Week
of February 11-17, 2002
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
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ARE
YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN... When police came into one of
the largest independent bookstores in the country with a search
warrant demanding to know what books a client had bought, the
store said no. "Although many people aren't aware of it, in
the eyes of the law buying a book is different from buying a
bicycle or a pack of cigarettes. Through the years, the
protections accorded materials covered by the First Amendment,
such as books and newspapers, have evolved to protect the
institutions that provide those materials as well. So when law
enforcement officials say they just want information about the
books a suspect purchased, booksellers and civil rights advocates
see the demand as something that could erode book buyers' privacy
and First Amendment rights." Salon
02/13/02
NEXT
GENERATION LIBRARY: A new Irish library is pulling in the
crowds. It was built right next to a busy shopping center, its
librarian hands out carnations, and it projects a different tone
than traditional temples of books. "Here are the people who
have nowhere else to go, people who would go demented sitting at
home, people who have a thirst for knowledge and a dearth of funds
to satisfy it, people with an inquiry no bookshop could deal with
and people relieved, finally, to find a space where they are no
longer refugees but library users." Irish
Times 02/07/02
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2. DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#dance
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WHAT'S
WRONG WITH DANCE... The recent ballet season in New York was
as excellent as you'll find anywhere. "But all of this effort
only made the truth more glaring: we were wowed, but rarely moved;
impressed, but almost never inspired. Where was the edge, the
exhilaration, the sense of having been a part of something larger
than a masterful pirouette? Has ballet been reduced to a series
of sensational athletic moves, a gymnastics of turns, jumps, and
splits--and are audiences content to be cheerleaders? Are we so
seduced by pyrotechnics that we have forgotten that ballet might
also offer something more complex and daring?"
The New Republic 02/12/02
DANCING
FOR THE GOLD: As part of the Olympic Arts Festival (see
companion story in Visual Arts,) the Salt Lake organizers
have commissioned several dance pieces to be performed during the
games. The performances highlight the fine line between dance and
sport - after all, what is figure skating but dancing on ice, and
what is dancing but an Olympic event sans crooked judges
and endless press coverage? Los
Angeles Times 02/16/02
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3. MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#media
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OSCAR
NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED: Lord of the Rings picks up 13
nominations. A Beautiful Mind and Moulin Rouge were
tied for second place with eight nominations each, including
acting nominations for Moulin Rouge's Nicole Kidman and A
Beautiful Mind's Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly."
Los Angeles Times (AP) 02/12/02
- OSCAR'S
REAL MEANING: History shows that all five films nominated
yesterday for best picture will reap market benefits. Oscar
contenders, on average, earn $30 million more in box office
revenue." The
New York Times 02/13/02
- OSCAR
TRIVIA: Who has more Oscar nominations than any other
living person? What's unusual about the 10 movies nominated
for costume design and art direction? What Oscar record are
Will Smith and Denzel Washington a part of? Here's a list of
quirky Academy Award factoids related to this year's nominees.
The Age (AFP) 02/13/02
STUDIOS
TRY TO BLOCK PERSONAL PROGRAMMING: TV and movie studios have
sued makers of personal digital recorders to block them from adding
features. "If a ReplayTV customer can simply type The
X-Files or James Bond and have every episode of The
X-Files and every James Bond film recorded in perfect digital
form and organized, compiled and stored on the hard drive of his or
her ReplayTV 4000 device, it will cause substantial harm to the
market for prerecorded DVD, videocassette and other copies of those
episodes and films," the lawsuit states. Los
Angeles Times 02/12/02
BETTER
THAN FILM: A new generation of digital camera sensors promises
to revolutionize photography. "There is no longer any need to
use film." The
New York Times 02/11/02
AN
INDICTMENT OF IRRELEVANCE? During the fall and an audience turn
to all-news channels, America's PBS television network suffered a 19
percent decline in ratings, more than twice as steep a decline as
the major TV networks. "The average primetime household rating
for October-December 2001 dropped from 2.1 to 1.79 percent—down
0.4 points, representing a loss of about 350,000 households." Current
01/28/02
THE
LITERARY MOVIE: All of a sudden a wave of British books is being
made into movies. "These films may be thematically diverse, but
they occupy a similar niche and cater to a similar demographic.
