Week
of August 26-September 2, 2001
1.
Special Interest
2. Dance
3. Media
4. Music
5. People
6. Publishing
7. Theatre
8. Visual Arts
9. Arts Issues
10. For Fun
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1. SPECIAL INTEREST
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#specialinterest
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ELITIST
AND PROUD OF IT: What, exactly, is wrong with being elitist?
"The 'E' word is the great bugbear of American art museums
today. Elitism is a source of cold-sweat dread among
administrative bureaucrats and their bean-counting boards of
trustees, who now dimly equate gate receipts with success. It even
intimidates much of the curatorial cohort, who should know better.
Elitism is the cockroach in the art museum pantry that scurries
into hiding when the lights go on. Their horror is a cause for
despair among those for whom art is more than diversion ('more'
meaning that the diversion is fervent, not idle)." Los
Angeles Times 09/02/01
THE
MUSEUM CRISIS: What has happened to the idea of
"museum"? These days "it hardly matters what they
contain, if anything. They are our new theaters of conscience,
memorials to suffering, choreographed places of ritual
genuflection, where we go to contemplate our fallibility and maybe
even weep a little while admiring the architecture. They offer
packaged units of morality, unimpeachable and guiltlessly
entertaining. They presume to bring us together, physically and
spiritually." The New York Times
08/26/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPEAKING AND WRITING: Why are good writers
sometimes terrible speakers and great speakers awful writers?
"The great leading distinction between writing and speaking
is, that more time is allowed for the one than the other; and
hence different faculties are required for, and different objects
attained by, each. He is properly the best speaker who can collect
together the greatest number of apposite ideas at a moment's
warning: he is properly the best writer who can give utterance to
the greatest quantity of valuable knowledge in the course of his
whole life. The chief requisite for the one, then, appears to be
quickness and facility of perception - for the other, patience of
soul, and a power increasing with the difficulties it has to
master." The Guardian (UK)
09/01/01
MAKING
SENSE OF CHANGE: "The 20th century placed a high premium
on Making Things New - on innovations and shocks and determinedly
eccentric perspectives - and much of that 'newness' has grown
mighty old." This is not to long for a safe conservative
past, but aren't we bored yet by change for the sake of change? Washington
Post 08/26/01
WHAT
KIDS THINK: A year ago the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette began
running reviews of movies and music by kids on the newspaper's
website. "I was not shocked to find that teen critics see
things from a different perspective. What surprised me was the
innate ability of some young writers to articulate complex ideas,
their independence and willingness be honest in print and their
maturity and dedication to the project." Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette 08/26/01
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2. DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#dance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DROPPING
BALLET FOR MODERN: So Scottish National Ballet has killed off
its classical ballet and plans to reinvent as a modern company.
Why? "Money is suspected to be the motive. No-frills
contemporary dance, with its smaller forces and taped music, costs
less to do than ballet, with its spectacle, corps de ballet and
orchestra. Plus, I fancy, there is a vague feeling that Scotland
is a culturally go-ahead place (as the Edinburgh Festival annually
reinforces) and certain influential people chafe against ballet's
old-fashioned values and senior audiences." The
Telegraph (UK) 09/01/01
- SCOTLAND'S
DEBATE OVER DANCE: Scottish Ballet's plans to abandon
being a classical dance company and take up modern dance are
being challenged by prominent members of Scotland's dance
community. The troubled company has been plagued by money
woes, and its American-born director was recently told his
contract would not be renewed. The
Scotsman 08/28/01
MONEY
FOR NEW DANCE: New York's Joyce Theatre announces a new $1
million program to commission new dance works. The
New York Times 09/01/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
AUSTRALIAN
BALLET'S NEW DIRECTION: David McAllister hasn't wasted any
time putting his mark on Australian Ballet. He's hired new
dancers, plans to hire more and expand the company. He wants to
dance more Australian fare and take the company touring.
The Age (Melbourne) 08/30/01
STAR
GUESTS: Guest-star invitations aren't just for stars anymore.
