Week
of November 18-24, 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. SPECIAL INTEREST
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#specialinterest
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IS
ARTS OUTREACH FUTILE? The need to widen public access to the arts has become
a modern political mantra. If government is to fund the arts, the argument goes,
then the arts must be made available to as many people as possible. They must be
made accessible to new audiences, especially to young audiences, by opening
doors, by cutting or abolishing entrance costs - and by reaching out to the
public through activities such as the opera workshops in East End schools. The
virtue of such efforts as these is now so universally accepted that it is
striking to discover that many in the arts have got their doubts about aspects
of it, and that those doubts are increasing." The
Guardian (UK) 11/22/02
THE
MOVIES MADE US THIS WAY? Why are Americans so cocky about going to war? Why
are they so confident everything will turn out in their favor? "The source
of our unworried attitude, our sureness that Iraq will be no more than a blip on
our glorious march toward the future, is, I very much fear, that we have been
brainwashed by history and, more to the point, by the movies into thinking we
cannot lose." Los Angeles Times 11/24/02 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2. DANCE
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#dance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUSTRALIAN
DANCE THEATRE ON TOP: Adelaide's Australian Dance Theatre has won three of
eight top awards in the sixth annual Australian Dance Awards. The Age (Melbourne) 11/17/02
WHO
OWNS DANCE? Who owns a dance once it's been done? "In the 18th and 19th
centuries, choreographers were rated so low that it was the composer's name
which usually headed the posters. The ownership of a ballet, if contested, would
generally have been considered the right of the theatre. This meant, if you were
a choreographer, that your ballet was fair game for the subsequent improving
hands of producers acquiring it for other companies or staging it after your
death." Prospect 11/02
FORMER
NATIONAL BALLET DANCER DIES IN MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT: William Marri, 33, a
former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, died Saturday after
being in a motorcycle accident in New York. Marri had left the National last
March to join the cast of the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp show Movin Out, which
recently landed on Broadway. "Marri was riding his motorcycle before an
evening performance when he crashed." Calgary
Herald (CP) 11/19/02
SLIMMING
DOWN TO GREATNESS: Matthew Bourne is famous for his subversive rewrites of
familiar ballets. But as his success got bigger and bigger through the 90s, he
got more caught up in keeping his company viable. "It was all getting a bit
grand. I felt that I was running an office rather than a company." So he
pulled back. Now he's back to choreographing low-budget shows... The Guardian (UK) 11/20/02 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#media
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LITTLE
EVIDENCE VIOLENT GAMES HARM ADULTS: Governments around the world have been
considering legislation regulating sale of violent and pornographic computer
games. Australia recently banned two controversial games. But social scientists
say "more careful research before we can reach a definitive conclusion,
(but) I know of no scientific evidence that the interactive nature of computer
games makes them more harmful than other popular media." The Age (Melbourne) 11/17/02
HAS
RADIO QUALITY BEEN HURT BY DEREGULATION? "The Future of Music Coalition
(FMC) charges in a new report that the 1996 Telecom Act, which allowed companies
to own more stations, 'has not benefited the public. It has led to less
competition, fewer viewpoints and less diversity in programming.' Nonsense, says
the National Association of Broadcasters. "Studies repeatedly show 75% of
Americans express high satisfaction with radio. This report has all the
credibility of Miss Cleo." New York Daily News
11/19/02
THE
ARTLESS CENSOR: If a film gets an "NC-17" rating in America, it
will have difficulty being distributed. So filmmakers often censor themselves
before the ratings board does, taming the content to fit an "R".
