Weekend Reading: March 8 Edition

Around Columbus

• Sunday, Drexel Theatre is hosting its annual Red Carpet Bash.
• Giant orange snails made by Italy’s Cracking Art Group are making an appearance in Dublin.
• The Columbus Symphony Orchestra announced its next Picnic with the Pops series, which will include visits from Violent Femmes and Nas.
• BalletMet announced its 2024–25 season, which will open with Dracula.
• Sydnee Spivey was named the new director of All People Arts.
• Denison University’s Paul Djupe discussed the new book he’s coedited, which explores the connection between assumed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Evangelical Christians.
• Thursday, dive into Columbus Metropolitan Library’s weekend-long Spring Big Book Sale.
• Next Saturday, Hilliard Arts Council opens a new group exhibition, Made Me Ink!, curated by A.J. Vanderelli.
• Saturday also brings the opening of Cast Shadow, the new show of works by Clara Cecile, Sarah Hiers, and Alison Moore, to 934 Gallery.
• Old First Presbyterian Church hosts Third Space Saturday night, a free, salon-style social interaction that’ll feature a visit from Freedom A La Cart Director Vanessa Perkins.
• And it might be a good idea to book ahead for Dana Lynn Harper’s Cloud Buddies Workshop, happening next Sunday at Columbus Museum of Art.

Around the Globe

• Sunday is Oscar night. Here’s how you can watch at home.
• Here’s a take on what films are favored to win Academy Awards.
• Planning some pre-Oscar cramming or post-Oscar catchup? Here's where you can find all the nominated features for 2024, and here's a roundup of which Academy Award-nominated shorts are available to stream, along with where to find them.
• Though it won’t be honored on Oscar night, the best movie choreography of 2023 got some attention from Dance Magazine.
• The New York Times considered whether two Oscar nominees, Oppenheimer and The Zone of Interest, give morality a sound.
• Movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for her role in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust.
• If there's a better way for someone to show their love for the new Denis Villeneuve Dune film than to pay tribute in sand art form, it's not coming to us at the moment.
• Comedian-turned-filmmaker Julio Torres discussed working with Tilda Swinton and RZA for his upcoming art world satire Problemista.
• Here’s a profile on the four artists who started Hollywood’s Choreographers Guild.
• Sure, we’ll take a recipe for vegetable stew from choreographer Mark Morris.
• The indie arts organization Adult Film is featured in this piece about how New York indie theater companies are turning to basements and rooftops to find affordable places to perform.
• Violinist John Sherba and violist Hank Dutt announced their retirement from Kronos Quartet.
• Shu Lea Cheang won the LG Guggenheim Award. The interdisciplinary artist is a past Wex guest who was also featured in the center’s inaugural publication, 1991’s Breakthroughs: Avant-Garde Artists in Europe and America.
• Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto won the 2024 Pritzker Prize.
• Photographer Ingrid Pollard won the 2024 Hasselblad Award.
• And Atlanta’s High Museum gave curator Naomi Beckwith the David C. Driskell Prize.
• Curator Denise Murrell discussed her hot new show on the Harlem Renaissance at the Met with NPR’s It’s Been a Minute.
• The "Yes, I'm a Designer" channel on YouTube made a stab at a comprehensive discussion of the benefits and pitfalls of AI in this moment.
• Through a new radio project, you can hear artists such as Laurie Anderson, Andrew Bird, and Yuri Suzuki reflect on their favorite places.
• A kerfuffle over who controls the story of late Cuban artist Ana Mendieta has spilled into public view.
• The announcement of a new “liberation museum” opening in Mariupol is the latest sign that Vladimir Putin is using cultural institutions as propaganda tools in the war against Ukraine.
• The British Museum went tone deaf.
• Photographer Naya LaFond was interviewed about her Portraits in RED series, which calls attention to the oft-ignored crisis of murdered Indigenous women.
• The US State Department has issued new guidelines to try to speed up the restitution process for Nazi-looted art.
• The Frida Kahlo Corporation is going after counterfeiters.
• Dutch artist Frankey talked about the whimsical work he’s created on the streets of Amsterdam.
• RuPaul is sending a rainbow school bus around the country to give away banned books.
• New research released for World Book Day finds that adult judgement can squash children’s interest in reading.
• Akira Toriyama, the hugely influential manga artist who created the Dragon Ball series, died at 68.
• Late-life fashion icon and documentary subject Iris Apfel passed away at 102.
• And artist Lucas Samaras passed on at the age of 87.