Ideas When Van Gogh Met Gauguin An interactive website put up by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam traces the interactions between Van Gogh and Gauguin. Attaching colors to sounds, allowing the viewer to change the color palette of the website, and linking pictures to paintings, the site explores the artists' lives and work. Van Gogh Museum [Flash Required] 01/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 7:07 pm What Place Animals In The World? "Along with other ecologically concerned citizens, scholars are trying to articulate the place that animals occupy in our world - or, less anthropocentrically, how human and nonhuman animals share this world. This work involves deconstructing the divisions and prejudices that separate people from animals, going all the way back to the Great Chain of Being in Aristotle's scala naturae and the proclamation of human mastery over animals in Genesis. Much of the most exciting current research comes out of the humanities and social sciences rather than the natural sciences." Chronicle Of Higher Education 01/20/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 5:27 pm Visual Arts A Gallery In Your Room One of Scotland's "pioneering" online galleries has made a deal with a hotel chain to provide 1,500 works of art for hotel rooms. "We believe that art is part of daily life and we are challenging the way that people normally view and buy art." The Scotsman 01/21/03 Posted: 01/21/2003 8:59 am Best In Show Outside New York The American section of the International Art Critics Association has chosen the "Eva Hesse" show, co-organized and launched on its tour by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, as best monographic exhibition outside New York. San Francisco Chronicle 01/21/03 Posted: 01/21/2003 8:45 am How Scotland Yard Recovered "The Scream" The colorful story of the recovery of Edvard Munch's painting "the Scream" back in 1994 is just now coming to light. "While it is known that the £50 million painting was eventually returned to the National Gallery in May 1994, following a trap set by Scotland Yard, it has emerged that the British strategy for finding 'The Scream' stretched the limits of international law and involved meticulous research, false identities and high risks for two unarmed officers. Twice, the operation was put in peril by the unlucky intervention of other police forces. Twice, the swift action of the undercover officers averted disaster." The Observer (UK) 01/19/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 6:35 pm Shanghai Express - Miracle Out Of Chaos "As an event, the Shanghai Biennial would seem a success. Major figures from Europe, America and Asia attended, although many, including a delegation from New York’s MoMA, were making a side trip from a curating conference organised by the Asia Society in Hong Kong. But the longer-term picture is cloudier, as the haphazardly installed, barely coherent Biennial—resembling, at times, an art fair—cemented a growing scepticism overseas about both Chinese art and the possibilities of mounting serious art exhibitions in China." The Art Newspaper 01/17/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 5:20 pm Star Turns - The New Celebrity Collectors "Celebrities and stars figure more and more in the art world. Indeed, Madonna, David Bowie, Elton John, Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, Brian Eno and Bryan Ferry are not only avid buyers but part of the group of patrons that supports young talent in Britain. ‘This group of pop and rock stars has truly put its stamp on the market. Such is its impact that it even affects artistic tendencies, but the phenomenon has to be seen as part of a whole movement that includes music, painting and all the arts'." The Art Newspaper 01/17/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 5:16 pm Music Twenty Years Of Opera Supertitles Twenty years ago the first supertitles were used at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. "The first titled opera was Strauss's 'Elektra': As Orestes busied himself axe-cleaving his mother and stepfather to death, the audience -- its eyes cast upwards at the titles -- understood opera as never before. There were a few dissenters, but for most it was love at first sight. We had purists who said, 'I'm German-speaking, I already understand every word.' And some people said, 'I have to look up, and it takes away from the action.' But in an audience poll, approximately 80 per cent gave their approval." