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IDEAS
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas
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Why Philosophy Has Lost Its Grip On The World There was a time philosophy was thought a lofty pursuit - a calling that tried to explain the world. But "despite important developments in recent decades in philosophical accounts of thought and meaning, law and ethics, and knowledge and consciousness, the enterprise of philosophy is no longer taken very seriously nor accorded any special status in the broader culture." Why? "Too often these days we reduce philosophy to confession and intimacy to kitsch precisely because we live without a sense of the democratic res publica. Boston Review 12/02
A New Way To Pay For School So school is too expensive for most students to pay for without help. And student loans are becoming more difficult to get and harder to afford. So MP3.com founder Michael Robertson came up with a new idea to loan students money. Instead of paying set interest rates, students approved by Robertson's program agree to "pay less than 1 percent of her future income for 15 years after graduation to cover the new loan." Wired 12/22/02
This Just In - History Continues Francis Fukuyama wonders if history has restarted again, after famously having declared an end of history. "The ‘end of history’ hypothesis was about the process of modernisation. Progressive intellectuals around the world spent much of the last century and a half believing that historical progress would result in an evolution of modern societies toward socialism. The process of modernisation was, moreover, a universal one that would sooner or later drag all societies in its train. Understood in this fashion, September 11 represents a real challenge." Center for Independent Studies 08/08/02
Can Architecture Overcome Its Ideology? "What does it mean to say that an architect, considered in his capacity as an architect, espouses an ideology? Think about it: Did Brunelleschi have an ideology? Did Alberti? Did Stanford White? They certainly had opinions about what made good architecture: they embraced some things and disparaged others. But having an opinion is not the same thing as espousing an architectural ideology." But with Modernism, we're dealing with a different animal... New Criterion 12/02
Those Flying Saucers Of 15th Century Art So you think UFO's are an invention of the 20th Century? How then to explain these pictures of Unidentified Flying Objects found in European paintings of the 15th Century? ETContact.net
America's Major Culture Groups To Meet For First Time For the first time, America's major arts service organizations will gather together. The American Symphony Orchestra League, Opera America, Dance USA, Theatre Communications Group, Chamber Music America, Chorus America, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Meet the Composer, American Music Center, American Composers Forum and Music Critics Association of North America will hold conferences in June 2004 in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 12/20/02
Non-Artists Control Aussie Arts Just who is running Australian arts organizations? Not artists. "Just under 12 per cent of the directors on the 40 boards are practising artists, former artists, or teachers in the arts. The 40 boards comprised 356 directors, of whom 42 are artists, artistic directors or teachers of an art form. The nation's arts boards are dominated by marketing executives, investment bankers, professional company directors, media personalities and accountants." Sydney Morning Herald 12/21/02
Stuck In The Past = Irrelevance "In an era when the Prime Minister asks to be called Tony, haven’t we in the arts been left behind by the audience?" Artforms that stick to tired old ways of doing things are at risk of becoming irrelevant. "Let’s take the arts right into the heart of contemporary life and aspiration in any way possible." The Scotsman 12/20/02
The Pressure To Make It Students at America's top universities have little time for fun. They've had to work too hard to get in. "They've usually started a few companies, cured at least three formerly fatal diseases, mastered a half dozen or so languages, and marched for breast cancer awareness through Tibet while tutoring the locals on conflict resolution skills and environmental awareness. Their main lack is time. Students boast to each other about how little sleep they've gotten, and how long it's been since they had a chance to get back to their dorm room..." Weekly Standard 12/23/02
Why Not Arts For Arts Sake? So the Blair government threw a bunch of money at arts programs for children because it was proven that arts education cut crime. "At the bottom of the press release was a note saying that in areas where the scheme had been successful, burglary rates had fallen by up to 23 per cent." Great. But why have to justify supporting arts education on social grounds? "Is it too far fetched to believe in a future where artists and performers of all sorts are a familiar and essential part of the school community?" The Scotsman 12/18/02
What A Lottery Can Do (Should It Do?) In Scotland, the National Lottery has, for the last eight years injected millions of pounds into sport, heritage, health, education and the arts. The massive infusions of cash have been used to "improve buildings, facilities and the well being of communities. It’s been very successful: the Scottish Arts Council alone has invested £170 million in arts facilities and activities up and down the country, not just for flagship buildings, but for dozens of musical instruments, children’s workshops and skills training." Now Scots are being asked if the money's going to the right places... The Scotsman 12/16/02
Scotland's Disappointing Arts Showing Three years of Scottish home rule have not been the benefit to the arts many had hoped. It had been thought that Scottish governments would be able to better promote Scottish culture. But "before you knew it consultants were being commissioned and committees being formed, passing the baton back and forward. Serious money had been announced, but when a funding crisis hit local theatres last year the till was raided and the enterprise delayed a full year."
