Week
of October 15-21, 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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. SPECIAL INTEREST
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#specialinterest
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BERLIN
AS URBAN REBUILD: If New York is looking to rebuild its skyline,
perhaps it ought to look to Berlin. "The infinitely resilient
burghers of Berlin have been doing so for more than half a century,
starting in the aftermath of World War II and then starting over
again following the collapse of the Wall and the regimes that
built and backed it. Rarely in modern times have there been reconstruction
projects as far-reaching or lavishly funded as those of post-apocalyptic
Berlin, and never have they been so fraught with symbolism or,
in recent years, so wrought with soul-searching."
New York Review of Books 11/01/01
A
MUSEUM REPERTORY: "Strangely, the idea of repertory is
rarely discussed in relation to the art museum. Yet for anybody
who goes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a regular basis
and looks at El Greco's View of Toledo or Watteau's Mezzetin
or Bruegel's Harvesters or the Rembrandts or the Vermeers
the experience can be very much like going to Coppélia
or La Bohème or a Mozart piano concerto. You crave a known
experience and also want to see how your feelings about that experience
have changed. An opera or symphony can be interpreted in so many
different ways that it sometimes seems like an entirely new or
different work. A painting or sculpture also appears very different
at different times, depending on how it's presented, for presentation
is a form of interpretation." The
New Republic 10/16/01
REIMAGINING
LOWER MANHATTAN: A coalition of some of America's best architectural
firms have got together to envision a replacement for the World
Trade Center. "If nothing else, the terrorist attack demanded
that New York architects bring themselves up to speed on issues
of critical importance to any serious discussion of the city's
future. The international flow of currency and information. Access
to public, private, and cyber space. Architecture's roots in military
fortifications. The convergence of our own technology — tall buildings
and airplanes — in terrorist warfare. The nature of risk."
The New York Times 10/14/01
(one-time registration required for access)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2. DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#dance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NATIONAL
BALLET'S "SYMBOLIC" SURPLUS: Canada's National Ballet
posts a small "symbolic" surplus for the year despite
declines in funding and donations. "The company's accumulated
deficit of $4-million almost exactly matches what the National
Ballet has lost through cutbacks in Ontario government funding."
National Post 10/18/01
NEW
ABT DIRECTOR: American Ballet Theater has suffered under a
series of managerial woes and money woes. Tuesday ABT appointed
Wallace Chappell, 60 as its new executive director. Chappell is
"the director of the Hancher Auditorium at the University
of Iowa since 1986, who has also held ranking staff positions
with the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Alliance Theater
in Atlanta and the Repertory Theater of St. Louis."
The New York Times 10/17/01
(one-time registration required
for access)
OAKLAND
STRUGGLES: Oakland Ballet is struggling. Last weekend's performance
was "a disappointing affair that brings the company's recent
struggles painfully to light. After hiring a new artistic director
last year, Karen Brown, the company has been trying to knit together
a mostly new group of performers and to fill its ranks with enough
qualified male dancers, all on a shoestring budget. It's a big
job, no doubt, but the results Sunday were dismal."
San Jose Mercury News 10/17/01
BALLET
BIG PASSES: "Willam Farr Christensen, a Utah dancer who
started on the vaudeville stage and went on to become one of the
most important figures in American ballet, died Sunday. He was
99." Dallas Morning News (AP) 10/17/01
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#media
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOMEBODY'S
GOT TO DO IT: The Hollywood junket has got a bad name. But
"for many reporters, especially those from smaller outlets
or overseas, paid junkets are the only way they can afford to
get access to the celebrities their readers and viewers demand
to know about. We don't think of the jaunts to Hollywood to stay
in posh hotels and interview stars as vacations but as giving
up our weekends and time with our families to work." Sydney
Morning Herald 10/15/01
TWICE-CANCELED
EMMYS RESCHEDULED: They'll be held Nov. 4 in Los Angeles.