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/21/03 Posted: 01/21/2003 7:59 am Colorado Springs Cancels Concerts The Colorado Springs Symphony has canceled upcoming performances in a dispute with its musicians. "A spokesman for the symphony musicians and their union local, said they view the postponement as a lockout, a description the orchestra's management rejects." Denver Post 01/21/03 Posted: 01/21/2003 7:49 am Previously: Colorado Springs Will Miss Payroll The beleagured Colorado Springs Symphony, already in bankruptcy and facing the probable resignation of its music director, will miss its mid-January payroll today, leaving musicians and staff to fend for themselves, and almost certainly prompting the musicians' union to file a grievance claiming that the CSS is in material breach of contract. The orchestra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after musicians refused to accept the board's demands for a large cut of their already-bargain-basement salaries. Musicians also claim that the organization's upper management has been grossly incompetent, and should be held responsible for its own failings. Denver Post 01/15/03 Howells Condemns Pop Singer Robbie Williams For Piracy Remarks UK culture minister Kim Howells is at it again, this time condemning singer Robbie Williams for his remarks supporting music piracy. "He should also realise that many of these pirate operations are linked to organised crime on a worldwide basis. In saying that piracy is a 'great idea', Williams is doing the work for international gangs involved in drugs and prostitution who find music piracy an excellent way of laundering their profits." The Guardian (UK) 01/21/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 6:30 pm Music Industry Pushes For End Of VAT Tax On CD's The European music industry is pushing to eliminate the VAT on CD's. "The Give US A Break campaign is supported by all the major trade and professional groups, including composers and music publishers, the record industry and retailers. The price of compact discs has long been a complaint the music industry has faced from consumers, and in 2001 was the subject of an investigation by the European Commission." The Guardian (UK) 01/20/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 6:26 pm Music Jobs At Risk If Piracy Isn't Solved, Says Official Jay Berman, head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), tells a conference in Cannes that "all jobs in the European music industry could be in jeopardy if record executives do not tackle the problems of music piracy. That's 600,000 jobs, he said. "In truth, online music piracy is not about free music. The music creators and rights holders, denied the right to choose how their music is used and enjoyed, are in fact paying the price." BBC 01/20/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 5:35 pm English National Opera Chorus Protests Chorus Cuts Members of the English National Opera have voted a resolution of no-confidence in the company's management, after the board voted to reduce the number of chorus members from 60 to 40. "There's obviously a concern for their individual futures and there is a worry that they may be put in a position where they have to audition for their own jobs which is a particularly cruel process." BBC 01/17/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 5:01 pm Digging Out - But How? Paul Daniel is the beleaguered conductor of the English National Opera. How will the company claw its way out of its current managerial and financial difficulties? "A period like this — when people have got the willies about what the hell is going on in our society — is exactly the time for arts organisations to put on interesting, provocative shows! That’s what ENO is about. It is a very volatile opera company. It takes risks. It’s not very good at doing tradition, and I’m proud of that." The Times (UK) 01/21/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 4:49 pm The Evolving Opera Opera continues to stretch as an artform. How about a "not-so-underground music world that lives the boundary-less, non-hierarchical ethic of communal musicmaking, an ethic that some classical opera composers might hold up as an ideal but have rarely put into practice with any success. 'Nitrate Hymnal' is described by the Washington Performing Arts Society as multimedia, interactive, post-punk, hybrid and several other things as well, which adds up to: You have to see it to know what it's about." Washington Post 01/19/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 4:48 pm Arts Issues Slash And Burn In Massachusetts The state of Massachusetts made the biggest cuts in arts funding of all states in 2002 - slashing its budgest 62 percent. Now arts leaders are surveying the damage - reduced and discontinued programs, a few closings, and more difficulty raising money in the private sector...Arts groups just hope that this year's budget won't be cut even more. Boston Globe 01/21/03 Posted: 01/21/2003 7:41 am People Top Of His Game - The High-Flying Career Of David Robertson "Whenever an opening appears for the music directorship of a leading American symphony orchestra, 44-year-old David Robertson is invariably mentioned. It's a good time to be an American conductor. The cellist Yo-Yo Ma observes that American classical