Ideas Science And Our Growing Illiteracy Arguably, science has never been more important in our lives. "Science offers a way of finding out about, and changing, the world around you. As such, it is increasingly central to all our lives. It touches everything that we hold dear, from communication, to nutrition, to reproduction - and now promises to take us into a strange world of cyberspace, biotechnology and nanoscience. The pride and scorn for science, that saw most people through the 20th-century, is now giving way to fear. Why the change? Jargon and methodology, more than ever, are raising the wall between the cognoscenti and Everyone Else." The Guardian (UK) 04/10/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 9:12 pm Visual Arts Some Fear Archaeological Looting In Iraq Many in the art world are concerned that Iraq's cultural treasures will be looted after the war ends. "After the last gulf war a lot of treasures disappeared onto the black market and archaeologists in Britain and the US are concerned this will be repeated on a much larger scale in the power vacuum after the fall of Saddam Hussein, as happened in Afghanistan. For poor Iraqis the temptation to sell stolen antiquities will be greatly increased if it is known there is a ready market in the west. Alarm bells had been set ringing by reports of a meeting between a coalition of antiquities collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), with US defence and state department officials before the start of the war. The group offered help in preserving Iraq's invaluable archaeological collections, but archaeologists fear there is a hidden agenda to ease the way for exports post-Saddam." The Guardian (UK) 04/11/03 Posted: 04/11/2003 8:03 am Bones To Dust "There is a growing feeling amongst many in the museum profession that old human remains should be returned to where they were originally found." But "the bones are evidence from the past that speak to us about life from between one century to many thousands of years ago. Under scrutiny they reveal patterns of migration, the effect of environment upon body form, and the relationship between different populations. We can learn who lived where and when, about patterns in health, origin, gene flow and microevolutionary change. When the law changes, large and significant collections could be broken up and sent away." Butterflies and Wheels 04/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 9:00 pm The Greatest Generation The American artists who came of age in the 60s and 70s are the country's greatest generation of artists. "They are men mostly, with big egos and big ideas. They were the first Americans to influence Europeans. The work these artists made changed, or at least questioned, the nature of art: what it looked like, its size, its materials, its attitude toward the places where it was shown, its relation to architecture, light and space and to the land. The artists even questioned whether art needed to be a tangible object. Minimalism, Post-Minimalism, Earth art, video art, Conceptualism - suddenly art could be nothing more than an idea, a thought on a piece of paper that played in your head. It could be ephemeral or atmospheric, like the experience of a room illuminated by colored fluorescent tubes." The New York Times 04/06/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 8:24 pm Commercial Interests Picking Apart Libeskind's WTC Plans Stakeholders in the process to build on the site of the World Trade Center are already starting to pick apart the Daniel Libeskind design that had been chosen for the site. The owner of a retail mall that had been in the base of the World Trade Center doesn't like the design: 'We don t think [the Libeskind plan] works. So why don t we sit down and fix it? Why not have a meeting? It s not that difficult. We think we can help and make it better.' Westfield s unhappiness is significant because the company and the Port Authority will have to renegotiate Westfield s lease at the site." New York Oberver 04/09/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 7:12 pm Stolen Schiele Painting To Be Sold An Egon Schiele painting that spent half a century in an museum in Austria before being returned to the heirs of the Jewish collectors from whom it was stolen by the Nazis is expected to bring in 7 million at Sotheby's in London in June. The Telegraph (UK) 04/11/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 7:07 pm Greece's Acropolis Museum - Now All It Needs Is The Art "Greece is rushing to build the $100 million New Acropolis Museum to house the Marbles for the 2004 Summer Olympics, locating it next to the rocky citadel in the heart of ancient Athens. The three-level museum will be topped with a glass-walled Parthenon Gallery to display the carvings in brilliant sunlight, just 800 feet from, and slightly below, the temple they once adorned. Innovative and earthquake-proof, the museum aims to rebut