granted exhibitions, let alone solo shows, to Latina artists, and Sánchez’s identity as a gay Cuban woman rendered her especially invisible.” Until now. – The New York Times
Aleshea Harris Is A Young Playwright Fiercely Confronting U.S. Audiences On Race, History, And Power
Playwright Aleshea Harris, who won the Obie Award in 2018 for Is God Is, “is part of a vanguard of young, African American playwrights boring into questions of race and history through humor, drama, absurdity and tragedy. Their works reveal how the legacy of slavery continues to twist through the American consciousness.” – Los Angeles Times
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Climate Change Christmas At The Tate
And a very merry apocalypse to you too. Artist Anne Hardy got the Tate Britain commission this year, and she says she worked back from the Winter Solstice, “creating what could be a ransacked temple with tattered banners and tangled cables of lights. On the stairs are pools of ice and sculptural patches of river mud and broken columns. … Something has happened and whatever it is, it’s not good.” – The Guardian (UK)