Week
of October 19-November 4, 2001
1.
Special Interest
2. Dance
3. Media
4. Music
5. People
6. Publishing
7. Theatre
8. Visual Arts
9. Arts Issues
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1. SPECIAL INTEREST
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#specialinterest
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CAN
ART HEAL? - FOOEY: "The idea that art functions as a
remedial agent—useful for the treatment of social, spiritual or
emotional disorders—is positively Victorian. Still, we cling to
the fantasy—even if healing in our post-Freud world is less
about physical lesions and more about psychological wounds.
Americans' sentimental relationship to art periodically drives us
into the suffocating arms of therapeutic culture. The terrorist
attacks seem to be doing it again." Los
Angeles Times 11/04/01
THE
ART OF SHOCK: There have been "two longstanding fetishes
in the history of art since the Enlightenment: that an artist is a
kind of sacred warrior and art an 'attack' on societies that need
to be refashioned. Artists, of course, are not terrorists, but
Stockhausen was right to notice the affinity between their hard
work, their discipline, their commitment to a message, even their
sometimes macabre imagination. What he missed, besides the obvious
fact that artists create and terrorists destroy - and this is as
fundamental as good and evil - is that terrorists insist you get
the message. Great artists have more grace." Washington
Post 10/28/01
CHANGE
AS THE ESSENCE OF CULTURE: "Some researchers are now
wondering whether the dietary, social and environmental changes of
the past quarter-century have not affected the ways we relate to
art. Attention spans, we know, are shorter among the text-message
generation. They may also respond to different cultural stimuli.
The world is moving on, faster than in any epoch in art history.
Ephemerality is integral to art. Today's trash is tomorrow's
culture, and vice versa." The
Telegraph (UK) 10/31/01
MONUMENTAL
MEMORIES: How do we as a society remember important events
such as the WTC attacks? "In the last few decades, the
reliability of memory, particularly traumatic memory, has been
questioned. But while individual memory is under fire, collective
memory is being hotly pursued. A public memorial or a ruin is a
scaffold, something on which collective memory can hang. But that
does not mean that it helps people remember things. With his
concept of sites of memory, the French editor Pierre Nora has
argued that monuments are built in place of memory." New
York Times 10/27/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
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2. DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#dance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JUST
AS BALLET SURGES... Outgoing Scottish Ballet director Robert
North says he wonders why the company's board wants to switch from
traditional ballet to being a modern company. According to new
figures, Scottish Ballet scored an increase of more than 50
percent in audience last year - from 43,000 to more than 66,000.
"At the same time, contemporary dance companies in Scotland
attracted an audience of little more than 3,000 between
them." The
Scotsman 10/30/01
NATIONAL
BALLET - MORE WITH LESS: The National Ballet of Canada is 50
years old, but for all its critical acclaim, its funding and
operations have been scaled back in recent years. The company is
starved for money compared to its peers. "Measuring their
budgets in Canadian dollars, that of the American Ballet Theatre
is $43-million, while that of the San Francisco Ballet is $39
million - each roughly double the National's paltry annual budget
of $15-million." The Globe &
Mail (Canada) 10/31/01
NOW
BEING RADICAL IS AN ASSET: Thirteen years ago Michael Clark
was considered "far too radical" to head the Scottish
Ballet. "But with the ballet seeking to modernise itself and
using the dreaded C word (contemporary) he is rapidly shaping up
as an ideal candidate. Obsessed with sex and famous for using
atonal indie rock for his compositions, Clark is everything
traditional ballet with its orchestras and twee costumes is
not." Scotland on Sunday 10/28/01
DEFINING
THE NEW: Twenty years ago, contemporary dance in Ireland was a
backwater proposition. But through shrewd choices of collaborators
and an eye for the innovative, Dance Theatre of Ireland has become
arguably the hottest company in the country. Sunday
Times (UK) 11/04/01
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3. MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#media
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VIDEO
WHEN YOU WANT IT: HBO introduces video-on-demand.
"Video-on-demand is like having access to a virtual video
store with no tapes or late fees to worry about. It not only gives
viewers absolute control over viewing times, it also offers
VCR-like functionality: Viewers can pause, rewind and fast-forward
programs." Wired
10/30/01
I
WANT MY MTV (SMALLER): After decades of growth, MTV says it's
time to contract. The network will lay off 450. Officials say
"the reorganization was motivated by a need for changes in
MTV Networks' structure as well as by the poor advertising
market." CNN.com 10/30/01
SURVEY
DOWN, BOX OFFICE UP: A new survey says 60 percent of adults
over 35 don't want to go to movies right now. So then what
accounts for the increased box office every week since one but
September 11? Fall receipts are 9 percent ahead of last year.