They're plush adult entertainments; popular yarns that trail
literary prestige. Taken as a whole, this wave of Brit-lit cinema
spotlights a complex waltz between the author, the book publisher
and the film producer. But why is this happening now? And who is
calling the tune?" The Guardian
(UK) 02/15/02
L.A.
PRIORITIES VS. NYC SENSIBILITIES: "Recently, New York's
Museum of Modern Art, which is moving its Manhattan operations to a
former factory in Queens while the museum undergoes a three-year,
$650-million renovation, announced that it is moving its renowned
film stills archive, which includes more than 4 million stills, many
of them found nowhere else, to Hamlin, Pennsylvania." This
being the type of thing that passes for great art in Los Angeles, a
number of movie types have their knickers in a bunch. Los
Angeles Times 02/15/02
SAG
FIGHTING: The disputed election for leadership of the Screen
Actors Guild has got nastier, with president Melissa Gilbert and
contender Valerie Harper hurling accusations at one another.
"Words such as 'slug', 'hatchet man' and accusations of
hijacking the election are being hurled by supporters."
San Francisco Chronicle 02/14/02
THE
DOWNSIDE OF BOOK-BUYING FOR THE MOVIES: Movie producers buy the
rights to books because they offer a readymade audience that is
already familiar with the book. But there's also a downside:
"The lure and the curse of these books lie with their readers.
It's the struggle going on right now to get filmgoers interested in
The Shipping News: the obvious audience, the people who have
read E. Annie Proulx's novel, are the most sceptical. You can tempt
them with the Newfoundland scenery and a heavyweight cast but they
are wary." The Observer (UK)
02/10/02
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4.
MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#music
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LEAVE
NO CHILD BEHIND? The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is facing a
deficit, and cuts have begun to be made in the area of soloists and
guest conductors. "But management also is retrenching in a core
area it can ill afford to downgrade - music education. The CSO will
severely cut back the in-school ensemble programs, [and] it will
reduce the size of its training ensemble, the Civic Orchestra of
Chicago, for about two-thirds of the concerts scheduled next
season... Both moves represent misguided economy. If the institution
is worried whether the MTV generation will want to attend symphony
concerts once they become adults, depriving them of in-school
exposure to classical music is one way to insure these young people
will never make the plunge." Chicago
Tribune 02/17/02
HILL
TO GET A FACELIFT: Towns with populations of 100,000 or so do
not generally get the pleasure of regular visits from the world's
greatest orchestras, soloists, and choruses. But Ann Arbor, Michigan
has been upstaging America's big cities for decades, drawing the
world's best touring musicians to its spectacular Hill Auditorium,
renowned for both its architecture and acoustics. Now, plans have
been announced for a $38.6 million renovation of Hill, and true to
today's retro sensibilities, the end result will be a theater that
looks much as it did at its opening in 1913. Detroit
News 02/17/02
OPERA
AUSTRALIA LEFT IN THE LURCH: When tenor Bryn Terfel cancelled a
slew of dates for next fall, citing exhaustion and a desire to spend
time with his family, he probably didn't intend to send any of the
opera companies receiving the cancellations into panic mode. But
Opera Australia, which was counting on Terfel to anchor a AUS$2
million production of The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, may
have to cancel the whole show if Terfel's star power isn't on hand
to make it profitable. Moreover, the gaping hole that would appear
in the company's schedule will be hard to fill on such short notice.
