Monthly Archives: November 2023
ART: FIVE ‘MUST-SEE MUSEUM SHOWS’ FOR NOVEMBER 2023
Africa & Byzantium
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
19 November 2023 – 3 March 2024
Bringing together the art and culture of Byzantium and Africa, this ambitious New York exhibition looks in a new way at their importance to the development of the premodern world.
Africa & Byzantium comprises over 200 objects, from frescoes and mosaics to jewelry and manuscripts borrowed from many of the great collections, spanning over ten centuries of complex cultural exchange and influence.
Modigliani: Modern Gazes
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
24 November 2023 – 17 March 2024
Modigliani: Modern Gazes focuses on the 20th-century Italian artist’s portraits of modern women From bohemian Paris who stare unapologetically at the viewer, defiant and – as the director of the Staatsgalerie, Christiane Lange puts it – “emancipated”.
Works by German-speaking contemporaries Paula Modersohn-Becker, Jeanne Mammen, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and Wilhelm Lehmbruck also feature, in a show that places Modigliani in the wider cultural context of the young European avant-garde.
Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper.
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
19 November 2023 – 31 March 2024
Rothko exhibitions have always focused on his canvases but the artist drew no distinction between them and his paintings on paper – some of which were up to seven feet tall.
Forming the basis of Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper, a ground-breaking show at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, many of the watercolors, acrylics and oil paintings on paper have never been seen before.
Botticelli Drawings
19 November 2023 – 11 February 2024
Legion of Honor, San Francisco
Although his reputation dwindled until the Pre-Raphaelites rediscovered his work in the 19th century, Sandro Botticelli is now one of the most revered of the Renaissance masters.
There has, however, never been a significant exhibition of his drawings so Botticelli Drawings – an admirable and important project – will give us the chance to trace his artistic journey in a more intimate way than ever before.
An Atlas of Es Devlin
Cooper Hewitt, New York
18 November 2023 – 11 August 2024
Devlin is a polymath and then some, with a wide ranging practice that incorporates stage design from La Scala in Milan to the Super Bowl. She is utterly compelling but hard to classify, which is why it is appropriate that Devlin herself will install her 30 year archive.
An Atlas of Es Devlin – featuring over 300 sketches, paintings, cutouts, and maquettes – will also stage a replica of her London studio along with giant film installations, a library programme including collective readings and the chance to participate in a cumulative artwork.
Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Nov 20, 2023
Why the Godfather of A.I. Fears What He’s Built
Geoffrey Hinton has spent a lifetime teaching computers to learn. Now he worries that artificial brains are better than ours.
In your brain, neurons are arranged in networks big and small. With every action, with every thought, the networks change: neurons are included or excluded, and the connections between them strengthen or fade. This process goes on all the time—it’s happening now, as you read these words—and its scale is beyond imagining. You have some eighty billion neurons sharing a hundred trillion connections or more. Your skull contains a galaxy’s worth of constellations, always shifting.
Does A.I. Lead Police to Ignore Contradictory Evidence?
Too often, a facial-recognition search represents virtually the entirety of a police investigation.
By Eyal Press
On March 26, 2022, at around 8:20 a.m., a man in light-blue Nike sweatpants boarded a bus near a shopping plaza in Timonium, outside Baltimore. After the bus driver ordered him to observe a rule requiring passengers to wear face masks, he approached the fare box and began arguing with her. “I hit bitches,” he said, leaning over a plastic shield that the driver was sitting behind. When she pulled out her iPhone to call the police, he reached around the shield, snatched the device, and raced off. The bus driver followed the man outside, where he punched her in the face repeatedly. He then stood by the curb, laughing, as his victim wiped blood from her nose.
Personal HistoryA Coder Considers the Waning Days of the Craft
Coding has always felt to me like an endlessly deep and rich domain. Now I find myself wanting to write a eulogy for it.
By James Somers
News: Urban Warfare In Gaza, US-India Meeting, Argentina Rivals Debate
The Globalist Podcast (November 13, 2023) – ‘Haaretz’ journalist Allison Kaplan Sommer from Tel Aviv discusses the latest updates from the Middle East and we discuss urban warfare in Gaza with expert Antônio Sampaio.
