Ideas Frank Rich To Bill Bennett: Blame It On Tupac "It is almost too perfect that Las Vegas, the city where Tupac Shakur was murdered in 1996, would be the undoing of William Bennett. In 1995, Mr. Bennett, serving as America's self-appointed cultural commissar, made a target of Tupac, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and other practitioners of gangsta rap. They were public enemy No. 1 in his relentless battle against what he was fond of calling 'the filth, sewage and mindless bloodletting of the popular entertainment industry.' Mr. Bennett was above such vulgarity. He had been secretary of education. He had attacked the National Endowment for the Arts for perpetrating junk. He had anthologized Plato and Aesop in The Book of Virtues. But the guy just couldn't keep away from Vegas." The New York Times 05/18/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 9:28 pm Innovative In The Sense Of Stupid Dave Barry is America's preeminent humor columnist, and for some time now, he has been fascinated by the predilection of British art museums for "paying large sums of money for works of art that can only be described as extremely innovative (I am using 'innovative' in the sense of 'stupid')." Having previously questioned the legitimacy of Martin Creed's flickering lights, Barry is now doubled over by the news that artist Ceal Floyer has won a major award for a bag of trash. "To judge from the photograph in the Times, it is a standard black plastic garbage bag, just like the ones you put your garbage in, except of course that you have to pay people to haul your garbage bags away, whereas Ms. Floyer got $47,000 for hers." Miami Herald 05/18/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 8:39 pm Visual Arts Stolen Art - Staking A Claim The Art Loss Register's Sarah Jackson on recovering art stolen by the Nazis: "In the past, provenance was important to establish value. Today, provenance is taking center stage because of liability. The law is changing slowly, but remorselessly, in favor of the victim. Once there is a known Holocaust survivor of a known work of art, it becomes virtually unsalable. For commercial art dealers, the choice is stark, because the buyers will choose an alternative that is not a tainted work of art." Los Angeles Times 05/19/03 Posted: 05/19/2003 5:07 am The Chicken/Egg Conundrum of Modern Architecture Has modern photography changed the face of architecture? Increasingly, it seems as if every new building that goes up in a big city is designed to make a great poster when photographed from that perfect angle. With the rise of photography as an art, the scale and substance of architecture changed forever, but the jury is still out on which form was more influential on the other. The New York Times 05/18/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 9:31 pm The Art Of Internet Porn Thomas Ruff's nudes are not what one generally expects from a serious artist. He starts with the crass, hardcore images of internet porn, then molds and blurrs colors and shapes, creating works which retain the raw sexuality of the 'net, but with little of its horrifying starkness. It's a dicey art form, Ruff admits, but his work is starting to win admirers all over the world, and inherent in his success is the question of where the lines between art and reality lie these days. The New York Times 05/18/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 9:15 pm A Beacon For The Arts In New York State "The meaning of Dia:Beacon -- a highly touted nonprofit showcase for contemporary art that opens Sunday -- lies in the minds of its beholders. But everyone agrees on one thing: It's big. Big in terms of dimensions, [and] big in terms of image and ambition." The gallery, located along the Hudson River in upstate New York, features a jaw-dropping 240,000 square feet of exhibition space, and will feature the collection of the New York City-based Dia Foundation. Los Angeles Times 05/17/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 8:31 pm A Chance For New Experiences "Many of today's first visitors to Dia: Beacon -- even the skeptics among them -- ought to come away speechless and with a profound understanding of the art, without the help of tidy explanations. For devotees of the kind of work Dia owns, it is as evidently and immediately great and touching as anything by Leonardo or Monet. Maybe easy-on-the-eyes Old Masters only seem so much less difficult than more current work because most art lovers have been raised on them. Dia: Beacon gives us the chance to feast on art we may not have been fed as kids." Washington Post 05/18/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 8:30 pm Piering Into the Future The seafronts at Brighton and Hove are a shadow of their formal selves these days, and the once-proud piers of the UK are decrepit old wrecks with none of the tourist-drawing power they once held. But the time may be right for a seaside revival in Britain. Architects are being hired, and thoroughly modern plans are being fleshed out for the revival of the old piers. The question is, will the public embrace what is to come, and can a simple pier really generate a great deal of interest in the fast-and-furious 21st century? The Telegraph (UK) 05/17/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 8:20 pm Better Than A Photograph, But Confusing As Hell England's National Gallery is unveiling a new machine which will allow visitors to make instant prints of any of thousands of paintings in the museum's collection,in multiple sizes. The technology is not photographic, but digital, and the images produced are much more faithful to the original colors and textures of the works than a photographic print could ever be. And that's what makes it so disconcerting, says James Fenton. "The fact of the matter is that, the more you study the history of art, the more you are likely to use photographs. Even when you... make a conscious effort to memorise a painting as it is when seen in natural light, there will be other paintings and other artists' work that get stored in your mind through acquaintance with photographs." The Guardian (UK) 05/17/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 7:51 pm Music The Orchestra Cycle: Program Continuity or Overdoing A Good Thing? Why do orchestras constantly make a point of programming season-long