Sydney Morning Herald 02/17/02
CHAILLY'S
REASONS: Ever since Riccardo Chailly's announcement that he
would be leaving the music directorship of the Concertgebow for a
less prestigious post in Leipzig, critics and musicians alike have
been asking what would cause anyone to do such a thing. As it turns
out, Chailly is one of those musicians for whom prestige is far less
important than the passion he has for his profession. What a
concept. Toronto Star 02/16/02
MENOTTI'S
GIFT: "In 1936 this Italian composer wrote what has become
the most-performed opera in America. He founded the renowned Spoleto
music festival and moved to a stately home in Scotland in the 1970s,
where his plan for an arts centre for young talent has foundered in
the face of indifference." Why can't Gian Carlo Menotti get
more respect? The Guardian (UK) 02/16/02
SO
IS THIS MUSIC OR ART? OR BOTH? "Sound art" is still a
fairly controversial and largely unknown concept, and the fact that
it takes place in traditionally silent museums and galleries rather
than concert halls probably isn't helping its image. But a new
travelling exhibit aims to unravel some of the confusion surounding
the medium, and mainstream it as well. "Visitors will witness
both the work of artists who create 'instruments' they play during
live performances and the work of those who build soundscapes from
abstract environments." Wired
02/15/02
COPYCAT
FLUTE? Did Mozart plagiarize for one of his most popular operas?
There are an awful lot of similarities in characters and music in
his Magic Flute to an opera called The Beneficent Dervish,
which was composed before Flute and which Mozart almost
certainly heard. Slate 02/13/02
ONE
FROM COLUMN A... The music of choice for a new iconic Levi's
commercial? A Handel Sarabande. But isn't classical music a sell for
older folks? Surely not the 20-somethings Levi is playing to.
"In the thick of the biggest technological, demographic and
moral upheavals for two centuries, our cultural needs are changing
gear. Classical no longer means what it did in the 20th century. It
is not the elite preserve of the middle-aged middle classes, nor is
it off limits to kids.." The Telegraph (UK) 02/13/02
A
CHANGING SOUND: To the confusion of listeners, the acoustics in
Philadelpia's new Kimmel Center seem to change with each concert -
and not always for the better. The acoustician has a variety of
explanations, and "the acoustics are especially changeable now,
when every visit to the new cello-shaped concert room reveals
physical changes. Construction continues, with carpenters and others
working the midnight-to-8-a.m. shift." Philadelphia
Inquirer 02/12/02
WHERE
DID CITY OPERA'S MONEY GO? A benefit for victims of September 11
by New York City Opera sold tickets for as much as $100, and the
house was nearly full. The cast and crew donated their services for
the occasion. So why did only $18,500 find its way to the September
11 fund? "There has been no accounting - it's all a big
mystery," a chorus member said. "We put our hearts into
this. Everybody wants to know what came of it." The $18,500
would equal the sale of just 185 of the benefit's $100 tickets,
although some tickets sold for $50 and $25." By contrast, the
Metropolitan Opera's fundraiser donated $2.6 million to the fund. New
York Post 02/10/02
UK
RECORDINGS SALES UP: While global sales of recordings went down
last year, in Britain they went up. "The total amount of money
spent on music in the UK rose by 5.3% in the UK in 2001 to £1.2
billion, according to the British Phonographic Industry." While
American recording companies blame digital piracy for their slump,
the UK figures suggest that if the product is good, consumers are
still buying. BBC 02/11/02
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5. PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#people
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHO'S
AFRAID OF GETTING OLD? It's been 40 years since Who's Afraid
of Virginia Woolf?, and Edward Albee is officially a
septuagenarian, a period of life when many playwrights are content
to fade into the background. Not Albee - two new plays will have
their New York openings in the next month, and the general consensus
is that the writer is having his most prolific and successful period
at a time of life when so many others have little left to say. The
New York Times 02/17/02
111-YEAR
OLD NYC ARTIST DIES: "Theresa Bernstein, an influential
painter and writer whose career spanned nearly 90 years, died
Wednesday. She was 111. Bernstein gained recognition in the early
1900s as one of the first female realists, a school of art that
depicted often gritty portrayals of people living everyday lives...
Also an activist, Bernstein was a founding member of the Society of
Independent Artists, a group begun in 1916 to sponsor regular
exhibits of contemporary art without juries or prizes." National
Post (CP) 02/15/02
SECURING
LANGSTON HUGHES' LEGACY: One of Langston Hughes' goals was to
establish himself as a major figure in 20th-Century literature.
