Conceptual Construct - The Art Of Learning Performance Art How does someone learn to be a performance artists? Can you learn how to smear that chocolate over your body or lock yourself up in a suitcase? "More students are studying performance practice, and more are studying its history and theory, in a range of departments: art history, performance studies, anthropology, curatorial programs. Still, even with performance as something of an entrenched category in the current cultural climate, it s a lucky student who can find a sympathetic mentor in most traditional art schools." ArtNews 04/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 6:39 pm
Working The Crowds With revenues, donations and endowments down, museums are working harder than ever to lure visitors - meditation, singles nights, special membership offers... the marketing is only limited by imagination (and taste?) The New York Times 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 7:56 pm
Museums: Coping With The Crowd Problem "Museums love blockbusters and, judging by the lines, so does the public. But the lines themselves signify the difficulty museums have solving the blockbuster math: let too few people in and the show becomes impossible for everyone to see; let too many people in and the art becomes impossible to see. To some extent, museum officials regard gallery traffic as a problem to be coped with, not cured." The New York Times 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 7:52 pm
Art Anxiety: What If I Don't Get It? The democratization of the American art museum has in some ways increased the visual insecurity of viewers. You're standing there judging the work, but instead it feels like the work is judging you. If you're stumped, you are less likely to blame the artist than yourself. You may even assume you are an indolent person who has failed to make the requisite intellectual effort, which in turn can unleash a chain of negative thoughts about straying from your diet, neglecting to send a sympathy card and other unforgivable failures of will." The New York Times 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 7:50 pm
Reform Needed For UK's National Trust The UK's National Trust has a management problem, says a new report. "The report says it is unrealistic to expect a body of 52 council members, meeting only four times a year for three hours at a time, to run an organisation with an annual expenditure of 251m, hundreds of properties, land holdings of 248,000 hectares (612,808 acres), 3 million members and a staff of 6000." The Guardian (UK) 04/24/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 7:39 pm
Repairing Cultural Bosnia Bosnia's National Museum was at the center of heavy fighting during the civil war. "The National Museum, a quadrangle of four Italian Renaissance buildings surrounding a quiet botanical garden, is wedged between what was the war's front line and the broad avenue that became a target for snipers. But the staff that stayed on during the war stood guard at night. They hauled exhibitions to the basements and bulwarked bigger pieces with planks and sandbags. Ultimately, the museum was among the few cultural institutions in Bosnia to survive relatively intact. Now, more than seven years after the war's end, the museum is struggling to reclaim its position as a showcase of Bosnia's history." The New York Times 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 7:12 pm
The Iraq Museum Autopsy Who let Iraq's National Museum get ransacked? What's missing, and how did it happen? Time 04/21/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 7:04 pm
Back To The Bamiyan Buddhas Two years ago the Taliban in Afghanistan destroyed the ancient Bamiyan Buddhas. So what's become of the site? "Earlier this year, the United Nations' cultural arm, Unesco, persuaded the Afghan government to reject proposals to install replicas of the ancient Buddhas in the towering cliff niches in which they used to stand." But repairs to the niches - "which have begun to crumble as rain has seeped into cracks left by the explosions" - have been slow to get underway. "Unesco officials said that that project would get under way when security conditions improve, using $1.8 million given by Japan and special scaffolding from the Messerschmitt Foundation of Germany." The New York Times 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 6:54 pm
ARTSJOURNAL'S ARCHIVE OF STORIES ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF IRAQ'S ART
Posted: 04/23/2003 10:48 am
Iraq Art - Where's The Loot? Two weeks after Iraq's National Museum was looted, some observers are wondering where all the art ended up. "Despite scattered rumors of artifacts turning up from Tehran to Paris, not a single one of the 90,000 or 120,000 or 170,000 plundered artifacts - no one knows for sure how many - is known to have been offered for sale anywhere in the world. And investigators and legitimate art dealers think they know why." Washington Post 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 7:20 am
