Dating Old Books By Biology "A Penn State biology professor with a passion for old prints and maps says he has found a new way to date centuries-old books by using a technique similar to what scientists use to study mutations." Wired (AP) 06/20/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 10:29 pm
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Minneapolis' New Guthrie Theatre Is "Poetic Exercise" "If ever a building deserved to be called sexy-ugly, it's this one. Somehow sleek and ungainly at the same time, a brooding, preening pile of geometric forms that could hardly be less photogenic, particularly on the outside, the design manages to slide naturally into its industrial riverbank context and feel utterly up-to-date. Its completion caps off a mini-boom for the city's cultural institutions, which began with a remarkable addition to the Walker Art Center by Herzog & de Meuron, which opened in April 2005, and has continued this spring with a pair of disappointing buildings: Cesar Pelli's mall-like central library and an entirely forgettable new wing for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts by Michael Graves." Los ANgeles Times 06/21/06
Posted: 06/21/2006 7:34 am
How A Klimt Sold For $135 Million The deal to buy a Klimt painting for $135 million this week took much negotiating between a motivated buyer and a shrewd seller. And what about the other four Klimts owned by Maria Altman? "Experts have speculated that the four Klimts, sold together or individually, could bring as much as $150 million collectively. Then again, after all the attention paid to the 'gold portrait,' they might be seen by some status-minded collectors as a consolation prize." Los Angeles Times 06/21/06
Posted: 06/21/2006 7:28 am
Long-Lost Schiele Painting Sells For £11.7 Million The Egon Schiele painting was missing for more than 60 years after it was stolen by the Nazis in 1938. "For decades it was feared that Wilted Sunflowers had been destroyed during World War II. The painting was last exhibited in Paris in 1937, when it was owned by Austrian art dealer Karl Grunwald. Mr Grunwald fled Vienna for Paris in 1938, but Wilted Sunflowers was among 50 paintings confiscated by the Nazis in Strasbourg. It disappeared after being sold at auction in 1942." BBC 06/21/06
Posted: 06/21/2006 7:08 am
MoMA Names An Architecture Curator "The Modern's director, Glenn D. Lowry, said that Bsrry Bergdoll's appointment underlined the museum's "commitment to having an interesting program in architecture and design that can deal with the historic sweep of Modernism as well as the present." The New York Times 06/21/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 10:48 pm
How Ron Lauder Decided To Buy A $135 Million Painting "When did you become fascinated by Klimt? Lauder: I took a trip to Vienna as a teenager and saw Klimt's 'The Kiss' and 'Bloch-Bauer.' I found them absolutely stunning. Whenever I went back to Vienna, I visited them. How long did it take you to decide to buy the Klimt? Lauder: Thirty seconds." Bloomberg.com 06/20/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 10:13 pm
Chirac Opens Tribal Art Museum The museum, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, is French president Jacques Chirac's legacy to France. "The museum displays indigenous art from Africa, Asia and Australasia. But the project has been controversial. It opens as France debates how to heal the scars of its colonial past and accept a multi-ethnic nation." BBC 06/20/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 8:37 pm
- Jacques Chirac's Problematic New Museum "As an epitaph to a presidency, Chirac really couldn’t have chosen a more controversial subject. The new museum contains that stunning national collection of ethnographic artefacts that so entranced Modernist artists in Paris — it is Chirac’s passion, too, as the self-styled 'great defender' of global culture. But at a time of national soul-searching over the stagnant economy, the loss of the Olympics and the recent race riots, this is bold indeed. True to form, the project has been dogged with controversy — not just the usual 'will it be finished in time' (not quite), the cost (£180 million), the 'Elgin Marbles' debate, but its very purpose." The Times (UK) 06/21/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 8:10 pm
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Chicago's Barenboim Years - Progress But Not Affection "A door has not exactly been slammed shut. But the Barenboim years in the Windy City were not marked by a mutual affection that might have left both sides with a more enduring relationship. Barenboim’s departure, made public two years ago, came by mutual consent: he, frustrated at having to combine musical stewardship with the glad-handing of potential donors; they unsure of his commitment to audience-building at a time of falling subscriptions." Financial Times 06/20/06
Posted: 06/21/2006 9:03 am
Competition Shuts Down Arizona Youth Orchestra The Arizona Youth Symphony is shutting down after only six seasons. Its founder cites the establishment of the new Mesa Youth Symphony Orchestra as the cause. "Wal-Mart moved in next door to TrueValue; that's basically what happened," he said. "We've had such good seasons, the idea of not being able to be as good as I was, I thought I'd better not. That's why I didn't." Arizona Republic 06/21/06
Posted: 06/21/2006 9:01 am
Driving Daniel Barenboim "Barenboim may have taken his leave of America's finest orchestra - and what a farewell it was, the towering ninth symphonies of Mahler, Bruckner and Beethoven on successive evenings - but the future offers endless possibilities. An important chapter in his life has now closed, and yet, at 64, no great age for a conductor, one senses that his race has some way to run." The Telegraph (UK) 06/20/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 11:06 pm
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UK Chancellor Speaks Up For Arts UK Chancellor Gordon Brown says the arts sector is "not a sideshow but right at the centre" of the economy." BBC 06/20/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 7:44 pm
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FBI Concluded Arthur Miller Was A Communist The FBI investigated Miller from almost the time of his first production. "A 34-page FBI report, compiled in 1951, states Miller was 'under Communist party discipline' in the 1930s and was a member of the party in the 1940s. The FBI was relying on information from informants. Miller, who died last year at age 89, was a longtime liberal who opposed the Vietnam War, opposed nuclear weapons and supported civil rights." CBC 06/21/06
Posted: 06/21/2006 7:42 am