"There was a sense of triumph in the air as more than 500
scholars and other enthusiasts gathered at the University of Kansas
to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Hughes's birth and to embrace
his legacy. In speeches, films, concerts, art shows and poetry
readings, they proclaimed him a visionary whose clarion voice
spanned the heart of the 20th century from the Harlem Renaissance to
the civil rights movement." The
New York Times 02/14/02
CRITICAL
DISCONNECT: Last week author Caleb Carr sent an
"enraged" letter to Salon.com complaining about reviews of
his book. He "bitterly attacked reviewer Laura Miller and New
York Times critic Michiko Kakutani, implying that they should stick
to writing about 'bad women's fiction'." Not surprisingly, the
comments didn't go well with readers, and now Carr has apologised.
"Meanwhile, Amazon.com has pulled Carr's self-review of Lessons
of Terror. The author had given himself the highest rating, five
stars, and stated, 'Several reviews have made claims concerning my
credibility that are, quite simply, libelous, and will be dealt with
soon'." Baltimore Sun (AP) 02/13/02
SWEARING
AT "SILLY" PRIZES: Madonna has been admonished by BBC
TV Channel 4 for swearing on live television as she presented the
Turner Prize. "Channel 4 said its trust in Madonna had been
abused. During the ceremony Madonna claimed awards shows were
'silly'. Channel 4 had put special precautions in place because of
the singer's reputation for shocking and she had been cautioned
about how she should behave." BBC
02/11/02
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6.
PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#publishing
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NEXT
HE'LL BE PRAISING MICROSOFT! Critic Johnathan Yardley recently
touched a nerve when, in the course of writing a
column on the state of bookselling, he dared to posit the
heretical notion that the big chain bookstores (Barnes & Noble,
Books-A-Million, etc.) are not only not evil, but actually superior
in many ways to small independents. A firestorm of responsible
opposing viewpoints has descended, and several of them got together
for a little conference-call Yardley-bashing. Holt
Uncensored 02/08/02
GOOD
CITIZENSHIP OR SNEAKY MARKETING? The literary magazine Book
has been making strides in the publishing world recently, and the
glossy, high-impact look it favors has been attracting attention
from some big-money types. But a controversy has arisen over Book's
newest benefactor, and despite protestations of editorial
independence from all sides, some observers are worried that the
magazine will soon become little more than a Barnes & Noble
promotional tool. Philadelphia Inquirer
02/14/02
IN
PRAISE OF SMALL PRESSES: "Everyone knows book publishing is
an easy thing to do, just as everyone knows he can run a baseball
team or put out a newspaper. The business model for these small
houses permits them to produce print runs of 3,000 or 4,000 or 5,000
copies and still have a chance for profit. Larger houses need
minimums of 12,000 or 15,000 copies, virtually eliminating the
likelihood that they will take a chance on the experimental. Would
one of today's conglomerate publishing houses be the first to
publish Joyce's Ulysses? Not likely." The
New York Times 02/14/02
THE
DISAPPEARING AUSTRALIAN: Only two of Australia's Top 10
best-selling books last year were Australian. "Interest in
Australian writers, it seems, is waning fast, leaving our culture in
danger of either being swamped by globally marketed mega-sellers, or
disappearing up its own, scarcely regarded, fundament. The figures
don't lie, but perhaps the root of the problem rests not in a lack
of interest, nor in disregard for our own history by publishing
houses. Perhaps it lies in the practical application of those two
awful words: 'Australian' and 'literature'."
The Age (UK) 02/12/02
CLUBBING:
It's a common perception in the book industry that book clubs divert
retail sales rather than add new readers. But a new industry study
concludes that "the clubs serve as powerful promotional
vehicles that stimulate sales through a wide variety of
channels." Publishers
Weekly 02/11/02
COMMISSION
INCREASE: "The largest literary agencies, William Morris
and International Creative Management, have both quietly raised the
commissions they charge authors to 15 percent of their advance and
royalties from 10 percent." The
New York Times 02/10/02
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7. THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#theatre
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TONY
THINKING: There don't look to be any new shows with the
blockbuster potential of The Producers waiting to open on
Broadway this spring. But "this year's Tony races may well be
the most competitive in years, with intense jockeying for
nominations and some close races for prizes."