Increasingly, members of big companies are asked to come and guest
with smaller dance groups. For lesser members of big companies,
such invitations give them opportunities to grow. The
New York Times 08/27/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#media
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUMMER
MOVIES - WHY THEY WERE SO BAD: Studios get up to eighty
percent of the first week take from a movie; after that, their
percentage drops. So less effort goes into making a good movie
than into creating an atmosphere in which "people have got to
see the movie the first weekend they can. After that, the frenzy
is over." The Irish Times
08/28/01
- SUMMER
MOVIES - BETTER THINGS ARE COMING: "October is the
start of Oscar season, that all too-brief 10-week window when
the studios shed their ripped-T-shirted summer wardrobe, put
on their holiday tuxedos and opt for class over crass. From
Oct. 5 to year's end, not a weekend will go by without at
least one Oscar-friendly film hitting the theaters."
Los Angeles Times 08/28/01
LONELY
FOR SOMETHING BAD: More than half the residents of the UK say
they would be "lonely" without their televisions, says a
new poll. "In the 597 representative households questioned,
more than 40% had the TV on for at least six hours a day. But the
survey also showed how, despite this dependence, most people - 67%
- believed there is often nothing worth watching." BBC
08/28/01
WORLDWIDE
ROOTLESS: Globalization is seen by many as a homogenizer of
movies. But increasingly art-movie makers are enthusiastically
embracing globalization as a way to get projects done - but
"the stories themselves increasingly display symptoms of what
the Soviet authorities used to anathematize as 'rootless
cosmopolitanism'." International
Herald Tribune 08/29/01
THE
DIGITAL RADIO GAMBLE: The whole idea of digital radio is a
giant gamble. Unlike cell phones, home computers or VCRs (which
all started small and quietly snowballed across the country), the
digital radio people are starting very, very big. They launched a
multimillion-dollar satellite. They’re installing antennas (like
those you find for cell phones) across the country. They’ve
hired the likes of Wynton Marsalis and Quincy Jones. They got
George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic to make their
commercials for them. Then they’ll ask consumers to shell out a
bunch of money in the hopes that they really do want to hear
something different." Will it fly? New
York Press 08/30/01
HIJACKING
HIS NAME: Canadian artist Freeman Patterson has had his name
hijacked for a pornographic website. When visitors click on the
artist's name as expressed as a web address, they are directed to
a porn site. The site offers to "sell" the address to
anyone willing to offer more than $550. The
Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/29/01
TV,
TV, AND MORE TV: This week Canada gets 47 new cable TV
specialty channels. But the available audience is small, the cost
is high, and many wonder how much consumers will be willing to
spend on niche offerings. "The CRTC may have approved 283
digital licences, but no one knows exactly if or when they will
make it to air." The Globe &
Mail (Canada) 09/01/01
ART
OF PUBLICITY: Some of the most powerful people in the film
business are publicists - they manage stars and the press, trying
to make the numbers (a polite way to say 'money') work out. And
they'll go to any lengths... The Globe
& Mail (Canada) 09/01/01
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4.
MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#music
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ORCHESTRAS
IN TROUBLE, PART I: The Shreveport Symphony in Louisiana is on
the verge of going out of business. Ticket sales and contributions
have declined and the orchestra's board meets Sept. 10th to decide
whether to begin the season or declare bankruptcy. The orchestra
has a projected deficit this year of at least $400,000. The
Shreveport Times 08/28/01
- ORCHESTRAS
IN TROUBLE, PART II: The Florida Orchestra has trimmed
$500,000 from its budget, cut a few musicians and staff and
scaled back its operations to deal with a $400,000 deficit. St.
Petersburg Times 08/24/01
WHEN
LIBERACE MET BOND: Does opera really have a future? Far too
often composers wanting to write for the opera don't have a feel
for it. A recent opera composition competition attracted some
fairly unoperatic - make that undramatic - ideas:
"operas about the decline of American farming, and about
figures such as Rasputin, Mandela and Stephen Hawking. One
composer wanted to write about a meeting between Liberace and
James Bond; another wanted to do an opera about a lottery
draw." The Guardian (UK) 08/29/01
THE
HEARING IMPAIRED: A new study says that the modern symphony
orchestra is so loud, musicians should wear earplugs. "Some
pieces cause musicians more pain than others - 79% reported pain
while performing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture or Verdi's
Requiem." National Post (Canada)
08/23/01
CAN'T
STOP THE MUSIC: Last year at this time universities were
trying to figure out ways to restrict students' trading of music
files over the internet. Napster was so popular that students were
gridlocking campus computers downloading music. This year there's
no Napster, but dozens of music file-sharing programs are
flourishing and schools are having more difficulty blocking the
downloading. Wired 08/27/01
SAVING
BERLIN: Berlin is broke - and it has looked for some time like
the city's impressive cultural institutions would suffer in a big
way. But some recent developments suggest that all is not so bleak
as some suggest. Andante (Deutsche
Presse-Agentur) 08/25/01
REDEFINING
A CLASSICAL TRADITION: What does 'classical music' mean today?
