Patently Absurd The world's patent system is a mess. Far too many patents are being applied for and too many are being granted. This has led to backups in the system. And America's changes in patent law have made things worse. "It not only ushered in a wave of new applications, but it is probably inhibiting, rather than encouraging, commercial innovation, which had never received, or needed, legal protection in the past." The Economist 11/11/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 4:19 pm
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Is "Dan Flavin" A Health Hazard? Staff at Washington DC's National Gallery have been complaining of physical ailments because of a new Dan Flavin exhibition. "Ever since the gallery’s Oct. 3 opening of “Dan Flavin: A Retrospective,” staffers watching over the sprawling display of 44 illuminated works by the fluorescent-tube-obsessed minimalist have complained of headaches, anxiety, and nervousness—all allegedly brought on by excessive wattage. A combined 48,600 watts, to be exact. One staffer is said to have passed out." City Paper (Washington, DC) 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 8:10 am
Acropolis Museum To Be Finished By 2006 Greece's new government says it plans to finish a new museum at the Acropolis by 2006, at a cost of 129 million Euros. "The previous, Socialist government had sworn to have the building ready before the Athens Olympics, at a cost of 94 million euros. But nothing happened." The Greek government hopes that one day the museum will house the Parthenon Marbles. Kathimerini (Greece) 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 7:29 am
Dealer Finds Stolen Art Online An art dealer in Taos, New Mexico found a $38,000 piece of art that had been stolen from his gallery a few months before listed for sale on the internet. Now it appears other stolen art is turning up here... Albuquerque Journal 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 7:01 am
A Digital Update On Performance Art "These projects take what conceptual artists did in the 1970s -- projects such as sitting in a room for a year, or making one painting that depicts the day's date every day for 40 years -- and let computers do much of the work. It is not clear if these projects are meant to honour or mock the original art works, but then the original projects were often done in a spirit of great playfulness themselves, so it hardly matters." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 12:26 am
MoMA's New Art The Museum of Modern Art's new building won't be the only new acquistion on display when it opens next week. "In the last three years, the museum has added well over $100 million worth of art and objects, officials there estimate. Some have been purchases, others gifts from trustees or museum lovers." The New York Times 11/12/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 11:53 pm
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Fenice Reopens 8 Years After Fire Venice's La Fenice opera house reopened Thursday night with a gala performance. "Every detail of the original 18th Century building has been faithfully reproduced and state-of-the-art sprinkler fire protection and an underground freshwater reservoir have been installed to stave off any future disaster. And on Thursday night a glittering gathering of celebrities and politicians attended the first opera performance in the reconstructed theatre." BBC 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 7:36 am
Australia's First "Ring" (An Exercise In Excess?) "State Opera South Australia's $15.3 million production of Der Ring Des Nibelungen is Australia's biggest and most ambitious theatrical undertaking, yet only 6000 people will get to see it. This production, Australia's first, is a global diary note on the calendars of rich European and American Wagnerites wanting to see this watershed Australian foray into high German opera. Then, after 12 nights costing more than $1 million a night, it will be mothballed with no plans to perform it again. It is an exercise in excess." Sydney Morning Herald 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 12:19 am
At The Met - Wrong-Way Gelb? Norman Lebrecht is impressed with the Metropolitan Opera's choice of Peter Gelb as its new top man. Impressed in the wrong way. "When I tell you that the new man has done more over the past decade to remove classical music and opera from public consumption, you will understand that the simmering scandal at the Met has the gelignite to blow a hole in opera far larger than all the petty mishaps of English, Scottish and French national operas put together." La Scena Musicale 11/11/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 10:17 pm
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Canadian Tax Code To Artists: You're On Your Own (Yay!) Canada's artists are now considered self-employed. "Performing artists have had the tax status of independent contractors for many years in Canada. In recent years, however, the Canada Revenue Agency had changed their interpretations of some statutes and concluded that artists were, in fact, employees. While such a move would have given artists some immediate benefits such as EI, it also would have deprived them of numerous long-term deductions that allow them to make ends meet. If performers were employees, they would no longer be able to write off any transportation, housing or other expenses that they incurred while trying to make a living across this geographically vast country." Toronto Star 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 12:06 am
Seattle Opera, Ballet Asked To Cover Construction Bill The city of Seattle is telling Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet that they'll have to pay a share of the bill on their new home. "The city is asking the opera and ballet to come up with $114,000 each to pay the first year of debt under the council's plan. That amount will increase to $227,000 for each of the arts groups in 2006." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 11/11/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 10:34 pm