music is at a moment when 'really interesting leadership' can make an enormous impact on the way classical is played here. Robertson is a passionate, articulate advocate of both old and new music who doesn't, as Ma puts it, see 'culture as a static block'." New York Times Magazine 01/19/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 6:07 pm Al Hirschfeld, 99 His signature drawings of performers from the theatre were instantly recognizeable. "Mr. Hirschfeld was the best-known artist in the world of theater and had won a special Tony — an Antoinette Perry award — as a sign that the theater world welcomed him not only as an observer but also as one of its own." The New York Times 01/20/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 10:43 am Wynton Marsalis - Lightning Rod Wynton Marsalis is at the top of the jazz world. And his various projects animate the field. "The jazz world should love him, as audiences seem to. In fact, Marsalis seems to provoke equal amounts of admiration and loathing. Those who dislike him say he is a reactionary, holding back the progress of jazz and stifling innovation in his attempts to make jazz respectable and establish a canon of the 'greats'." The Telegraph (UK) 01/20/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 8:49 am Theatre Stealing Reinvention? Are Others Stealing Jonathan Larson's Ideas? A writer goes through the boxes of papers left by "Rent" author Jonathan Larson. "The cynic in me knows that Larson's tragic death on the day before his long-labored-over Rent was about to go into previews fueled the hype that made the show 'the breakthrough musical for the '90s,' as Newsweek wrote. But having been an eyewitness to the paper trail left by Larson's perspiration and inspiration, I also know he deserved the Pulitzer and the Tonys. And the long career he never got." Did Larson "reinvent" musical theatre? And these new musicals on Broadway merely rip-offs of Larson's ideas? Miami Herald 01/19/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 5:12 pm Publishing Develop This - Another Gatekeeper On The Road To Getting Published "Some 13,000 new novels are published each year, a 45 per cent increase since 1998. But the deluge conceals a depressing reality for new writers. The slush pile - the derogatory term for unsolicited manuscripts that land on publishers’ desks - has been all but abandoned in this efficient age of corporate accounting and executive accountability. Publishers no longer read novels by unknowns. Nor, increasingly, do literary agents. If you are a first-timer, your chances of getting into print are almost non-existent." Enter a new form of literary life - literary development agencies that for a fee will read and critique your work and make recommendations... The Scotsman 01/21/03 Posted: 01/21/2003 8:54 am The Thousand-Page Harry Within days of the announcement that the new installment of Harry Potter would be published in June, Amazon reported 30,000 orders. Book stores plan to be open at midnight on the first day the book is sold, and already it's a bestseller before a single page is printed. But this installment looks to be more than 1000 pages long. Isn't that a little long for a kid's book? Boston Globe 01/21/03 Posted: 01/21/2003 7:24 am The Orwell Contradiction How is it that George Orwell is interpreted in such contradictory ways? "Legacy is not the best word to use to describe Orwell's influence. He was a contradictory fellow: people read him in his own time in part because they didn't know what he would think about an issue, and he often took positions against the conventional wisdom of even the political groups with which he was most closely allied. So it is impossible to know what Orwell would have said about anything. Yet people have been playing that game for fifty years." The New Yorker 01/20/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 3:50 pm Media Fellini Museum Planned A museum dedicated to the work of film producer Federico Fellini is being planned for the town of Rimini. "The five-room museum will display Fellini memorabilia including the director's personal library, story-boards, sketches and photographs." BBC 01/20/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 5:04 pm Is Big Media A Threat Or An Opportunity? Are our public airwaves and media choices being compromised as consolidation reduces the number of companies controlling media? "Should we totally deregulate the public airwaves and permit the dwindling of major media down to a precious few? Should we reduce choices available to cantankerous individualists who do not want their information and entertainment limited by increasingly massive mass media? 'Luddite nonsense,' answer many merging movie mogul and media magnates, as they point to the seemingly fierce competition from the Internet and the proliferation of cable channels." The New York Times 01/20/03 Posted: 01/20/2003 4:55 pm