Mutant Gene Responsible For Human Creativity? Some researchers say population increase triggered creativity. But an anthropologist says human creativity is the result of a mutant gene. "There was a biological change, a genetic mutation of some kind that promoted the fully modern ability to create and innovate. When you look at the archaeological record before 50,000 years ago, it is remarkably homogeneous. There are no geographically delineated groups of artefacts. Suddenly, modern-looking people began to behave in a modern way, producing art and jewellery... manufacturing styles and different cultures." The Guardian (UK) 02/17/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 1:15 am
Storage Problem: Dresden's Museums Are Angry "Six months after the dramatic rescue of Dresden's art treasures from incalculable flood damage, the mood in this city's leading museums is sour. Heralded for their heroic salvage effort, museum administrators and curators are now complaining that Saxony's regional government has refused to provide them with a safe place to store their art." The New York Times 02/17/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 1:57 am
Contemporary Art Is Art Market's Big Winner With tough economic times, what art is selling? Surprise - contemporary art is hottest. "The Zurich-Art Market Research Art and Antiques Index reveals that contemporary art has been by far the best performer, with prices for a sample group of artists increasing by 126 per cent since 1995 and by 26 per cent during the past year." The Telegraph (UK) 02/17/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 1:25 am
Important Mies Home For Sale The state of Illinois has declined to purchase a house designed by Mies van der Rohe that changed the way people looked at architecture a half-century ago. Now the house is up for sale. "Designed by Mies as a weekend retreat for the late Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a Chicago
nephrologist, the house is one of the finest realizations of Mies' philosophy that less is more - a one-story structure, raised on white piers that frame a single room sheathed almost entirely in glass. The proportions are exquisite and, as Mies' biographer Franz Schulze has written, the house recalls a Greek temple, standing in perfect, manmade counterpoint to its wooded natural setting." Chicago Tribune 02/16/03
Posted: 02/16/2003 11:58 pm
No "Oh Canada" For This Orchestra The Toronto Symphony touts next season's programming as "balanced." "You might think that an orchestra that's all ours would aim to be reflect where it lives; and that 'balanced' would imply some kind of symphonic variations on the old rhyme about something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. But at the TSO next year, the old and the borrowed trump everything else. The new is hardly there, and as for the blue - well, that would describe the mood of anyone scanning the new schedule for music created in Canada." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 02/17/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 12:50 am
On Shaky Ground - Time To Ban Vibrato In Brahms? The early music movement changed the way we listened to msuci of the Baroque and earlier. "As audiences, we have already got used to the idea that the music of Monteverdi or Bach is normally played and sung with pure tone, without the use of steady vibrato, a minute fluctuation of pitch intended to make the sound more intense. With the aid of period orchestras we are gradually accustoming ourselves to the same sound for Haydn and Mozart — even, on occasion, for Beethoven. But surely here, on the threshold of the Romantic era, pure tone must be questionable." Should we ban vibrato in Brahms and Schumann and...? The New York Times 02/16/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 12:21 am
Discovering The Neglected Demographic (Surprise - Older People Buy CDs) The success of 23-year-old Norah Jones, singing a traditional mix of jazz, has piqued recording company interest. "Older listeners are gravitating to the authentic, organic sound of Norah's records. She speaks to a huge group of people that the music business has forgotten and declared irrelevant. The latest sales statistics confirm the relevance of that neglected group. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, consumers 45 years and older now constitute a quarter of the record market and are the fastest-growing group of music buyers." The New York Times 02/16/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 12:04 am
New Jersey - Orchestra Of Strads The New Jersey Symphony has pulled off a deal to buy 30 priceless string instruments - including 12 Stradivari violins - for $18 million. It "is believed by experts to be the first time in history that any ensemble has purchased so many instruments from Italy's Golden Age at one time - and that includes during the lifetime of Antonio Stradivari himself. Details of the deal are to be released at a press conference in Newark on Wednesday." New Jersey Star Ledger 02/16/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 12:02 am
Artistry For Sale? And The Grammys (Should) Go To... The Grammys are about artistic excellence, right? But some of this year's nominations are inexplicable. Greg Kot is discouraged. "So many worthy artists got the shaft this year that I now offer not only predictions on the winners in some key categories, but also the biggest oversights. One of these years, the Grammys really may be about "artistic excellence." Until then, let the griping continue . . . Chicago Tribune 02/16/03
Posted: 02/16/2003 11:56 pm