The New York Times 02/15/02
ROUNDABOUT
TO BUY PARTY PALACE: New York's Roundabout Theatre - one of the
city's most successful repertory theatres, has decided to buy the
old Studio 54. "The Roundabout plans to buy the legendary 1970s
disco for $25 million to stage musicals. It will use $9 million
expected from the city's Department of Cultural Affairs and up to
$32 million raised from triple tax-exempt bonds. With more than
46,000 subscribers and more than 700,000 audience members last year,
the Roundabout has been on a roll since emerging from eight years of
bankruptcy in 1985." Newsday
02/13/02
A
TOUGH ROOM: The first-ever Korean theatre production to travel
to London's West End met with mostly dismal reviews last week. The
Korea Times isn't thrilled by the reviews: "Despite the
producers’ translating the lyrics to aid English-speaking
audiences, most of reviews said that the production was
'incomprehensible' (The Times 02/06, Guardian 02/05) or
'unintelligible' (Daily Telegraph 02/06) with London’s Evening
Standard saying the lyrics 'sink beneath criticism's reach'.’’
Particularly cutting, notes the Korea Times was the Telegraph
reviewer's making "a derogatory reference to dog-eating
Koreans." Korea
Times 02/12/02
KENNEDY
CENTER RECORD: The Kennedy Center's upcoming festival devoted
to the work of Stephen Sondheim set a record for one-day ticket
sales at the center yesterday. "The day's take for the
center's upcoming Sondheim Celebration topped out at $639,000.
That snapped the center's previous one-day, single-ticket record
of $526,000, set by Beauty and the Beast in 1996. The total
take for the series, including group sales and subscriptions,
reached $2 million." Washington
Post 02/12/02
SAG
ELECTION INVESTIGATION: The U.S. Department of Labor has
launched an official investigation into the Screen Actors Guild's
botched elections. "At the center of the drama is Valerie
Harper, who narrowly lost her bid for the office of president to
Melissa Gilbert during the fall elections. At the last minute,
voting rules were changed arbitrarily, and a decision to rerun the
election was challenged by Gilbert's camp. Broadway.com
02/08/02
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8.
VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#visualarts
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SMITHSONIAN
LAYOFFS: The Smithsonian has laid off 45 employees because of
declines in visitors and a $9 million budget shortfall. "The 45
employees all work in administrative areas for the Smithsonian's
central offices. This is the second time in five months that the
Smithsonian has dismissed workers in the face of declining revenues.
In October and November, the institution's business office laid off
60 people who worked mainly in the Smithsonian's gift shops and
theaters." Washington
Post 02/14/02
JEWISH
MUSEUM BOYCOTT: Some Jewish leaders are urging a boycott of New
York's Jewish Museum over an exhibition that presents work related
to the Holocaust. "The show includes such works as a 'Lego
Concentration Camp Set'; a 'Giftgas Giftset' of poison-gas drums
bearing the designer logos of Chanel, Hermes and Tiffany; a
photograph of emaciated Buchenwald inmates into which the artist
digitally inserted himself holding a Diet Coke; and the series of
starkly handsome Mengele busts. Some critics have called the artwork
"not merely tasteless but morally repugnant." Washington
Post 02/14/02
ICA
DEBATE GETS LOUDER: London's Institute of Contemporary Arts has
come in for a great deal of criticism lately, and they're a bit fed
up with everyone else thinking they could do better. One week after
a London critic accused the ICA of abandoning its edgy, avant-garde
past, one of its directors fires back: "At its best, the ICA
hasn't simply assumed that it knows what art and culture are; it
asked questions about them - and about their relationship to the
wider world." The Observer (UK)
02/17/02
NOTHING
SPECIAL: In the age of the blockbuster traveling exhibit,
museums draw in visitors by declaring nearly every new collection of
pieces as a "special" exhibition. But what's so special
about them? "Today's special exhibitions are much less special
than they ought to be: They often consist of nothing more than a
grab bag of pieces pulled out of some other institution's permanent
collection." Washington Post
02/17/02
DIVERSIFYING
THE DOCENTS: American museums have long had a tradition of
docents, volunteers who lead tours, answer questions, lick stamps,
and generally give the place an extra shot of personality.