The Scotsman 12/16/02
Dave Barry Vs. Ballet Dave Barry knows that saying he doesn't like ballet is wrong - way wrong. But he doesn't care. "My problem - and it's MY problem, NOT ballet's problem - is that, because I am culturally unsophisticated, all ballet looks to me like -- even though I know there is MUCH more to it - a troupe of mincing mimes. Whatever the ballet plot is about - love, hate, joy, sorrow, the Russian Revolution, measles - the reaction of the dancers is: 'It's MINCING time'!" Miami Herald 12/22/02
Royal Ballet Names New Artistic Director Monica Mason has been named the new artistic director of London's Royal Ballet. "Mason, 60, who is known affectionately at Covent Garden as 'Mon', has been a mother and something of an inspiration to a battered company since taking the reins temporarily after the ignominious departure of Ross Stretton. The Australian former car mechanic was forced to resign two months ago amid allegations of inappropriate relationships with some of his dancers." The Guardian (UK) 12/19/02
Baryshnikov Dissolves Company, Will Open Arts Center Mikhail Baryshnikov has disbanded his White Oak Project dance company and says that he will open a new performing arts center in New York in 2004. "The Baryshnikov Center for Dance, which is to have its headquarters on West 37th Street, plans to offer space to performing arts groups at subsidized rates. But he emphasized that its major program will be a laboratory in which artists will work with mentors from the worlds of dance, theater, film and lighting and costume design." The New York Times 12/19/02
Graham Company Names Directors Terese Capucilli and Christine Dakin, lead dancers in the Martha Graham Company since joining it in the 1970s, have been appointed artistic co-directors of the Martha Graham Dance Company. The company has been revived again after winning a lawsuit against Graham heir Ron Protas. The New York Times 12/19/02
Sydney's International Ballet Competition For the first time in its history, the Genee International Ballet Competition is being held outside of London. The finals played out in Sydney over the weekend. The 16 finalists includes 10 Australians, five from Britain and one from Thailand. But "with two-thirds of the 89 aspirants coming from Australia, and the bulk of the remainder from Britain, how truly international was the competition?" Sydney Morning Herald 12/17/02
Arab Groups Protest Exclusion of Palestinian Film From Oscars "Arab-American and Palestinian groups have denounced the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for allegedly keeping the acclaimed film 'Divine Intervention' out of the running for a foreign-language movie Oscar on the ground that Palestine isn't a state. But the academy denies excluding Divine Intervention, saying the film was never submitted." The film's distributor says it wasn't submitted because the Academy made it clear ahead of time it wouldn't be considered. Philadelphia Inquirer (Reuters) 12/22/02
Cyberspace Artists Run Afoul Of Internet Rules (What Rules?) "For some digital artists, these are perilous times. With the Internet's rise have come increased concerns about everything from online privacy to digital piracy. Naturally artists are addressing these matters in Internet-based works. So an online project about copyright violations inevitably violates some copyrights, and a work that warns how a computer could be spying on you could very well be spying on you." The New York Times 12/23/02
The End Of Star Power? Who rules at the box office? The big stars? Not this year. The top-grossing movies didn't feature big stars. "Taken a gander at Variety lately, Mr. Big Studio Executive? Because if you had, you'd see something that'll set you back on your heels faster than a casting-couch lawsuit. The big stars this year are pipsqueaks whose names you're still trying to figure out how to pronounce..." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/21/02
Too Depraved To Be Art? A new genre of movies is so sexually and violently explicit, some critics wonder if they're too depraved and should just be ignored. No. "These movies shouldn't be rejected. They are too well-made, too challenging, too unsettling to be ignored. Certainly, they raise questions - particularly about whether or not art must remain 'decent' in order to be effective - that can't be sidestepped. But if this is a disturbing trend, then it is also disturbing in the best sense of that word - disturbing our preconceived notions of what constitutes art, and forcing us to consider and question our own responses to graphic images on the screen." Chicago Tribune 12/22/02
The Chicago Way (How To Adapt A Musical) "From a legit theater perspective, 'Chicago' is the first good cinematic adaptation of a Broadway musical since a very good one, 'Cabaret.' (Some would argue for 'Hair,' which came out in 1979.) 'Cabaret,' directed by Bob Fosse, came out in 1972. So: Let's call it 30 years." Chicago Tribune 12/22/02