MSNBC (Variety) 10/30/01
AUSSIE
MOVIE RENTAL BATTLE: Australia's movie rental stores are
fighting with movie studios. "Warner simultaneously releases
DVDs to the retail and rental market. They are color coded -
silver for retail at a wholesale price of $24, and blue for
rental, wholesaling at $55. When Warner threatened to sue video
shops caught renting the retail-designated DVD, the association -
representing 55 per cent of Australian video shops - took the
offensive. It argues that under the Copyright Act, Warner cannot
restrict the rental of DVD movies." The
Age (Melbourne) 11/01/01
DVD
COPYING, FOR NOW, IS STILL LEGAL: The movie industry has been
encrypting dvd's so they can't be copied. Trouble is, they can be,
and movie producers want courts to ban distribution of the
software that cracks the code. The court (so far) says no. The
software, the court says, is protected free speech. Business
2.0 11/02/02
...BUT
IT'S NOT EXACTLY LIKE THE BOOK: Pre-release reviews of the
Harry Potter film are in. Are they good? Not really.
Are they bad? Not really. Will the vast audience of true Harry
Potter believers care either way? Not really. The
Guardian (UK) 11/02/01
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4.
MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#music
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MUSIC
TRADING DOWN: A leading internet traffic measuring company
says the number of people trading music files online in Europe has
fallen by 50 percent since Napster folded last summer.
Gramophone 10/29/01
TORONTO
SYMPHONY REPRIEVE: The Toronto Symphony has got the federal
and provincial governments to "write matching cheques of
$227,000 each to keep the orchestra afloat for the next 10
days." The gives the orchestra a brief window to come up with
a plan to bail itself out of oblivion. Toronto
Star 10/31/01
- HOW
DID IT HAPPEN? Orchestras go bankrupt all the time these
days, but how could one of Canada's most prestigious ensembles
find itself in such a seemingly hopeless position? Some
pundits would like to claim that the TSO's imminent collapse
is yet another sign of the impending death of classical music,
but a realistic look at the TSO's history shows a horrifying
lack of executive leadership. The
Globe & Mail (Toronto) 10/31/01
ANOTHER
ORCHESTRA IN CRISIS: "The Florida Philharmonic, which
balanced its budget last season, could face a $2.1 million deficit
for the current season and is in the grip of an immediate
cash-flow crisis... To continue its season, the orchestra said, it
needs $500,000 in the next three or four weeks." Miami
Herald 10/26/01
CARNEGIE
HALL POSTPONES HALL: Carnegie Hall has postponed plans for a
new 650-seat underground hall. "The opening had been set for
the fall season next year, but...the economic aftermath of the
terrorist attacks had made Carnegie Hall rethink its plans." The
New York Times 11/01/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
WAKEUP
CALL FOR LONDON MUSIC: Why did conductor Simon Rattle choose
to go to Berlin rather than working in London? "So much
playing in London now is like a Pavlov reaction: turn it on and it
happens. Of course it's remarkable, but it's not healthy - I want
to be an architect, not just a make-up artist. Whatever I want to
build, I want to build on some human foundation."
The Guardian (UK) 11/03/01
PASSING
ON ARAB: Last summer many music industry people were
predicting that Arab music was going to be the next big thing in
World Music in the US. Sept. 11 "altered those predictions.
As panic set in and racist attacks escalated around the country,
Arab artists such as the popular Algerian Rai singer Khaled
canceled U.S. tours and DJs spinning once-hip Middle Eastern beats
suddenly found themselves out of work." San
Francisco Chronicle 11/04/01
BUYING
INTO BELLINI: Vincenzo Bellini was born 200 years ago. He was
the darling of the French capital and died at the age of 33.
