Imagery

Technique is tedious. Descriptions of technique are more so. And nothing, I find, makes the eyes glaze over quite as effectively as written descriptions of printmaking techniques. So let's not talk - at least not right away - about Carroll Dunham's deft use of drypoint, his intimacy with the intaglio process, or his mastery of the monotype. The Addison Gallery of American Art's brilliant Dunham show may be a dream for those who thrill to the endless possibilities offered up by printmaking.

JERUSALEM - Images of ultra-Orthodox Jews dressed up as Nazi concentration camp inmates during a protest drew widespread condemnation yesterday and added a new twist to a simmering battle over growing extremism inside Israel's insular ultra-Orthodox community. Religious extremists are facing increasing criticism for their efforts to separate men and women in public spaces, and Saturday's protest, in which a child mimicked an iconic photo of a terrified Jewish boy in the Warsaw Ghetto, added to the outrage.

QUIMPER, France - Klaus Michael Grueber, a German opera and theater director renowned for lyric elegance, has died in western France, officials said yesterday. He was 67. Mr. Grueber died Sunday on the Brittany island resort of Belle-Ile-en-Mer, where he had a second home, officials in the town of Le Palais said, without specifying the cause of death. In a statement, French Culture Minister Christine Albanel praised Mr. Grueber as "an artist and man of rare elegance, whose humanity made each direction an encounter, a story of love.

ISAAC JULIEN: Ten Thousand Waves At: Institute of Contemporary Art. Through March 4. 617-478-3100, www.icaboston.org Isaac Julien's films are instructive examples of gorgeously bad art. Although for me, their failure is dependably clear-cut, their gorgeousness is undeniable: Visitors to Julien's "Ten Thousand Waves," a film projected onto nine screens arrayed around a large gallery at the Institute of Contemporary Art, will find the...

The late Howard Zinn, no slouch when it came to delivering broadsides against the status quo, once lauded the “magic, beauty, and power’’ that Bread & Puppet Theater has brought to that same task for nearly half a century. Over the weekend, Bread & Puppet stopped in at the Cyclorama for its annual visit to Boston. With “Tear Open the Door of Heaven,’’ the troupe offered its trademark mixture of live performers, puppetry, politics and protest, but this time religion was added to the mix. When you hear “puppets,’’ you may think of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Bert and...

In the artistry of dancer/choreographer Maureen Fleming, the body is not only used for personal expression but as a vehicle for transformation and spiritual transcendence. An arm uncurling becomes a flower in bloom. A leg slowing extending becomes the moving limb of a piece of dramatic driftwood. Gauzy cloth billowing in an unseen wind becomes a shroud one moment, wings the next. Fleming's new "Decay of the Angel," which was given its Boston premiere last night, is a paean to the "mother goddess," inspired by the ancient Japanese tale of a fisherman who finds an angel's...

In 1963, Stan VanDerBeek, the subject of a revelatory new exhibition at MIT’s List Visual Arts Center, moved from Manhattan to an artists cooperative north of the city in Stony Point. Two years later, he began work converting the rounded top of a grain silo into an experimental movie theater. The resulting 31-foot-high metal dome was a prototype for a communications system that he called the Movie-Drome. Inside were dozens of film, slide, and overhead projectors. There was a mixing board and various kinds of sound and editing equipment.

PITTSBURGH - A Pennsylvania couple sued Google Inc., saying pictures of their home that appear on the website's "Street View" feature violated their privacy, devalued their property, and caused them mental suffering. Aaron and Christine Boring bought the home in Franklin Park, a Pittsburgh suburb, in October 2006 for a "considerable sum of money," according to their 10-page lawsuit filed Wednesday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. "A major component of their purchase decision was a desire for privacy," the lawsuit said.

SONOMA, Calif. -- San Francisco was a great starting point for our adult getaway, with an early morning jog over to Fisherman's Wharf, a glimpse of Alcatraz, hot fudge sundaes in Ghirardelli Square, a cable car ride back, and dinner in Chinatown. But the main event was Sonoma County, an hour or so to the north. And so we spent one quick night in the city before setting off, with another couple also celebrating their anniversary, for wine country. To be perfectly frank, our trip was planned around eating and drinking, and Sonoma is a great place to do both.

As even nonjocks can attest, you can't escape hackneyed football metaphors in the world of business. Companies come up with game plans and designate executives to quarterback projects as others put on a marketing blitz. If a corporate initiative lurches toward failure, you might choose to punt. Or you go back to "blocking and tackling," which is to say, getting back to the basics of what you make, do, and sell. The pervasiveness of football lingo and imagery in the US business world makes books like "Winning the NFL Way" inevitable.