Spielberg Vs. New Technology Director Stephen Spielberg loves his special effects - but surprisingly, he's not happy about the technical revolution in the movie business. "His objection is truly Luddite: it is to the idea that this technology represents progress at all. The digital moving image, unblemished by scratches, hairs, burn holes or splice marks, may mesmerise techies, but purists such as Mr Spielberg believe that it robs movie-making of its artistry. Spielberg shudders at the notion of atomised viewers calling up a film on their laptops at the touch of a button, home and alone. Mr Spielberg prefers the idea of strangers huddled together in the dark, watching a flickering image on the screen." The Economist 12/20/02
Golden Globe Nominations "Chicago, a musical about lady killers in prison, received a leading eight Golden Globe nominations Thursday, including best musical or comedy and best actress for stars Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The Hours, a three-tiered story about women coping with sadness whose lives are linked to a novel by Virginia Woolf, had seven nominations including best film drama, best actress for Nicole Kidman and supporting actor for Ed Harris." Nando Times (AP) 12/19/02
Everyone Has His Favorites "Toronto movie critics have voted Spike Jonze's screenwriting satire Adaptation as the best film of 2002, making the wide-open Oscar nominations race even tougher to call. The 25 members of the Toronto Film Critics Association showered Adaptation with kudos in their annual list of year-end prizes, citing the film for best picture, best male performance, best supporting male performance, and best screenplay... Critic and industry groups traditionally kick-start the Oscar nominations process, and this year they've been all over the map in assigning glory." Toronto Star 12/19/02
PBS Looks For New Funding Tricks For years, PBS has been looking for more effective methods of drawing sponsors, whether that meant pitching corporate responsibility or blurring the line between funding announcements and outright advertising. But with the recent pullout of ExxonMobil from its club of program underwriters, PBS (and its Boston flagship, WGBH-TV) is stepping up efforts to secure a money stream for the future. Boston Globe 12/19/02
From The Big Screen To The Bookshelf People who value literature have often lamented the dominance of movies and television in today's popular culture, fearing that such passive entertainment would eventually bury forever reading as an entertainment. But in the last few years, blockbuster movies such as Lord of the Rings and The Talented Mr. Ripley have sent moviegoers scurrying to bookstores in search of the titles that inspired the films. Publishers, naturally, love the trend. Denver Post 12/18/02
The Universal Everything... What if your radio could act as a cellphone one minute, a TV the next, and a PDA after that? "Imagine if the only thing stopping your handheld PDA from simultaneously being a GPS receiver, phone, radio or miniature TV was your willingness to download and install some free software program." The GNU project is working towards the day... Salon 12/18/02
North Koreans Want James Bond Stopped The government of North Korea is demanding that the latest James Bond film (which portrays North Koreans as the bad guys) be pulled from screens around the world. "It is a dirty and cursed burlesque aimed to slander North Korea and insult the Korean nation." The Telegraph 12/17/02
Over The Hill At 30 Turn 30 in Hollywood, and your career is all but over. And we're not just talking actors and actresses. Writers too. "Hollywood once had a notorious blacklist of political radicals; today it has a greylist of 'oldies'. A producer of the ABC sitcom Spin City is on the record as saying that writers over 29 were deliberately not hired. Some writers complain they cannot find an agent once they pass 50, making it almost impossible to present scripts." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/16/02
The Death Of Arena Rock Those giant arena-size rock concerts - did they ever make sense? Now they seem like dinosaurs from another age. "One pictures thousands of minions working in warehouses on computer run sets, and one wonders why. The technology involved is both mind boggling and useless - unless some other use can be found for giant human gerbil-balls, in much the same manner that cell phones came of astronautry. Arena rock seems cheesy now even at its best, but one reason for the obsolescence is simply that it outpriced itself." The Scotsman 12/22/02