"Still unknown is how many top-drawer nominees will show
up Nov. 4. Some stars, including Dennis Franz, the Emmy-nominated
actor on ABC's NYPD Blue, have expressed the hope that
the Emmys wouldn't be held this year. The canceled Oct. 7 telecast
had planned a bicoastal component, enabling nominees of New York-based
shows to attend without boarding a plane. The Nov. 4 event will
have no such element." Los
Angeles Times 10/18/01
RATING
THE CREDIBILITY OF HOLLYWOOD SCI-FI: So the American military
is consulting Hollywood over high-tech battle scenarios...How
plausible are the movie-makers' techno-dreams? Two tech pioneers
rate the ideas versus reality: Data-chip brain implants in Johnny
Mnemonic - only 30 percent. The paranoid computer in 2001
- 90 percent, but still 20 to 30 years away. Uploading a virus
to incapacitate a ship's computer in Independence Day -
don't look now, but it's already here. Silicon.com
10/16/01
ENTERTAINING
WAR: Television executives met with White House officials
last week to plot what ways the TV industry might be helpful in
the American war effort. "We listened to their ideas, we
talked about resources we might have in government to be helpful
to them," said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan. "The purpose
of this meeting was to open a dialogue and provide a source or
channel of information." Washington
Post 10/20/01
FEAR
OF MAIL: Movie studios are changing their working routines.
Among the changes: "Notices are going out from production
and casting companies advising agents and managers that mailed
submissions of actors' photos and résumés will no longer be allowed."
San Jose Mercury News 10/21/01
STEP
ASIDE, ARNOLD, HERE COMES JET LI: "Asian movies are red-hot.
From a purely commercial standpoint, Hollywood is betting that
Hong Kong-style martial arts films, which put more emphasis on
gravity-defying stunts than on blood-drenched gunplay, can deliver
a new generation of action icons to replace aging stars such as
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone." Los Angeles Times 10/16/01
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4.
MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#music
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DALLAS
OPERA SEASON THREATENED: Musicians are voting on whether to
accept a new contract befor the season opens. "The orchestra
has been asked to accept a wage freeze at $800 a week, with an
8 percent increase to $864 in the second year of a three-year
contract, and a 6 percent increase to $915 in the third year."
Orchestra members are likely to reject the offer, calling it "20
percent less than the market wage in this area for similar services."
Musicians also want benefits including "pension contributions,
health insurance, disability payments, and sick leave." Dallas
Morning News 10/21/01
THE
RECORDING CRISIS: "The classical recording industry seems
to be collapsing, and aggrieved music lovers are looking for someone
to blame. Confused consumers have gone from anger to frustration
to apathy. Reportedly, the classical share of the total CD market,
which had peaked at 7 percent during the height of CD mania, has
slipped to 3 percent. Several seemingly contradictory factors
are causing the crisis in classical recording."
The New York Times 10/21/01
(one-time registration required
for access)
ATONAL
YEARNINGS: "The notion that Arnold Schoenberg liked to
be liked by a mass audience will no doubt surprise his detractors.
No one can deny the extraordinary impact Schoenberg had on the
music of the 20th century. He was the dominant force in attempting
to subdue the power that tonality had exerted on Western music
for 300 years. He liberated dissonance and then went on to create
a new form of organizing the pitches of the scale—the 12-tone
system—that ultimately inspired the ultra-complex, mathematically
inclined avant-garde music that came after World War II. For
that, Schoenberg has been personally blamed for modern music losing
its audience in the 20th century."
Los Angeles Times 10/21/01
WHY
SAN JOSE CAN'T FLY: The San Jose Symphony's crisis has been
a long time coming. The orchestra board president "believes
the symphony should be a $3.5 million to $4 million organization,
as opposed to nearly $8 million. It has counted on 60 percent
of revenue from contributions and 40 percent from ticket sales"
and those percentages ought to be reversed. "The San Jose
Symphony is 123 years old - older than all the other arts groups
in the city, not to mention most of the buildings. It has been
and should be an important part of the community's cultural life.
But age and tradition alone can't guarantee its survival."
San Jose Mercury News 10/16/01
STRING
QUARTET HAS TO PAY: A Pennsylvania judge has ordered three
members of the Audubon String Quartet to pay the fourth member
- David Ehrlich - more than $600,000. The group had thrown the
first violinist out of the group 20 months ago after disagreements.