"Why do we accept similar censorious interruption when it's sex rather than
violence at issue? And why is the art-house audience, supposedly the one that
takes film most seriously, so willing to look the other way?" Denver Post 11/24/02
NAZIS
COME TO GERMAN TV: For the first time in more than half a century, German
television is showing a program about Nazis. And it's a comedy. "Non-German
directors in a long line that stretches from Charlie Chaplin to Roberto Benigni
may have dug humour from beneath the horror-strewn surfaces of Nazism and
fascism. But for Germans themselves, 'the catastrophe', as it is often called,
has been too painful to be seen as anything but a tragedy." The Guardian (UK) 11/19/02
REMAKING
PUBLIC TV: Since taking over as CEO of PBS in 2000, Pat Mitchell "has
been herding cats, struggling to bring unity and stability to the nation's loose
affiliation of 349 noncommercial television stations. With varying success, she
has shifted some of the network's 'icon' series from their hallowed time slots
in an effort to bring a new thematic consistency to the weekly offerings. None
of these changes, even ones that seem superficial, have been easy." Washington Post 11/22/02
HURT ME
BABY ONE MORE TIME: Forget sex and violence. What sells these days is
humiliation. Some "reality," eh? "Viewers have shown an
insatiable appetite for the queasy thrill that comes from watching an ordinary
person suffer searing public embarrassment in exchange for 15 minutes of
fame." The New York Times 11/20/02
THE NEXT BIG MOVIE
RENTAL MODEL: "Consumers love the Netflix rental model, which lets
subscribers order DVDs online, receive them by mail, and keep them for as long
as they want without late fees. Walmart.com likes it so much that it's launching
a nearly identical service early next year. 'They're printing packaging that is
essentially identical to ours. Blockbuster is close behind'." Wired 11/19/02
PLAYING
GAMES WITH RACE: Judging by a lot of today's movies, "you'd think race
was easy. No biggie whatsoever. Not only that, it's fun and entertaining."
But Hollywood has a long history of distorting race relations. "If
anything, Hollywood is — and nearly forever has been — in the
problem-dodging business, and if these movies are only becoming more strident in
their insistence that race on-screen isn't an issue, it's because off-screen it
so clearly, obviously and unsettlingly is." Toronto
Star 11/22/02
HOW WILL RADIO EVOLVE?
Does webcasting help promote recordings in the expectation that listeners will
go out and buy? Or is it just theft of free music? Should webcasters have to pay
substantial royalties for the privilege of using recordings? Have big
corporations consolidated the life out of traditional radio stations? These are
questions confronting those trying to determine the future of music-casting. BBC 11/17/02 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4. MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#music
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MUSIC
- GOOD FOR YOUR NEURONS: A new medical study reports that "the same
neural clusters that process the seductive pleasures of sex, chocolate and even
hard drugs also fire up for music. There is also persuasive evidence that the
brain tends to prune these neural circuits for maximum pleasure the way a
gardener cuts unproductive branches to make a rose bush bloom. Music, it seems,
may make the brain bloom best because it literally electrifies, at lightning
speed, a web of nerve paths in both hemispheres of our cerebral cortex that
connect the neural clusters processing musical pitch, rhythm, harmony, melody,
short term memory, long term memory, and emotions." Ottawa Citizen 11/18/02
OPERA'S
NEWLY BROAD APPEAL: "Opera as a subject for film peaked during the
silent era, when movies were accustomed to non-stop music and a kind of
melodramatic posturing that's still taken as normal on many opera stages. But
there's no current shortage of film directors willing to do opera in its usual
habitat, or even to write and stage new works." And we're not talking about
filmed versions of La Boheme, either, but new operas written by real
composers in collaboration with the directors. Maybe there's hope for the mass
appeal of the high arts yet. The Globe & Mail
(Toronto) 11/20/02
WHAT'S TO
BLAME? DOWNLOADING? THE ECONOMY? BAD MUSIC? Music recording giant EMI
reports sales down 3 to 6 percent for the year. "EMI held back on new
releases early in the year while it reorganized, eliminated 1,900 jobs and
dropped some 400 acts from its roster, including a $28 million buyout of Mariah
Carey's contract in January." The New York
Times 11/20/02
SELLING
OUT? "Where once pop musicians and their fans were revolted at the
thought of letting beloved singles be used to sell sports cars, software or
beer, today's fans are largely accepting while many musicians are eager to sign
on. To some degree, this change in attitude represents a shift away from the
Sixties-schooled idealism of the Baby Boomers and toward the media-savvy
cynicism of Generations X and Y." The Globe
& Mail (Canada) 11/19/02
MESSING
WITH WAGNER: A new production of Wagner's Die Meistersinger has
sparked angry boos. The staging, by one of Germany's most progressive directors,
includes an "on-stage disruption that breaks the score at a crucial moment
and leads to an additional scene of dialogue." At one point, "the
music grinds to a halt, and the cast start a debate on what constitutes 'German
and genuine'. If you are a Wagnerite, this is blasphemy." The Guardian (UK) 11/23/02
STRATEGY -
OVERWHELMING THE DOWNLOAD BUSINESS: Recording companies have been fighting
downloading services, trying to discourage (or sue out of existence) those who
enable downloads. Now they're getting into the downloading business themselves.