CD Sales Slide During Holidays "In the five weeks since mid-November, when the record labels began their biggest holiday blitz in recent memory, compact disc sales were down 12.9 percent compared to the period in 2001, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music sales." This despite some high-profile releases by some of music's biggest stars. The New York Times 12/23/02
Will Baz Boheme Spoil Opera For Those Who Already Love Opera? Anthony Tommasini is impressed by the glare and glitter of Baz Luhrmann's Broadway Boheme. "Yet from a musical perspective, many veteran opera buffs will be dismayed, as I was, by the compromises the production has made. Newcomers to opera who think they are experiencing the real thing are not. For all the dazzle and heart of this Broadway "Bohème," I sat through three shows (to see the three pairs of rotating leads) getting more and more glum about the future of opera. Will traditional companies that play by the rules be able to keep up as the public embraces amplified opera on Broadway?" The New York Times 12/22/02
Do DVD's Threaten CD Sales? Let's Do The Numbers... "There's a growing sense in the music industry that DVD sales are surpassing those of CDs. In response, many music retailers have expanded their DVD selection, and even begun displaying hit movie titles along side the best-selling albums. In response, record companies have begun to rely on DVDs to assist their own marketing efforts -- not only by developing more features for music video releases, but by using DVDs to cross-promote tours and new releases, or as sales-boosting bonuses. The effort is beginning to pay off, too." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/22/02
The Anti-Music Of Phones Increasingly, our time in public is being interrrupted with music. Music? I guess that's what they call those customized ring tones that cell phones make. "The proliferation of cellular phones has put the power of automatic melody into the pockets of your friends and neighbours, and there's no freezer on Earth big enough to hide all the cheesy sounds they can produce." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/21/02
The Right Version of "Correct" So what does "authentic" mean in music? When there are 14 manuscript versions of a Mahler score, what were the composer's final final thoughts? "Two years of note-picking research in Vienna have exposed almost 400 errors and oversights in the published score" of Mahler's Second Symphony. On the other hand, maybe all 14 versions are "correct" in their own way. "It's not wrong. In all 14 of Mahler's scores he wants it to sound that way." La Scena Musicale 12/19/02
British Music Group Reports Piracy Up 36 Percent The British Phonographic Industry reports that piracy of music rose 36 percent in the past year. "The music industry watchdog said figures from 2001 showed a massive rise in the number of fake and pirated CDs seized in the UK. The figures are based on the number of seizures in the UK in 2001, and represent £27 million worth of music." BBC 12/18/02
Three Tremors Say what you will about the Three Tenors phenomenon (and critics have said plenty). But for legions of fans, the 3Ts have provided real thrills (how else do you explain tickets costing thousands?). But long after these weary voices ought to have packed it in, they're still at it, and in Minneapolis this week, even the diehard fans didn't seem impressed. "The whole feeling of the evening was stiff and uncomfortable. Audience response was relatively subdued until the end, the final medley. The only real ovation came after Pavarotti's signature 'Nessun Dorma' during which he delivered one good solid but very effortful high note, for him the only one of the evening." The Star-Tribune (Mpls) 12/17/02
Canadian Opera Company's Unpleasant News It's been a great year for the Canadian Opera Company. Artistically the company's on a high, and it finally got money to build a new home. But then there's a nasty deficit rearing up. "Ironically, the crisis in operating funding comes as the federal government is showering the arts with millions after ten years of devastating stinginess. Ottawa is contributing $25 million to building the opera house. But that's for a building. Operating money is something else." Toronto Star 12/16/02
Music 10, Words 0... Many an otherwise good opera has been ruined by a dreadful libretto. "Why do composers ever assume that they can write their own words? There's nothing which makes the heart sink, going into an opera, like the words 'Music and libretto by ...' Very few good operas have ever been written to a composer's own words..." The Independent (UK) 12/10/02
Havana's Capital Of Jazz "If the United Nations ever decided to put on a jazz festival, it might look something like the gloriously multicultural, border-defying event that shook this island for the past week."
