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☆ In the Arts, Is It Breaking Big, or Selling Out?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The 11-foot sculpture looks like something out of a comic strip: a luxury handbag perched on skinny legs and matched with high-end sneakers. The work is by the Austrian-born artist Erwin Wurm, and it represents accessories from the collections of Lanvin, the French fashion house. “Desire” (the title of the sculpture) was commissioned by Lanvin and unveiled in Beijing in early April. “I made this piece because it fit into my series,” Wurm, 69, said in a phone interview, referring to his “walking bag” sculptures, which parody women’s contemporary passion for handbags. “I reduce females to long legs and shoes and handbags.

Persons: Erwin Wurm, “, ”, Lanvin, ” Wurm Organizations: Shanghai —, Fosun Foundation, Fosun Locations: Austrian, Beijing, Shanghai

☆ Untangling the Pasts of Slavery, Colonialism and Art
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two and a half centuries after its creation, the Royal Academy of Arts in London — an artist-and-architect-led institution that is a bastion of the British establishment — is embracing inclusivity. Last year, for the first time, it dedicated a major solo show to a woman, Marina Abramovic. Now comes “Entangled Pasts, 1768-Now: Art, Colonialism and Change,” an exhibition on how British art was implicated by slavery, with historic depictions of enslaved people displayed alongside contemporary works by artists of African and Caribbean origin. The show is part of a reassessment of Britain’s colonial past by museums and cultural institutions, including the 129-year-old National Trust, a charity that runs historic houses and heritage sites across the country, and a few owners of stately homes. It is also a notable moment for the Royal Academy, which did not admit a Black artist to its membership until 2005.

Persons: London —, Marina Abramovic Organizations: Royal Academy of Arts, Trust, Royal Academy Locations: London

☆ Protecting Opera, ‘a People’s Art Form’
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Is opera an endangered art form that needs to be protected and preserved for the generations to come? For a group of about 30,000 Italian music professionals and practitioners, the answer was yes. Consisting of singers, musicians, scholars, composers, conductors and directors, the group formed a committee supported by Italy’s leading opera houses and musical institutions, then persuaded UNESCO to add “the practice of opera singing in Italy” to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The inscription was made official in December. The list identifies what UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization, calls “fragile” nonphysical elements that play a crucial role in “maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization.”

Persons: Italy’s, Italy ”, ” Organizations: UNESCO, Intangible, Heritage, Humanity, United Nations Locations: Italy

☆ In Maria Callas’s Career, La Scala Played a Major Role
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Following is an overview of some of Callas’s career highlights at La Scala. “Aida” (Verdi): April 12, 1950Callas’s very first performance onstage at La Scala was as a substitute for the much-adored Renata Tebaldi, who was unwell. “I Vespri Siciliani” (Verdi):Dec. 7, 1951This was the first time that Callas was headlining a La Scala production — kicking off the opera house’s season, in fact — and it was a triumph. It also “encapsulated so much” of the Maria Callas that audiences have come to know and revere. Musically, she gave it her all, triggering 24 minutes of applause (according to the Edwards biography), a La Scala record.

Persons: Aida ”, Renata Tebaldi, “ Maria Callas, Anne Edwards, Franco Zeffirelli, Callas, ”, Maria Meneghini Callas, Franco Abbiati, David Bret, Abbiati, ” “ Lucia di Lammermoor ”, Donizetti, Herbert von Karajan, —, Lucia, — Callas, barehanded, Cynthia Jolly, “, Bret, Violetta, Donizetti’s “ Lucia di Lammermoor ”, Bellini’s “ Norma, Luchino Visconti, Fisher, Maria Callas, Carlo Maria Giulini, Giuseppe Di Stefano, “ Anna Bolena ”, Visconti, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, Edwards Organizations: La Scala, Scala, della, Opera, The Times Locations: “ La, Belle

☆ It’s Cozy and Cheap, but Do You Want to Live in This Social Media Magnet?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Farah Nayeri | More About Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Our desire to be social with different people — including influencers and celebrities, or people who are living in a different place in a different way — can all play out on social media, because it feels like we are making a personal connection,” she said. “From the data that we have so far, there is no basis to say that social media have the ability to change behavior in that way,” he said. For people looking to live and work in big cities, the post-pandemic housing situation is dire. In Manhattan in June, the average rental price was $5,470, according to a report from the real-estate brokerage Douglas Elliman. Across the city, the average rent this month is $3,644, reports Apartments.com, a listing site.

Persons: ”, Pablo J, Douglas, Apartments.com Organizations: Northwestern University Locations: Manhattan, London

☆ A ‘Digital Heist’ Recaptures the Rosetta Stone
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Farah Nayeri | More About Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On a recent afternoon, Nwaubani, just back from the fort in Rashid, stood before the 2,200-year-old Rosetta Stone in London. “I don’t like being here,” he said, motioning at the slab and surrounding statues and sarcophagi in the British Museum’s Egyptian sculpture gallery. The AR installation in Rashid will offer visitors a high-definition image of the stone, with detailed descriptions in Arabic and English, a translation of the stone’s inscriptions and an account of how the artifact left Egypt. By making virtual replicas of looted treasures, he was shifting some of the attention to the digital space — a “new landscape,” he said, where “laws have not caught up. No one is colonizing digital space.