The "companies continue to use their financial muscle to slow the growth of
file-trading networks and to acquire digital-rights management technologies that
limit what people can do with MP3s and other files." The plan? take control
of the download market and shove the competition out to the curb. Wired 11/18/02
MITCHELL
QUITS THE BIZ: Singer Joni Mitchell insists that her new album, Travelogue,
will be her last. "Calling the music industry a 'corrupt cesspool', the
Canadian rages that: 'I'm quitting because the business made itself so repugnant
to me. Record companies are not looking for talent. They're looking for a look
and a willingness to cooperate'." The Guardian
(UK) 11/21/02
MAHLER'S
FIRST SHOT: A newly immigrated music professor only a few weeks on the job
in Israel, finds an important manuscript of Mahler's First Symphony. It's not
the final version that made it into print, but it reveals much about the
composer's thinking process in composing the work. Ha'aretz
(Israel) 11/21/02
DON'T
COPY, DON'T PLAY: Recording companies tired of seeing their new releases
copied and released online even before they hit stores, are tightening security.
They're not sending advance copies out, and limited pre-release copies are
digitally marked so they can be traced if copied. "With certain releases,
the record companies are much more careful. Record reps are now booking
appointments with me to play certain songs. I either have to hear it in their
cars or in my office, or somewhere else private, and they won't leave behind a
CD." National Post (Canada) 11/19/02
SUING
OVER A LOST STRAD: The Dallas-based Cremona Society is suing a New York
violin dealer after he lost a rare 288-year-old Stradivarius violin made in what
is known as Stradivari's "Golden Period." The Society had consigned
the instrument to dealer Christophe Landon in February, and in April Landon
reported it missing. "I do not remember putting it back into the
vault," Landon said last week. He said he has tried hypnosis to jog his
memory for possible clues. Nando Times (AP) 11/17/02
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. PEOPLE http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#people
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FORMER
NATIONAL BALLET DANCER DIES IN MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT: William Marri, 33, a
former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, died Saturday after
being in a motorcycle accident in New York. Marri had left the National last
March to join the cast of the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp show Movin Out, which
recently landed on Broadway. "Marri was riding his motorcycle before an
evening performance when he crashed." Calgary
Herald (CP) 11/19/02
THE
REEDUCATION OF JONATHAN FRANZEN: It's been a year since Jonathan Franzen
dissed Oprah and her book club. He says things have changed, but others aren't
so sure. "Franzen has the most dire case of literary status-anxiety that I
have ever seen," says Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of the New Republic.
"He demeans his own seriousness with his flurries of
positioning."Others are more positive. "This is someone whose work is
galvanized by his own contradictions, his own warring instincts," says
Henry Finder, editorial director of the New Yorker. Washington
Post 11/19/02
THE
WORK CONTINUES - IT'S THE CRITICS WHO CHANGE: Edward Albee had brilliant
success early in his career, but then went through a period where he couldn't do
much right, at least as far as the critics were concerned. Then he was golden
again. Albee, 74, maintains that the quality of his writing didn't much vary
during those wilderness years. The only difference was the critical reception.
Similarly he was, and still is, driven by the same motives, still irked by the
same social faults." The Globe & Mail
(Canada) 11/22/02
THE
REAL DAVE EGGERS - WHO KNOWS? Dave Eggers has a way of polarizing opinions
about him. Is he a brilliant writer, a lone wolf who has gone his own way and
eschewed Big Publishing? Or is he a shrewd PR guy who's figured out how to play
the fame game? "Eggers can't lose: he will either be remembered as one of
the leading American writers of the twenty-first century, or as someone who
discovered, nurtured and galvanised those who are." The Observer (UK) 11/17/02 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6. PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#publishing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NATIONAL
BOOK AWARD WINNERS: "The third time was the charm for Robert A. Caro,
who finally won the nonfiction prize for the third volume of his majestic Lyndon
B. Johnson biography, The Master of the Senate (Alfred A. Knopf). Caro
was a finalist in 1975 and 1983. Other winners include: for fiction, Three
Junes by Julia Glass; for young people's literature, The House of the
Scorpion by Nancy Farmer; and for poetry, In the Next Galaxy by Ruth
Stone. Washington Post 11/21/02
- CONFESSIONS
OF A JUDGE: Michael Kinsley ought to have known what was expected of him
when he agreed to be a judge for this year's National Book Awards. "It
served me right when the books started rolling in and I realized with horror
that I was actually expected to read them: 402 in all. Three FedEx men and
our local UPS woman had been retired on full disability by the time all
these packages were lugged up our front steps. If you lined up all these
books end-to-end, you would just be putting off having to open one and get
cracking. Who are you trying to kid?" Slate
11/21/02
LAST
DAYS FOR SALON? Is the online magazine Salon on its last legs?