If the term is to retain anything like its old aplomb, it must
refer to a moment now past: to a genre and its attendant prestige
and influence. In fact, we can already look back on classical
music as a cultural phenomenon peaking in the nineteenth century
and declining after World War I. What comes next in these
post-classical times?" Andante
08/27/01
SOUTH
AFRICA ORCHESTRA CANCELS: The Johannesburg Philharmonic
Orchestra has canceled its season for lack of funds, only days
before the start of South African Music Week. The orchestra was
formed four years ago after the National Symphony went out of
business. South Africa's traditional Western arts organizations
have struggled to stay alive in recent years as arts funding has
dried up. Daily Mail & Guardian
(South Africa) 08/27/01
THOMAS
EDISON - GENIUS, YES, BUT NOT IN EVERYTHING: Thomas Edison
might have been the one to invent a recording machine in 1877, but
it was up to others to recognize vocal talent to record on the
device. In an attempt to catch up, he launched "an
unprecedented recorded talent search throughout Europe, with the
hope of finding outstanding artists for his own company. More than
300 singers answered a call to [audition] their voices." Yet
Edison was unable to identify a potential recording star among
them. Washington Post 08/30/01
MUSICAL
CHAIRS: It's that time of year when orchestra music directors
wrap up their seasonal assignments and make their moves to other
orchestras. Andante (AP) 08/30/01
UNDERPAID
LATIN: "Latin music is hot, but some musicians say their
compensation is far inferior to that of mainstream artists. The US
Congressional Hispanic Caucus has invited several Latin labels to
San Antonio for a Sept. 8 hearing - three days before the Latin
Grammys show in Los Angeles - to draw attention to the payment
gap. 'They've been making big bucks at the Tejano and Latin
artists' expense. We are going to hold them accountable'." Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel (AP) 09/01/01
THE
PIANO-PLAYING COMPOSER: Artur Schnabel was one of the greatest
pianists of the 20th Century. But he always considered himself
foremost a composer. "And he was no dabbler; his catalog of
works is substantial, including three symphonies, five string
quartets, a piano concerto, songs, piano pieces, trios... The
New York Times 09/01/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#people
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FRANK
EMILIO FLYNN, 80: Blind pianist Frank Emilio Flynn has died in
his home town of Havana. With the Symphonic Orchestra of Havana,
he performed music of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven which had been
transcribed into Braille. He was best known, however, as a pioneer
of Latin jazz. Nando Times (AP)
08/29/01
DECIDING
ARCHER'S ART: Playwright and British MP Lord Archer is in jail
for perjury, and he's facing big claims on his fortune. Does this
mean he'll lose his art collection, reportedly worth tens of
millions of pounds? The Art Newspaper
08/24/01
SCHNABEL,
92: Legendary piano teacher Karl Ulrich Schnabel died Monday
in Connecticut at the age of 92. "Schnabel taught master
classes in Europe, Asia and in North and South America. He began
teaching at age 13, preparing students who wanted to study with
his father." Nando Times (AP)
08/28/01
BASICALLY
BARENBOIM: Conductor/pianist Daniel Barenboim has had a
controversial year. Prodigiously busy musically, he's also been
embroiled in spats from Berlin to Israel. Though critics
increasingly pick holes in his musical interpretations, "he
remains one of the most discussed musicians of our age — not
least because, among his Protean gifts, is a talent for stirring
up controversy that borders on genius. That is evident from the
battles he has fought over the past few months." The
Times (UK) 08/28/01
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6.
PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#publishing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DEFINING
THE READER: Is being a reader cool? Nah - "It's like
being called a eunuch or an old maid; one always hears that faint
sneer of disdain and condescension mixed with pity. To be bookish
is to be mousy, repressed, a shy wallflower, incapable of getting
along with people, dreamy and poetic, helpless in the real
world." Washington Post 08/26/01
BAD
HISTORY: Five years ago a prize was set up in Australia for
outstanding history-writing for kids. Trouble is, for the second
time in five years the jury has declined to name even a shortlist
of finalists for the prize, saying no books met the standard of
excellence and that "many of the works were mired in a
monocultural vision of Australia." So why is this so hard? Sydney
Morning Herald 08/29/01
E-BOOK
HACKER INDICTED: "A Russian computer programmer and his
employer were indicted Tuesday on charges of violating digital
copyright protections. Dmitry Sklyarov and ElComSoft Co. Ltd. were
charged for writing a program that lets users of Adobe Systems'
eBook Reader get around copyright protections imposed by
electronic-book publishers. The indictment was the first under the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which forbids technology that
circumvents copyright protections." Salon
08/29/01
READING
THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN MARKET: For decades, large publishing
houses in the US paid scant attention to the interests of
African-American readers. Then in 1992, everything just changed.
That year, Terry MacMillan published Waiting to Exhale, and
for a time, she, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker were
simultaneously top-selling authors." Since then "seven
publishing imprints dedicated to books by black authors have been
created or revived by major publishing houses." Christian
Science Monitor 08/28/01
THE
NEXT BIG THING GUY: Jonathan Franzen is being set up by the
publishing establishment as literature's Next Big Thing. In the
run-up to his next book, the New York Times Magazine is
publishing an excerpt this weekend, he's got an essay in the next New
Yorker, and the film rights were just auctioned off for a ton
of money. "So would it make a difference if someone told you
that Franzen isn't just another self-conscious young author with a
hip, po-mo sensibility; that he is an assured, seriously funny
writer with a generosity and breadth of vision unusual for his
generation?" The Globe & Mail
(Canada0 08/28/01
ANY
BOOK FOR FREE: Napster-type programs now make downloading
books easy and free. "It took a National Post reporter 30
minutes to navigate Gnutella, find Stephen King's 1984 work Thinner
on the network and download the novel. Printing the book required
another 15 minutes. In addition to best-sellers written by such
authors as King and Rowling, the most widely pirated books online
are science fiction novels and computer manuals." National
Post 08/30/01
REMEMBERING
DAME EDNA: She was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize
for poetry, and one of the few who made a lot of money from it.
Admirers, editors, and lovers lined up for her. She was a
stunning, charismatic figure once regarded as a giant of American
letters. Today she's nearly forgotten, a footnote. A couple of new
biographies attempt to revive her reputation. The
New York Times 08/30/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
TO
BUY A MOCKINGBIRD? "'To Kill a Mockingbird,' the book
chosen by the Chicago Public Library for all Chicagoans to read in
September and early October, is moving up the best-seller lists at
two major Internet bookstores. Amazon.com reported that the mass
market paperback edition of 'Mockingbird' jumped Wednesday to 67th
on its best-seller list from a ranking the day before of 324th,
out of more than 2 million titles carried by the company.
Meanwhile, at Barnes&Noble.com, that same edition of
'Mockingbird' held 63rd place out of more than a million titles in
the store's inventory." Chicago
Tribune 08/31/01
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7. THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#theatre
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GETTING
IN TOUCH: The art of theatre "has for a while now, with
rare exceptions, been stupendously out of touch" with popular
culture. But if some recent projects are any indication, that may
be changing. The New York Times
08/27/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
ANNIE
CAN'T FIND AN ANNIE, AND CLOSES: Having taken off with
Bernadette Peters, nearly crashed with Cheryl Ladd, then soared to
new heights with Reba McIntyre, the revival of Annie Get Your
Gun is running out of gas on Broadway. The producers hoped to
get Dolly Parton to take over the lead. She said no. They're
saying good-bye. New York Post
08/29/01
FAME
OR THEATRE: Playing Star Trek's Jean Luc Picard made
Patrick Stewart a household name. But it took him away from his
real love - the theatre. Now he's resolved to make theatre the
center of his career - and he's a lot happier for it. The
Guardian (UK) 08/29/01
THE
MEANING OF CHEKHOV: Chekhov is so popular in Britain he could
be considered the country's national playwright. "Why this
British love affair with Chekhov? Are there unusual similarities
between post-war British and pre-revolutionary Russian
society?" The Independent (UK)
08/28/01
FOR
THE BIRDS: How one Chekhov (and Meryl Streep) fan invests 36
hours, a looong bus ride, and sleeping out on the street overnight
to score some "free" tickets to the Central Park
star-studded production of The Seagull everyone's trying to
see this summer. Is it worth it? How could it not be after such
and investment? The Globe & Mail
(Canada) 08/28/01
REINVENTING
THE GUTHRIE: Minneapolis' Guthrie Theatre is planning for a
new three-stage theatre complex on the banks of the Mississippi.
