Weekend Reading: February 9 Edition

Around Columbus

• Sunday brings the opening of Traversing Textiles, a new Ohio Craft Museum show featuring work by 20 artists, curated by Char Norman.
• ICYMI, Matter talked to Aya Ogawa about our presentation of her play Nosebleed.
• Columbus Underground also talked to the theater artist.
• Cap City Tattoo proprietor and artist Alli MacGregor discussed her newly expanded gallery space.
• Departing BalletMet Artistic Director Edwaard Liang talked about his new role at the Washington Ballet.
• A revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company opens in Columbus Tuesday.
• Thursday, Art Possible Ohio is hosting an open mic event along with a screening of the film I Am Irani.
• Next Friday, CCAD is hosting a visit from Disney animator John Musker.
• Next Saturday at RAW Gallery, Matt Swift will be presenting paintings made with help from a robot vacuum, along with photography and video works.
• Also Saturday, 934 Gallery opens a show of works by April Wright, Abigail Holcombe and Sydney Vine, and John M. Bennett and C. Mehrl Bennett.
• Urban Arts Space will have a reception for the show Sun Spell Saturday evening.
• And if those aren’t enough options, also Saturday, Willie Phoenix will play a CD release party at Natalie’s.

Around the Globe

• A new fund is offering unrestricted grants of $100,000 to support artists’ practices.
• Questions and intrigue around the murder of gallerist Brent Sikkema took an interesting turn this week.
• Vox covered the branding challenges that come with being an artist today.
• Art UK is building a digital database of England’s public art.
• Art Basel announced the exhibitors for this year’s edition.
• Russia will once again sit out the Venice Biennale.
• Courtney J. Martin will be the new Executive Director of the Rauschenberg Foundation.
• ArtTable released a survey showing discrepancies in treatment of women and people of color in the culture sector.
• The New York Times covered how some museums are turning to focus groups to develop exhibitions.
• The paper also looked back on the legacy of legendary one-armed, one-legged tapper Henry Heard, starting his obituary for the “Overlooked” series with a story from a tour stop in Columbus.
• Here’s a fun way to get into the spirit ahead of our upcoming summer film series on global musicals: watch a reality series on competitive Bollywood dance, coming to Nat Geo.
• To celebrate its 65th season, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is partnering with Google Arts & Culture to create a digital archive.
• Dance Magazine shared an excerpt from a new book by Naomi M. Jackson that considers the ethics of the dance world.
• The Oscars will introduce a category for best casting in 2026, a move that can’t come soon enough according to interviewees in the now-decade-old documentary Casting By.
• Spike Lee and Denzel Washington are taking on the remake of an Akira Kurosawa classic.
• SXSW Film announced its lineup for March, including the directorial debuts of actors Lucy Lawless and Dev Patel.
• Issa Rae discussed the challenges for a Black woman working in the Hollywood system even if their work finds an audience.
• Writer-director Cord Jefferson discussed his directorial debut: the incisive new film American Fiction.
• The Atlantic called out the impressive track record of predictions from speculative sci fi writer Neal Stephenson.
• Utah legislators have picked a funny way to remind us that we’re 40 years past the timeframe of George Orwell’s 1984.
• Jennell Jaquays, an artist and a transformational figure in gaming, died at the age of 67.
• Self-taught artist Melvin Way passed away at 70.
• And filmmaker Robert M. Young passed away at the age of 99. Here’s an interview our Head of Film/Video Dave Filipi did with Young when we presented his Miguel Piñero adaptation Short Eyes back in 2016.