IDEAS
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas
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I Feel, Therefore I Think (Or Something Like That) Many philosophers have divided us up into thinking and emotional sides - each often at war with the other. But "for more than a decade, neuroscientists armed with brain scans have been chipping away at the Cartesian façade. Gone is Descartes' lofty Cogito, reasoning in pristine detachment from the physical world. Fading fast are its sophisticated modern incarnations, including the once-popular 'computational model,' according to which the mind is like a software program and the brain like a hard drive. Lately, scientists have begun to approach consciousness in more Spinozist terms: as a complex and indivisible mind-brain-body system. The philosopher anticipated one of brain science's most important recent discoveries: the critical role of the emotions in ensuring our survival and allowing us to think. Feeling, it turns out, is not the enemy of reason, but, as Spinoza saw it, an indispensable accomplice." The New York Times 04/19/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas/redir/20030421-21457.html
A Free Market Solution To Looting? Many of the ancient artifacts in today's museums were removed from their places of origin before countries declared bans on the exports of cultural heritage. But those artifacts are protected in the museums. Is there a way for the free market to give collectors incentives to find and protect artifacts and shut down looting? "Archaeologists like taking the high moral ground against selling antiquities, but it doesn't solve the problem of looting. I would like to use market solutions. Sell very common objects, like oil lamps or little pots, and use the money to pay for professional excavations." The New York Times 04/20/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/ideas/redir/20030421-21454.html
'Titanic' In Kabul What popular culture to Afghans want, now that the Taliban is gone? "Most of the pop culture bubbling up in Afghanistan in the post-Taliban era is centered on neighbor India. Postcards of Indian stars and their bare bellies decorate everything from taxis to books. Hindi music blares from Internet cafes and car stereos. Bollywood action films are the hottest movies playing. The American exceptions are odd: Michael Jackson; any Hollywood action film, particularly those that went straight to the Third World before they officially hit the video market; and, of course, 'Titanic'." Chicago Tribune 04/21/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues/redir/20030421-21461.html
More Women Leading Arts Organizations "Statistics show that women have made great strides in leadership in the arts. In New England, women run 58 percent of museums today - compared to 25 percent in 1978. The number of women directing art museums nationwide has increased from about one in seven in 1989 to about one in three today, according to the American Association of Museum Directors. But some caution that the gains may not be as significant as they appear." Boston Herald 04/21/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues/redir/20030421-21459.html
Recipe For A "Golden Age" Baghdad in the 9th Century was in a Golden Age, a time when "its civilization shone more brightly than any other, when its philosophers, mathematicians and doctors led the way intellectually." But it was a time made possible by opening up to the outside world. Baghdad was "the Tokyo of its day. Many of the ideas it snapped up were foreign. Yet the Arabs adapted them brilliantly. The hospital was a Persian idea from as early as the sixth century, under the name 'bimaristan.' But in Baghdad the institution became much more sophisticated, with special wards for internal diseases, contagious cases and psychiatric patients." The New York Times 04/21/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues/redir/20030421-21453.html
Major Foundation Endowments Decline - And So Do Grants The Pew Charitable Trusts are major investors in the arts. But the decline in the stock market has sharply reduced the grants that Pew will give this year. "At the end of 2002, Pew's endowment was valued at $3.75 billion, down 23 percent from its year-end peak of $4.89 billion in 1999." Philadelphia Inquirer 04/21/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues/redir/20030421-21452.html
Bay Area Mid-Size Groups Feel Squeeze Bay Area arts groups of all sizes are having difficulty in the current economic slowdown. But mid-size groups are especially hard hit in times like these. San Francisco Chronicle 04/21/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues/redir/20030421-21451.html