Toledo Museum Cuts The Toledo Museum in Ohio, is cutting $1.3 million from its budget, and reducing staff by 14. "Our income from our endowments is down and annual giving, both corporate and individual, is down. Grants are harder to get, and our Ohio Arts Council grant - usually about $200,000 - has been cut twice since it was announced a few months ago." Toledo Blade 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 6:48 am
Museum Expansions A Go In Boston While big museums such as the Guggenheim, Whitney and Los Angeles County Museum have cancelled or postponed plans for big expansions, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts and Institute of Contemporary Art are going ahead with their plans. "The MFA is looking to raise $425 million for the project, the first phase of which is projected to be complete in the spring of 2007. With that phase, the museum will grow from 531,000 to 677,000 square feet, according to the MFA. The ICA's new building, designed for Fan Pier on the South Boston Waterfront, has been featured in an article in Newsweek and a sketch in The New Yorker. ICA officials say they've raised about $17 million of the $60 million they're looking to bring in for the project; an additional $7.5 million to $8 million should be available when the ICA sells its Boylston Street building." Boston Globe 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 6:41 am
Florida Philharmonic My File Bankruptcy Citing "years of financial instability and poor management" the Florida Philharmonic says it may file bankruptcy if it is unable to raise $20 million by May 2. "We built the orchestra before we had put in the proper financial infrastructure. That's the problem.''
Miami Herald 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 8:47 pm
- Previously: Florida Philharmonic Down To Its Last Dollars The Florida Philharmonic, said to be carrying a $3 million debt, is declaring an emergency and asking community leaders to help. "Based on what is known today, the FPO is projected to run out of operating cash in early May." Palm Beach Post 04/22/03
EMI To Put Music Catalogue Online Music giant EMI announces that it will put 90 percent of its music catalogue online. "The company is to make available for sale online over 140,000 tracks from over 3,000 EMI artists, allowing customers to burn music onto CD-R, copy tracks to portable players and purchase singles online as soon as the songs are serviced to radio and in advance of their commercial release on CD." Europemedia.com 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 4:17 pm
Louisville Orchestra Might Miss Payroll The Louisville Orchestra warns it might not be able to make next week's payroll. The orchestra is carrying an $800,000 debt. Orchestra musicians say they'll play a series of concerts next week during the Kentucky Derby celebrations in hopes of raising money so they can be paid later. Louisville Courier-Journal 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 3:59 pm
Back To The Studio - Chicago Symphony Makes A Recording Few orchestras have recording contracts anymore - even the Chicago Symphony, which has made 900 recordings over the years and won 60 Grammys. But when producers were looking to make a fast recording of pianist Lang Lang in a couple of concertos in February, the orchestra rolled into action and it was like the old days... Chicago Sun-Times 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 6:56 am
Cincinnati Boosts Arts Spending While cities and states across America are cutting their arts budgets, Cincinnati is doubling its arts spending. "Even as budget cuts are forcing the elimination of entire city services, city leaders are doubling government support of the arts. City Council will vote today on a plan by Councilman Jim Tarbell to divvy up an unprecedented $2.2 million in grants to 17 organizations, including $350,000 to the opera to help fix up the north wing of Music Hall. "I will admit that I don't know much about the opera, the symphony or the ballet - though I do enjoy going to them. It has just seemed to me that the city must recognize its growth potential, and the arts provides the biggest growth potential I can think of'." Cincinnati Enquirer 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 8:55 pm
Public Protest Across US Over Education Cuts US state governments with budget problems have been proposing cuts in education. But the public outcry is strong. "Since January, hundreds to thousands have protested in Arkansas and California, Maryland and New Jersey, Texas and at least 15 other states. The crowds in Frankfort and in Oklahoma City topped 20,000. New Yorkers hope a May 3 event will draw 30,000 in support of public schools. "The scale of the protests is as large and as extensive as we've seen since the '82-'83 recession. And now, schools are more reliant on the states. So when the states cut back, the impact on local school districts is more severe than anything we've ever seen." Los Angeles Times 04/22/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 6:49 pm