VIDEO GAMES Phosphor Games Studio Inc. last week released The Dark Meadow, an action/adventure role-playing game for the iPad and iPhone in which you explore a strange new world, find clues on scraps of paper, and receive warnings from a creepy old man about a creepy beautiful witch who is on the hunt for the living. In other words, the game is a walking undead cliché that just happens to be gorgeous to look at. It also stands out as a sore reminder to owners of Android devices that iOS is the premier platform for mobile gaming, and the first to be targeted by developers.

QUIDAM Cirque du Soleil Directed by Franco Dragone Original music by Benoit Jutras. Set, Michel Crête. Lighting, Luc Lafortune. Costumes, Dominique Lemieux.Choreography, Debra Brown. Sound, François Bergeron. At Agganis Arena, through Sunday. Tickets: $28-$80, children under 2 free. 800-745-3000, www.cirquedusoleil.com/quidam. The opening of "Quidam," the Cirque du Soleil production currently playing at the Agganis Arena, feels like it was lifted right out of "The Cat in the Hat. " A bored little...

In 1963, Stan VanDerBeek, the subject of a revelatory new exhibition at MIT’s List Visual Arts Center, moved from Manhattan to an artists cooperative north of the city in Stony Point. Two years later, he began work converting the rounded top of a grain silo into an experimental movie theater. The resulting 31-foot-high metal dome was a prototype for a communications system that he called the Movie-Drome. Inside were dozens of film, slide, and overhead projectors. There was a mixing board and various kinds of sound and editing equipment.

In 1951, six sixth-graders asked Albert Einstein to solve a class dispute about “whether there would be living things on earth if the sun burnt out.” “Dear Children,’’ Einstein replied, “. . . Without sunlight there is: no wheat, no bread, no grass, no cattle, no meat, no milk, and everything would be frozen. No LIFE.’’ The sun is everything to us: our lifeline, our energy source, our tether to the Milky Way. It “so obviously embraces us . . .,’’ argues Richard Cohen in a prodigious new book, “Chasing the Sun: The Epic Story of the...

The late Howard Zinn, no slouch when it came to delivering broadsides against the status quo, once lauded the “magic, beauty, and power’’ that Bread & Puppet Theater has brought to that same task for nearly half a century. Over the weekend, Bread & Puppet stopped in at the Cyclorama for its annual visit to Boston. With “Tear Open the Door of Heaven,’’ the troupe offered its trademark mixture of live performers, puppetry, politics and protest, but this time religion was added to the mix. When you hear “puppets,’’ you may think...

QUIMPER, France - Klaus Michael Grueber, a German opera and theater director renowned for lyric elegance, has died in western France, officials said yesterday. He was 67. Mr. Grueber died Sunday on the Brittany island resort of Belle-Ile-en-Mer, where he had a second home, officials in the town of Le Palais said, without specifying the cause of death. In a statement, French Culture Minister Christine Albanel praised Mr. Grueber as "an artist and man of rare elegance, whose humanity made each direction an encounter, a story of love.

In 1951, six sixth-graders asked Albert Einstein to solve a class dispute about “whether there would be living things on earth if the sun burnt out.” “Dear Children,’’ Einstein replied, “. . . Without sunlight there is: no wheat, no bread, no grass, no cattle, no meat, no milk, and everything would be frozen. No LIFE.’’ The sun is everything to us: our lifeline, our energy source, our tether to the Milky Way. It “so obviously embraces us . . .,’’ argues Richard Cohen in a prodigious new book, “Chasing the Sun: The Epic Story of the Star that Gives Us...

Andrew Millner uses a stylus on an electronic graphics tablet to draw trees and gardens. Using hundreds of digital photos taken from different angles as a reference, he incorporates details that would be difficult to see from one perspective. Most of the pieces in his show at Miller Block Gallery feature white lines over lush color backgrounds, made into glossy light jet prints. Millner is wise to work only in outlines; texture or shadow would complicate things. The outlines of several layers of leaves become their own kind of texture, conveying the rustle...

Technique is tedious. Descriptions of technique are more so. And nothing, I find, makes the eyes glaze over quite as effectively as written descriptions of printmaking techniques. So let's not talk - at least not right away - about Carroll Dunham's deft use of drypoint, his intimacy with the intaglio process, or his mastery of the monotype. The Addison Gallery of American Art's brilliant Dunham show may be a dream for those who thrill to the endless possibilities offered up by printmaking.