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Week
of July 16-22, 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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLOCKBUSTER
101 - THE MAKING OF... It's taken 12 years of research and
planning, and more than 200 museum employees for the Art Institute
of Chicago to put together its Van Gogh/Gauguin show that opens
this fall. Product research, catalogs, installation details, marketing...The
modern blockbuster doesn't travel cheaply. Chicago
Tribune 07/22/01
LEGALLY
BINDING: "Artists' rights in the U.S. are still pretty
shoddy today. Artists have many more legal recourses and protections
now, but mostly America's laws regarding artists continue to reflect
our national attitude toward artists: These are weird, potentially
dangerous people who often care less about money than is acceptable.
That's true whether you're a painter, writer, cartoonist, songwriter,
director, dancer, or anyone else who's trying to create something
you want other people to see or hear. Business is our national
art form, and business is deeply suspicious of art. So is our
court system." LAWeekly 07/18/01
WHY
LIBERAL ARTS MATTER: "The liberal arts have been ravaged
by managers, government officials, and taxpayers looking for 'measurable'
results. But all such measures in our era are inextricably linked
to corporate bottom lines. And few things could be more inimical
to the spirit of liberal arts than to turn education in philosophy,
sociology, and history into a seamless fit for corporate career
climbing." Christian Science
Monitor 07/17/01
A
REASON TO GIVE: "Many corporations confuse philanthropy
with advertising. Until the federal government put a stop to their
contributions, the most generous corporate arts patrons in Canada
were the tobacco companies - because they could not advertise
and regarded sponsorships as the next-best thing. It is because
of that corporate confusion that we need government funding of
the arts, funding that is awarded to artists on the merits of
their past achievements and future proposals by knowledgeable
juries set up by arms-length arts councils. No system is perfect,
but that formula tends to build the arts - rather than corporate
profits or political egos." The
Globe & Mail (Canada) 07/19/01
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2. DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#dance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ROYAL
WINNIPEG LEADER RESIGNS: The chairwoman of the Royal Winnipeg
Ballet resigned from the board last week, half way through her
four-year term. She said she quit "on a matter of principle"
but she is believed to have been at odds with Andre Lewis, the
company's artistic director. National
Post 07/17/01
- GOTTA
PAY THE BILLS: Lewis defends charges that his programming
is too "market driven" and that he is having problems
with some of his dancers. Nonetheless two of the company's most
prominent dancers have said they are leaving at the end of the
season. National Post 07/18/01
EXPLAINING
DANCE: "Like other performing arts, dance is sharpening
its marketing skills. In the meantime no dance seems to go unexplained.
Are program notes or any other kind of education necessary?"
The New York Times 07/16/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
RUNNING
BALLET: What's it take to run a successful ballet company?
When Carole McPhee took over management of the English National
Ballet, the company had a huge debt. She turned things around
and turned the ENB into a successful touring company. After 11
years McPhee is leaving ENB and returning to Australia.
The Age (Melbourne) 07/16/01
LEADERSHIP
VOID: Anthony Dowell was perhaps the Royal Ballet's best dancer
ever. By contrast, as head of the company for the past 15 years,
he's shown his limitations as an artistic director. Now he's moving
on. The
Independent (UK) 07/20/01
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3. MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#media
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE
MOVIE NAPSTER: The Motion Picture Association of America claims
that boot-leg prints of movies are costing Hollywood $2.5 billion
a year. A big chunk of that is accounted for by movies like Snatch
and Shrek, which can be downloaded from the Internet. "While
the means of piracy distribution has gone high-tech, the means
of gaining the material has remained the same--bootleggers take
video cameras into theaters." Chicago
Tribune 07/16/01
THE
JUNKET REVIEW: Some movie fans in Los Angeles are suing movie
studios claiming that producers try to bribe critics with screenings,
junkets and gifts, and that the reviews that result are frauds.
Los Angeles Times 07/20/01
-
THOSE
HARD-WORKING JUNKETEERS: "Junkets are to journalism
as marketing is to the truth. Junket reporters are journalistically,
if not ethically, challenged. At a typical junket, dozens
of print and electronic journalists are flown to, say, New
York or L.A., often on the studio's nickel, put up in a hotel,
fed, bused to a screening and then herded to suites where
they get about 20 minutes with the stars and the director
and sometimes the producer of a movie. Nobody likes this arrangement,
not the stars, not the press, not even the publicists, but
the studios do, and it works." Los
Angeles Times 07/22/01
ART
OF THE GAME: Are video games art? "Gaming as an art form
has gone widely unrecognized and is often dismissed by serious
critics. But recently, a growing number of scholars and artists
have turned their attention to video games." Wired
07/20/01
THE
ONLINE THEATRE: Want to avoid the movie ticket lines? Theatres
are increasingly beginning to sell tickets online - so far available
in Texas, Utah and New York. CNN 07/16/01
CAN'T
BUY ME (VIRTUAL) LOVE: Disney came to Chicago with an ambitious
high-tech virtual reality arcade. Now it's closing. "In the
end, DisneyQuest proves that some principles of family entertainment
are impervious to technology, even patently old-fashioned - things
like variety, convenience, parking, the demands of age ranges
and tastes, even good food and comfortable surroundings."
