New exhibit explores significance of Mexica’s lunar goddess

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A new exhibit hosted by Museum of Templo Mayor in Mexico City marks the 45th anniversary of the discovery of a monolith depicting Coyolxauhqui, the Mexica lunar goddess. The finding was a milestone for Mexican archaeology, as it shed light on Mexica civilization before the Spanish conquest.

“Coyolxauhqui: The star, the goddess, the discovery” displays more than 150 archaeological objects focused on the mythology, symbolism and scientific research around this deity (whose name is pronounced Koy-ol-shauw-kee). The exhibit runs through June 4.

For almost 500 years, the exact location of Templo Mayor remained a mystery. The religious complex was demolished shortly after Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés ordered the destruction of every building in Tenochtitlan, capital of the Mexica empire, around 1521.

Patricia Ledesma, archaeologist and director of Museum of Templo Mayor, said that her predecessors undertook the task of rescuing the traces of the Mexica civilization after the colonial era, in 1821. For more than a century, though, they made little progress.

Affleck-directed pic takes blissfully uncurious look at the rise of Nike’s most important shoe

This Ben Affleck-directed flick is breezily comic, lightly dramatic and undeniably entertaining, but its premise is peculiar. Air is basically an underdog sports story in which the scrappy little upstart is, um, the Nike corporation, a massive global business that posts massive profits.

Bachman to showcase 80 of his guitars in Calgary

TORONTO - Randy Bachman is shedding light on his incredible guitar obsession with a new temporary exhibit set to open at Calgary's National Music Centre inside Studio Bell next month.

Organizers say the Guess Who co-founder and "Taking Care of Business" hitmaker will showcase more than 80 of his prized axes for "Randy Bachman: Every Guitar Tells a Story."

The exhibit will include instruments from every part of Bachman's career and feature videos of the 79-year-old musician telling the stories behind them.

Highlights include the first guitar Bachman purchased from a Sears catalogue at 13 years old and his signature 1959 Les Paul electric guitar, which was used on the Guess Who's beloved hits "These Eyes," "No Time" and "American Woman."

Which voice is witch?

Baba Yaga is an elderly woman, trailed wherever she goes by a caravan of fraying hair and an aura of mystery. Her face curled into an impish, devilish smirk, the folkloric character of Slavic tradition typically lives in a chicken-footed hut in the middle of remote forests in countries like Slovenia, Bulgaria or Ukraine.

Light, sound show transforms Berlin museum’s exhibits

BERLIN (AP) — Hadad, the ancient weather god at Berlin's Pergamon Museum, growls deeply as he casts his neon-blue gaze on visitors, his body bathed in pulsating orange light.

What seems like a scene from a horror movie is in fact the product of a light and sound installation by British contemporary artist Liam Gillick, part of the show Filtered Time that opened Tuesday at one of the German capital's most popular museums.

The exhibition at the Museum of the Ancient Near East in the south wing of the Pergamon Museum uses unexpected layers of sound, light and color to breathe new life into iconic sculptures and artifacts that are thousands of years old.

It comes as the Pergamon Museum, which is based on the city's famous Museum Island, prepares to close its gates for several years on October 23 for renovation. The show Filtered Light will end a week before the museum's closure.

National history museum looks to move past turmoil

GATINEAU, Que. - Caroline Dromaguet first started working at the Canadian Museum of History as a summer guide, where as a student she fell in love with the world of museums.

Over the years she saw the exhibits change, with her life experience changing, too.

The museum is where she got her first "grown-up job," and 25 years later, she has climbed to the top.

In December she was appointed president and CEO of the Canadian Museum of History Corp., a federal Crown corporation responsible for both the history museum in Gatineau, Que., and the Canadian War Museum on the Ottawa side of the river, after serving as interim CEO for two years.

Stratford fest posts 'moderate' surplus in 2022

TORONTO - The Stratford Festival says it achieved a "moderate surplus" in its 2022 finances after hosting its first fully indoor season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The southwestern Ontario theatre company held its annual meeting on Saturday and reported total revenues of $66.2 million for the year, with a surplus of $638,711 after expenses.

The results, credited to strong ticket sales, donors and government support, improved on a 2021 surplus of $553,058 during a smaller, mostly outdoor season.

Stratford Festival organizers say the 2022 lineup — which included performances of "Hamlet," "Chicago" and "The Miser" — attracted nearly 326,000 theatregoers, which was slightly above its target of 320,000.

Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir delivers choral masterpiece at WSO concert

Out of heartbreaking loss came a choral masterpiece, with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in partnership with the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir presenting Brahms’s “A German Requiem,” last performed on this stage in 2015.

