ArtsJournal

Archives for February 26, 2014

Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.26.14

AJBlogs Posted:

The Sadness of the Corcoran’s Final Throes
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-02-26

Unfair Advantage? New Artists Royalties Bill Still Exempts Dealers
AJBlog: CultureGrrl | Published 2014-02-27

Celebrating Eric Dolphy, and the Threat of Spotify
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-02-26

Maestro to audience: Turn on your phones, tweet and take pictures
AJBlog: Slipped Disc | Published 2014-02-26

Serge Dorny in line for a 1.5 million Euro payoff?
AJBlog: Slipped Disc | Published 2014-02-26

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Five Artists Withdraw From Sydney Biennale After Protest

VISUAL Posted:

“The artists’ decision to withdraw follows a call by 28 artists for the Sydney Biennale to withdraw from a funding arrangement with Transfield, which runs off-shore detention facilities for the Australian Government’s internment of asylum seekers.”

The (Twitter) Ratings Are In For “House Of Cards” (It’s All We’ve Got)

MEDIA Posted:

“Over a similar 11-day period, there was a 430 percent increase in tweets about the show from 2013 to 2014. Last year, the firm recorded 254,460 tweets; this year, the number was 1,350,400. In fact, more tweets were written about “House of Cards” 10 days after its debut in 2014 than on the day of the series premiere in 2013.”

Evgeny Kissin’s Remarkable Performance

MUSIC Posted:

Anne Midgette: “I wish that Kissin were creating a new world of possibilities for all star performers, but I’m not sure anyone else has the virtuosity to step this far outside the box with such honesty and dignity and power. I also wish this concert had been recorded. As it is, it is an evening I will remember all my life.”

Why Movie Theatre Food Is So Bad

MEDIA Posted:

“Snacks are a cash cow for theaters, providing some 85 percent in net profits. But no one really goes after the food Americans eat in movie theaters, which is mostly bits of corn syrup, food starch, malic acid, and artificial colors, encapsulated in a sugary ether.”

Trying To Grow Your Audience? Maybe Your Demographics Are Wrong

ISSUES Posted:

“Generally, we begin screwing up by turning demographic research into inaccurate stereotypes. We find out how our audience differs from the general population, define it by those differences, and then aim our outbound communication at an imaginary person who embodies every one of those differences.”

Information-As-Junk-Food: Are You Obese?

IDEAS Posted:

“A new kind of obesity is now looming with our information, data, and media diet. We have only scratched the surface, but there is already way too much of information available, and it is way too tasty, too cheap, and too rich.”

Mayor Threatens to Close Rome Opera Down If Unions Go Ahead With Strike

MUSIC Posted:

Three of the five unions representing Opera di Roma employees say they’ll shut down the entire run of Manon Lescaut, starring Anna Netrebko and conducted by Riccardo Muti, that opens Thursday if management doesn’t withdraw plans – required by law – to revamp the budget and reduce the staff at the near-bankrupt opera house.

Dresden’s Semper Opera Fires New Boss Before He Starts

MUSIC Posted:

Saxony’s arts minister said that Serge Dorny, who had received widespread praise for reinvigorating the Opéra de Lyon and was due to start full-time in Dresden in September, “has managed to gamble away any confidence employees might have had in him in the shortest possible period.”

Ancient Buddhist Cave Paintings in China Could ‘Turn to Sand’

VISUAL Posted:

“The network of 236 sandstone caves extend over an area of two to three kilometres in the vast, sparsely-populated autonomous Xinjiang region of China, along the ancient Silk Road. The caves were inhabited by Buddhist monks and used as temples between the third and the eighth centuries, and are lined with murals providing a rich picture of early Buddhist culture.”

Turkey Proposes Reconstructing Madrasa Next to Hagia Sophia

VISUAL Posted:

“The Turkish government plans to reconstruct a demolished madrasa (religious school) next to Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia Museum, a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1985. But the local branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) strongly protests these plans, calling the proposed construction a ‘new fake historic monument’ that would undermine the area’s significance.”

Wait – Is This Actually Atheism?

IDEAS Posted:

Louise Antony: “I say ‘there is no God’ with the same confidence I say ‘there are no ghosts’ or ‘there is no magic.’ The main issue is supernaturalism – I deny that there are beings or phenomena outside the scope of natural law. That’s not to say that I think everything is within the scope of human knowledge.”

‘Annie’ Co-Creator Disses Recent Broadway Revival (As His Colleagues Run the Other Way)

THEATRE Posted:

Martin Charnin, lyricist and director of the original production (and of an upcoming non-Equity tour): “The entire [original] creative team (Tom, Charles, and I) simply had to restore the charm and the magic of the musical, that has endured for lo, these many years, and that seemed to veer off-course in the recent Broadway production.” Composer Charles Strouse and book writer Thomas Meehan very promptly disavowed Charnin’s statement.