Traditionally, these docents tend to be gentle retirees, soft-spoken
and aged. But now, several museums are making a distinct effort to
broaden the pool, including younger and more diverse voices in the
ranks of these über-volunteers. Los
Angeles Times 02/17/02
FOSTER'S
BOSTON: The director of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts yesterday
unveiled the design for a massive expansion, as envisioned and
executed by British architect Norman Foster. First impressions
have been favorable, with one local critic gushing that the
"brilliant proposal... promises to produce the first great
Boston public building of the 21st century." Boston
Globe 02/15/02
- DON'T
BUILDINGS COST MONEY? One question that keeps dogging the
Boston MFA expansion process still does not have an answer,
even after lavish plans for the future of the building have
been unveiled: who's paying for all this? But expected
opposition to the expansion as a whole from neighborhood
activists and preservationists has failed
to materialize, largely because the plans do not include
any addition to the size of the museum's basic
"footprint." Boston Globe
02/15/02
WHEN
YOU'VE DESTROYED EVERYTHING, THEN WHAT? A year ago artist
Michael Landy set himself up in an old London department store and
systematically destroyed all of his physical possessions. He
destroyed 7,226 items, including other artists' work and his most
prized belongings, and more than 45,000 people came to watch along
the way. So what's he up to a year later? "Landy has made
little art since Break Down. 'I didn't want to make any work.
I didn't want to do anything. I didn't feel the need to." The
Guardian (UK) 02/13/02
THE
STRANGE CASE OF THE MISSING CHAGALL: A painting found in an
undeliverable package in a post office in Topeka Kansas has been
authenticated as a Chagall stolen from New York's Jewish Museum last
June. Oddly, the painting had been the subject of a letter
"received by the museum and postmarked in the Bronx on June 12.
It was signed by an organization called the International Committee
for Art and Peace that claimed to have played a role in the
painting's disappearance. The letter said the work of art would not
be returned until peace came to the Middle East. The F.B.I. said it
had no knowledge of such an organization."
The New York Times 02/15/02
HIGH
COST OF ONLINE ART SALES: Sotheby's says it has lost $150
million in the past two years trying to make a go of an online
business. "Now, as part of a continuing effort to slash the
mounting costs and increase its range of potential customers,
Sotheby's is about to begin a joint venture with the giant American
web-based company eBay." The
Age (Melborune) 02/13/02
A
MATTER OF SUSTAINABILITY? An Australian artist's average
income in 1996-97 was $15,300. A group of 18 cultural institutions
yesterday called for an increase in funding for visual arts to $15
million a year. "We have come to a critical point where the
sustainability of Australia's visual culture is in serious
jeopardy." Sydney
Morning Herald 02/13/02
WHAT'S
WRONG WITH THE GUGGENHEIM: Some have gone so far as to say
that director Thomas Krens 'articulated a vision of the art museum
in the 21st century.' But this isn't 'a vision,' it's a ruse
masquerading as a wow. The only thing Krens did was cross Museum
Mile with Broadway: He created glitzy palaces and high-concept
productions dependent on onetime, out-of-town visitors. Now that
the museum has fired 90 people and postponed or canceled the
Kasimir Malevich, Douglas Gordon, and Matthew Barney surveys
(Barney's would have opened next week), the Guggenheim looks a lot
less "visionary" and a lot more dubious, with each
branch set up to support another branch. The business world calls
this leveraging. The street calls it a shell game. I think we can
call it reprehensible." Village
Voice 02/12/02
RECORD
WEEK AT THE AUCTIONS: Christie's Auction House has had a record
sales week. "A series of 19th and 20th century sales made a
total of £73.1 million, and record prices for six artists were
established. BBC
02/10/02
THE
ENRONIFICATION OF MUSEUMS: Raising money for art is good. But
the $385 million that Smithsonian chief Lawrence Small has raised
in the past two years has "come at a price. Parts of the
Smithsonian have been named after Orkin, Kmart, Fuji Film and
General Motors. The National Museum of American History is now the
Behring Center, after a benefactor's $80 million donation. No
fewer than five museum directors have chosen to leave or retire
since Mr. Small took office, some in response to the secretary's
unscholarly priorities." OpinionJournal.com
02/08/02
- SELLING
YOUR SOUL: Friends of the Smithsonian should cheer the
institution's loss of $38 million from a donor last week.