Damien Hirst - The YBA (Young British Artist) Grows Up "It is 18 years since he attracted attention as the Goldsmith's student who curated Freeze - a show of work by his mates that demonstrated the entrepreneurial spirit of a bunch of artists who refused to hang around waiting to be discovered. These days he employs 65 people, including a full-time business manager, Frank Dunphy, who has become famous in his own right. When Hirst speaks, in his curlicued, erratic, scuttling sentences, he nearly always says 'we', not 'I'." The Guardian (UK) 06/20/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 11:00 pm
The Dealer As Looter? Robert Hecht is on trial in Italy for antiquities looting. "In some ways Mr. Hecht's recent four-day Roman sojourn reflected the yin and yang of his persona. There is the refined connoisseur of antiquities, fond of good living, the occasional game of backgammon and traveling throughout Europe; and there is the wily dealer, whom the Italians accuse of conspiring to plunder the nation's buried treasures at huge personal profit." The New York Times 06/21/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 10:40 pm
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Denver Gets A New Set Of Theatre Awards "Denver Center took home eight out of 20 awards - including best season for a theater company - during the event at Denver Civic Theatre. The new awards, administered by the Colorado Theatre Guild, are named after local theater veteran Henry Lowenstein." Rocky Mountain News 06/21/06
Posted: 06/21/2006 8:48 am
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Needed: A Standard For E-Books "At present, there is no common standard used by producers and manufacturers. As a result, customers can’t read a Palm e-book on a Microsoft Reader, noted Nick Bogaty, executive director of the IDPF. If companies adopt the new standards, not only will customers be able to read e-books on different devices, but e-books will be cheaper and easier to produce, which should lead to more titles being available." Publishers Weekly 06/20/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 11:17 pm
SF Gets First New Public Library In 40 Years The city of San Francisco is opening its first completely new branch to open in 40 years. "For residents and workers in Mission Bay, it will be not only a place to borrow books but also a place to gather -- the kind of public center that established neighborhoods take for granted." San Francisco Chronicle 06/20/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 8:49 am
University Presses Have To Adapt University press publishers gather to talk about their business. Like all publishers, the university presses are having to reinvent their business. This spring the presses were hit with a glut of textbook returns. It seems students are getting more saavy about used textbooks. One expert warned that "today's students, tomorrow's faculty have grown up with technology. This Net Generation's expectations are defined by Google, Amazon.com, and eBay. They expect everything to be online and everything to be free. They have become a visual culture. They're moving away from text." Chronicle of Higher Education 06/19/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 7:19 am
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CBC Kicks National News For Reality Show Canada's CBC is bumping its nightly network news broadcast one night a week in the fall for... an American reality show. "The CBC, which unveiled its upcoming season last week, is rumbling through a populist reinvention. New executives have been strapped into the sputtering rocketship as the network attempts to modify its trajectory to avoid more crash landings on Planet Yawn." Toronto Star 06/21/06
Posted: 06/21/2006 8:14 am
Report Recommends Reforms In Canadian Media Landscape "The Senate transport and communications committee is to unanimously recommend that Ottawa pay closer attention to media consolidation. The report will pay particular attention to proposed deals that would allow a single company to gain a dominant, multimedia position in an individual geographic market, particularly in smaller communities where there are fewer editorial voices." The Glob & Mail (Canada) 06/21/06
Posted: 06/21/2006 7:51 am
Can Movie Biz Pull Out Of Slump? "Reinvigorating the moviegoing experience, realigning exhibition windows, proactively responding to new consumer behaviors and demands and making creativity a top priority are things the film industry has within its reach to capitalize on a digital interactive marketplace. Although recent consumer surveys and research underscore the need for such measures, industry players have made little progress making necessary and sometimes radical changes to mine the new realities of movie patronage. And the longer they wait, the more they stand to lose." Backstage 06/20/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 9:56 pm
Canadian Senate Recommends Ad-Free CBC A Canadian Senate committe report recommends removing all commercials for national broadcaster CBC and increasing the network's funding. "It will recommend boosting CBC's annual $1-billion budget to make it possible to get rid of ads, the wire service said. The report also examined private-sector newspaper, radio and television concentration." CBC 06/20/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 8:41 pm
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Joffrey Celebrates Rebirth In Chicago It's been ten years since the Joffrey Ballet moved to Chicago, and the company's in fine shape. "The gala was already a confirmed sellout, with more than 1,100 guests and an estimated $1.6 million raised for the Joffrey. But it also was a grand reunion of 130 dancers who had, at one time or another, been part of the Joffrey company, and who still, after all these years, 'looked mahvelous'." Chicago Sun-Times 06/21/06
Posted: 06/21/2006 8:37 am
Royal Ballet Steps Out/In To The Past London's Royal Ballet tries to revive a glorious past with "Sleeping Beauty." "Nostalgia is the key word, and American audiences are probably fortunate to have less of it, in regard to this production, than English ballet lovers. The English have fussed over this ballet, and this production, for 60 years now. Would it hamper the company if it were addicted to the popular, big-production story ballets? Can the company grow if it is constantly looking back to a rose-tinted vision of the past?" Washington Post 06/21/06
Posted: 06/21/2006 8:00 am
ABT Star Retires Julio Bocca Spend 20 years with American Ballet Theatre. "it is easy to remember that Mr. Bocca was a winner from the start. As a 20-year-old in his New York debut, he looked like Boris Becker, then a tennis star at his peak, and danced like a champion. Not everyone today has an image of Mr. Becker. But at 39, Mr. Bocca remains consistent and leaves a legacy for all dancers: bravura in the service of art." The Ne York Times 06/21/06
Posted: 06/20/2006 10:51 pm
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