"With the sole exception of Verdi, he is Italy's greatest
opera composer. He is also one of the supreme tragic artists of
music theatre, whose works, far from being exercises in
melancholy, explore the limits of individual suffering and the
outer reaches of the human psyche." So why is he so seldom
given his due? The
Guardian (UK) 11/02/01
WHY
BOSTON? Why did James Levine want the Boston Symphony
directorship? "For all his remarkable achievements in opera
in 30 years at the Met and his regular appearances at the Bayreuth
and Salzburg Festivals, he has not left his interpretive stamp on
the major orchestral repertory in any consistent way. Nor has he
conducted contemporary music and introduced new works as much as
he would like to and as much as he must if his name is to be
included among the towering conductors of this era. Only a major
orchestra post can give him these opportunities. Boston provides
them." The
New York Times 10/30/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
DALLAS
OPERA AGREEMENT: The Dallas Opera and its orchestra have
agreed on a new contract, ending a strike. "The agreement
spares the Dallas Opera from presenting Simon Boccanegra with two
pianos playing the orchestral part." Dallas
Morning News 10/29/01
THE
RED VIOLIN (FOR REAL): Violinist Joshua Bell has a new fiddle
- a 1713 Strad with a story. It once belonged to Bronislaw
Huberman, but was stolen from his dressing room at Carnegie Hall
in 1936. It only turned up a few years ago, complete with a tale
about where it lived out the rest of the 20th Century... Dallas
Morning News 10/28/01
SOUND
REACTION: Composers have taken to the web with pieces
responding to the September 11 WTC attacks. One composer calls it
"the equivalent of a sonic photo wall, where people's
emotions about the tragedy are translated into sound and hung on
the Web." You can hear some of it at here.
New York Times 10/29/01
(one-time registration required for access)
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5. PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#people
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SPANO
IN ATLANTA: Robert Spano has taken an unconventional path in
his career. Now, as he takes over leading the Atlanta Symphony,
some wonder how his theatrical approach will play.
Los Angeles Times 11/03/01
THE
TWO GEORGES: "George Rochberg tipped the world away from
audience-alienating atonality, and is, in many ways, responsible
for the neo-tonalists who are embraced by symphony orchestras
around the world. George Crumb was a major pioneer of alternative
ensembles and new ways of using old instruments, creating
universes of sound, and bringing a whole new mystical element to
music. Together, they developed the art of musical collage, taking
disparate musical sources from pop tunes to primal cries, and
showing that in art, as in life, integration and resolution aren't
necessary." Now at the ends of their careers, two musical
pioneers look back. Philadelphia
Inquirer 11/04/01
FAMILY
MATTERS: "The death of the billionaire aesthete Daniel
Wildenstein has brought to an end the most revealing chapter so
far in the history of perhaps the world’s wealthiest, most
secretive family of art dealers." The
Times (UK) 10/26/01
THE
PICASSO VIRUS: In a remarkable new book, Picasso, My
Grandfather, to be published on November 8, Marina Picasso
describes how each member of the family became dependent on and
cravenly submissive to Picasso's towering ego. 'The Picasso virus
to which we fell victim was subtle and undetectable," she
says. "It was a combination of promises not kept, abuse of
power, mortification, contempt and, above all, incommunicability.
We were defenceless against it'." Sunday
Times (UK) 10/28/01
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6.
PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#publishing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DEFENDING
OPRAH AND HER CRITIC: "Many people think Oprah is a saint
for her bookselling, so any questioning of her is Bad-Wrong-Dumb.
Sorry, the problem here is that in the often dim,
anti-intellectual caves of network TV, she's the only person
talking about serious lit. Her tastes aren't mine, but I actually
wish she had more influence – on other producers. We might get
some wider-ranging book coverage. Choices. Rivalries."
Dallas Morning News 11/01/01
- POWER
TO THE PEOPLE: Maybe it was no surprise that Jonathan
Franzen put down Oprah and her book club. "What was
telling about the Franzen-Winfrey contretemps was the
five-alarm outrage of Manhattan’s literary publishing
community. Faced with a choice—reprimanding arguably their
brightest star in years or alienating a woman who spends many
of her shows in the company of a bald-pated schmaltzateer
named Dr. Phil—judgment was swift. New York publishing chose
Oprah." New York Observer
10/31/01
LEAVING
THE PENGUIN NEST:
Penguin Putnam has lost its chief executive and several key
editors; now it may also be about to lose top authors Tom Clancy
and Patricia Cornwell. The key defection is that of longtime chief
executive Phyllis Grann, who's leaving the end of this year after
continued criticism of Pearson, parent company of the book
publisher. The
New York Times 11/01/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
IN
BLURBS WE TRUST: Ever wonder about the recommendations of
books by bookstores? Can you trust them? Well... "The sums
involved are considerable: the leading high-street chain, W.H.