Nine art projects to share $1.3M Heritage grant

MONTREAL - Nine cultural projects have been chosen to share a $1.3-million Canadian Heritage grant to create artworks for the 100th anniversary of artist Jean Paul Riopelle’s birth.

The Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation, in collaboration with the Department of Canadian Heritage, describes the Riopelle Dialogues Program as one of the most ambitious cultural programs in Canada.

Artists were chosen by a committee put together by the foundation and the Quebec not-for-profit arts group "Culture Pour Tous" following a Canada-wide call for projects.

The community-based projects largely feature nature themes, public exhibition, outdoor events or a mix of disciplines, such as a proposed performance by Ryan Gray and Dawn Shepherd in Nova Scotia that will meld visual and circus arts.

Berlin museum presents 100 works by artist Gerhard Richter

BERLIN (AP) — A new show of works by one of Germany's most famous living artists, Gerhard Richter, opened at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie museum on Friday.

“Gerhard Richter. 100 Works for Berlin” shows for the first time the long-term loan from the artist's foundation. At the center of the exhibition is Richter's 2014 series “Birkenau,” the result of the artist's decades-long engagement with Germany's Nazi past and the Holocaust.

The four large canvases of the Birkenau series are abstract paintings with many gray and black surfaces, but also some red and green dashes.

The basis of the paintings are four photos secretly taken in 1944 by Jewish prisoners at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, who risked their lives doing so. Richter transferred the four photographs with charcoal and oil onto the canvas and then gradually painted over them with oil paint until their content was no longer visible.

Eclectic and electric

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet turned its dancers loose this week as it presented its penultimate production of the season, Fast Forward, a hothouse of creativity proving the 83-year-old company’s legendary “Prairie fresh” ethos is still very much alive and kicking.

On the right foot

The studio is packed. It’s the first full day of rehearsals and the mood is equal parts excitement and exhaustion.

Boston auction of signed Zelenskyy painting to help Ukraine

BOSTON (AP) — An original painting of Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed by the Ukrainian president is being sold at auction, and proceeds from the sale will be used to benefit the nation's people suffering during its war with Russia.

Bidding on the 40-by-24-inch (101.5-by-61-centimeter) painting by American artist Oleg Jones starts at $50,000, and the goal is to sell it for at least $100,000, Bobby Livingston, executive vice president of auctioneer RR Auction in Boston, said Thursday.

The painting features an image of Zelenskyy against the background of Ukraine's blue and yellow flag. Several raised stars in the upper left of the piece form a heart around the gold trident from the nation's coat of arms.

The acrylic paints are coated in resin sprinkled with glass dust, giving it a sparkling effect.

PTE explores MMIWG, Filipino diaspora, gravediggers in Sierra Leone, Joan Didion’s grief and returns to Dickens, Space Girl

The next season at Prairie Theatre Exchange is all about moving forward — as a society coming out of a global pandemic and as a theatre company entering its 51st year.

What’s up

Reuben and the Dark brings that Folk Fest feeling to the Park Theatre

Arts fest explodes the virtual frame of its COVID debut to go fully immersive and interactive

What was a pandemic pivot is turning into a permanent festival fixture, as the In/On/Out Interarts Festival heads into its second year.

British comedian and TV star Paul O’Grady dies at 67

LONDON (AP) — Entertainer Paul O’Grady, who achieved fame as drag queen Lily Savage before becoming a much-loved comedian and host on British television, has died. He was 67.

Britain's queen consort, who worked with O'Grady to support animal charities, led tributes to a performer who emerged from the alternative gay comedy scene and became a national treasure.

O’Grady’s partner Andre Portasio said he died “unexpectedly but peacefully” on Tuesday evening.

“He will be greatly missed by his loved ones, friends, family, animals and all those who enjoyed his humor, wit and compassion,” Portasio said in a statement.

Visitors flock to see David sculpture after Florida uproar

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Visitors flocked to see Michelangelo’s David sculpture in Florence on Tuesday, following an uproar over a Florida school’s decision to force the resignation of the principal over complaints about a lesson featuring the Renaissance masterpiece.

Tourists, many of them Americans on spring break or studying abroad, posed for selfies in front of the giant marble statue, which features the Biblical David, naked with a sling over his shoulder and a rock in his hand, ready for battle with Goliath.

Florence’s Galleria dell’Accademia, which houses the sculpture, reopened Tuesday after its weekly Monday closure, and both tourists and locals alike couldn’t get over the controversy.

“It’s part of history,” said Isabele Joles from Ohio, who is studying French and Italian art with her school group. “I don’t understand how you can say it’s porn.”