Persons: Rosetta Stone, “, ”, motioning, I’ve, Rashid Locations: Rashid, London, British, Egypt

☆ London Tours Explore the Worlds of Opera and Classical Music
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Farah Nayeri | More About Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Have you ever wondered what happens behind the red velvet curtains at the Royal Opera House? London has a rich variety of tours and collections for opera and classical-music enthusiasts. Royal Opera HouseWho were some of the women who made history at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden? It’s a question that the opera house is answering in detail in a tour that runs through Aug. 12. And in a performance as Violetta in “La Traviata,” she wore a custom gown encrusted with 3,700 of her own diamonds.

Persons: ”, Adelina Patti, Violetta Organizations: Royal Opera, Royal Opera House Locations: London, Covent, Italian, New York, “ La

☆ A Fight to Improve London’s Air Quality, One Vehicle at a Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Nick Arlett is a retired builder living in West Wickham, southeast London, and he owns a Renault Trafic van that runs on diesel fuel. If Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, gets his way, Mr. Arlett will soon have to pay about $16 a day to drive his vehicle in the city — an amount Mr. Arlett says he can’t afford. That’s because on Aug. 29, Mr. Khan plans to extend London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to every borough of the capital in an effort to improve air quality and prevent illnesses and deaths caused by air pollution. To stop the measure from going through, Mr. Arlett is leading a campaign called “Action Against ULEZ Extension” with some 30,000 members. “I would absolutely be immobilized,” said Mr. Arlett in a phone interview about the ULEZ expansion.

Persons: Nick Arlett, Sadiq Khan, Arlett, Khan, “, ”, Mr Organizations: Renault Locations: West Wickham, London

☆ How A.I. Is Helping Architects Change Workplace Design
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

“I’ve been a workplace designer for the last 24 years,” said the architect Arjun Kaicker. “I’ve seen more change in the last 24 months than in the whole of my career.”Mr. Kaicker co-runs Zaha Hadid Analytics + Insights, or ZHAI, a five-person team that uses data and artificial intelligence to design workplaces. The team is part of Zaha Hadid Architects, the firm founded by the influential architect Zaha Hadid in London in 1979. “The pandemic has really supercharged innovation in the workplace,” Mr. Kaicker said in a recent video interview from Atlanta. Before, “the majority of office buildings had a one-size-fits-all desk for everyone, and the same environment around them, the same everything,” he said.

Persons: “, ”, Arjun Kaicker, “ I’ve, ” Mr, Kaicker, ZHAI, Zaha Hadid Organizations: Zaha Hadid Architects Locations: Zaha, London, Atlanta

☆ A New Film Shines a Light on Women Conductors
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Girls can’t do that.”That’s what 9-year-old Marin Alsop was told by her violin teacher when she expressed interest in a conducting career. The documentary spotlights a profession — conducting — which historically has all but excluded women. In the film, Ms. Contreras, 39, a documentary producer making her directorial debut, delivers an up-close-and-personal portrayal of the contestants as they rev up for a competition whose judges include Ms. Alsop and Ms. Gibault. The five contestants profiled in the film were from France, Germany, the United States, Greece and Poland. In a recent video interview, Ms. Contreras recalled the making of the movie and the challenges faced by women on the concert podium.

Persons: Marin Alsop, “, ”, Maggie Contreras that’s, —, Claire Gibault, Contreras, Ms, Alsop, Gibault Organizations: Tribeca Festival Locations: New York City, La Maestra, French, Paris, France, Germany, United States, Greece, Poland

☆ The Conflict Over Vandalizing Art as a Way to Protest
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This article is part of our special report on the Art for Tomorrow conference that was held in Florence, Italy. Seldom in the history of art have so many masterpieces been vandalized in so little time. “What is worth more, art or life?” shouted one protester, Phoebe Plummer, 21, as visitors gasped and called for security. Videos of the attacks were seen by millions of people around the world, including, no doubt, the leaders. Yet the attacks also upset many members of the public concerned about art damage, and led the directors of top world museums to issue a stern statement, raising the question of whether art actually is an effective vehicle for protest.

☆ How the Arts Can Help Us Face the World’s Most Pressing Challenges
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This article is part of our special report on the Art for Tomorrow conference that was held in Florence, Italy. FLORENCE, Italy — The world today has twice as many billionaires as it did in 2012, and their wealth has more than doubled since then. These sobering statistics were cited last week at the three-day Art for Tomorrow conference, an annual event organized by the Democracy & Culture Foundation featuring panels moderated by journalists from The New York Times. This year, the event was held in Florence, Italy. Three years after the coronavirus outbreak, the gathering was a chance for arts professionals, collectors, curators and artists to take stock and to ask: Can the arts help meet the challenges that the world faces today?

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