The judge "ruled that Ehrlich was part owner of the Audubon
Quartet, and therefore entitled to 25 percent of the group's assets."
Philadelphia Inquirer 10/18/01
CRISIS
OF TASTE: Why do people turn to awful music in times of national
crisis? It's "nothing new - in fact, it has happened throughout
history. The assassination of JFK is acknowledged as a major factor
in US Beatlemania - a grieving nation was looking for something
to take the pain away. What is normally brushed over is that Americans
took more immediate solace in one particular song, the appalling
religious novelty classic Dominique by The Singing Nun,
which was No 1 for the next month." The
Guardian (UK) 10/15/01
GREASING
THE WHEELS: Taking a symphony orchestra on an international
tour is no easy task. Preparations begin two years in advance,
and no detail is left unresearched. Still, on the road, unexpected
crises are bound to manifest themselves, and when they do, nearly
every major American orchestra has the same reaction. They call
Guido. Yes, Guido. Detroit Free Press
10/15/01
FOURTH
AMENDMENT, ANYONE? You might want to put a false moustache
and a pair of dark glasses on those old Napster-acquired MP3s
kicking around your computer. The recording industry reportedly
asked various congresspeople to tack on an amendment to, of all
things, the anti-terrorism bill, which would have allowed them
to hack into the computers of consumers and delete illicit MP3
song files. Privacy advocates are apoplectic. Wired
10/15/01
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#people
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MAKING
MODERN MATTER: When Nicholas Serota became director of the
Tate, contemporary art was seen as a problem in England. "Serota's
efforts have transformed us into a nation that cares about contemporary
art, and it is one of his proudest achievements." London
Evening Standard 10/16/01
THE
DIRECTOR COMPLAINS: When Australia's National Gallery director
Dr Brian Kennedy appointed John McDonald as head of the museum's
Australian Art, it was a controversial decision. But a few months
after the September 2000 appointment, Kennedy regretted the appointment.
He outlined his grievances in a five-page memo... Sydney
Morning Herald 10/16/01
TALENT
ON LOAN FROM GOD? Martin Amis hosts an interview show, and
ends up revealing more about himself than his guests. "Amis
has created within his own mind a notion of 'talent', which he
deifies and worships. He says, with the certainty of a man who
has never doubted his own ability, that 'your heart becomes gangrenous
in your body when you go against your talent'. Literary talent
is his sole criterion for success, and anybody outside that world
- a tiler, for example - is worthless. He emerges as obsessed
with his own place in literature, and notes with sadness: 'Usually
writers never find out how good they are because that starts with
the obituaries'." New
Statesman 10/15/01
JAY
LIVINGSTON, 86: Composer and lyricist Jay Livingston, who
was nominated for seven Oscar and won three, died at his home
in Los Angeles. With partner Ray Evans, he wrote such pop hits
as Silver Bells, Mona Lisa, and Que Sera, Sera.
Nando Times 10/17/01
THE
ARTIST WHO KEEPS GOING: He lives at the fringe, shunned by
galleries and dealers who grew tired of his quirks and neediness
years ago. In a world soaked in eccentricity and skewed perspectives,
John Grazier is the ultimate at being strange. He swings from
bouts of homelessness to raking in $100,000 commissions. When
he's down, he paints on the living room floors of friends' houses
- with no easel, no chair and no dropcloth. And because he can't
rely on others to sell his paintings, he does it himself, like
some Wild West art cowboy, blazing trails in his Handi-Van, hawking
pictures and making small bursts of money." Washington
Post 10/14/01
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6.
PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#publishing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LINGUA
FRANCA SUSPENDS PUBLICATION: The current issue is coming out,
but work on the next has stopped. "While Lingua Franca never
turned a profit and its circulation hovered around 15,000, news
of its apparent demise elicited exclamations of dismay in the
world of letters." The
New York Times 10/16/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
LOOKING
FOR SHAKESPEARE: Who was William Shakespeare? Some say he
was the "17th Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere. Oxford was
eminently equipped to tackle the range and scope evident in Shakespeare's
work: because of his education (arts, law, sciences), his renowned
excellence in letters, his prowess at sports and arms, his travels
in Italy and France, his patronage of literary and scientific
contemporaries." Sydney Morning
Herald 10/17/01
- BUT
NOT THAT THEORY:
"The Oxfordian case is founded in snobbery, the idea that
a non-aristocratic lad from the country could never have had
the talent or insight to write such masterpieces."
Sydney Morning Herald 10/17/01
THE
WRITER AS CELEBRITY: "In the 19th century and the first
half of the 20th century many successful and much-admired authors
were unknown to the general public and to their readers - unknown
in the sense that their appearance, their personalities, their
habits, and their private lives were indeed private." How
different from today, when writers have become performing animals
and every aspect of their lives is open to scrutiny in the press.
The Guardian (UK) 10/20/01
CAREY
TAKES BOOKER: Australian writer Peter Carey has won this year's
Booker Prize. "Carey, 58, is only the second writer in the
Booker's 32-year history, after JM Coetzee, to win twice."
The Guardian (UK) 10/18/01
ALL
ABOUT BOOK(ER) SALES: The honor's nice, but Peter Carey's
Booker Prize win will sell a lot of his books. "When Peter won
in 1988 with Oscar and Lucinda, we released the paperback edition
on the day that it was announced. We printed 20,000 and didn't
know if it was going to be the stock for a day or a year. We sold
them in an hour, and in the next six months sold 200,000 copies."
The Age (Melbourne) 10/19/01
BAILING
ON THE BOOKER: Booker Prize sponsor Iceland, a frozen food
producer, is announcing it is withdrawing from sponsoring Britain's
top literary prize. The company says that "new sponsors should
be found for the literary competition as it sees 'no commercial
link' between its supermarket business and the literary award.
Iceland inherited the prize only because of a merger with food
group Booker in 2000." BBC 10/16/01
THE NOBEL FOR LITERATURE:
There is second-guessing almost every year; still, most winners
since World War Two have been substantial literary figures. Much
better choices, in fact, than "the bewildering early choices
of the Nobel Committee, so obscure as to appear now wilfully blind.
They were not the choices of Nobel himself, of course, but of
the members of the Swedish Academy trying to guess what the repentant
merchant of death would like." Boston Review 10/01
BRAVE
CHOICE: V.S. Naipaul is the Nobel Institute's bravest choice
in years for the literature prize. "In choosing him as this
year's laureate for literature, the Nobel committee has allowed
the controversial Naipaul's influence - his aura - to accrue to
the prize as much as the other way around."
Salon 10/14/01
THE
NON-FICTION SQUEEZE: "Nonfiction, or nonfiction that
masquerades as fiction, nonfiction that aspires to be fiction,
nonfiction that wants to be fiction when it grows up, is in sudden,
best-selling vogue." It's squeezing out fiction. This is
not a good thing. San Francisco Bay
Guardian 10/12/01
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7. THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#theatre
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NORTH
AMERICA'S LARGEST THEATRE FEST: Ontario's Stratford Theatre
Festival is 50 years old. It's the largest repertory theatre in
North America and Canada's largest performing arts company. "Attendance
has sailed past the half-million mark and year-end surpluses have
gone over $4-million for the past two years. This year, Stratford
is spending $40.8-million and will have sold more than 600,000
tickets by the time the season ends in November." But is
the festival showing its age? How about an upgrade in progrmming...
The Globe & Mail (Canada)
10/18/01
TEARING
DOWN SHAKESPEARE THEATRE: The Royal Shakespeare Company plans
to demolish its theatre at Straford-upon-Avon. "The 1932
Art Deco listed building will be bulldozed as part of a grand
plan by the RSC's director, Adrian Noble, for a £100 million
'theatre village' on the banks of the Avon." The
Independent (UK) 10/18/01
THE
NOSE KNOWS: Julie Taymor did the improbable by making Disney
(The Lion King) cool with even the most jaded Broadway denizens.
