The Daily Frame// A security guard stands near a candle sculpture by Urs Fischer during Friday’s press preview of the Swiss artist’s upcoming solo show at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, Italy. Several sculptures in the show are candles made of wax, steel and pigment, with protruding wicks. They will eventually self-destruct. Photo by Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images.

An “art world amusement park” in New York City’s New Museum.

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

(Photo: Angela Sterling)

The Pacific Northwest Ballet is one of many Nutcracker productions around the country that put their own local spin on the classic holiday ballet. 

Check out a slideshow of them, plus an interview with Jennifer Fisher,the author of Nutcracker Nation: How an Old World Ballet Became a Christmas Tradition in the New World, about the history behind this cultural phenomenon.