How To Show Appreciation (But It Doesn't Seem Enough): Jeanne Marie Laskas goes to the ballet and is wowed. "Do I sound wowed? No, I do not. In other arenas, when people are wowed, they shout: 'Wow!' Sometimes they stand up, whistle and make loud 'Woo! Woo! Woo!' sounds. But this is not appropriate behavior for a gloriously baroque performance hall. Instead, you are expected to sit here and watch a woman move her stunningly elastic body with a motion that is pure emotion, a bend and a twirl and a leap that has you close to tears, and you are supposed to wait. You are supposed to wait until she is done with this twirl or that twirl, and then, when an audience response is permitted, you may gently put your hands together with a respectful, though reticent, clap, clap, clap. This is bothering me. This is bothering me in a way I have never quite been bothered..." Washington Post 04/20/03
http://artsjournal.com/dance/redir/20030421-21469.html
Charleston Symphony Is Latest Orchestra In Financial Trouble The Charleston Symphony is the latest to be threatened with closing. "Though it is the largest performing arts organization in South Carolina, and though ticket sales are up this year, it is in dire economic straits. Its endowment is puny, it's considering shortening its 38-week performance season, and its board is scrambling to come up with a rescue plan." The Post & Courier (Charleston) 04/20/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030421-21471.html
New Jersey's Strad Problem - Who Gets To Play Them? The New Jersey Symphony is the recipient of an amazing bounty - 30 violins from the Italian Golden Age - including 12 Strads. "The collection makes its official debut Saturday , when guests at a fund-raiser charging $2,500 per ticket will hear the instruments played at the historic railroad terminal hall at Liberty State Park in Jersey City. As the date nears, a new dilemma arises: In the midst of such bounty, who gets to play one, and who doesn't?" Newark Star-Ledger 04/21/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030421-21470.html
When Competition Boosts Concert Ticket Prices The Seattle area is getting a second big-venue outdoor amphitheatre. Great - there'll be more concerts to choose from and ticket prices ought to go down because of the competition, right? Wrong. In the big pop concert business, competition causes ticket prices to go up.... Seattle Times 04/21/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030421-21472.html
In-House Orchestra Recording Riles Labels As major recording labels backed off recording orchestras, some of the orchestras began producing their own discs. They've done okay, but "these homegrown labels are not a development that the majors’ classics division chiefs particularly welcome. EMI Classics, indeed, has become so riled by LSO Live that they have stopped hiring the London Symphony Orchestra for their own recording projects." The Times (UK) 04/22/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030421-21462.html
Nina Simone, 70 Jazz singer Nina Simone has died at her home in France. "Simone, born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, N.C., had hit songs ranging from blues to spirtuals to classical fare. But she gained fame in 1959 with her recording of 'I Loves You Porgy,' from the musical 'Porgy & Bess'. She later became a voice of the civil rights movement, with her song 'Mississippi Goddam,' and later, 'To Be Young, Gifted and Black'.”
New York Daily News 04/21/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/people/redir/20030421-21463.html
- Forceful Voice "Simone had only one Top 20 hit in her long career — her very first single, "I Loves You, Porgy," released in 1959 — but her following was large and loyal and her impact deep and lasting. Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack and Laura Nyro were among the singers who were influenced by her. In recent years her songs resurfaced and won new fans on television commercials and in dance-club remixes." The New York Times 04/22/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/people/redir/20030421-21473.html
The Future Of Books (Or Something Like Them) What will books look like in the future? "In this revolutionary future, an author will still create 'a book', and a reader still read 'a book'; but the links in the chain between author and reader will not necessarily include a publisher, a printer, a distributor and a bookseller. Instead, the process will go something like this: You will step up to one of these machines and you will browse the index. You might be looking for a classic that has been out of print of years, perhaps, or the latest bestseller, or you might be looking for a book on quiltmaking. You will browse the index, and you will make your choice. You will choose the typeface, the size of the type, the binding, the cover. You will choose whether you want to listen to it or to read it. Then you will pay your money and you will punch your buttons." Sydney Morning Herald 04/22/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030421-21468.html
Majoring In Harry "At the annual joint conference of the Popular Culture and American Culture Associations in the past week, J.K. Rowling's boy wizard is the most talked-about topic among the 1500 university professors presenting papers on a wide range of subjects from Nathaniel Hawthorne to the sitcom Friends. In a series of essays and discussions, young Master Potter is being dissected from all angles, from the class consciousness in Rowling's novels to the reaction of the religious right to the books. The phenomenal commercial success of the Harry Potter books has generated a lot of activity in the academic community." Sydney Morning Herald 04/22/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030421-21467.html