longtime British objections to the Elgin Marbles' return - that Greece lacked first-rate display space to assure the safety of the 480-foot-long section of the Parthenon frieze. British officials are also worried that a repatriation of the Marbles, even on loan, could set a precedent for other claims on antiquities removed from original sites." CNN.com 04/10/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 6:43 pm Music Computer Program Can Identify Composers? "A standard PC file-compression program can tell the difference between classical music, jazz and rock, all without playing a single note. This new-found ability could help scholars identify the composers of music that until now has remained anonymous." New Scientist 04/10/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 7:42 pm What Music Slump? Indie Labels Flourish As Majors Struggle While execs at major recording labels "wail about the industry's imminent collapse, indie labels and artists are singing a much happier tune. Profits are up - in some cases by 50 to 100 percent. That's in contrast to overall album sales, which dropped about 11 percent in 2002. You won't hear many of these labels' artists on pop radio - and ironically, that's one of the secrets to their success. By avoiding the major expenses associated with getting a tune on the air - which can cost upwards of $400,000 or $500,000 per song - independent labels are able to turn a profit far more quickly, and share more of those profits with their artists." Christian Science Monitor 04/11/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 7:01 pm Arts Issues Your Ad Here It seems like every public space and event has a corporate sponsor these days. "The marketing idea behind this trend is consumer impressions. The more often we see a company's name, the theory goes, the more likely we'll trust that company and, in turn, buy its products or services when the opportunity arises. Thus, we get corporate names on the sports facilities and concert venues we attend, ubiquitous product placement in the movies, TV and cable shows we watch, even in the air we breathe (thanks, Fuji blimp)." But instead of complaining, maybe we should see this as an opportunity. "The biggest untapped avenue for sponsorship may just be us. Individuals. You and me..." Los Angeles Times 04/11/03 Posted: 04/11/2003 9:05 am Alaska Pols Looking To Kill Public Art Program Alaska state legislators are attempting to abolish the state's public art program. Anchorage Daily News 04/04/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 6:55 pm Workers Want Art, Music In Workplace A new survey of workers in the UK suggests that "60 percent of employees feel that music or art in the workplace would prove both motivational and inspirational. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents who either worked full-time or part-time said that they would like to see art in their workplace, however, only 48 percent said that their employer invested in workplace art." HR Gateway 04/10/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 6:14 pm Florida Lawmakers Vote To Slash Arts Funding Florida's Senate votes to zero out state arts funding. "Gov. Jeb Bush in January recommended slashing more than 50 percent from last year's $27.9 million funding for the arts. The House also voted unanimously Tuesday for its budget, which offers only slightly better prospects: $6,115,000 in state funding for museums, arts in education, cultural program support and other programs. In the next two and a half weeks, Senate and House committees will work out a compromise budget to send to Bush." Florida Today 04/08/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 6:00 pm Funding Cuts Threaten Florida Culture The chair of the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council writes to protest proposed cuts in Florida's state arts budget. "The Senate is proposing zero dollars for the state's Division of Cultural Affairs' grants programs and the elimination of the Cultural Institutions Trust Fund, one of three so targeted out of the state's 450. For years, the Trust Fund has provided a stable, dedicated source of funds for the state's arts grants programs. The House's position is $6.1 million in cultural support, a 78 percent reduction from the current year. Gov. Bush's fiscal-year 2004 budget of $12 million for culture is a 57 percent reduction from the FY 2003 state budget. These cuts are disproportionate to other reductions proposed to address the state's budget crisis." Miami Herald 04/04/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 5:59 pm People Johnny On The Spot - The Perfect Life Of John Eliot Gardiner Conductor John Eliot Gardiner "heads the list of most recorded, and most awarded, musicians in history. He has wealth, a knighthood, a captivating wife, charisma. At home in several languages and an accomplished historian, he is also infuriatingly brainy. Put another way, he is