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Arts in the News: Share art through Facebook Live, Covering Concrete Walls with Art, Effect of Music on Your Mind, MoMA Features Art from Nations Affected by Travel Restrictions, Conductor Made Kids Cry, George Lucas’ Museum

The National Gallery Reflects on Going ‘Facebook Live’

The National Gallery in London has been hosting live online tours via Facebook Live for just over a year. Their most popular live video was of a tour given by Director Gabriele Finaldi, which received over 200,000 views from across the globe. “In a short space of time, live video has also become a key way we communicate with our global digital audience,” explains Social Media Executive Tamara El Assawi. She continues, explaining: “Though we have seen uplifts in ticket sales during the days following broadcasts, it quickly became clear that the segment of our audience who have been most enthusiastic about the broadcasts are those who are not able to come ot the National Gallery in person.” The online tours are in no way meant to replace visiting the gallery in person, but for those too far away or without the means to get there, they provide a fascinating glimpse into the National Gallery’s amazing collection. Beyond some costs associated with filming, the project cost has been minimal. The National Gallery intends to increase the frequency of their broadcasts, and offer tours of special displays or specific artists. What a wonderful way to share art and the expertise of the National Gallery staff with people around the world!

Covering Concrete Walls with Colorful Art in Baghdad

Determined to brighten the gray concrete walls of his community in the Iraqi capital, university student Ali Abdulrahman got the support of his dean and gathered nearly 100 fellow students to paint graffiti along the walls of the campus. So impressed by the result, Abdulrahman founded “Imprint of Hope” in January 2015 and set his sights on a larger canvas: the walls all around the city of Baghdad. Imprint of Hope now boasts over 370 volunteers who work together to fill the city with beautiful paintings. The volunteers themselves come from a variety of backgrounds, including students, carpenters, ironsmiths, artists, and doctors. Before Imprint of Hope, the walls of Baghdad served primarily as canvasses for sectarian slogans and political propaganda. Locals reportedly complained about the litter along the walls, the rodents who tended to live in and among them, and the smell during some of the hotter summer months. Thanks to Abdulrahman and his colleagues, many walls now boast images of landscapes, animals, whimsical scenes, and positive messages of cooperation and community. At the moment, the group does not receive outside funding, but relies on monthly dues from members of about 8 USD each to buy paint and brushes. Truly an inspiring group of individuals who are brightening the daily lives of those in their community with art and beauty.

Seeing the Effect of Music on Your Mind

Using an electroencephalogram (EEG), Dr. Mark Doidge creates what he calls a “Portrait of Your Mind:” a dynamic, three-dimensional “movie” of brain activity. When a subject listens to music, the portraits come to life, looking like fireworks and bursting with color. Doidge credits his collaborator, biophysicist Joseph Mocanu, with the development of the software used to generate the portrait movies. It works by plotting the origins of electrical activity in differen parts of the brain, and then assigning colors to different kinds of brain waves. Doidge is particularly struck bye the effect of music on the brain (and the portraits): “when I listened to Antonin Dvorak’s Waltz No. 1 from his Op. 54 set, the music coaxes rhythmic bursts of alpha waves from my brain….The sweet, lilting melody and steady pulse of Dvorak’s waltz seemed to be working a pleasant kind of magic inside my head.” Interestingly, whether or not someone actually likes a song does not seem to affect on how the brain responds to it, according to Doige. Yet another fascinating step in linking art and science!

MoMA Features Art from Nations Affected by Travel Restrictions

In the aftermath of an executive order from President Trump barring immigrants and visa-card holders from seven Muslim-majority nations (Yemen, Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and Syria), the New York City Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has decided to use its own walls to make a stand, hanging work by artists from the very nations affected by the ban. Seven works, each one by an artist from a different one of the seven countries, were installed in the MoMa’s fifth floor galleries late last week, replacing work by Western artists like Picasso and Matisse. Placards next to the pieces explain their symbolism in the face of the travel ban. The MoMA’s Chief Curator of Drawings and Prints, Christophe Cherix, explains that the “clear reaction” to the ban, as he calls the MoMA’s actions, are meant to express “solidarity with artists from different countries.” Selecting the seven works to feature required a multidisciplinary team of curators across several MoMA departments, and the result is both striking and profound. A lovely way to show solidarity for fellow artists and send the message that art knows now borders.

 

Conductor in Hot Water After Making Kids Cry

At the end of an orchestral performance of Disney’s Frozen in Rome, conductor Giacomo Loprieno asked for the microphone to speak to the audience. He then announced–to a room of parents and their children–that Santa Claus isn’t real, and immediately exited the stage. “Father Christmas doesn’t exist” he said, after apparently becoming increasingly frustrated by families who left the performance early to escape the crowds on the way out. The outburst left parents furious and their children in tears. Mr. Loprieno was promptly replaced by another director for the next show, which took place a week later. The organizers of the concerts also went so far as to post pictures of the new conductor, Marco Dallara, embracing a man dressed as Santa Claus. Tickets for each concert cost between 30 and 48 euros; the show itself, “Disney in Concert: Frozen,” was billed as “a fantastic surprise.” It’s probably safe to say patrons were indeed surprised…

Suspense around George Lucas’ Museum Plans

Sometime this month, George Lucas, the legendary filmmaker most famous for the Star Wars franchise, is expected to announce whether he will put a museum for his extensive personal art collection in San Francisco or Los Angeles. Lucas has tried for nearly a decade to build a museum for his personal collection of 40,000 paintings, illustrations and film-related items, but legal entanglements and other complications have arisen. Now, both LA and San Francisco are vying to be host of the proposed museum. “This is the largest civic gift in American history,” explains LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, as the museum will be called, will provide hundreds of jobs and significant tourist attraction, and is essentially free for the host city. Lucas will be financing the project himself, planning to spend more than $1 billion to build the museum, endow it, and provide over $400 million in initial artworks. Lucas joined forces with Chinese architect Ma Yansong to develop a futurisic design for the museum–appropriate for the man who created Star Wars. It will be interesting to see where the museum ends up and a delight to see the final product!

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