Smith, charges £10,000 to call a book ‘Read of the Week’.
Books etc.’s ‘Showcase’ and Borders’ ‘Best’ cost as
much as £2,500, and Amazon demands £6,000 for its ‘Book of the
Month’ endorsement. To have a book called ‘Latest Thing’
will set you back £15,000, and ‘Fresh Talent’, an accolade
recently won by Richard Littlejohn, costs £2,850." The
Spectator 10/20/01
IF
IT'S NOT REALLY HARRY... Last spring author NK Stouffer sued
JK Rowling, claiming Rowling ripped off elements of Harry Potter
from Stouffer. But though Stouffer got her book published , it's
being ignored. "One review was by The Associated Press, which
called it an 'excruciating mix of cliche, preachiness and just
poor writing.' Meanwhile, the country's leading superstore chains,
Borders and Barnes & Noble, declined to stock Stouffer's work.
Baltimore Sun (AP) 11/03/01
BIG
BUCKS/LOW SALES: At a time when many serious writers have
difficulty even getting published, publishers are paying millions
of dollars to celebrities to pen books. But those books are rarely
successes - either critically or at the cash register. In fact,
they sell poorly. So why the big money? Poets
& Writers 10/01
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7. THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#theatre
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IF
YOU CAN MAKE IT THERE...:
"Catharsis comes in surprising packages these days. Who would
ever have thought three months ago that the most emotionally
stirring shows in Manhattan would be a sincerely kitschy musical
set to the songs of Abba (Mamma Mia!), an earnest
story-theater rendering of Greco-Roman myths (Metamorphoses)
and a dizzy, well-known romp like Noises Off? Strange times
breed strange diversions, however. And what [those three] have in
common is that they bypass that celebrated skeptical New York mind
to go for the gut." The
New York Times 11/02/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
FOR
$480, YOU GET THE UNDERSTUDY: "Nathan Lane, the Tony
Award-winning star of The Producers, appears to have
developed a polyp on his vocal chord and will be out of the hit
show indefinitely, his spokesman said yesterday. News of Lane's
ailment comes just one week after the producers of The
Producers raised their top ticket price to a staggering
$480." New York Post
11/02/01
MODERNIZING
SCOTTISH ACTING SCHOOLS: "The popular perception of drama
schools as being noisily peopled with big-mouths who have seen the
video of Fame once too often and posh kids too thick for
real university courses is, of course, only partially
deserved." Now two new directors have been brought in to
"modernise a course fraying at the edges" at Scottish
drama schools. Glasgow Herald 10/31/01
BROADWAY
AND THE ART OF HUMMING: Which is more important to the success
of a Broadway musical - the lyrics and story or the music? Three
current shows give contradictory answers. But a hint: "No one
ever left a musical chanting the words rather than humming the
tunes." New
York Post 11/04/01
THE
WORLD'S MOST UNPRONOUNCEABLE PRIZE: "The first recipient
of Canada's single largest arts prize is Toronto theatre director
Daniel Brooks, it was announced last night at a ceremony at the
University of Toronto. Brooks, 43, was named the inaugural
recipient of the Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Prize in Canadian
Theatre, worth $100,000. The award, to be handed out annually, was
created in January of this year to recognize an artist in
mid-career 'who has contributed significantly to the fabric of
theatrical life through a total body of work.'" The
Globe & Mail (Toronto) 10/30/01
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8.
VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#visualarts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A
HOME FOR THE PARTHENON MARBLES: Britain still has not said it
has any plans to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece. But
evidently the Greeks think they will get them back. "A £29
million Acropolis museum has already been commissioned by the
Greek government to house the 2,300-year-old artefacts. Plans for
the building, which will stand at the foot of the Acropolis hill
are understood to include a glass gallery with windows or roof
designed so that the marbles can be seen against the background of
the Parthenon." The
Guardian (UK) 10/26/01
BRITISH
MUSEUM CRISIS: "The museum’s deficit last year was just
over £3 million and there would have been a similar deficit this
year, unless drastic action had been taken. The cuts will lead to
shorter opening hours, a rota of closed galleries, cancellation of
exhibitions, reduced building maintenance, a reduction of
education programmes, a freeze on most new posts, and the
requirement for foreign borrowing institutions to meet the full
costs of loans, including curatorial time."
