If you have 5 hours to spare but are leery of Broadway shows with no music, then you might want to see Broadway's newest extravaganza, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" at the Lyric Theater in New York City. As the reviewer reminds us, it might be helpful if you are famiiar with the ever-popular fantasies of Harry Potter in book form, as this production moves effortlessly between yesterday and tomorrow. At a cost of $68 million dollars, the show has been a sell-out in London since it opened there in 2016. The play starts out where the last Harry Potter book ended. Filled with suitcases and staircases, it emphasizes journeys, both literal and figurative. Old favorites like Moaning Myrtle are still there, as well as an amazing centaur.

An exhibit called "In Tune with the World" (Au Diapason du Monde) is showing at the Foundation Louis Vuitton. The show is divided into two segments: one features the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami; the other is called Man in the Living Universe, with 28 international artists including Giacometti and Matisse.

An exhibition of animated gifs takes you through the natural world and the world of art as shown with applied animations. Ranging from the frolicsome to the gory, they give a taste of how motion effects can add (or detract from) still images.

The only residence designed by Zaha Hadid, who died tragically this past year, has reached conclusion in the treed landscape of Russia. True to Hadid's vision, it features the sunsuous curves and spatial luxury of her other commissions, along with an unlimited budget and expansive creative freedom. It is altogether worthy of her, and reminds us of what a magnificent architect she was.

It sounds like a gimmick but is actually a learning experience. Google's artist in residence has been experimenting with teaching artificial intelligence to recognize faces by exposing it to European portraits painted before 1900. Based in Munich, Mario Klingemann reveals just how difficult it is to distinguish between a real oil painting and one conceived using A.I. On the same page, scroll down to find out what flying might look like just 12 years from now.

If you have wondered what neural networking in the field of artificial intelligence is all about, here is a good place to start. We are basically talking about machines learning to function like human brains. On this site, out of NVIDIA Corp and University of California Berkeley, the goal is to produce high-resolution photo-realistic images using something called GANS (Generative Adversarial Networks). There are several videos here that expound further on the concept.

Artist Jim Dine has given 28 of his pieces to the Musee d'art Modern de la Ville de Paris with an accompanying exhibition at the Centre Pompidou. In this 1977 interview with ARTnews, Dine reflects on his beginnings, his process, his dislike of labels, and his dealing with galleries.

A stunning exhibition of glass art by Canadian sculptor Don Maynard upends much of what we have come to expect from glass studios. Called Tidal Mass, the piece is composed of roughly 2000 tubes of fluorescent lighting laid out in a grid; the variations in the rows of tubes produce a sense of rolling motion. Maynard says that he was inspired by reading about the melting of the solar ice cap and how that change will affect sea levels. The result is mesmerizing.

Just when I think I have seen most of the works of Louise Bourgeois, I run across another spectacular piece. Here is a an example, from the Bollinger Atelier, an aluminum spiral from 2013 that is part of her oeuvre. You will also find a brief biography of Bourgeois as well as several examples of her spider-like sculptures.

The National Gallelry of Art in Washington,D.C. has mounted a rare exhibition of portraits by Paul Cezanne. Usually we see Cezanne's landscapes and still life paintings. Cezanne did not accept commissions for his portraits. Rather they were an extension of his work, and he tended to depict people that he knew well. Included are roughly 60 portraits drawn from collections all over the world.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has recently acquired a Buddhist crown dating from the 13th to the early 14th century. Crowns like this one were powerful symbols of Buddhist ritual performances. The site offers views of other crowns in their collection as well.

At the same time, the Met is presenting "Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas", including examples of goldworking. "Golden Kingdoms" highlights the importance of these objects in the history of art-making around the world.

c. Corinne Whitaker 2018