But it is also looking to reinvent itself - both in the region as
well as on the national scene. Minneapolis
Star-Tribune 08/26/01
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8.
VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#visualarts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AGENTS
TO THE NAZIS: A five-year study of Switzerland's conduct
during World War II concludes that Swiss art dealers sold art
plundered from Nazi victims to Hitler for his private collections.
The report concludes that "Switzerland was a trade center for
looted assets and flight assets from Nazi Germany and the occupied
territories." Basler
Zeitung (Switzerland) 08/31/01
THE
GEHRY THING: Is Frank Gehry not only our finest architect, but
our best artist as well? "The notion that he might be
points to the new centrality of architecture in cultural
discourse, a centrality that goes back to some of the early
debates about Post-Modernism in the 1970s." London
Review of Books 08/23/01
CRACKING
THE SPANISH THEFT: The $65 million theft of paintings in Spain
a few weeks ago, the biggest art theft in Spanish history, still
has police puzzled. "The thieves apparently had a shopping
list of what they wanted to take from Spain's finest private art
collection. The Spanish Ministry of Culture has said that many of
the 19 works figured on an official list of national treasures,
and it has called for a special effort to recover them. The police
have offered a reward, hoping that underworld informers will
betray the thieves." International
Herald Tribune 09/01/01
THE
AUCTION WARS: Amid rumors of a possible sale of Sotheby's to
Phillips, the auction house wars heat up. Competition and scandals
have squeezed profits at Sotheby's and Christie's, while costly
aggressive maneuvering by No. 3 Phillips has cost a small fortune or
two. It's possible in the not too distant future that all three
houses could be French-owned. The
Economist 08/30/01
LATIN
COLLECTION FINDS A HOME: "One of the world's great
collections of Latin American art is set to go on permanent display
in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. . . The Museum of Latin
American Art or 'Malba' will feature more than 220 works valued at
some $40m (£27m), from artists ranging from Mexico's Frida Kahlo to
Colombia's Fernando Botero." BBC
08/31/01
REPATRIATING
ART: Major British museums are about to return hundreds of
artifacts to their original cultures. "At least 40
institutions are believed to be preparing to give back all or part
of their collections. The biggest beneficiaries are likely to be
the Australian Aborigines and native Americans who have been
campaigning for the return of such objects for decades."
The Telegraph (UK) 08/27/01
REDEFINING
THE BRITISH MUSEUM: The British Museum has some 4 million
objects that the public never sees because of lack of space. Now
museum officials have put together plans for an £80 million redo
of a 12-story post office building as a study center for objects.
This isn't just re-warehousing, they say - they hope the new space
will allow the museum's researchers to bring new context to the
museum's vast collection. The Guardian
(UK) 08/27/01
ART
AS A BUSINESS - IT'S BAD: Australia's Bureau of Statistics did a
survey of art gallery economics and made some dismal discoveries.
"Overall, the gallery industry told the bureau it had a pretax
profit margin of 7 per cent - a return that suggests dilettantes
would be better off playing the stock market. Galleries had total
sales worth $218 million, of which $36 million was for Aboriginal
art." Sydney Morning Herald
08/30/01
RETURN
TO SENDER: Why did Fort Worth's Kimbell Museum return a $2.7
million Summerian statue to a New York dealer seven months after it
was bought? "You don't do that in the art world. If you've
changed your mind, sell [the piece] back on the open market. This is
not like a sweater boutique in a department store, where they would
take something back in the name of good customer relations. Why
should the dealer take it back?" Fort
Worth Star-Telegram 08/23/01
BUT
"ARTS" WILL ALWAYS GET TOP BILLING: In some art
circles, "crafts" is a dirty word. At their best, crafts
are treated as if they were the ugly step-sisters of the arts.