Chicago Tribune 07/16/01
AN
ACTOR WHO'LL NEVER NEGOTIATE HIS CONTRACT: Will computer-generators
actors replace the human variety in movies? Maybe, but it's complicated.
An earlier casualty would seem to be old-style cartoons.
San Francisco Chronicle 07/22/01
RATED
"S" FOR SMOKING? In New Zealand, anti-smoking advocates
want to ban young people from movies where characters are portrayed
smoking. Ottawa Citizen (AP) 07/16/01
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4.
MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#music
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CUTTING
OUT THE MIDDLEMAN? Digital music and the internet were supposed
to revolutionize the music industry. They did - but only for a
short shining moment. The Economist
07/13/01
SLOW
CONCERT SEASON: "This summer's concert season is starting
to look like one of the weakest in years. Ticket sales are down
12 percent in the first six months of the year compared with the
first half of 2000, according to Pollstar Magazine, which tracks
the industry. Just 10 tours managed to gross $10 million between
January and the end of June, compared with 19 last year and 16
in 1999." Washington Post 07/16/01
THE
MUSIC VIDEO REVOLUTION: Next week MTV turns 20 years old.
It might have been an inauspicious start, but "nowhere has
MTV caused a greater seismic shift than in the music business.
Originally dismissed by many record company executives as gimmicky,
it has become, perhaps, the most essential tool in marketing artists."
Boston Globe 07/22/01
THE
MUSIC DIRECTOR PROBLEM: The Oslo Philharmonic seems to think
that acquiring Andre Previn as its next music director "will
bring a dash of Hollywood glamour to their strait-laced band and
gain them a foothold on American soil." But "what can
a former electrical-goods advertiser with five ex-wives and a
hatful of vocational distractions add to its allure?" His
appointment is indicative of a "selection process that is
becoming too convoluted to produce the best results." The
Telegraph (UK) 07/18/01
CHAMBER
MUSIC RULES: Ottawa's International Chamber Music Festival
has people camping out for tickets. The festival takes over the
city this time of year. "Last year, the festival attracted
more than 50,000 people and this year will present a staggering
106 concerts, making it the largest celebration of chamber music
in the world." Ottawa Citizen
07/19/01
NEW
YORK EYEING SUMMER HOME: "The New York Philharmonic is
one step closer to establishing a summer home that could one day
rival the Boston Symphony Orchestra's annual summer season at
Tanglewood. The 4,000-seat, open shed-style venue with lawn capacity
of 15,000 is to be built by the Gerry Foundation on the site of
the 1969 Woodstock concert in Bethel, N.Y." Boston
Herald 07/16/01
ANYONE
FOR HERKY JERKY ELTON? Elton John is playing a concert at
Ephesus tonight. It's to be available live on the internet, and
producers have set a pay-per-view price of £7 and £10 to see it.
But so few people have signed on to view the concert, the event
could be a bust. The Independent (UK)
07/17/01
A
BIT OF BRITNEY WITH YOUR SOCKS? Most recordings stores are
loud and masculine. "HMV and Virgin tell us they are happy
with that because their core customer is 18-24 and male. But we
know that there is a massive market out there of women and lapsed
buyers who don't go into record shops." So some producers
are looking for unconventional outlets to sell to women.
The Independent (UK) 07/20/01
THE
MAN WHO REMADE SALZBURG: "There are those who discount
the importance of arts administrators, preferring (rightly, perhaps,
in the greater scheme of things) to concentrate on creators and
recreators, also known as performers." But Gerard Mortier's
leadership of the Salzburg Festival shows how an institutions
can be remade by one person with a vision. The
New York Times 07/22/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
THE
LANGUISHING MUSIC BIZ: Okay, so Napster's been kayoed (maybe
not - see below), but recording sales are down about 3 percent
and concert ticket sales are way sluggish. What's going wrong
in the music business? Salon 07/19/01
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5. PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#people
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ARCHER
CONVICTED: Best-selling novelist and aspiring politician Jeffrey
Archer has been convicted of perjury in London, and sentenced
to four years in prison. The Clintonesque scandal has come as
little surprise to observers in the U.K., where Archer had become
something of a national joke for his tendency to self-destruct
just as true power seemed within his grasp. The
Times of London 07/20/01
DOING
THE DIVA: Divas are a proud tradition in America. But in London?