The Art Newspaper 10/29/01
ITALIAN
PRIVATIZATION SCHEME CRITICIZED: Members of a left-wing
coalition in the Italian parliament are blasting a plan by the
Berlusconi government to privatize the nation's art museums. Those
in charge of the plan are defending it, pointing out that
"the public sector would retain responsibility for
exhibitions and the protection of cultural assets." BBC
10/30/01
TATE
BRITAIN EXPANSION OPENS: "The Prince of Wales will open
art gallery Tate Britain's £32.3m centenary development on
Tuesday. The project, the most significant change to the gallery
since it opened in 1897, gives it a modern entrance, with 10 new
and five refurbished exhibition spaces all built into the
neo-classical structure." BBC
10/30/01
BELLAGIO
PULLS BACK ON ART: Las Vegas' Bellagio Hotel has reportedly
canceled exhibitions at its art gallery, and some are wondering if
the experiment with fine art at the hotel is over. "The
Bellagio has cited reduced tourist business as a reason for
cutting back on its exhibitions in the Bellagio Gallery of Fine
Art, a two-room exhibition space located between snack bars and
marriage chapels in the mammoth resort. Business has fallen to the
extent that some 15,000 to 20,000 Las Vegas casino employees have
been laid off." The
Art Newspaper 10/29/01
WHAT'S
IT MEAN TO BE BRITISH? "Until very recently Britain
hasn't had much interest in self-consciously using its national
museums to say anything much about its identity. It's the
unconscious message that is more revealing. If the received wisdom
is to be believed, confident states don't need to worry about that
kind of thing. But with the division of the Tate into two, and the
creation of the Victoria and Albert's new British Galleries, the
country has started to think more carefully about the nature of
culture as an expression of national identity, which seems to
suggest the onset of a bout of insecurity."
The Observer (UK) 11/04/01
LONDON'S
TIME PASSED? In the runup to this year's Turner Prize, some
are wondering if the edge is off London's contemporary art scene.
The buzz seems to be gone, and some are trying just a little too
hard to make buzz. "Once something becomes widely visible,
that is its moment of collapse. Tate Modern is the curtain call
for British art." The
Telegraph (UK) 11/03/01
MILLENNIUM
DOME TO NEW YORK? The man hired by the British government to
oversee the Millennium Dome suggests the structure be given to New
York to cover the World Trade Center site. “It would be a
wonderful gesture on the part of the Government to give the Dome
to the City of New York. It would be a marvellous means of seeing
the Millennium Dome having a meaningful purpose to its life.” The
Times (UK) 11/03/01
LEONARDO
BRIDGE OPENS: A bridge that Leonardo da Vinci designed 500
years ago was rejected by the Turkish sultan, and criticized as
being unbuildable. This week the bridge was finally opened, in
Norway, about 1,500 miles north of where Leonardo intended - in
Norway. Fans call it the 'Mona Lisa of bridges'. "This is the
first time any of Leonardo's architectural and civil engineering
designs has been built. There have been models, but this is the
first in full size." The
Guardian (UK) 11/02/01
REMBRANDT
AUTHENTICATED: A small 17th Century Dutch painting, purchased
by the National Gallery of Ireland for £20 in 1896 has been authenticated
as a genuine Rembrandt. At the time of its purchase "it was
believed to have been painted by another 17th-century Dutch artist,
Willem de Porter. While it is almost impossible to judge the precise
value of La main chaude, it is certainly now worth millions
of pounds." Irish
Times 11/01/01
TRAPPED
PAINTINGS: A group of El Grecos is trapped in Vienna. On loan
from America for a show last summer, their owners are reluctant to
let the canvases travel after September 11. "This apparently
timeless ensemble on the venerable museum walls is thus deceptive.
The gallery has become a depot where the pictures wait before
being shipped out. The museum has added a few works by
contemporaries of El Greco to justify their display, and looking
at the unexpected works has an almost illicit feel to it."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
11/01/01
THE
AFGHAN ART TRADE: Long before the latest war began, the
fabulous art treasures of Afghanistan — deposited there by
overlapping Greek, Buddhist and Islamic civilizations — were
presumed gone, destroyed by 20 years of war, economic
desperation and, most recently, by the Taliban's fundamentalist
brand of Islam. And yet during the last decade, much of the art
has made its way out of Afghanistan to North America, Western
Europe and, in particular, Japan. The
New York Times 11/01/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
-
Previously: THE
MOST DANGEROUS RELIGION (HINT: IT'S NOT ISLAM): The
world has watched in horror as Afghani fundamentalists
willfully destroyed cultural treasures. But destruction of
art is only a piece of a larger cultural battle going on
here. Is
international cultural conflict replacing political Cold War
conflict?