We get a roundup of the day’s headlines with Vincent McAviney, discuss a meeting of Indian and US ministers in New Delhi, and assess the outcomes of last night’s presidential debate in Argentina.
The New York Times — Monday, November 13, 2023
Israeli Forces Near a Struggling Hospital They Say Covers a Hamas Complex
Israeli officials say that Hamas has built a complex under Al Shifa, a major Gaza hospital. Hamas denies it is operating from beneath the hospital, whose patients face dire conditions amid power cuts.
One Year in the Infuriating and Humiliating Search for a Job in South Africa
Portia Stafford has a high school diploma in hospitality and three certificates from job training programs. She is among a generation of ambitious Africans who spend their days chasing an elusive opening.
F.B.I. Examining Whether Adams Cleared Red Tape for Turkish Government
After winning the 2021 Democratic mayoral primary, Eric Adams successfully pressed city officials to allow the opening of a Manhattan high-rise housing the Turkish Consulate General.
Two Young Democratic Stars Collide Over Israel and Their Party’s Future
Representing neighboring districts in the Bronx, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ritchie Torres have staked sharply divergent positions on the Israel-Hamas war.
Fall Foliage: Itasca State Park, Northern Minnesota
Established in 1891, Itasca is Minnesota’s oldest State Park. In this 32,000 acre sanctuary, the mighty Mississippi River begins its 2,552 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Points of interest include old growth pine at Preacher’s Grove, Peace Pipe Vista, bison kill site and over 100 lakes.
Videographer: Kevin Kjergaard.
Norway Travel: Exploring Fjords From Bergen (2023)
Video timeline: 00:00 Intro 00:30 Bryggen 01:37 Mini-cruise along the Osterfjord 06:30 Fisketorget food hall
From Norway’s second largest seaport, you can go on a boat tour along the Osterfjord – as our reporter Aisha Sharipzhan did. Let her take you right into the stunning landscape of Norway’s fjords!
Profiles: American Artist Ed Ruscha – “NOW THEN” Exhibition At MoMA NYC
ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN
Through Jan 13, 2024
Ruscha, now 85, talks with correspondent David Pogue about collecting much of his life’s work into one retrospective; the cryptic nature of many of his paintings; and his use of unusual materials (like chocolate and axle grease).
“I don’t have any Seine River like Monet,” Ed Ruscha once said. “I’ve just got US 66 between Oklahoma and Los Angeles.” ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN will feature over 200 works—in mediums including painting, drawing, prints, photography, artist’s books, film, and installation—that make use of everything from gunpowder to chocolate. Exploring Ruscha’s landmark contributions to postwar American art as well as lesser-known aspects of his more than six-decade career, the exhibition will offer new perspectives on a body of work that has influenced generations of artists, architects, designers, and writers.
In 1956, Ruscha left his hometown of Oklahoma City and drove along interstate highway 66 to study commercial art in Los Angeles, where he drew inspiration from the city’s architecture, colloquial speech, and popular culture. Ruscha has recorded and transformed familiar subjects—whether roadside gasoline stations or the 20th Century Fox logo—often revisiting motifs, sites, or words years later. Tracing shifts in the artist’s means and methods over time, ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN underscores the continuous reinvention that has defined his work.
BBC Theater: ‘Shakespeare – Rise Of A Genius’ (2023)
Shakespeare: Rise of A Genius
November marks 400 years since arguably the greatest work of English literature was created, the First Folio, published seven years after the death of William Shakespeare and without which much of his work would have been lost for future generations to enjoy today.
The BBC is celebrating this extraordinary anniversary with an ambitious season of content across TV, Radio, BBC iPlayer & BBC Sounds exploring why, 400 years on, Shakespeare’s relevance and influence is as strong as ever. A wealth of programming featuring major actors and leading experts, including new documentaries, performance, music, drama, comedy, news coverage and the best of the BBC archive, as well as special items on flagship BBC shows, will celebrate the man, his world and his timeless writing.
Here’s how you can watch, listen and learn about Shakespeare across the BBC…
Sunday Morning: Stories And News From Zürich, London, Ljubljana & Paris
Monocle on Sunday, November 12, 2023 – Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, is joined by Eemeli Isoaho and Marcus Schögel to unpack the weekend’s hottest topics.
Plus, check-ins with our friends and correspondents in London, Ljubljana and Paris.
Boomers Daily 