"Can one really be a diva in Britain, a country that privileges
self-effacement at the expense of naked ambition?" A number
of female stars are descending on London stages eager to test
divadom. The Times (UK) 07/18/01
PORTRAIT
OF AN (AMERICAN) CONDUCTOR: Robert Spano is considered by
some to be the leading conductor of his generation. His innovative
programming of the Brooklyn Philharmonic is widely admired, and
he's begun recording with his new orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony.
Boston Globe 07/22/01
ESCAPING
MOTHER? NO, SMUGGLING ARMS: In 1866, James McNeil Whistler
sailed from Britain to South America. The conventional story is
that he wanted a break from his mother, who had come to live with
him (and with his model). Seems that wasn't it at all. Jimmy was
running munitions to Chile, to be used against Spain. Chicago
Sun-Times 07/17/01
THE
TALE OF TINA AND HARRY: It's not long ago that Tina Brown
and Harry Evans were the power literary couple in New York, she
running The New Yorker, he steering the fates of Random
House. A new book that hit bookshelves this weekend chronicles
the couple's rise to power: "they emerge from the book as
a couple so consumed by the naked ambition of the American arriviste,
and so willing to consume others as fuel for their flight, that
their crash from the heights of the sun became inevitable."
National Post (Canada) 07/16/01
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6.
PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#publishing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CS
LEWIS - MASTER FRAUD? A new book about C.S. Lewis "contends
that several literary and theological works attributed to the
British author are, in fact, the product of systematic forgery.
Her arguments are well-known in Lewisian circles, where they have
provoked intense scholarly discussion, not to mention a certain
amount of litigation." Chronicle
of Higher Education 07/16/01
- THE
THREE FACES OF CS: Lewis was a prolific author, publishing
40 books. "Indeed, his published output sometimes appears
to be the work of at least three different authors." Chronicle
of Higher Education 07/16/01
LOOKING
GOOD: "Are an author's looks alone worthy of a half-million
dollar advance? Do people really buy books — or magazines — because
the authors are young and skinny and resemble movie stars? Well,
they may get what they pay for if they do...MobyLives
07/16/01
THE
BANISHING BOOKS: The San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times,
the San Jose Mercury News, the Chicago Tribune, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
and the Boston Globe "have all put their papers on a diet by
cutting back on book reviews. Even the nation's most influential
Sunday book supplement, the New York Times Book Review, killed two
pages." Do the papers think no one cares about reading about
books? Salon 07/19/01
FOR
THE LOVE OF LEARNING: It's assumed today that the great working
class masses have little use for literature and intellectual pursuits.
A new book suggests that wasn't always the case. A century ago
"the working-class pursuit of education was not an accommodation
to middle-class values, a capitulation to bourgeois cultural hegemony.
Instead, it represented the return of the repressed in a society
where the slogan 'knowledge is power' was passionately embraced
by generations of working-class radicals who were denied both."
The Telegraph (UK) 07/16/01
IT'LL
BE A BEST-SELLER. NO, MAYBE IT WON'T. BUT ON THE OTHER HAND...
One of the
mystic joys, and constant frustrations, of book publishing is
that "it's a business used to operating in the dark. It's
the only business I know of in which market research is virtually
nonexistent. Every newspaper reader knows that A.I. sold
$30 million in tickets the weekend it opened. Magazines are audited;
television shows get Nielsen ratings. Why not put the book business
on a realistic footing?" The
New York Times 07/17/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
THE
PEN MAY NOT BE MIGHTIER THAN MEMORY OF THE SWORD: The new
book Ghost Soldiers, about the rescue of US prisoners being
tortured by Japanese during WW2, is a best seller in the US. In
Japan, the book is a pawn in "the tug-of-war between intellectuals
and internationalists who want Japan to own up to savage incidents
by its army, and nationalists and bureaucrats who seek to protect
the national psyche." Japan
Today 07/19/01
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7.
THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#theatre
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHERE
IS THEATRE THAT MATTERS? "Theater is the only form of
art or entertainment that people who consider themselves culturally
sophisticated aren't embarrassed to boast about ignoring. So the
question is: How might theater, which was at the center of the
culture for at least half of the last century, start to find its
way back there?" The New York
Times 07/22/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
DIRECTIONLESS:
In England, "new theatre directors are rapidly becoming an
endangered species. “There’s now a generation of directors in
their late twenties and early thirties who have never had the
chance to work on a main stage, and there’s no question that they
are being lost to TV, radio and film instead.” The
Times (UK) 07/17/01
A
TICKET BY ANY OTHER NAME: New York's discount theatre ticket
booth TKTS has filed suit in London to prevent a discount service
their from using the TKTS name. The
New York Times 07/17/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
GAMBLING
ON ENTERTAINMENT: Toronto's casinos are paying enormous fees
for entertainers and presenting easily digestible programs. The
city's legit theatres and concert venues are crying foul as they
find their patrons going elsewhere. "The casino people are
not making sense of the economic realities of the promotions business.
They're running loss leaders to finance their gambling, food and
beverage operations, and they don't have to pay attention to the
bottom line of their promotions business." Toronto
Star 07/16/01
HIP-HOP
TO THE RESCUE: "There's plenty of reason to think that
hip-hop could do for theater what it has already done for music,
fashion, language, and the rest of the culture — that is, shape
it through the infusion of new sounds, styles, and energy."
Before that can happen, though, hip-hop plays will have to be
about something more than hip-hop. The
New Republic 07/18/01
FROM
BUZZ TO BOMB: Seussical was last year's most
anticipated musical on Broadway. Yet it closed after losing $10
million "Why did Seussical fail to live up to its
powerful promise? How did a show with arguably the best buzz in
years end up bombing on Broadway?" The
New York Times 07/19/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
END
OF AN ERA? Half a century ago, the Royal Shakespeare Company
ushered in what would be a Golden Age of Shakespeare on the British
stage. But the company is in the midst of some fundamental changes
that threaten to bring the era to an end. Sunday
Times (UK) 07/22/01
MACKINTOSH
HEADS FOR THE SHOWERS: With some of his long-running shows
closing, and new shows failing to settle in to extended runs,
mega-producer Cameron MackIntosh says he will no longer produce
new shows. Backstage 07/12/01
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8.
VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#visualarts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT'S
WRONG WITH CANADA: "Because of the way the tax system
works here, and the low levels of funding, Canadian museums are
not the best places to see the best Canadian art. The very best
Canadian art is not affordable to us. The question is, why isn't
this the big glittering Paris of Canada? Because it's treated
as a way station. Real culture, real life happens somewhere else.
We are still so colonized compared to the Americans. That is a
huge disappointment." The Globe
& Mail (Canada) 07/22/01
SHOCK
OF THE ME TOO: Shock art is in, but why? "Who decides
what is art in an age when torture, necrophilia, and self-mutilation
all pass for creative human endeavour? Is it up to the individual
who creates the piece to declare it as art, or should society
decide whether the work has any validity?" The
Globe & Mail (Canada) 07/22/01
ISRAELI
MUSEUM SUSPECTED OF "STEALING BACK" HOLOCAUST ART:
Bruno Schulz was a Polish-Jewish artist who was forced to paint
murals on the walls of a Nazi leader's home. In 1942, he was shot.
The murals were painted over and forgotten until six months ago.
Now, the murals have vanished. Who took them? "In an ironic
twist the Yad Vashem Museum in Israel, a guardian of the memory
of the Holocaust, stands accused." Time
07/16/01
THE
ALLURE OF OLD MASTERS: London's Old Masters auctions racked
up £46 million in sales last week. "The Old Masters market
is becoming increasingly selective and polarised, with dealers
and collectors fighting for the best pictures and rejecting anything
sub-standard." The Telegraph
(UK) 07/16/01
PHOTOGRAPHIC
DEEP FREEZE: Corbis, which owns the Bettman archive of 17
million historic photographs, is preparing to seal them up 200
feet underground in a deep freeze, after having them digitized.
"But once they are interred more than 200 feet below ground,
they will be out of reach, to the disgust of historians."
New Statesman 07/16/01
NO.
3 IN THE PASSING LANE? Louis Vuiton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) confirmed
it will merge the world's number three auction house, Phillips
with Bonhams & Brooks, the world's number four. Phillips has
been expanding, trying to compete with the top two auction houses.
The Art Newspaper 07/16/01
EXPORT
BAN: The Australian government imposed an export ban on seven
Aboriginal paintings last week before their auction at Sotheby's.