"The plain fact, though, is that the deal should never
have been done in the first place. Leaving aside the merits of
the Spirit of America proposal, it is self-evident that
this was bad curatorial policy, pure and simple. In his
eagerness to raise cash for his underfunded institution,
Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small made the mistake of
transferring basic curatorial responsibilities to someone
whose only apparent qualification for assuming them is a
well-padded bank account." Washington
Post 02/11/02
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9.
ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#issues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOORAY
FOR ELITISM! "These days, to be called elitist is to have
one's character defamed, like being called racist or sexist.
Unfortunately for arts organizations, fear of the label can have a
worse outcome than wearing it proudly - especially when it leads to
mundane programming and favors diversity over quality." Minneapolis
Star Tribune 02/17/02
ROYAL
OPERA HOUSE TO GO MULTIMEDIA: London's Royal Opera House is
going multimedia. Under new director Tony Hall (who knows something
about electronic media after his years at the BBC) the ROH will
broadcast performances on large screens. A test is planned for
London, and the idea will be tried elsewhere if the initial
broadcasts are a success. There are also plans to offer broadcasts
of live performances in cinemas and "the opportunity to have
online chats with stars including Placido Domingo and Darcey Bussell."
The Independent (UK) 02/13/02
INSITEFUL:
"Site-specific work has developed out of a gradual loss of
faith, or interest, in traditional purpose-built venues - the
gilt-and-velvet theatre in which the curtain rises on a play, the
gallery where flat paintings hang on white walls, or those dreary
municipal 'centres' such as the Barbican, that sprang up in the
Sixties and Seventies." For 10 years one of the most
ambitious presenters of site-specific work in the UK is a group
called Artangel. "Many such Artangel projects involve what is
known as 'the community'. But we don't tick politically correct
boxes, or set out to be accessible and non-elitist. It's the
artist who leads, and we follow." The
Telegraph (UK) 02/12/02
SHIFTING
SEAT OF LEARNING: For a long time, New England has been
considered home to America's most prestigious universities.
"But these days, the region's dominant hold on the
higher-education market is fading. The nation's population center
is shifting to the South and West, where a handful of public and
private colleges have emerged as real competitors in selectivity,
quality, and, most of all, price." Chronicle
of Higher Education 02/11/02
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10. FOR FUN
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#forfun
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHERE
NO ONE KNOWS YOUR NAME: "So what do you do?" "I'm
a conceptual artist." "How interesting. What project are
you working on at the moment?" "I only have one project. I
change my name by deed poll every six months."
The Guardian (UK) 02/13/02
SILENCING
EUROPE'S ORCHESTRAS? A proposed European Union law would limit
the amount of noise in the workplace. But under the law, symphony
orchestras playing all out would exceed the limits. "The
Association of British Orchestras (ABO) is fighting to be exempted.
The parliament wants to reduce the decibel limit of noise in the
workplace to 83, the point at which workers have to wear hearing
protection. A single trumpet is said to play up to 130 decibels and
the ABO fears that the directive would effectively silence
performances. 'It will stop us playing any loud music whatsoever,
affecting almost of all of the pieces played by orchestras'." BBC
02/12/02
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