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HERE FOR WEEKEND STORIES (20 stories)
Posted: 05/05/2003 12:11 am
Cutting Edge - Too Much Interactivity Doesn't Serve Art "These days, any film for which a studio's marketing department has sufficiently high commercial expectations is issued on DVD in a 'special' or 'limited' or 'collector's' edition that makes an Arden Shakespeare look skimpy by comparison. The contemporary desire for interactivity in the experience of art derives, obviously, from the heady sense of control over information to which we've become accustomed as users of computers. The problem with applying that model to works of art is that in order to get anything out of them, you have to accept that the artist, not you, is in control of this particular package of 'information.' And that's the paradox of movies on DVD: the digital format tries to make interactive what is certainly the least interactive, most controlling art form in human history." The New York Times 05/04/03
Posted: 05/05/2003 12:08 am
Americans Say Only 38 Artifacts Stolen From Iraq Museum, Not 170,000 American investigators who compiled an inventory over the weekend of the ransacked galleries have concluded that 38 pieces of art are missing from Iraq's National Museum, not the 170,000 that had been reported stolen or broken. "The inventory, compiled by a military and civilian team headed by Marine Col. Matthew Bogdanos, rejects reports that Iraq's renowned treasures of civilization - up to 170,000 artifacts - had been lost during the U.S.-led war against Iraq. It also raises questions about why any of the artifacts were reported missing." Chicago Tribune 05/05/03
Posted: 05/05/2003 6:33 am
See Our Collection..No Wait, we Can't Show you These... The Tate Museum put up a website Friday that it claimed would "let internet users around the world see the entire permanent collection from its London gallery plus loaned exhibits. But just hours after it was launched with a fanfare by comedian Michael Palin, almost four out of 10 pictures were replaced with a message saying they were unavailable for copyright reasons." BBC 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 11:49 pm
Leonardo Online "Using digital technology, the Louvre Museum is making [Leonardo] da Vinci accessible as never before, photographing 12 of his notebooks - which have not been exhibited together for 50 years - so visitors can flip through them with the click of a mouse. The effect is breathtaking - like touring the great genius's mind. Normally kept in a Bank of France vault, each yellowing sheet testifies to the insatiable curiosity of the artist, architect, engineer, inventor, theorist, scientist and musician some describe as the ultimate embodiment of a universal man." Toronto Star 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 11:31 pm
The Barnes - Saving It Might Also Kill It Edward Sozanski considers the Barnes Collection's desire to move to downtown Philadelphia. The move might improve the art collection's financial condition, but the Barnes unique character would be destroyed. "The collection might survive the eight-mile trip from Merion to the Parkway intact, but the ineffable spirit of the Barnes, the quality that makes it a special place, will not. That would be a tragedy, pure and simple." Philadelphia Inquirer 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 10:15 pm
As The Barnes Turns The drama over the Barnes Foundation's future is about to get publicly nasty again. "A potentially explosive internal investigative audit of the Barnes's finances in the 1990's, long withheld by the foundation, was turned over late Friday to a judge, who may decide to make it public. And a new book, "Art Held Hostage," published today by W. W. Norton, casts an unflattering light on machinations at the Barnes and its estranged partner, Lincoln University, that are drawing comparisons to the litigious mire of Dickens's 'Bleak House'." The New York Times 05/05/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 9:48 pm
NPR Offers New Classical Music Service National Public Radio has teamed up with KUSC in Los Angeles and CPRN in Colorado to begin offering a new classical music service. "NPR will offer the service to its 732 member stations, 472 of which already carry classical music. "We're giving them more to work with. The service's economy of scale will enable even small outlets to have high-quality announcing and programming." The music service will compete with existing networks produced by Minnesota Public Radio and Chicago's Beethoven Network. Los Angeles Times 05/05/03
Posted: 05/05/2003 6:13 am
Dallas Opera Chooses New General Director The Dallas Opera has chosen Karen Stone – an English native now Intendant (general director) of the combined opera and theater operations of Graz, Austria – as its new general director. Dallas Morning News 05/03/03
Posted: 05/05/2003 12:04 am
Pittsburgh Symphony - The Big Search The Pittsburgh Symphony is searching for a new music director to replace Mariss Jansosn. What is the orchestra looking for? "Whereas maestros Andre Previn, Lorin Maazel and Jansons were picked because they could be marketed, the next music director will have to do the marketing. At least, that's the case in mid-sized markets such as Pittsburgh. A large part of the perception of the orchestra and its marketing ability flow through the podium. Previously, the maestro's reputation leaked into marketing in an indirect way; now, he or she will be on the front lines of fund raising and ticket selling." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 10:28 pm
- Pittsburgh - Buy American What should Pittsburgh be looking for in a new music director? "An established star would garner respect and bring the orchestra to Europe, but he'd be expensive and unlikely to show up at chicken dinners to raise money. An energetic young American would come with a smaller price tag and the understanding of what it takes to market an orchestra, but he'd lack connections to soloists and venues as well as the name value to sit comfortably with the likes of Reiner, Steinberg, Previn, Maazel and Jansons." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 10:25 pm
- A Pittsburgh Wishlist Andrew Druckenbrod runs down a dream list of candidates for the next director of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Dohnanyi? Slatkin? Dutoit? Tilson Thomas?... Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 10:18 pm
New Jersey Symphony - A Job Too Big For One? The New Jersey Symphony hs been looking for a new music director since 2000. Now the orchestra "is considering whether the job of music director has grown larger than one person. 'Life has changed; we need to get more people involved in artistic programming, and we also need to come to the realization that no one person can fulfill all the things needed of artistic leadership. We have evolved." Newark Star-Ledger 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 9:56 pm