Chicago Tribune 12/16/02
Remembering a Visionary Of American Opera "John Crosby, who died Dec. 15 at age 76, after a brief illness, was one of the great visionaries of American opera. Back in the 1950s he imagined a summer opera festival in what struck plenty of people as the very last place on Earth. He borrowed money from his father, a New York lawyer, to buy a 76-acre ranch on a hilltop just north of Santa Fe, N.M. And in July 1957, in a primitive hillside amphitheater, he inaugurated Santa Fe Opera by conducting 'Madama Butterfly'." Dallas Morning News 12/22/02
Jonathan Franzen's Inner Child (Get Over It) "As with so many of his generation, Franzen is conflicted about conflict. Arguing is what grownups do when they are mad (Mommy, Daddy, don't fight); and swagger doesn't play well on the current scene, which has partly converted into a Generation X recovery ward for the depressed, medicated, and formerly addicted children of divorce. He is not a masochist, he is a shrewd passive-aggressive (aren't they all?), courting sympathy by constantly telling us where he hurts and fastening reader interest on himself, regardless of the issue or controversy..." The New Republic 11/27/02
Portrait of the Philanthropist Alberto Vilar, the world's most famous arts patron over the past few years, but under criticism for not living up to some of his pledges, says "he can easily give away $50-million a year", and "is on record as saying he is good for his pledges. Some of his Amerindo funds have suffered in the depressed stock market. He has also been in poor health. In his interview with this paper, he says he has had four surgeries in the past two years for herniated discs in his lower back. 'I was at home for one year immobilized,' he says. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/12/02
Running Conflicts - Choosing Books For TV The "Today Show" TV bookclub was born when Oprah canceled her popular hit-maker. But Today's twist - inviting well-known writers to pick books for the show invites conflicts of interest. Some writers want to pick work by their friends (and why wouldn't they?). But the show says it wants to rule out blatant conflicts of interest. Okay, but... The New York Times 12/23/02
Writers Who Passed In 2002 Who died this year? MobyLives has a list of writers whose lives ended in 2002. Their work....? MobyLives 12/23/02
The Book Industry's Impressive Gains A new study prepared by a fellow at Columbia's National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University, takes a serious look at the evolution of the book industry in America. This is not a story of doom and gloom. "The number of new books published annually in the United States increased about 300 percent between 1975 and 2000, to 122,000 from 39,000. More people are buying better books than ever before - they're also purchasing more books of questionable merit, but hey...The News & Observer (Raleigh) 12/15/02
Frankfurt Book Fair To Munich? It's difficult to imagine the Franffurt Book Fair not being in Frankfurt anymore. But that's just what might happen, say the fair's organizers, who are thinking of moving it to Munich. "In October fair management made a very public effort to get the Frankfurt hotels to revamp their often outrageous pricing policies. During the fair, most hotels double and triple rates and require six-day minimum stays." Publishers Weekly 12/20/02
Libel Even In Distant Lands You might publish something on your server in New Jersey, but if it can be downloaded in, say, Australia, can Australians sue you? Apparently. "Suddenly, libel law is a speed bump on the information superhighway." How can you protect yourself as a publisher in all the countries of the world? Nando Times (AP) 12/19/02
March Of The First-Timers America's publishing houses are putting out record numbers of books by first-time writers. "Selling any novel is not easy, but rookie novels are an easier sell than most people would suppose. Publishers and editors are always searching for that new writerly voice. The hunt may be as important as the back list, for in the end the new voice, they hope, becomes a steady voice and eventually that's what makes up the all-valuable back list — those books that bring steady sales to a publisher year after year." The New York Times 12/19/02
Why Tracking The Bestsellers Might Not Be Good For Business One of the frustrations of tracking the book industry has been getting accurate sales data. BookScan offers a solution and "allows publishers to improve their marketing efforts, while also managing their stock more effectively." It'll transform the publishing industry, many say. Yes it will, writes one refugee from the music world, where SoundScan revolutionized the tracking of music sales. But it might not be a good thing for those who love books... Publishers Weekly 12/16/02
