Ideas The Comfort Factor "The aesthetic revolutions of the 20th century, in painting, music and literature, reflected the galvanizing cataclysms of the times - the world wars, the Holocaust, the nuclear peril. Now, when the world seems more fragile, dangerously fragmented and morally ambiguous than ever, may not be the time for more form-smashing revolution in the arts. The great artists of our time are like spiders, poised on a web that spans the past as well as the precarious present. They sense vibrations, from now and then, and spin out glittering new strands of connection." San Francisco Chronicle 01/10/03 Posted: 01/10/2003 7:39 am Explaining The Younger Generation The young-20s attitude is something of a puzzle to older people. "This generation created a new definition of 'smart.' Intelligence lies in one’s ability to spin pop-culture references in order to show how others have fallen prey to the media and are stupid. This cynical, reactionary response serves as a basis for 'intelligent' humor and entertainment. This construct validated our apathy because we felt smarter than the system and, thus, unmotivated to be a part of it. As media stories became more and more ridiculous and commercialism became more and more oppressive, this construct seemed to work. But, now, we are at war..." And we're paralyzed. The Simon 01/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 11:16 pm Visual Arts Finders Keepers? Should big museums be considered "world" museums and be allowed to keep art they hauled off from other countries? Not surprisingly, the big museums think so. They signed a declaration asserting that policy in December. “So far the public debate has been conducted very much in terms of the value of restitution, but there has been much less debate about the importance of the context which a great museum offers.” The Art Newspaper 01/10/03 Posted: 01/10/2003 8:55 am German Officials Defend Nazi Art Show German officials are defending the exhibition in Berlin of an art collection owned by the family of a major arms supplier to the Nazis by arguing the exhibit would "help heal the scars of Adolf Hitler's crusade against modern art." An official explains: "This altruistic gesture should not be overloaded with politics. It's a gesture toward a city particularly marked by the history of the last century." She was referring to the Nazis' hatred of modern art, which saw many works destroyed and others by the likes of van Gogh and Picasso displayed in infamous 'Degenerate Art' shows. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/10/03 Posted: 01/10/2003 7:23 am Previously: Nazi Heir Art Collection To Open In Berlin The heir to a Nazi arms supplier has canceled plans to build a museum in Zurich to display his large art collection after protests there. Instead, it will be shown in Berlin next year. "The 2,500-piece collection was assembled by Friedrich-Christian Flick, a grandson of an industrial baron who helped arm Nazi Germany's war machine. The collection includes works by contemporary artists such as Bruce Nauman, On Kawara and Nam June Paik. It is to go on display in 2004 for seven years in a downtown Berlin exhibition space." New Jersey Online (AP) 01/07/03 Pearl Memorial Behind Closed Doors Jan Herman reports that while a memorial to murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl has been decided on, access to it it will be in the WSJ headquarters, where the general public doesn't have access to it... MSNBC 01/10/03 Posted: 01/10/2003 7:11 am High Design - Too Violent To See, Evidently, But Not Too Violent To Be Nominated London's Design Museum is censoring one of the shortlisted finalists for its top design award. A violent video game was shortlisted, but the museum does not want to show it in its galleries. "A spokeswoman for the Design Museum said yesterday that visitors to the competition exhibition, opening in March, would see an explanation of the Grand Theft Auto design ethos, and be able to play other games designed by the Rockstars team, but not Vice City." The Guardian (UK) 01/10/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 11:26 pm Hilton Kramer Attacks Study of Visual Arts Critics Hilton Kramer is in a huff about a new study of visual arts criticism published by Columbia University's National Arts Journalism Program. He's pleased to see that in a name-recognition poll, he rates highly among fellow critics - an 80! But a few sentences later he reveals that he only earns a 12 - can you believe it? - among other critics for his influence on the field. In conclusion? "The Visual Art Critic is in every respect a perfectly useless enterprise—perfect, above all, in its flawless incomprehension of the subject it addresses..." So there. New York Observer 01/08/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 11:08 pm Forbes Unloading Victorian Collection As Money Woes Mount The Forbes family has amassed a major collection of Victorian art. But "next month, the bulk of that collection, which rivals the Tate’s and the Victoria and Albert’s collections—not to mention composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s—will become the latest chunk of the Forbes’ art and antiquities holdings to be sold off as the publishers of Forbes magazine struggle against a brutal economic downturn." New York Observer 01/08/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 11:05 pm Help Give California The Quarter It Deserves! No kidding. The state of California is trying to choose a design for the quarter that will represent it in the American money supply. The Chair of the California Quarter Committee (again no kidding) has summoned help in choosing. The field of quarter designs has been narrowed to 20, and you can vote for the quarter of your dreams on the quarter website. Maybe it'll be one of the eight - count 'em, eight - that depict the Golden Gate Bridge... California Quarters 01/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 10:44 pm Report Criticizes Smithsonian Research Efforts A special commission has issued a report complaining that the Smithsonian has let its research efforts become "unfocused and underfunded," and calling on the organization to "concentrate its scientific work in specific areas and make a major effort to raise more money." Newsday (AP) 01/08/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 10:42 pm Music Colorado Springs Orchestra Declares Bankruptcy The Colorado Springs Symphony board of directors has followed through and declared the orchestra bankrupt. The orchestra had demanded wage cuts from the orchestra musicians and gave a deadline of Thursday night. "In a letter delivered to management at 4 p.m., the musicians agreed to discuss the conditions for possible contract renegotiations but did not immediately accept any of the orchestra's demands. Declaring that this action did not go far enough, the board's executive committee