The ban resulted in lower sales prices as foreign collectors avoided
the work. "The law prohibits the export of artefacts considered
of national importance. Yet of the 950 applications over the past
13 years to take objects of significant cultural heritage out
of Australia, only 29 have been rejected. Of these, 10 were Aboriginal
paintings seven in the past two weeks." The
Age (Melbourne) 07/17/01
CRITIC
FROM AFAR: Peter Plagens "parachutes" into Dublin
to hold forth on the Irish Museum of Modern Art and its recent
directorship controversy: "In short, IMMA seemed to me a
nice combination of connoisseurship and openness, of pride and
intelligent modesty, a jewel of a place to contemplate art that's
on a par with (to name a couple of my favourites) the Kunsthalle
in Bregenz, Austria, and the Kimbell Museum (of Impressionists
and Old Masters) in Texas." Irish
Times 06/25/01
MUMMY
TROUBLE: A New York art dealer has been charged with illegally
selling an Egyptian mummy's head. "The 2,400-year-old skull
of Amenhotep III was sold by Frederick Schultz several years ago
to a London dealer for $1.2 million, according to court papers."
New York Post 07/17/01
DÜRER
NUDES, LOST AND FOUND, LOST AND FOUND:
"Women's
Bathhouse," by Albrecht Dürer is worth probably $10 million.
It was part of an art collection that went somehow from a castle
in Nazi Germany to Soviet troops to the KGB to a museum in Azerbaijan
to a Japanese wrestler... it's all very complicated. Anyway, the
works now are going back to the Bremen Museum. The
New York Times 07/19/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
A
REAL MICHELANGELO: Experts in Rome Tuesday declared that a
53-inch tall colored wood crucifix was made by Michelangelo, settling
a decades-old debate. The crucifix would have been made in 1493
when the artist was 18 years old. USAToday
07/18/01
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9.
ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#issues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SECOND
SALES: European governments have agreed to give artists a
share of subsequent sales of their work. "Authors of works
of art will receive a royalty of up to 4% every time their original
paintings, sculptures, or other artistic treasures are sold on
by agents or at auction in Britain or anywhere else in the EU."
But the provision won't kick in until 2012. BBC 07/20/01
THE
GM SMITHSONIAN? The Smithsonian, criticized recently for giving
large donors major influence over projects they have funded, is
in negotiations with General Motors for a $10 million contribution
to "expedite a major exhibition called America on the
Move and allow the museum to redo its sprawling transportation
hall, which hasn't been refurbished since the museum opened in
1964." Washington Post 07/19/01
MORE
CENTRALIZED ARTS: The British government is restructuring
the Arts Council of England. "The new body will combine the
Arts Council and the ten Regional Arts Boards, saving up to £10
million a year from the £36 million operating costs." The
savings will be distributed directly to artists, but some critics
worry that a centralized organization will diminish regional flavor.
The Times (UK) 07/17/01
PROMOTING
GERMAN CULTURE: Germany's Goethe Institute is 50 years old.
"With some 3,000 staff members, 2,350 of whom work abroad,
the 126 affiliates scattered throughout 76 different countries
not only teach German, but also endeavor to export at least some
sense of what intellectual and cultural life in Germany is all
about." Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung 07/16/01
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10. FOR FUN
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#forfun
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GREAT
HANDEL'S GHOST! Workers preparing to turn a house where Handel
once lived into a museum say they have seen ghosts in the house.
So they've ordered up an exorcism. "We weren't sure whether
having a ghost would attract or deter customers, but with all
the valuable objects we have coming into the house we felt it
might be safer to get rid of it." Sydney
Morning Herald 07/18/01
PICTURE
THIS: The talk of the Glyndebourne Festival this year isn't
the music but the portraits of the composers featured in the festival.
They're "grim, uneasy, unapplauding. They look weakly insecure
- especially the Britten portrait, which looks (it has to be said)
like a child molester under police cross-examination." The
artist? He's a Birtwistle - one of the featured composers' sons.
The Telegraph (UK) 07/19/01
SO
THERE'S THIS KID IN MONTREAL, and she's playing the bagpipes
out on the city streets, when some cop with nothing better to
do collars her and invokes some law about street musicians needing
permits, and permit applicants needing to be at least 14 years
old. (The kid is 11.) Tough break, but a couple news stories later,
the kid has the last laugh: she opened for mock rock legends Spinal
Tap at a festival on Wednesday. Ottawa
Citizen (CP) 07/20/01
MAJOR
HOAX: A major musical said to be based on the life of former
British Prime Minister John Major has been revealed as a hoax.
"The show was said to chart the politician's rise from a
school drop-out to the corridors of power and was hoped to arrive
in London's West End early next year." BBC
07/20/01
DOODLING
FOR STALIN: A new Top Secret Soviet file has been uncovered
- it contains cartoons and doodles done by senior Politburo staff
made during their meetings with Stalin. "Not only did Soviet
leaders often doodle during their meetings, they also passed their
drawings around the room for each other's comments. Stalin joined
in the game too." The Telegraph
(UK) 07/20/01
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