Is It By Rossini Or Anon? A debut performance of an elaborate wedding cantata billed as being composed by Rossini 171 years ago has angered some Rossini experts who dispute its authenticity. "The performance will take place in his name despite calls from some Rossini experts - who doubt the work's authenticity - for the piece to be billed as by Anon, writing in the style of the composer best known for The Barber of Seville." The Guardian (UK) 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 8:45 pm
Where Will Federal Arts Money Go If State Arts Agencies Disappear? Forty percent of the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts - $116.5 million this fiscal year - goes directly to state arts agencies, which then pass most of it on to local arts groups and projects. But what happens if states eliminate their arts agencies? "By law we cannot write a check if there is no agency to write a check to," says NEA chief Dana Gioia. The Oregonian 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 10:05 pm
Shocked® And Awed® We Are Americans rush to lock up the rights to anything. "So it's only natural that, by last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had received 26 applications for the use of 'shock and awe' for everything from hot sauces to bath toys." Baltimore Sun 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 8:32 pm
Belafonte: An Artist's Obligation Should artists speak out on political issues? Harry Belafonte has always been an activist. "It's a peculiarly modern idea that artists shouldn't express a point of view on issues. But often the cultural and intellectual communities are the first to be attacked, because we're first to protest the social order." Seattle Times 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 11:02 pm
My Day As Saddam Stephen Moss answers the audition call for Saddam lookalikes for a new play. You think an audition is difficult? Try walking through London dressed like an Iraqi dictator... "When I first try on the beret, it feels more Frank Spencer than Saddam Hussein, and several members of my immediate family remark on the campness of my appearance. Naturally, I have them butchered. I am also aware of the greyness of my hair. Saddam was not, it seems, prepared to die, but he was always willing to dye." The Guardian (UK) 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 8:59 pm
Was Shakespeare A Pothead? "Several 17th-century clay pipes found at the site of William Shakespeare's home were used to smoke marijuana, a South African anthropologist says. Although he has no proof that the Bard was the guy who smoked the pipes, he surmises that some of Shakespeare's sonnets and plays also lend credence to the possibility that the writer smoked marijuana for inspiration." The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis) 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 8:15 pm
Politically Incorrect - What's It Take To Sell Political Theatre? Political plays don't have to be serious and hard to sit through. "Most great political plays aren't about politics. It's obvious to say they are about people, but some of the best are about people who are as far away from the political process as you can get. As in politics, the answer in the theatre seems to be: make plays appear cool, which only alienates people even more. It's now extremely difficult to get a play produced unless it stars her out of EastEnders or him out of The Bill." The Guardian (UK) 05/05/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 8:56 pm
Tiny Almeida Reopens After Makeover The Almeida, "one of the most creative and fashionable theatres in London," reopens this week after a £7.6m makeover. "Now Michael Attenborough takes over with a strong programme pretty much guaranteed to fill the revamped theatre's 321 seats. And he has to fill them - this is a very small number of seats and the economics of the Almeida have always been of the wing-and-prayer variety." The Guardian (UK) 05/05/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 8:49 pm
Are comic Books Dying? "Distributors used to deliver a bunch of comics to every newsagent every week, and many kids who had trouble with books got into reading that way. Now newsagents have to place a special order to get a comic, and most of them don't bother. Even if they see a comic like The Simpsons or Archie, a lot of parents think $6 is too expensive. Result: kids are playing video games instead of discovering the pleasure of print. The few hundred comics that sell in Australia each week are mostly bought by collectors over the age of 16." Sydney Morning Herald 05/05/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 11:19 pm
Harry Scores Biggest Advance Sales in History It's long and it's expensive, but the new Harry Potter book, due to be released in a few weeks, has racked up bigger advance sales than any book in history. Sydney Morning Herald 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 11:08 pm
Leonardo On TV - We Hardly Knew Ye A BBC series on Leonardo da Vinci was a lot of sizzle without giving away much about who Leonardo really was. "Ever since the 15th century, it sometimes seems, programme-makers have been trying to fit art on to the small screen. Art is not natural television, as nature is. Few of us are ever likely to see the worlds revealed by the Blue Planet in any other way. We all, however, can go to an art gallery. As for seeing the Mona Lisa, we can hardly avoid it. So a programme about art needs a lot of insight and originality." The Guardian (UK) 05/05/03
Posted: 05/05/2003 6:38 am
Policing Piracy - Movie Studios Turn Up The Security Warner Bros. is so anxious about piracy with "Matrix Reloaded" that security is fierce. "Reporters attending a preview of 'Reloaded' on Thursday night at Warner's Burbank studios were subjected to the kind of high security normally seen at airports, not movie theatres. Journalists were required to present government-issued photo I.D., either a driver's licence or passport, to the super-serious Warner guards, who ominously resembled evil Agent Smith from the movie. As the scribes entered the theatre, they were told to empty their pockets, so as to prevent anyone from smuggling in a miniature digital video camera." Toronto Star 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 11:34 pm
Wanted: Actors Who Can't Dance When producers of "The Full Monty" went out looking for a cast, they purposely went looking for actors who couldn't dance. But wouldn't it have been easier to teach real dancers to fake like they couldn't really dance? No. "You have to go back to a time when you couldn't dance, when your leg wasn't straight, your arms were not always in the right position. Some dancers can't do that. It's like asking somebody who's learned how to walk, 'Don't walk.' It's difficult." Baltimore Sun 05/04/03
Posted: 05/04/2003 8:26 pm | 