ambitious, self-centred, workaholic, privileged, caustic. Human nature is not always generous to those who win." London Evening Standard 04/10/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 8:16 pm Theatre Sondheim & Friends Trying To Keep NY Critics Away From Show? Stephen Sondheim, John Weidman and Harold Prince are New York theatre legends. And they have a new show. It's opening in Chicago. And they don't want New York critics to come see it. "The three Broadway bigwigs are trying to keep the national theater press away from their new musical, 'Bounce,' which will have its world premiere June 30 at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. They have instructed the theater not to invite - or make press seats available to - any critic or reporter outside the Chicago area. Nice try, boys, but no dice." New York Post 04/11/03 Posted: 04/11/2003 9:33 am Shakespeare In A Sex Clinic? "While it hasn't yet shaken the stage-driven foundation of traditional theatre and dance, site-specific theatre is certainly rousing a state of artistic excitement on Canada's West Coast. The charge is being led by innovative young companies that all agree site-specific theatre should involve more than just plunking a script into an offbeat locale." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 04/11/03 Posted: 04/11/2003 8:47 am Guthrie Layoffs Minneapolis' Guthrie Theatre is laying off employees in an attempt to shore up the theatre's budget. "The layoffs, combined with voluntary resignations, union wage concessions and hiring freezes, could save about $3 million and will help the theater reach its $17 million budget." The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis) 04/11/03 Posted: 04/11/2003 8:00 am Publishing Small Publishers' Stock Trades Up Business analysts say that small publishers are sometimes a better business than the big publishing houses. "If these companies are publishing for the professional or children's book market, they don't need one big hit a year. They might publish hundreds of books that sell 10,000 copies each, and that's fine. They can make a profit because the books tend to be pricier than other kinds of books and because, particularly with universities and other professional markets, institutions have to buy large numbers of these books, whether they want to or not." CNN 04/11/03 Posted: 04/11/2003 9:20 am Frankfurt Fair To Stay In Frankfurt After long debates and threats to leave town, "the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest publishing trade fair, will stay in Frankfurt. Threats to relocate to Munich have lost currency and that's the end to all that. This decision was made public Tuesday following an extraordinary meeting of the publishing association's management board." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 04/11/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 9:04 pm The Promising Young Writer Who Says He Won't Write Again Who is Dan Rhodes? "At 30, he is one of the youngest authors to be chosen for Granta's reputedly generation-defining Best Young British Novelists list. His first novel, 'Timoleon Vieta Come Home,' has attracted a flurry of plaudits." But there's a catch on the way up the literary ladder. Rhodes declared that he will never write again. The Guardian (UK) 04/09/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 8:49 pm Iraqi Looters Steal Everything But The Books Looters emptied the house of Iraqi vice-premier Tariq Aziz, "stealing everything from paintings to curtains, kitchen units, and even stripped the electrical wires from the villa's main switchboard. But what they left behind in his library was politically notable: the complete works of Saddam Hussein in Arabic, the mafia novels of Mario Puzo, author of the Godfather, and a book on geopolitics by Richard Nixon, former US president." Glasgow Herald 04/11/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 8:45 pm Suing To Sell Books On The Streets Of New Orleans On the streets of New Orleans you can sell candles, razor blades, toiletries, pencils and shoelaces. You can sell photographs, weigh people, stage art shows and hold cooking demonstrations. What you can't do is sell books. Now a move to sue to get the ordinance changed to allow bookselling. Publishers Weekly 04/09/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 8:31 pm Dance ABT - Ads For A Younger Audience Trying to appeal to a younger demographic, American Ballet Theatre has commissioned a hip new ad campaign. "Rather than targeting the ballet's traditional audience, older patrons and aficionados of the arts, the campaign takes aim at younger set. According to the U.S. Census, young adults ages 18-24 is the fastest-growing segment in arts attendance. The "Be moved" campaign aims to change people's perception of the company from stodgy to sensual. 'We wanted to really make it aspirational, but also accessible'." AdWeek 04/09/03 Posted: 04/10/2003 6:11 pm