This week its stock was demoted toWall Street's Little League. "The San
Francisco company has said it could run out of money by Dec. 1, barring an
emergency infusion of cash." In the past two years, Salon has
slashed staff and scaled back. "In all, Salon had revenue of $1
million in the last quarter. That is tiny by business standards, the equivalent
of sales at two neighborhood gas stations." San
Francisco Chronicle 11 22/02
KIDS
ONLINE: A new website is putting thousands of children's books from
countries around the world online. And it's free. "When it's completed in
about five years, the International Children's Digital Library will hold about
10,000 books targeted at children aged three to 13. 'There are places in the
world where you're going to find a computer way before you find a library or a
book store'." The Age (Melbourne) 11/22/02
FAMOUS
POETS SCAM: A writer enters a poetry competition, then is surprised at how
bad the winning poem is. "What most of the other poets I met didn't know is
that the Famous Poets Society is a vanity publisher that heaps praise on even
the worst poems to sell anthologies and convention tickets. The letter about the
coveted Shakespeare trophy and poet-of-the-year medallion went to roughly 20,000
people, 500 of whom made the trek to Florida. Some of the poets, thinking this
was a once-in-a-lifetime honor, paid for the trip with help from church groups,
city councils or Rotary Club chapters." Los
Angeles Times 11/24/02
SALES
THAT AREN'T KID'S STUFF: We make a fuss about adult bestsellers. But classic
children's books keep selling year after year. "Chris Van Allsburg's The
Polar Express, which has sold more than 4 million copies since 1985,
magically reappears on the bestseller list every Christmas. The Poky Little
Puppy has racked up sales of more than 14 million since 1942. Goodnight
Moon (1947) is still going strong at 6 million. These are among the books
that never seem to date or disappear." Washington
Post 11/24/02
THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS:
If you want to get a sense of the plot of the next Harry Potter book, it'll only
cost you $9500 or so. The latest installment of the wildly popular series by J.K.
Rowling still has no official publication date, but Rowling has announced that
she has prepared an index card with 93 'random words' on it which hint at the
plot, and that card will be auctioned next month at Sotheby's in London.
Seriously, an index card. Will be auctioned. At Sotheby's. New York Post 11/21/02
STOLEN
BOOKS RETURNED: "Four rare books — including a 17th century edition
by Sir Isaac Newton — were returned to Russian libraries Monday after police
arrested three people suspected in their theft." Yahoo! (AP) 11/19/02
NO
HARD FEELINGS - FAILED POET GIVES MAG $100 MILLION: Some 30 years ago, the
editor of Poetry Magazine rejected a submission by one Mrs Guernsey Van Riper
Jr. of Indianapolis. Over the next few decades she kept submitting poems and he
kept rejecting them. It turns out she was fabulously wealthy, and, now 87 years
old, has just made a gift to the influential Poetry of $100 million over the
next 30 years, with "no strings attached." Chicago
Tribune 11/18/02
- $100 MILLION FOR
POETRY? "One can but wonder what this will do for that most
marginalized literary form. Visibility, for sure, since suddenly there's
lots of 0000's at the end of the $$$$'s attached to the word poetry. Poets
are a quirky lot, and the first, but not lasting, reaction from some was
concern, since this peripheral art's loneliness was seen as part of its
strength; the next common reaction was that the idea of connecting money to
poetry was somehow unpoetic." The New York
Times 11/21/02
AN INDIE SUCCESS
STORY: Enough with stories about the woes of independent bookstores. Here's
a success story, in a southern suburb of Miami: "At a time when book lovers
are mourning the disappearance of the independent bookstore, Books & Books
has become a beacon of hope for independent booksellers. It is one of the few
stores in the country that have succeeded in showing that individuality,
personality and a passion for books can go a long way in competing against
retail giants." The New York Times 11/19/02
BOOKER
WON'T ADMIT AMERICANS: Organizers of the Booker Prize say that they have
decided not to open up the award to American writers. Earlier this year the
Booker, which is given annually to an author who writes in English somewhere in
the Commonwealth, toyed with the idea of including Americans in the competition.