Honor In Not Reading Okay - so everyone's mad at Michael Kinsley for admitting he didn't read all of the 400 books he was asked to judge for this year's National Book Awards. Come on. Is it really such a big deal? I mean, who needs to read everything? The book that was supposed to win actually won, didn't it? "Well, thank God we live in a country where admitting you're ill–read and proud of it makes people buy more of your books!" MobyLives 12/17/02
The Sagging Old Guard So the dependable crankers-outers of blockbuster bestsellers are seeing their book sales sag. Your Tom Clancys, your Stephen Kings, your John Grishams - "the old guard is visibly sagging. Like childbearing, delivering blockbusters every year takes it out of you. King's latest reads suspiciously like a Christine retread (old cars with strange powers). Clancy (with his fantasia of papal assassination) bet the store on John Paul II dying, and the pontiff perversely didn't (despite Cardinal Law's best efforts). So, too, with Turow's and Grisham's legal thrillers. It's all deja lu; been there, read that." The Guardian (UK) 12/16/02
- Down Down Down... So why are blockbuster sales down? "One explanation is that traditional bookstores are suffering because the big supermarket chains have moved into bookselling. Another is that all the big releases were bunched together to avoid the anniversary of 11 September, and with only so many book buyers to go round it was inevitable sales would drop. Price could also be a factor, with hardback novels in the US costing $25 or more - steep in these recessionary times." The Observer (UK) 12/15/02
Dr. Seuss, Deconstructed "The Cat in the Hat" transformed the nature of primary education and the nature of children's books. But it wasn't just a simple story that became phenomenally popular. It was a product of its time and made an impact on American education all out of proportion to its simplicity. Louis Menand parses the good doctor's layers.
The New Yorker 12/16/02
Chinese Come to NY To Learn Broadway Secrets A team from the Chinese Ministry of Culture comes to Broadway to try to learn its secrets. "We want to know how your Broadway musicals could attract such large audiences. And why our comprehensive art forms — with singing, dancing and drama — could not attract such a large audience." They "hope to find a way to stem a troubling loss of audience from hundreds of traditional, state-supported Chinese opera houses. Attendance at these houses has dwindle as more modern, youthful entertainments have multiplied." The New York Times 12/23/02
What Denver Theatre Needs Denver has theatre - good theatre. But things seem to be going down rather than up. There are 56 theater companies, but only one (League of Regional Theaters) playhouse. "Ten folded or went dormant the past year. And the one it has, the DCTC, is clawing its way out of budget shortages that resulted in $1.6 million in cutbacks the past 18 months. Chicago, by comparison, has 20 professional LORT theaters. Seattle has five; San Diego three. The best theater cities also have thriving, definable theater districts, something that would be impossible to chart here outside the Denver Center." Denver Post 12/22/02
The Art Of Messiness So you think making a mess onstage is easy? Well, maybe if you live in a rundown theatre. For a theatre in posher digs, grunginess costs more money. Here's how two theatres of different economic means went about making a mess... Boston Globe 12/22/02
TheatreVirginia To Fold Richmond Virginia's only professional theatre - the 47-year-old TheatreVirginia - is going out of business after failing to clear a persistent $500,000 debt. The theater's subscriber base has shrunk from more than 11,000 in 1990 to between 2,500 and 3,000 this season. Nando Times (AP) 12/19/02
Play Bank All this energy that goes into finding and developing new plays. Then what - they go into some box somewhere, never to be seen again? A Cabadian playwright wondering why Canada has been unable to develop a real theatrical canon, proposes a repository of plays that can be revisited an restaged. "The idea is not new, but it is eminently worthwhile. It's a question of how it's structured . . . You don't want to create a museum of Canadian plays." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/17/02
Broadway's Back A year ago, Broadway was empty, shows were closing, and emergency aid was needed. "But now shoppers pack stores, hotels have raised their prices, and New York theaters, in the midst of the busiest December of openings in decades, have begun to deal with post-terrorist angst with something other than escapism." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 12/15/02
Christie's Refuses To Aid In Recovery of Stolen Artwork Do auction houses have an obligation to help owners of stolen art recover their property? The family of a Holocaust victim wants Christie's to reveal the owner of a painting the auction house had planned to sell. "To Christie's, the issue is not so clear-cut. Its lawyers say the auction house has done all it can to help, including contacting the collector and informing him that the painting's ownership may be at issue." But they won't reveal the name.