New Jersey Artists Protest Cuts New Jersey's arts council says that Gov. James McGreevey's proposal to cut the state's arts budget by 50 percent rather than eliminating it is not enough. "Of the cuts McGreevey made in the budget - which include social service programs and higher education - the loudest outcry has been from arts groups, who have made daily pleas at performances, waged letter writing campaigns and sent a barrage of e-mails to lawmakers." Newsday 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 6:19 pm
States Supersize Copyright Laws Numerous US states are introducing their own "enhancements" of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The new laws may make using a number of digital devices illegal. "By and large, the state bills don't lay out specific devices that would be deemed illegal. Most follow along the lines of the proposed Tennessee statute, which would criminalize "any communication device which is connected in such a manner that would permit the unauthorized receipt, interception, acquisition, description, transmission or re-transmission of a communication service." Wired 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 4:20 pm
Wanted: One Saddam Lookalike A play about the Iraq war opening in London, has posted an audition notice for a Saddam Hussein lookalike. "Open auditions for the part start next week at the Riverside Studios in west London. According to an advert in today's edition of the Stage, "a black beret and flak jacket will be provided", and in a further concession to lookalikes now gone to ground, moustaches will also be on offer." The Guardian (UK) 04/24/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 7:35 pm
XXX On A London Stage A play billed as the "most sexually explicit ever to open in London" has made its debut. "The two-hour multi-media show involves naked actors performing simulated sex acts in front of video screens depicting further explicit sexual activity. Based on the writings of the Marquis de Sade, the performance 'aims to challenge boundaries of what is acceptable without a moral judgment'." BBC 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 4:10 pm
Sideswipe - BWay Producers Complain About NYT Reviews A couple of prominent Broadway producers have complained about New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley for disparaging shows in reviews of other shows. In a review of "Frog and Toad", Brantley wrote that: "I'd far rather spend an airy 90 minutes with the woodland characters of 'Frog and Toad' than revisit a spangled runaway elephant like 'Thoroughly Modern Millie.' " Producers of "Millie" say the swipe was gratuitous. "Perhaps very few of your readers would have noted your comments on 'Millie' - but it is very demoralizing to performers who have to get out there every night and give it their all." New York Post 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 6:33 am
The Oldest Writers Archaeologists have found what they believe to be the oldest examples of human writing. "Carved into 8,600-year-old tortoise shells, the pictograms were found buried with human remains in 24 graves unearthed at Jiahu in Henan province, western China. They predate the earliest recorded writings from Mesopotamia by more than 2,000 years." Discovery 04/22/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 6:43 pm
Going For The Fastest Book Forty German writers are hoping to set a record for the fastest book by conceiving, writing and printing a book in 12 hours. "After the authors have finished their writing, the contributions will be subbed by editors and then sent to the publishers. Organisers hope to have 1,000 copies printed before the 12 hours is up, and a party is planned to celebrate the record attempt." BBC 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 4:07 pm
Why A Top Canadian Publisher Went Out Of Business Is "trying to produce high-quality non-fiction that is reader-friendly is pretty much a losing game in Canada"? That's one of the lessons some are taking away from the failure of Canadian publisher Macfarlane Walter & Ross, which went out of business last month. "Many of the traits that writers and editors loved about MWR - the editorial nurturing of writers, the refusal to publish junk titles for a quick profit - are some of the very same factors that got the imprint into trouble and mitigated against a cutthroat salvage operation allowing a prospective buyer to cherry pick assets." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 7:10 am
Reality Bites: Reality Craze Means Unemployed Writers One thing about all those reality shows dominating the TV schedule - they don't need writers. And so many sitcom and drama writers in Hollywood are hurting for work... Backstage 04/23/03
Posted: 04/23/2003 9:04 pm