Critics complained the move would damage the tone of the award. The New York Times 11/18/02
TOUCH
ME, FEEL ME... There is a visceral thrill to collecting books. Sure they're
difficult to store. But "most true book-heads will not be content with
contact by catalogue alone. They must sniff the dust of ages, they must browse,
they must handle the goods. Dealers have responded to this urge by peregrinating
around the country offering their wares at book fairs." The Spectator 11/09/02 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7. THEATRE http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#theatre
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GOING
ONE AT A TIME: Fewer people are buying season tickets to the theatre. That's
got theatre people anxious. "But a drop in subscriptions nationwide doesn't
translate that fewer people are going to the theater. Actually, more people than
ever are going. A recent survey by Theatre Communications Group showed that 22.5
million people attend nonprofit theaters, a slight rise from the previous year.
But the safety net that a large subscription base affords is now becoming
increasingly frayed, making theaters vulnerable to the downturns in the economy,
increasing competition for the leisure dollar and fickleness of audiences."
Hartford Courant 11/24/02
SWEETHEART DEAL ON THE MAGNIFICENT MILE: Chicago's
Lookingglass Theatre is one of country's best. But it's hardly wealthy. Which
just makes the deal for its new $5.5 million, two-theater complex located in the
middle of the city's high-rent Magnificent Mile retail area more amazing. If the
theatre were paying market rent for its new 16,000-square-foot facility,
"it would be spending millions of dollars per month ($4.8 million if you do
the math and ignore the discounting that can go on in real estate deals)."
But "it has signed a 10-year lease with the City of Chicago, with an option
to extend for a further 10 years. The rent is $1 per year." Chicago Tribune 11/24/02
PRODUCERS NOT SUCH A HOT
TICKET ANYMORE? The Producers is showing signs of slowing ticket
demand on Broadway. Blockbuster musicals usually go years before running out of
steam at the box office, but Producers is only two seasons old.
"Advance ticket sales going into January and February have slipped; the
overall advance is under $10 million (it was once over $20 million); and,
according to ticket brokers, demand for group sales tickets has declined
markedly." New York Post 11/22/02
42ND STREET
PUSHES WEST: A new section of 42nd Street's Theatre Row in New York opens.
"It is a major piece in the revitalization of what is said to be the
biggest Off Broadway theater redevelopment in New York history." The New York Times 11/21/02
DEATH
OF THEATRE: Is theatre dying in Great Britain? "The statistics bear
this out. While overall theatre attendance in Britain has recovered after the
dip caused by 11 September, young people today are much less likely to go to the
theatre than any other age-group. According to a recent report by the Arts
Council of England, only 23 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds attended a ‘play
or drama’ in 2001. The figures aren’t much better for 35- to 44-year
olds." The Spectator 11/02 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8. VISUAL
ARTS http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#visualarts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ART
CRITICS - UNDERWORKED, UNDERPAID: So what does you average art critic look
like? The National Arts Journalism Program has produced a new report with some
answers. "For starters, most art critics make less than half their annual
income writing criticism. Only 40 percent of those surveyed are employed as
full-time critics, yet 75 percent function as chief art critics for their
publications. Furthermore, some of the nation's largest daily papers do not have
full-time art critics. The most notable example is USA Today, Gannett's national
newspaper with a circulation of 2.3 million. Most critics are older than 45 and
make less than $25,000 a year from their work as critics." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 11/22/02
HEY - A
CANALETTO FOR YOUR HOME? Britain's Art Fund is celebrating its 100th
anniversary, "during which it claims to have stopped nearly half a million
works of art from going abroad." The fund is arranging exhibitions all over
the UK, some of them in unusual locations. None of the plans more unusual,
though, than a proposal to put an Old Master painting in a private home.
