The Arts Fuse Newsletter, January 2
January Short Fuses and reviews of the film "Babygirl", the dance piece "Diary of a Tap Dancer," the exhibition “Draw Them In, Paint Them Out,” and the book "Star 111."
From The Editor's Desk:
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Arts Fuse’s Winter Appeal. Without your support there would be no magazine, and you came through: we made our goal and then some. I will work hard over the coming year to use these funds fruitfully, to post reviews, features, and interviews that both illuminate the arts and stimulate healthy debate. And there may be surprises to come.
Speaking of appreciation, a shout-out to critic Mark Favermann, who won a 2024 Journalism & Communications Award from the American Planning Association/ Massachusetts Chapter for his contributions, for over two decades, to The Arts Fuse and other publications. Few magazines can boast of being able to draw on the wide-ranging expertise of such a knowledgeable writer on the real world resonances of contemporary happenings in architecture, the built environment, design, and public art. For an example of his work, see Favermann’s Short Fuse about NEOM, a futuristic urban district being built by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Speaking of awards, the mainstream media details Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine, but they predictably ignore its strategies regarding the ‘weaponizing"‘ of the arts. According the dissident Russian news magazine Meduza, Sergey Novikov, who heads Russia’s Presidential Directorate for Social Projects, is planning to use culture to airbrush Putin’s aggression: “writers are being encouraged to travel to occupied Ukrainian territories to write about ‘establishing peaceful life,’ ‘liberating cities,’ and the lives of ‘legendary combat units,’ as well as to work with young writers in Russia. Novikov also wants to create a ‘trendy glossy’ literary magazine about the war and to establish a literary prize (‘akin to the Stalin Prize’) with a Kremlin-sanctioned winner.”
Not only is there a possibility the Stalin Prize will be making a comeback, but the genocidal Soviet dictator himself has become a trendy cultural icon in Russia. The Eurasian Review reported a year ago that “more than 100 monuments to Stalin can now be found across Russia, the majority of them erected over President Vladimir Putin’s 24 years in power.” Arts and culture are playing an indispensable role in making Stalin great again, assisting to advance ‘a statist, nationalist, militarized vision of Russia that many analysts say is effectively, if not ideologically, ‘neo-Stalinist’”.
—Bill Marx, Editor-in-Chief
Archive: From the Editor's Desk
January Short Fuses — Materia Critica
Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Film Review: “Babygirl” — What Do Women Want?
By Peg Aloi
Babygirl comes off as a rather lascivious take-down of yet another older woman who has everything she wants except … sexual excitement.
Dance Review: “Diary of a Tap Dancer” — Say Their Names
By Debra Cash
Is it possible to reclaim a marginalized legacy? And how do you step up to take a seat at the table when your history has been neglected and forgotten?
Visual Arts Review: “Draw Them In, Paint Them Out” — An Exhibition Whose Time Has Passed
By Franklin Einspruch
Museum exhibitions take a long time to put together, and the circumstances that justify them at their inception sometimes evaporate by the time they appear.
DocTalk: Ten Best Documentaries of 2024
By Peter Keough
It seems every year the quality of feature films, especially those from mainstream studios, is getting worse, while that of documentaries is getting better.
Book Review: Lutz Seiler’s Vision of German Reunification, “Star 111” — Dropping Stars Thick as Stones
By Tom Connolly
Lutz Seiler’s novel is part of the post-reunification literature landscape, in this case a brilliant exploration of the personal and political viewed through the consciousness of a pensively bedeviled protagonist.
Help Keep The Arts Fuse Lit!
Precious few independent online arts publications make it to double digits. Please give us the resources the magazine needs to persevere at an essential cultural task.
Keep the Fuse lit and support our 70+ writers by making a donation.
The Arts Fuse also needs underwriting for the magazine to continue to grow.
And…tell your friends about the in-depth arts coverage you can’t get anywhere else.
Questions, comments, concerns?
Editor-in-Chief
Bill Marx
wmarx103@gmail.com