Founders Of Modern Drama (Even Though They Didn't Like Each Other) "It is tempting to see Ibsen and Strindberg as inherently antithetical. On the one hand, Ibsen: sane, progressive, rational, formal. On the other, Strindberg: neurotic, reactionary, religious, fragmented. Ibsen's characters think and speak logically and consecutively: Strindberg's dart backwards and forwards. They do not think, or speak, ABCDE but AQBZC. 'I see the two men as violent, necessary opposites, who between them laid the foundations of modern drama'." The Guardian (UK) 02/17/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 1:01 am
Seattle's ACT Theatre On The Verge Of Closure Seattle's A Contemporary Theatre is $1.7 million in debt, has $3,000 in the bank, and has reduced its staff from 65 to nine. If the theatre doesn't raise $1.5 million by next week, one of Seattle's oldest and most respected theatres will close its doors. Seattle Times 02/15/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 12:27 am
- Home Rich, Cash Poor Some trace Seattle's ACT problems to its move from a comfortable (but run-down) home to an ambitious multi-theatre complex that's expensive to run. Still... where was the theatre's board? Seattle Times 02/16/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 12:22 am
- About-Face For Taper's Egan "The [Los Angeles-based] Mark Taper Forum's producing director, Robert Egan, known for fostering new plays and emerging writers, said Friday that he has changed his mind about running ACT Theatre, a major regional company in Seattle, because a worsening fiscal crisis there has nullified the adventurous artistic plans that made him want the job in the first place." ACT ran a $500,000 deficit in 2002, and is making plans to trim as much as $2 million from its 2003-04 budget. ACT's board has released Egan from his obligations to the company. Los Angeles Times 02/15/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 12:15 am
Colorado's Theatre Boom Colorado's arts funding is down, but the state is in the middle of a theatre boom, with new projects sprouting everywhere. "The 20 projects range in cost from the city of Denver's taxpayer-authorized, $75 million renovation of the Auditorium Theatre to the $75,000 it is costing John Ashton to turn a fur-storage shop into a new, 99-seat home for his 16-year-old Avenue Theater." Denver Post 02/16/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 12:10 am
The Magic Of McSweeney's Dave Eggers' McSweeney's is a literary magazine with the kind of buzz most publishers can only dream of. "The magazine's occasionally dense text and quaint line drawings make it look like a nineteenth-century literary journal - with a well-devel oped sense of the absurdly modern. Issue 4 came as a series of booklets in a box, the cover of each booklet designed by its author. Issue 6 was published with its own soundtrack, with songs to accompany each article. The spine of issue 3 contained a short story by David Foster Wallace. Then there is its openness to new writers..." The Observer (UK) 02/16/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 12:09 am
Salon Magazine Near Closing If Investor Isn't Found The online magazine Salon said Friday that it might have to close by the end of the month if it's not able to raise more cash. The magazine reports it has only $169,000. "In the filing Friday, Salon also disclosed that it stopped paying rent for its headquarters in
December." The company's landlord has demanded a payment of $200,000.
San Francisco Chronicle 02/15/03
Posted: 02/16/2003 11:51 pm
Art Of Recycling - You May Be Wearing Last Year's Movie "Ideas are not the only thing Hollywood recycles: The thousands of prints left over after all those blockbusters have run out of steam at the nation's multiplexes have sparked a thriving industry that helps transform old film into other products, including polyester fabric. Last year's 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, for example, required 8,400 prints for the U.S. and Canada alone. For that three-hour movie, the total for those prints amounts to about 29,000 miles of film." Los Angeles Times 02/17/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 1:48 am
Frida: The Art On Film "Frida" has been one of the most talked-about movies of the season (at least by artists). But when Julie Taymor was offered the film to direct, she hesitated. "I wasn't interested, even though I'm a painter, because normally I don't think you can figure out why a painter paints. How do you know? You can suppose many things, but often the artist comes out quite monstrous, full of angst, and you never get behind the inspiration." The Telegraph (UK) 02/17/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 1:34 am
Is The CBC Obsolete? Supporters and critics of Canada's public broadcaster debate the issue. According to critics, an expanded media universe renders a state-subsidized public broadcaster unnecessary: "The bad news is that the CBC is increasingly obsolete; the good news is that it is increasingly unnecessary." But CBC supporters maintain that "broadcasters have a unique societal role to play beyond the ratings-based for-profit alternatives." Montreal Gazette 02/15/03
Posted: 02/17/2003 12:07 am
Bollywood Conquers The World India's Bollywood is home to the world's largest film industry and it has billions of fans. Recently its unique style has taken London by storm. But until now, America has failed to succumb to its charms. But that may change with some new projects. "Some see this
combination of the world's two largest film industries as a welcome merger. But others worry about what may get lost in the translation." Dallas Morning News 02/16/03
Posted: 02/16/2003 11:53 pm