"Obviously there are security and conservation issues, but we seriously
intend to allow an Old Master painting to be shown to an ordinary home. We are
serious. I can assure you it will happen, the museums love the idea." The Guardian (UK) 11/19/02
SEX SELLS - ONE
MUSEUM THAT TURNS A PROFIT: The Museum of Sex in New York has been open six
weeks, and at $17, its admission price is high. But already the museum has
attracted 15,000 visitors, many more than needed to "make a profit." The New York Times 11/19/02
ANGER
OVER STREET ART IN ARGENTINA: About 60 artists placed dozens of human-like
dolls covered in fake blood and vomit on the streets of Buenos Aires. The
controversial art project angered many when "ambulances were called and
passers-by distressed after seeing what they believed were dead bodies on the
corners of some of the city's major streets and avenues." Ananova 11/18/02
GUGGENHEIM
VISITS DOWN 25 PERCENT: Is the Guggenheim Museum in danger of going
bankrupt, as a New York Sun story suggested in late September? Not at all, say
museum officials. Sure the museum is hurting - staff has been cut, and the
museum's Soho gallery was closed - and attendance is down 25 percent this year.
For next year? "Staff layoffs, reduced museum hours, and changes in the
exhibition programme were all suggested as possibilities, according to a
spokesperson for the Guggenheim." The Art
Newspaper 11/15/02
DON'T
BOX ME IN: Why is it that some of the most critical people condemning
contemporary art seem to have the strongest ideas of exactly what art is? And
those ideas usually involve some sort of idea which has been done before.
Beware, writes Martin Gaylord, having inflexible definitions of art is a sign of
narrow minds... The Spectator 11/02
FORT
WORTH - A NEW INTERNATIONAL PLAYER: The new Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
opens to the public in two weeks. But this past weeks critics were allowed in to
take a look. "In addition to a sublime building designed by award-winning
Japanese architect Tadao Ando, it now boasts works of a quality one expects of a
museum that has suddenly become the country's second-largest arena for postwar
art. The message rings clear: What was once considered a regional museum with
modest ambitions has become part of the international mainstream." Dallas Morning News 11/24/02
KEN'S
ART/FRANK'S BUILDING: Ken Thomson's $370 million gift to the Art Gallery of
Ontario will help make possible a $178 million rebuild of the museum by Frank
Gehry. Gehry grew up in Toronto before leaving for the US in 1947, but up til
now hasn't designed anything for his hometown. "The Thomson-Gehry alliance
is a magical one. The men enjoy a relaxed jocularity together and their
admiration for each other is easy to read." The
Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/21/02
- THE
GLENN GOULD OF COLLECTING: Last summer Canadian art collector Ken
Thomson paid $117 million for a Rubens (or maybe it wasn't a Rubens,
depending on who you ask). This month he announced a gift of $300 million to
the Arts Gallery of Ontario. The man's appetite for things art is voracious.
"To describe Ken Thomson as a driven collector is like describing Glenn
Gould as a gifted pianist; the words cannot quite do it justice." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/23/02
OUTSIDER
ART - PHENOMENAL OR FRAUDULENT? "Outsider art -- or, to be reductive,
folk art made by the unschooled (and frequently unskilled) -- is the hottest art
phenomenon to sweep galleries and academies since the identity art craze of the
eighties and nineties. The poor, alienated, ignorant and mentally marginal are
the new 'ethnics'; their otherness as remote and alluring to privileged art
buyers as any African mask... But how innocent can art be when it is so smartly
packaged?" The Globe & Mail (Toronto)
11/21/02
MEXICAN
WALL ART STANDOFF: A few years ago the Mexican government hired an artist to
paint a mural depicting Latin-American writers on a wall of the new San
Francisco main library. The mural was finished and dedicated, but the Mexican
government never paid the artist. A change in government swept out the official
who commissioned the work and the new government is unwilling "to accept
responsibility for decisions of the past." San
Francisco Chronicle 11/18/02
UFFIZI
GALLERY MAY SHUT: Florence's Uffizi Gallery could see its lights turned off
because it has been unable to pay its utility bills. "The arts authority
owes £165,000 for electricity and other bills have been mounting up. Its
financial plight, which caused a stir in the art world when it was reported in
the newspaper La Repubblica yesterday, is attributed to recent government moves
to make the management of art heritage autonomous." The Telegraph 11/21/02
THE ART
OF SINKING: How fast is Venice sinking? For at least three centuries it's
been going down at a rate of about 8 inches a century. How do scientists know?