Now she's taking on a new project - Pinocchio. She sees the story
as "a fable about adolescence, that awkward age when hormones
start kicking in, you smoke dope, and need to break away from
your family and discover your own identity."
The Telegraph (UK) 10/19/01
THE
SURPRISE TEAR-DOWN: The Royal Shakespeare Company was thought
to be considering a major renovation of its building; plans for
demolishing the art deco theatre came as a surprise. “There is
considerable scope for remodelling, but the important historic
parts of this theatre are well worth fighting for.”
The Times (UK) 10/19/01
REVIVING
THE MAGIC: London's "West End has recently been littered
with new musicals that haven’t caught on, leaving producers sometimes
sizeably in the red." So what is generating London theatre
box office? Revivals, the good old days...
The Times (UK) 10/16/01
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8.
VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#visualarts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HERMITAGE
- PLANS FOR WORLD DOMINATION: "Although the Hermitage
welcomed about 2.4 million visitors last year, the administration
is dissatisfied even with this impressive figure and is looking
for ways to reach a wider audience. Last fall, Somerset House
in London became home to the Hermitage Rooms. Last summer, the
museum joined forces with the New York Guggenheim Foundation to
bring more contemporary art to the Hermitage, as well as to hold
joint exhibitions with museums around the world. One of these,
the Hermitage Guggenheim Museum in Las Vegas, opened earlier this
month. In the meantime, the museum is preparing to open another
exhibition center in Amsterdam." St.
Petersburg Times (Russia) 10/12/01
PAYING
OFF ON ART: "If you had started collecting contemporary
British art a decade ago, when the YBAs were fresh out of college,
your collection, amassed for a few thousand, could now be worth
millions. Some collections were started for only a crown or two
- Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin's dentist accepted art in lieu
of payment for dental work they had done."
London Evening Standard 10/16/01
CALDER
UNBURIED: Pieces of Alexander Calder's giant stabile at the
World Trade Center (worth $2.5 million) have been discovered under
the buildings' wreckage. The first piece of Bent Propeller
a bright red, 25-foot-high, 15-ton sculpture by Philadelphia-born
artist Alexander Calder, was removed from the wreckage last Thursday."
New York Post 10/17/01
TREASURE
UNDER LONDON: Somewhere buried under The Strand in London
lies a city of broken Greek and Roman statues, altars and sarcophagi.
"These fractured deities and marble tablets are the last
undiscovered fragment of the collection amassed by the 14th Earl
of Arundel, the first Englishman to be bitten by 'Marble Mania'."
London Evening Standard 10/18/01
THE
SINKING OF VENICE: By studying 100 paintings by Canaletto,
researchers have determined how much the sea has risen in Venice
(or how much Venice has sunk, depending on your perspective).
"His works offer a record of where the high tide marks lay
during his life, from 1697 to 1768. Those show that the sea has
since risen by 80cm (31in) an average of 2.8mm (just over
an inch) every year." The Independent
(UK) 10/17/01
ANSEL
ADAMS CENTER CLOSING: The Friends of Photography, founded
by Adams, is folding because of debt. "The center's collection
of 140 Ansel Adams photographs printed by Adams in the 1970s expressly
for the Friends will be sold, and the proceeds will go to erasing
the debt." San Francisco Chronicle
10/18/01
WHEN
DESIGN OVERTAKES ART: Hard to find anyone who isn't ready
to anoint Frank Gehry as a master artist. "Why all the hoopla?
Is this designer of metallic museums and curvy concert halls,
luxury houses and flashy corporate headquarters truly Our Greatest
Living Artist? The notion is telling, for it points to the new
centrality of architecture in cultural discourse. This centrality
stems from the initial debates about postmodernism in the 1970s,
which were focused on architecture, but it is clinched by the
contemporary inflation of design and display in all sorts of spheres:
art, fashion, business and so on."