Chicago Tribune 12/22/02
Inside The World's Most Secret Museum Russian TV has shown what it describes as the most secret museum in the country - a museum documenting the KGB and its predessor security organization. "According to the TV, there is only one poignant item to represent the tumultuous events of the 1930's, in which thousands died at the hands of Stalin's secret police. It is a list of chiefs of the Leningrad directorate and other security personnel executed between 1933-39: a total figure of 22,618." BBC 12/22/02
The Tate's Cloak-And-Dagger Operation To Get Back Its Turners Did the Tate pay a £3.5 million ransom to get back two of its greatest Turner paintings? It was a cloak-and-dagger operation. "A sizeable chunk of the cash they handed to the German authorities went to pay a chain of informers and middlemen for 'information' on the paintings, now worth around £50 million. But the Tate insists no ransom was paid nor were criminals rewarded, at least not directly by them or by the two former Metropolitan policemen they employed." The Guardian (UK) 12/22/02
WTC - An Argument With Reality So what if ideas for structures on the World Trade Center site seem impractical. "It's only because members of the public have taken the trouble to argue with reality that the official process of reimagining ground zero has taken a turn for the better. What we're learning, at this stage, is how to put the shoe on the other foot." The New York Times 12/23/02
- Imagining The Manhattan Skyline Some of the ideas for rebuilding on the World Trade Center site come straight from fantasy. "At least four of them propose to build the tallest building in the world. And the designs are not only tall. Towers tilt and dance at weird angles as they rise. Often they're linked by bridges in the sky, in the best tradition of your favorite Flash Gordon comic book. This isn't exactly avant-garde architecture." So what's real? Boston Globe 12/22/02
- Ground Zero Solution Blair Kamin believes that one of the seven proposals for the World Trade Center site stands above the others. "Libeskind's plan for the former World Trade Center site at once offers a deeply moving memorial to those who died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and a joyous but dignified celebration of New York's street life and skyline." Chicago Tribune 12/22/02
- WTC - Why Not Dream? "If the architects have exceeded the design study's requirements, we should be grateful. They've helped to expose a major defect of the entire design process thus far: the attempt to contain architecture within such restrictive boundaries that it cannot perform its legitimate poetic function." The New York Times 12/22/02
Getting Behind The Art-Theft Mentality Stealing paintings from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is an act that hurst us all. "How dare they? Why would they? Van Gogh is so famous, experts argue, the culprits probably will have difficulty selling the works for the millions they're worth. Assuming this isn't the more whimsical scenario of a team of genuine van Gogh fanatics, the audacity of the heist wildly overshadows the practical financial benefit. Yet, such thievery happens." Chicago Tribune 12/22/02
Santa As A Work Of Art Where did the popular image of Santa as a jolly old man come from? "What most people don't realize is that Santa's origins were very commercial from the beginning. He was created by mass media artists and invented by Americans in the beginning of the 19th Century. Haddon Sundblom painted a series of portraits of Santa between 1931 and 1964 for Coca-Cola advertisements that helped to shape the modern image of the jolly character known as Santa Claus." Chicago Tribune 12/20/02
Christo Central Park Project Clears Another Hurdle A group that helps run New York's Central Park has approved plans by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, to "erect 7,500 rectangular steel gates, each 15 feet tall with golden nylon streaming from it." The artists have been trying to get permission for the project for 20 years "The plan still needs approval from the city's parks department. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he supports it." Nando Times (AP) 12/19/02
Museum-building Craze Slows Is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's decision to put off building the ambitious redesign of its campus an act of cowardice? Or is it really the responsible thing to do? The pace of new museum projects has slowed since 2000, and this might not be a bad thing... The Art Newspaper 12/20/02
Tower Dreams The WTC proposals unveiled this week by prominent architects follow some common themes. "In purely architectural terms, the big news was the triumph of the mega-skyscraper. Four of the seven design teams want to put the tallest building in the world at the site. In the end, it's hard to imagine any scenario in which a truly successful master plan—one that's at once architecturally inventive and a good use of urban space—is produced within the allotted time." Slate 12/19/02