By looking at the paintings of 18th Century painter Giovanni Antonio Canaletto.
The scientists turned to Canaletto because precise measurements of the city’s
sea level only date to 1872, while the artist’s works are from the previous
century. Canaletto was so true to detail he even painted the dark algae stains
on buildings along canal banks, a detail many artists avoided for aesthetic
reasons." MSNBC (AP) 11/21/02 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9. ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#issues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE MAN WHO
SAVED UNESCO: Unesco is the United Nations' cultural wing. But it's been
disorganized and ineffective for much of its 30 years of existence. But under a
sharp new director, "today Unesco not only displays more dynamism,
efficiency and financial transparency—'accountable to all State
holders'—than has been seen since its foundation in 1945, but it has also
persuaded the US to return to membership." The
Art Newspaper 11/15/02
AN
ARTS MAYOR HAS DIFFICULTY DELIVERING: When Atlanta's new mayor was elected
last year, hopes were high in the cultural community. "She not only
understood the arts, she consumed them, championed them and lived with them long
before she reached the top job at City Hall. The business of running Atlanta,
however, has stifled the artistic muse. The city's financial mess and archaic
sewer system have prevented her from making arts and culture more of an official
priority." Atlanta Journa-Constitution 11/17/02
PEEL BACK THE
SCREEN: It's the art of worrying over the study or explanation of something.
Suddenly '' 'Meta'' is a liminal term these days; it's creeping more and more
into everyday conversations, even if it's not nearly as widespread as, say,
'irony'. Some people talk about meta all the time... New
York Times Magazine 11/17/02
THE
DEATH OF HIGHER LITERACY? Scholar and cultural critic George Steiner is
worried about us. Specifically, he worries that while nearly all of us know how
to read a computer manual, very few of us have read The Iliad or Ulysses.
Is the modernity of Western life destroying our cultural history? "Every
generation loses a little bit of the past, as new poems and novels jostle for
attention. But Steiner (like Baudrillard, Sontag and Paglia) believes that the
catastrophic forgetfulness that has overtaken the West since the Second World
War is a sign that the print culture that sustained us for six centuries is
actually dying." The Globe & Mail (Toronto)
11/21/02
$100
MILLION + $80 MILLION - SOON YOU'RE TALKING SERIOUS MONEY: A few more
details about Ruth Lilly's $100 million gift to Poetry Magazine this week.
"According to local court records, Lilly also donated at least $80 million
to Americans for the Arts, an advocacy and educational group based in
Washington. Its president and CEO, Robert Lynch, said that his group's annual
budget is currently $8 million and that its endowment is less than $1
million." And this: "In 1981, a court declared Lilly mentally
incompetent, and the control of her estate was turned over to her brother,
Josiah K. Lilly III. Since his death, her lawyer, Thomas Ewbank has served as
her attorney. National City Bank in Indianapolis has managed her estate, now
worth about $1.2 billion. Nonetheless, she can make her wishes, Ewbank
said." Boston Globe 11/20/02
IN SEARCH OF FUNDING:
Earlier this year the Nova Scotia government disbanded its arts council, looking
for "administrative savings." Now a group of arts supporters has
formed its own arts support group. "The new group, Arms Length Funding for
the Arts (ALFA), calls itself a 'broad group of concerned Nova Scotians' trying
to restore funding for the arts." CBC 11/22/02 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10.
FOR FUN http://www.artsjournal.com/Arts%20beat.htm#forfun
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE
SCHOLARLY BUFFY: A Melbourne University professor puts out a call for
scholarly papers on the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is flooded
with proposals. "Scholarly Buffyphiles prefer the Online
International Journal of Buffy Studies (www.slayage.tv),
a website governed by an editorial board with academic contributors
examining notions such as Buffy as 'transgressive woman warrior', or Buffy
'and the pedagogy of fear'. Intellectuals around the globe are
deconstructing, dissecting and extrapolating from Buffy, across
disciplines, in journals and at conferences too." The Age (Melbourne) 11/19/02
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