Los Angeles Times 10/14/01
REBELLING
AGAINST ROYAL'S RODINS: The Royal Ontario Museum was planning
a big international Rodin symposium coinciding with the controversial
Rodin sculpture show the museum is currently hosting. But while
"last month the ROM mailed dozens of letters to Rodin scholars
and buffs around the world, inviting them to the Ontario capital
to weigh in on the legacy of the sculptor," almost no one
has agreed to come. The Globe &
Mail (Canada) 10/20/01
FASHIONABLE
ART: "There has never been a time when fashion has done
more to suggest that it might be art. Fashion is parasitic. It
depends on other art forms for its imagery and its identity. And
it's been so successful at it that it has begun to replace them."
The Observer (UK) 10/14/01
SCOTTISH
ART WAR: "Glasgow's cash-strapped museums and galleries,
funded solely by the city, are the most visited museums outside
London. But there is resentment that Edinburgh's 'national' galleries
receive the lion's share of government support. Despite having
1m fewer visitors than Glasgow's museums, Edinburgh's have been
awarded £20 million in government grants." Sunday
Times (UK) 10/14/01
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9.
ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#issues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CORK
AS CULTURE CAPITAL: The Irish city of Cork has been named
as Europe's Culture Capital for 2005. Previous cities named as
culture capitals have been Barcelona, Lisbon and Helsinki, "while
Glasgow’s reign in 1990 had a positive and long-lasting impact
on the city’s economic and cultural fortunes." Gramophone
10/16/01
SORTING
OUT THE "A" IN A&E: In a world of entertainment,
where did art go? If entertainment is now considered art because
it reaches more people and therefore has greater impact, and art
is entertainment because it tries to reach more people, then what
do the distinctions of art in culture mean?
The Globe & Mail (Canada)
10/20/01
ARTS IN IRELAND
- THE BAD AND THE GOOD: On the one hand, "it seems the
Arts Council has a reputation for being paternalistic, furtive
and secretive in the way it has conducted its business."
On the other, "the Republic is perceived, by observers in
Britain at least, as particularly enlightened in the way it has
passed legislation to support artists financially."
The Irish Times 10/18/01
TRADING
ON CULTURE: Canada's cultural minister wants to remove cultural
issues from the purview of the World Trade Organization. She "wants
either a new agency - or an existing one like UNESCO - to take
over the responsibility for disputes on culture matters."
She says it's essential "to be the work we are doing to get international
support for an instrument on cultural diversity so culture is
not traded off at the table of the WTO."
CBC 10/16/01
IS
THE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER DEAD? "What Lincoln Center
and South Bank have in common is their desperate need for a facelift.
Both are showing their age. Both clung to the Sixties conceit
that people who like classical music, for example, can be 'led'
into other arts simply by having them in close proximity. Human
nature, however, has changed since then. Citizens in open societies
are not inclined to be led: they prefer to discover. The arts
centre is a thing of the past, filled with superfluities."
The Telegraph (UK) 10/17/01
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9.
FOR FUN
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#forfun
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CREATIVITY
IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN A CELL PHONE: A French court agreed
with composer Gabriel Yared that a cell phone relay tower "impaired
his creative concentration," and ordered France Télécom to
remove it. Fearing a rash of similar suits, France Télécom has
left the tower standing, and is paying a fine while it appeals
to a higher court. London Evening
Standard 10/17/01
THE
ART OF CLEANING: A cleaner picking up a London gallery, mistakenly
gathered up and threw out an installation by Damien Hirst. He
"came across a pile of beer bottles, coffee cups and overflowing
ashtrays and cleared them away at the Eyestorm Gallery on Wednesday
morning." BBC 10/19/01
CELL
PHONE SYMPHONY: Composer Golan Levin produced a piece for
an orchestra of cellphones. "A database system was established
to register the phone numbers of the participants in the cell
phone orchestra and deliver their seating information to the second
system, performance software that allows the controller to click
on a computer screen and dial a particular person. Finally, a
third system developed for the piece connects the performance
software to the mobile switching center. For the premiere, 200
participants registered their phone numbers at a web kiosk and,
when the make of their phone allowed, a customized ring sound
was downloaded onto their phone. They were then given a ticket
instructing them where to sit in a 20 by 10 grid of seats."
NewMusicBox 10/01
HOME
|