"Like realist painting and sculpture, though, crafts never fade
away. They continue to be practiced out of the spotlight until
another generation in the arts discovers them." Chicago
Tribune 08/26/01
IT'S
NOT SCIENTIFIC, BUT DURHAM'S TOPS WITH BBC LISTENERS: What
building do English listeners to BBC4 like best in Britain?
According to a BBC poll, Durham Cathedral. "Other buildings
also rated highly by the 15, 819 people who voted included more
modern structures like the Eden Project, in Cornwall (22.5%),
London's Tate Modern (11.96%) and Stansted Airport (7.02%)."
And the most-loathed structure? Heathrow Airport. BBC
08/28/01
WHY
NOT JUST CALL IT MUSIC? "Increasingly, museum- and
gallery-goers are being asked to both look and listen to the art on
display, as an emerging generation of artists explores a new
territory between music and art that is known, generally, as audio
art. So if an artist is interested in sound, why not become a
musician? Many audio artists like to distinguish between music and
noise, placing their allegiances firmly in the latter camp." The
Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/30/01
COURTING
IN THE SOUTHWEST: Los Angeles' Southwest Museum has an important
collection of Native American artifacts. But the museum is poor and
is contemplating acquiring a wealthy partner. The suitors are a
movie cowboy museum or an indian casino. "But a partnership
with either the Autry or the Pechanga Band raises new questions.
Some Indian groups have criticized the Autry proposal as a
none-too-subtle attempt by the cowboys to take over the Indians,
culturally speaking, while some in the art world have expressed
concern about whether a casino would really be an appropriate
overseer for a major collection of Indian artifacts." The
New York Times 08/29/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9.
ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#issues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DMCA
HERE TO STAY, SO FAR: Despite acknowledging concerns from
libraries, politicians, and consumers, the U.S. Copyright Office
has decided to let 1998's Digital Millenium Copyright Act stand as
is. DMCA was the legislation that paved the way for the recording
industry's assault on services like Napster, and led to new forms
of digital and online copyright protection. Wired
08/30/01
THE
INCREDIBLE SHRINKING FESTIVAL: The Adelaide Festival is
Australia's premiere arts festival. But the Adelaide has had some
tough times in the past year, including an unforeseen deficit from
the last festival. American Peter Sellars is artistic director for
next year's edition, and says he's refocusing the event. But the
festival was recently cut by a third, with Sellars justifying it
by saying "the shorter period suited his integrated
program." Others wonder about the impact of Australia's
premiere arts event shrinking... The
Age (Melbourne) 08/28/01
THE
DEFINITIVE CRITIC: Should a critic go back and
"correct" judgments that were "wrong?"
"It's not always easy for the reviewer to remember that he is
(or should be) hired because he supposedly knows enough about his
field to exercise informed and independent judgment. When everyone
else is up there in the rooting section - 'Rah, rah for Toni
Morrison!' - it can feel more than a little weird to be on the
other side of the field giving the Bronx cheer. The pressures to
get with the program - to sacrifice independent judgment and march
with the herd - are exceedingly strong and difficult to
resist." Washington Post 08/27/01
ABOUT
A CULTURAL FOUNDATION: Earlier this summer the German
government proposed creating a new national foundation of culture.
Maybe it's a good idea, but getting it to happen is about more
than good ideas. It's about power, states' rights and matters of
what art means. Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung 08/30/01
RECORD
EDINBURGH: The Edinburgh Festival, Europe's largest, has just
ended, posting record attendance this year. "A record 256,694
tickets were bought from the Fringe box office, an increase of 31
per cent on last year. Sales amounted to £1,967,863, up just
under £500,00 on 2000." The
Scotsman 08/27/01
- VINTAGE
EDINBURGH: Critics love to pick on Edinburgh, with its
myriad quirks and blemishes. But this year is definitely a
vintage edition, writes one critic. The
Times (UK) 08/28/01
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10. FOR FUN
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#forfun
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SYMPHONY
CALLING: Most musicians consider cell phones a horrible
intrusion into the concert hall. But American composer Golan Levin
is writing a "symphony" for the chirping little buggers.
He "is confident the concert will resonate well with the
audience and eliminate some public pessimism surrounding the
mobile phone. 'The mobile phone's speakers and ringers make it a
performance instrument. The buttons make it a keyboard and remote
control. Its programmable rings make it a portable
synthesizer'." Wired 09/01/01
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