ArtsJournal 03/16/01
TAKING
ART LOCAL: In Los Angeles, a movement has been springing up
over the last several months that is changing the way the city's
residents look at art. Suddenly, the hottest destination for fans
of new art is a parade of small, locally owned, and almost
amateurish galleries. These new-fangled exhibition centers are
distinctive, reflective of their neighborhood surroundings, and,
most importantly, exist not to turn a profit, but to fulfill the
dreams of the people who have opened them. Los
Angeles Times 11/01/01
TYRANNY
OF INTERNATIONALISM: Are contemporary Egyptian artists being
stifled because foreigners control the country's art business?
"If the most active of these galleries are owned by
foreigners, who have been accused of monopolizing modern art to
fit their images, is the trend to promote art forms that are
totally foreign to Egypt and Egyptian artists, forms that focus on
denying national identity in favor of an international one?"
Egypt Today 10/29/01
JAPANESE
MUSEUM DIRECTOR FINED FOR BRIBES: The former vice-director of
a Japanese museum has been fined 9.2 million yen ($75,000) for
accepting bribes from the head of an art sales company. The fine
is equal to the amount of the alleged bribe. Mainichi
Shimbun 10/30/01
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9.
ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#issues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A
MISSION FOR ARTISTS AND WRITERS: America's critics abroad are
being answered by "tight-lipped or bland remarks offered
in rebuttal from American officials, who act as if articulateness
or eloquence were some weakness to be avoided." An
alternative: "A friendly, decently informed American,
thinking on his feet, listening to the members of his audience,
taking them seriously, answering questions — not defending every
government policy but defending by his performance a certain idea
of the free individual — that is what might work."
Slate 11/01/01
BUYING
AUSSIE: Director Peter Sellars said he was going to reinvent
the Adelaide Festival, and he has. Instead of a showcase for
international stars, next year's festival will present homegrown
Aussie and Aboriginal artists. "People want to see what is
happening in Australia and this will be an interpretation of
where we are today." The Age
(Melbourne) 11/01/01
-
SELLARS
MISSES THE PLANE: Peter Sellars couldn't be in Adelaide
for the program announcement so he made a taped message.
"Sellars's role from the start has been as a visionary,
thinker and facilitator, not a doer." But "in the
interests of being as contemporary as possible, Sellars left
his message so late it missed the plane. It was the kind of
flaw in execution that has marked the lead-up to yesterday's
festival launch, which in terms of programming is running
three months late." Sydney
Morning Herald 11/01/01
ALL-KNOWING:
Australia's opposition Labour Party wants to get elected on a
"knowledge nation" platform. The party promises to
transform the country, injecting $176 million for 600 new
specialist teachers, focusing on literacy and numeracy, $493
million for a fund to improve the quality of teaching and learning
at universities, doubling the number of research fellowships and
creating a new category of elite fellowships at a cost of $38
million, a new University of Australia Online, with 100,000 new
online undergraduate places by 2010, costing $320 million, and
35,000 new high skill apprenticeships, costing $105 million.
Sydney Morning Herald 10/31/01
ART
IN THE NEW CENTURY: The new head of the Australia Council says
digital art is a revolution. It is "new in the same way film
and television were the defining cultural drivers of the 20th
century, I cannot believe that digital arts and digital technology
won't be the comparable driving force in this century. It's not
just about how we produce art, it's how it will change the nature
of audiences, how it will change the access and distribution to
culture that will change." Sydney
Morning Herald 10/30/01
ADELAIDE
FUNDING RESTORED: Australia's Telstra has decided to reinstate
its $500,000 support for the Adelaide Festival. The company had
pulled its sponsorship after the festival ran ads featuring images
of Hitler. The
Age (Melbourne) 10/30/01
- HITLER
ADS PROVOKE ADELAIDE SPONSOR: The Adelaide Arts Festival
has lost a major $500,000 sponsorship after the festival aired
ads featuring Adolf Hitler. "A black-and-white television
commercial shows the German World War Two dictator behind a
camera apparently taking a photograph, then with his head
superimposed on to the body of the painter Pablo Picasso, and
again sitting in a film director's chair."
CNN.com 10/28/01
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