decided Thursday evening to proceed with the bankruptcy filing." Denver Post 01/10/03 Posted: 01/10/2003 7:10 am Previously: More Rhetoric, No Progress in Colorado Springs The tension is continuing to build at the Colorado Springs Symphony, where the musicians have labeled their management's talk of a bankruptcy filing as "blackmail," and the music director has threatened to resign if Chapter 11 becomes reality. None of the involved parties denies that the CSS is in real fiscal trouble, but it's a matter of perception: orchestra execs contend they are doing their best in a bad economy, while the musicians claim that management created the problem and is now trying to avoid culpability. Denver Post 01/09/03 Music - Not Words - Is The Best American Propaganda The US State Department has enlisted writers to write about the virtues of America in a propaganda effort. "Regardless of whether you buy into this kind of cultural marketing, it's clear that the State Department chose the wrong medium. American book publishers can tell you that American men between 18 and 30 don't read a lot of books. The Arab street reads even fewer—just one book, mostly: the Quran. The United States should have followed the lead of Arab governments, which know that music is the region's most powerful form of expression. That's why they use it for propaganda—and also why they ban so much of it." Slate 01/09/03 Posted: 01/10/2003 12:22 am LA Opera Falls Victim To More Illnesses, Cancellations... Los Angeles Opera is having a rough season. Earlier this year the company had to cancel a Kirov production of Prokofiev's War and Peace, then saw sets for the replacement production go sailing out of the harbor in a dock strike. The latest is a series of illnesses that have forced cancellations and scrambling for replacements. Tenor (and LA Opera director Placido Domingo) is sick and had to cancel out of a series of January performances. And a much-anticipated new opera by Luciano Berio had to be canceled because the composer was too ill to finish it. Then there was a rush to find replacement programs and singers, a visa scramble and... Los Angeles Times 01/10/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 11:40 pm Vienna Philharmonic Hires Its First Woman Player The Vienna Philharmonic has hired its first-ever female member, after decades of refusing. "Ursula Plaichinger, a 27-year-old viola player, has caused a sensation in artistic circles by appearing unannounced at the 158-year-old Philharmonic's traditional new year's concert in Vienna. The performance was seen by millions around the world and a recording has already sold out in Austria." The Guardian (UK) 01/10/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 11:22 pm HipHop At 30 "As hip-hop approaches its 30th birthday, pop culture is coming down with a serious case of nostalgia for the genre's early days. 'People are realising what a monumental and phenomenal force hip-hop has been, and for the first time you're starting to really get people outside of the culture to realise it'." The Age (Melbourne) 01/10/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 8:52 pm Arts Issues City Of Boston To Raise Private Money For The Arts Boston mayor Thomas Menino has announced a plan where the city's Cultural Affairs office will raise money privately and redistribute it to arts groups. "The mayor described the campaign as a 'two-pronged' public-private partnership that would 'streamline distribution of Boston resources, generate new revenues to support arts and culture, and raise the visibility of the arts in the city' at a time when public funding for the arts has been slashed in Boston, throughout Massachusetts, and across the country." Critics wonder if this now means the city will be in competition with them to raise money for the arts... Boston Globe 01/10/03 Posted: 01/10/2003 6:57 am People EMI Legitimizing Old Bootleg Callas Recordings "EMI considers itself the protector of Maria Callas' official recorded heritage. Yet, in November, the company added four complete opera recordings and five recital discs to its Callas Collection, all pirated or quasi-legal releases from smaller labels. Why has EMI put out recordings that, not so long ago, it was trying to suppress? To remain the major player in the Callas market as recordings from the 1950s enter the public domain in Europe, where copyright protection for sound recordings lasts only 50 years. EMI has, in effect, legitimised these recordings, securing the tapes from a furtive independent label that had held them..." The Age (Melbourne) 01/10/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 8:58 pm Theatre Broadway Bottoms-Out - Shows Close, Theatres Empty, Deep Ticket Discounts In Post-Holiday Slump Happens every year. But this year somehow it seems more dramatic. The post-holiday January drop in Broadway ticket sales is dramatic - 75 percent in at least one theatre. "Broadway producers said they weren't panicking — it was a good fall and very strong holiday season, after all — but they were rolling out all manner of marketing to combat the cold." The New York Times (2nd item) 01/10/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 11:50 pm Publishing Cleaning Up - NY State Expunges Ethnic References In Exam Lit Examples It appears the state of New York is still "sanitizing" literary excerpts for its state high school regents exam. "State education officials had been doctoring the literary reading samples on state tests to make sure nothing offensive was included. It didn't matter if it was Anton Chekhov or Isaac Bashevis Singer, state bureaucrats removed references to race, religion, ethnicity, sex, nudity and even alcohol. 'Jews' and 'gentiles' were excised from Singer. An Annie Dillard excerpt about growing up white in a black area was purged of racial references." The New York Times 01/09/03 Posted: 01/10/2003 12:05 am Media Reruns Rule "Rarely does a Hollywood film get made just once. The real business of Hollywood is creating that most desirable of products: the franchise. It's reaching the point where audiences might not see a film any more unless they've watched an earlier instalment." But are sequels ever as good as the first time around? Not usually. But it doesn't seem to matter. People will shell out for tickets if they've seen it before...The Age (Melbourne) 01/10/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 8:46 pm Dance Ode To Ailey The success of the Alvin Ailey company is one of the great ongoing stories in American dance. What explains it? A major part of the answer certainly lies in the company’s repertory cornerstone, the sure-fire Revelations, which inevitably anchors every season. This year it closed 26 of the company’s 39 New York programs, and I’m sure that every one of those performances was greeted with delirious enthusiasm." New York Observer 01/08/03 Posted: 01/09/2003 11:01 pm