Fund Seeks To Fund Bay Area Creativity "The Ford Foundation's Leveraging Investments in Creativity initiative, which conveniently spells LINC as an acronym, surveyed Bay Area artists over a 15-year period and came up with some important and distressing findings: Sixty-three percent of artists earned less than $7,000 from their art. Seventy-eight percent of artists worked more than one job, and all artists surveyed had a median gross income from all sources of $35,000. In 2004, artists have less time to spend on their art than they did 15 years ago." San Francisco Chronicle 11/11/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 8:22 am
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Deferring To Dizzy "Other trumpeters idolised Dizzy Gillespie. But now, more than a decade after his death in 1993, his reputation is in danger of fading away. Miles Davis was in some ways a Gillespie disciple, but one may find 20 of his CDs in a shop to every one of Dizzy's. What's more, the trumpeter Jon Faddis, co-leader of the alumni band, has complained about 'the assertion that Charlie Parker was the sole genius of the bebop era'. Why should this be so? One answer is that Gillespie's contribution was partly theoretical." The Telegraph (UK) 11/12/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 11:26 pm
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RSC Back On Track After several years of struggle, the Royal Shakespeare Company has turned around its fortunes, reducing its debt from £2.8m to £400,000 in the past financial year. "Bosses say box office hits and cost-cutting have improved their outlook. Artistic director Michael Boyd said: "If we're going to innovate and experiment on stage, we need to balance the books first." BBC 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 8:14 am
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Da Vinci Code Tourism Thousands of Americans are flocking to places in Europe written about in The Da Vinci Code. "Wherever we walk with this book, we get a lot of looks. In France, there is a lot of resentment that — 'This is what brought you to France?' — it's not enough that (France) contains the most beautiful art and gorgeous gardens and historical monuments, but, a book? A novel?" CBSNews 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 7:40 am
The Cartland Book Industry - Death Is No Impediment Barbara Cartland spent many of her 99 years writing. And she wrote so much, much of it has yet to be published. "Four years after her death, two new Cartland novels trickled on to the market yesterday. And there are 158 more to come, at the rate of one a month - enough to satisfy her admirers for about 13 years." The Guardian (UK) 11/12/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 11:18 pm
Gaudé Wins Goncourt The Goncourt prize, France's most prestigious literary prize, has been awarded to Laurent Gaudé for The Sun of the Scortas. The Guardian (UK) 11/11/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 11:15 pm
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Extreme Makeover, Iraqi Style A new Iraqi "reality" show "Labour And Materials, broadcast on Iraqi satellite channel Al Sharqiya, does not merely redecorate a room, but reconstructs entire properties destroyed in the ongoing conflict in the country. The programme makers select families whose homes have been made uninhabitable either during the war or since, and reconstruct it to the extent of supplying new furniture - and even shiny new kitchen gadgets - for free." BBC 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 8:16 am
An Audience For An Arts Show On TV More than a million viewers tuned in to the BBC2's debut of a new arts program - The Arts Show. The first program featured Andrew Marr interview David Hockney. The Guardian (UK) 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 8:06 am
Halo 2 Earns $125 Million In First Day In its first 24 hours after release, the video game Halo 2 took in $125 million. "Halo 2 hit the stores Tuesday in the U.S. and Canada, with some retailers opening at midnight to meet the rush. Xbox, the game system Halo 2 is played on, called the launch the biggest in video game history." Toronto Star 11/12/04
Posted: 11/12/2004 12:13 am
The Secret To Pixar's Success "In Hollywood, figuring out Pixar's secret has become a matter of panicky necessity. Since 1995, when Toy Story became the first computer-animated feature film, the company has had an unbroken record of triumphs, as popular with critics as the box office, resulting in 17 Oscars and sufficient millions to make Pixar, movie for movie, the most successful studio of any kind in the history of cinema." The Guardian (UK) 11/12/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 11:04 pm
Movies During Video Games - Apples and Oranges... Video gamers love to point out that video games are now a bigger business than movies. But the two really aren't comparable. Movies play to much wider audiences. "Playing video games is still a minority sport, though its popularity has soared. Not everybody wants a games console. It is only because games cost so much more than film tickets ($50 versus $7) that games can outsell films, despite their narrower appeal." The Economist 11/11/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 9:30 pm
3D TV Are we close to being able to enjoy holographic 3D TV? Recent research suggests we are... The Economist 11/11/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 4:07 pm
Afghanistan Bans Cable Channels The Afghan government has banned some cable channels, including a channel that shows raunchy Bollywood movies. "The high session of the ministers have decided to ban cable TV until a cable broadcasting law is made. More than a dozen cable stations broadcasting from places such as India, Pakistan and Dubai have been available in Kabul." BBC 11/11/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 3:17 pm
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Stats Show Dance Companies Expanding Recent stories have told of job cuts at dance companies and generally tough finances. So is the dance world shrinking (again)? With data available from seven of America's twelve largest companies, "Dance/USA found that in fiscal year 2000 these companies employed a total of 417 full-time dancers and apprentices. In fiscal year 2003, the same seven companies reported 480 full-time dancers and apprentices." Back Stage 11/11/04
Posted: 11/11/2004 3:48 pm
