Weekend Reading: March 1 Edition

Around Ohio

• ICYMI: the Wex’s Film/Video program and ace projectionist Rachael Barbash are featured in the latest issue of Refined.
• Cinema Columbus has announced this year’s opening film: Ismail Al-Amin’s doc False Positive.
• Short North Stage announced its upcoming season, which will open with the musical Legally Blonde.
• But don’t hold your breath for the arrival of Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Fest.
• Curators Dustin Brinkman and Michael Weigman discussed the new printmaking show at Blockfort that challenged artists to focus on one moment of a doomscroll.
• There’s a new podcast out with local artist and comic creator Raeghan Buchanan.
• Architect Eliza Ho, former Columbus Art Commission Chair Diane Nance, and current Chair Merijn Vanderheijden discussed evolving opinions around public monuments like the city’s Christopher Columbus statue.
• Here’s a piece on Marietta’s JustAJar Design Press and its work with musicians and events such as the Nelsonville Music Festival.
• Monday brings the start of Will Eisner Week to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.
• If you’re planning a trip to the Audubon Center, make time for a visit during open studio hours with Artist in Residence Katie Golonka.
• Or you can check out Golonka’s show of new paintings opening Thursday at St. James Tavern.
• Columbus Monthly delved into the life of developer Lance Robbins, who helped turn Franklinton into an arts destination before he passed away late last year.
• Speaking of, next weekend brings Franklinton Friday; highlights include vintage photos of Columbus by Rick Ellis at Secret Studio and a Glass Axis demo at Gravity.
• And next Saturday, head to Streetlight Guide for readings by Scott Woods and Tomás Pacheco.

Around the Globe

• This year’s Dance Your Ph.D. Contest winner has something to teach us about kangaroos.
• Dance Magazine dove into the tough financial realities facing many American dance companies.
• Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe is frustrated after a failed bid to secure long-term funding.
• Things are also not looking good for the movie theater business in Scotland.
• But Belgian cinema chain Kinepolis is faring better.
• Mati Diop’s documentary Dahomey won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.
• Celine Song’s Past Lives won the Best Feature prize at the Independent Spirit Awards. (Also notable: Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up, which debuted locally at the Wex, won the Robert Altman Award.)
• Oppenheimer took the top prize at last weekend’s SAG Awards.
• Lily Gladstone discussed the weight of being the first Native American to be nominated for an Oscar for best actress.
• Sadly, reports that John Waters is shooting his first film in about 20 years were premature. But remember, if you like the idea of the Pink Flamingos filmmaker getting together with Aubrey Plaza, such a moment has already been captured for posterity.
• Steve McQueen won the Volta Lifetime Achievement Award.
• The Criterion Collection was lauded for its role as a cinematic tastemaker.
• The Guardian shared a short oral history of the making of John Sayles’s incredible drama Lone Star, along with some strong opinions the filmmaker has about efforts to build a border wall in Texas.
• With the fate of Paramount Pictures currently in limbo, Variety looked back on the movie studio’s ruthless history.
• The Atlantic noted the anti-war statement at the heart of Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-nomined The Boy and the Heron.
• Here’s the latest ode to physical media.
• David Lynch will debut a new art installation next month during the Italian furniture expo Salone del Mobile Milano.
• Jeffrey Gibson and Jennie C. Jones were awarded major commissions at the Met for 2025.
• This week’s T Magazine has a piece arguing that it’s artists who rule New York.
• Here’s how British museums like the National Portrait Gallery are trying to lure younger visitors.
• If you’re obsessed with cleaning videos on TikTok, get ready to go next-level with this video of the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel getting a spruce-up.
• A new show at SFMoMA collects hundreds of art and design objects to consider the aesthetics of sound.
• A new series of free-to-stream docs from PBS’s American Masters has launched with a spotlight on Harlem Renaissance figure Augusta Savage.
• Podcaster Katy Hessel is creating audio guides for museums that put the focus on women artists in their collections.
• A notably vague bill advancing in the West Virginia legislature aims to prosecute museums that display “obscenity” to children.
• A painting of a sad Oompa Loompa from a failed immersive Willy Wonka experience was this week’s meme champion.
• Here’s a piece about how writers have played a crucial role in the rise of dictators.
• Palestinian artist and educator Fathi Ghaben passed away at the age of 77.
• Kumar Shahani, a filmmaker and leading figure in the movement to preserve Indian film, died at the age of 83.
• And beloved comedian and actor Richard Lewis died at 76 after a struggle with Parkinson’s disease.