Italy To sell off Art Treasures? Is Italy getting ready to sell off some of its archeological treasures to raise money? The government denies that preparations are underway, and that an inventory of assets is "for accounting purposes" only. But critics don't believe the explanation,and "the scheme has raised a tempest of protest, with marches and petitions throughout the country." Discovery 12/19/02
Mummy's Curse Debunked The curse of the mummy was supposed to kill anyone who disturbed the tomb of King Tut. And Lord Carnavon, who financed the 1923 expedition that discovered Tut did die an untimely death at age 57. But a researcher who tracked every one of the 44 people in on the discovery says there were no other early deaths - average age at death was 70 or higher. So no mummy curse... Discovery 12/19/02
Big, Bigger, Biggest - Where Does It End? Ever since Frank Gehry's widely-hailed Bilbao museum opened, architects around the world have faced unprecedented expectations as to what their designs can do, not just for an organization or a neighborhood, but for an entire city. But how much has the "wow" factor actually hurt the practice of serious architecture, and is the movement towards buildings-as-tourist-attractions and architectural star power a sign of growing public interest, or merely the end product of a celebrity-obsessed culture? Los Angeles Times 12/19/02
What Happens When WTC Reality Sets In? The designs are most impressive, says Benjamin Forgey, and the rollout was "rousing good theater." But at some point, one of these designs is going to have to actually be built, and it doesn't seem like anyone is thinking a great deal about such annoying details as funding, phasing of the project, and what purpose the building(s) will serve upon completion. "For the next month or so, however, attention will be focused on the plans revealed today, and deservedly so." Washington Post 12/19/02
- It All Comes Down To Height The new set of designs presented as possible replacements for the Twin Towers are certainly impressive, says Lisa Rochon, and they're also awfully... um... tall. "There are towers that kiss in mid-air, while others stand up like soldiers aligned in a military grid. Some are beautiful. Most of them carry a tremendous wallop of architectural ego." The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 12/19/02
Why Thomas Krens Ought To Be Fired With the Guggenheim in financial ruin, why, Hilton Kramer wants to know, is director Thomas Krens still allowed in the building? "The fact is that during Mr. Krens’ 14-year tenure as director of the Guggenheim, the museum virtually ceased to make a significant contribution to the art life of New York. Some of us are old enough to recall the days when the Guggenheim was a vital presence in the city." New York Observer 12/17/02
Surrealist Record On Sale When Surrealist Andre Breton died at 70 on Sept. 28, 1966, his small apartment at 42 Rue Fontaine in the Pigalle district of Paris was "a veritable treasure trove." But what to do with the art? "With the French government unwilling to buy the collection, the largest single record of the Surrealist movement is to be sold next spring at the Hôtel Drouot-Richelieu, where Paris auctions are held. One measure of the size of the sale is that the auction house, CalmelsCohen, plans at least six catalogs to cover the 5,300 lots. The auction, from April 1 to 18, is expected to raise $30 million to $40 million." The New York Times 12/17/02
NY Art Student Arrested For Placing Boxes In Subway A New York art student was arrested last week after "placing 38 black boxes, bearing the word 'fear' in white lettering, around the Union Square station, a crucial hub where six lines intersect. The bomb squad was called in and the station was shut for five hours, causing a ripple effect of chaos on the network, as panicked commuters and transit workers feared a terrorist attack." The Guardian (UK) 12/18/02
- Art Of Crime "First things first. What an idiotic project. As the saying goes, art this bad ought to be a crime. So now it is left to hapless, fledgling art students, fresh from Michigan, to keep up the city's gritty reputation for crime. At least New York can still take pride, as the nation's cultural capital, that even our misdemeanors are works of art." The New York Times 12/18/02
A Whitney Museum In Miami's Future? Miami is hot off of hosting Art Basel Miami Beach. And the city is trying to flesh out its population of resident museums. The city is in talks with New York's Whitney Museum to open a branch in South Florida. And "Miami Mayor Manny Diaz hopes to capitalize on the energy created by Art Basel and is looking to museums in Europe, where he's already written to the president of Madrid's Museo del Prado." Miami Herald 12/17/02
More Raves For Fort Worth Critic Paul Goldberger is impressed with architect Tadao Ando's work on the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. "Many museums these days look their best before any art is installed in them. This is the first great museum building in a generation that gets even better when art is added." The New Yorker 12/16/02