Iraqi Libraries - Destruction Of History The destruction of Iraq's libraries is a disaster. "While the extent of the loss is not yet fully known, two great libraries, with priceless ancient collections, have been burned, and at least two others looted. In many respects, what has happened is the complete destruction of history. Manuscripts are the main materials we use to write history - it is the evidence. Books published in the last 30 years can be replaced. But rare manuscripts can never be replaced. The looting and burning of virtually all these collections is an incalculable and largely irreplaceable loss. Just imagine the Library of Congress and National Archive pillaged and burned." Boston Globe 04/21/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030421-21458.html
Language Police To The Rescue (Who Needs This Kind OF Saving?) The language police have made it a crusade to expurgate language that could be offensive to some from American schoolbooks. "On the theory that a proper K-12 education should upset no one and affirm all, elaborate protocols now exist for the content of classroom materials. Anything even remotely sexist is verboten. Banished from respectable texts are such troublemakers as 'babe,' 'chick' and 'co-ed,' but so too are solid citizens like 'actress,' 'brotherhood' and 'cattleman.' Women are not to be portrayed as frightened, indecisive or vain; men as too assertive, analytical or violent. As for race and ethnicity, perish the stereotypical thought that Asians are studious and hardworking, that blacks excel in sports and music, or that Jews ever lived in tenements..." A new book reveals how far the rewriting goes. OpinionJournal 04/22/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030421-21455.html
Are European Schools Sanitizing History? Is European history, as taught to Europe's schoolchildren, being sanitized? Vikings, once referred to as "fierce raiders," are now described as "Danes [who] besides being farmers, were much better at trading than Saxons". Napoleon wasn't an invader, he was "a reformer whose code of measurement was introduced throughout Europe." "Vital pieces of history have been taken out of schoolbooks and the curriculum in the European-wide drive to pretend the union has a common identity and background." The Guardian (UK) 04/13/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030421-21456.html
Used Bookstores See Sales Increase Independent bookstores as a group may be facing declining sales, but used bookstores are soing well. "The latest consumer book-purchase study shows that, nationally, used bookstores have increased their market share from 3% to 5% in recent years. The increasing retail prices for hardcover and paperbacks have encouraged consumers to seek out used books for better savings, according to the Book Industry Study Group. Some used-book sellers have found a way to make the Internet work for them, and most have garnered strong customer loyalty." Los Angeles Times 04/21/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030421-21439.html
Daredevil Musical? Daredevil Evel Knievel has given his okay for a rock musical about his life. "I think it's a wonderful compliment, said Knievel, who gained fame in the 1970s by jumping his motorcycle over cars and canyons. His daredevil career left him with 37 fractures, including broken bones in both legs, before he retired in 1980." The Age (AP) (Melbourne) 04/22/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre/redir/20030421-21466.html
Looted Iraqi Art Beginning To Turn Up A"rt collectors and dealers say they are already getting queries about artifacts looted from Iraq's museums, and the FBI said today at least one suspected piece had been seized at an American airport." The Age (AP) (Melbourne) 04/22/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030421-21465.html
When Vandalism Is Art? Why? Why shouldn't Jake and Dinos Chapman’s much publicised modifications - or defacements, depending on your point of view - to a £25,000 set of prints of Goya's 'The Disasters' be considered vandalism? "There’s no reason why they should work on the real thing apart from vanity on their part. I find it objectionable that they should, as they have consistently done, compare themselves to Goya, because he was a deeply serious artist and The Disasters of War is one of the most powerful commentaries on war ever created." The Scotsman 04/21/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030421-21464.html
Iraq Art - Failure To Act During the Second World War, Allied governments made protecting Europe's art treasures a priority. It was a policy that paid many benefits. So why did the Americans not have a similar policy to help protect Iraq's culture? Chicago Tribune 04/21/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030421-21440.html