strings of works by the same composer? What is it about, say, a Beethoven cycle, that is so irresistable to programmers, and is the idea really backed up by sound artistic and financial reasoning? "The investments go beyond time. Orchestras hold preconcert lectures and discussions with audiences to help put a series into context, and many work with theater companies and museums to create stage productions and visual-arts exhibitions connected to the series theme." Saint Paul Pioneer Press 05/18/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 9:40 pm Cautiously Pessimistic in Charleston The Spoleto USA chamber music festival is one of the nation's best-loved summer institutions. But even a festival which continues to set records for attendance and ticket revenue is not immune from the ravages of the current American economic climate. Corporate sponsorships for Spoleto are down sharply this year, and while no one is talking about any major cuts just yet, the prospect of a return to massive debt and layoffs for the festival is certainly the proverbial elephant in the boardroom at the moment. Charleston (SC) Post & Courier 05/18/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 8:12 pm Florida Phil Fans Enraged By Shutdown Long-time subscribers of the Florida Philharmonic, which filed for bankruptcy last week after several weeks of pie-in-the-sky fundraising attempts, are reportedly furious with the way the orchestra urged and cajoled them to renew expensive subscriptions for a season which the orchestra knew might not be played. Now, the orchestra says it hasn't decided whether to issue refunds to subscribers. "The Philharmonic has managed to alienate its bedrock supporters. It's given the appearance of courting donors capable of seven-figure gifts while putting the squeeze on ordinary people who faithfully bought tickets." South Florida Sun-Sentinel 05/18/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 8:04 pm Previously: Doing The Math - Money Questions Don't Add Up In Miami Plenty of blame to go around in the collapse of the Florida Philharmonic. There are many questions about the size of the orchestra's money woes, the way the orchestra revealed its problems, and its strategy for dealing with them. Then there's the way the orchestra alienated people with money who had offered to help over the years... Miami Herald 05/15/03 Arts Issues Will WalMart Decide What You Read Or Listen To? With the big mass retailers like WalMart now accounting for 40 percent or more of sales for books and music, their influence on what gets sold is growing. "But with the chains' power has come criticism from authors, musicians and civil liberties groups who argue that the stores are in effect censoring and homogenizing popular culture. The discounters and price clubs typically carry an assortment of fewer than 2,000 books, videos and albums, and they are far more ruthless than specialized stores about returning goods if they fail to meet a minimum threshold of weekly sales. What is more, the chains' buyers ? especially at Wal-Mart ? carefully screen content to avoid selling material likely to offend their conservative customers." The New York Times 05/18/03 Posted: 05/19/2003 5:30 am Is London's Boom Killing The Thames? "Everything that makes London look like London is being destroyed. Such is the cry of the latest panic over London's architectural landscape, this time inspired by Renzo Piano's plan to build Europe's tallest skyscraper, a 1,016ft glass shard, at London Bridge. In this instance the outcry centres on its impact on the river, and last month's public inquiry into the project heard a lot about the damage the tower threatened to do to the historic views of the Thames. But it is already far too late. There are no historic views any more. As a journey downriver, from Hammersmith in the west all the way to Wapping and Deptford in the east, reveals, the damage has already been done." The Observer (UK) 05/18/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 8:00 pm Minneapolis Library Troubles Aren't Over Yet Three years ago, voters in Minneapolis overwhelmingly approved a $110 million bond issue to build a new downtown library. But that was before the tech bubble burst, before 9/11, and before Minnesota's largest city became a primary target in a statewide budget-cutting push by Governor Tim Pawlenty. The city council is determined to move ahead with the project, and groundbreaking is set for this week. But a significant chunk of money must still be raised from private sources, and a shortfall could affect the design of the building and its surrounding area, and could even cause funding to be diverted from branch libraries elsewhere in the city. The Star Tribune (Minneapolis) 05/19/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 4:50 pm People Firing Crouch - Was It Something I Said? Was jazz critic Stanley Crouch fired from his JazzTimes magazine column because of of what he wrote? "Crouch, 57, said he is convinced that his column 'Putting the White Man in Charge' was the direct cause for the termination of the column, even though Maryland-based Jazz Times, the nation's most widely read jazz publication, with a circulation of more than 100,000, had promoted the essay as Crouch's 'most incendiary column yet.' Jazz Times publisher Lee Mergner sees the situation differently. "We didn't discontinue Crouch's column because of what he wrote in 'Putting the White Man in Charge. In fact, that wasn't even his last column, which was actually about Eric Reed. We discontinued the column because it had become tedious'." Los Angeles Times 05/19/03 Posted: 05/19/2003 5:54 am Previously: Dear Stanley: You're Fired Stanley Crouch's last column in JazzTimes was blunt. In it he "accuses white critics of elevating white musicians 'far beyond their abilities' to 'make themselves feel more comfortable about . . . evaluating an art from which they feel substantially alienated.' Crouch also claims that white writers, who were born in 'middle-class china shops,' ensure 'the destruction of the Negro aesthetic' by advancing musicians who can't swing at the expense of those who can." And with that, the magazine fired Crouch...Village Voice05/13/03 John Adams, Voice of America "An interesting thing has happened to John Adams during the past year or so. With neither discussion nor fanfare, he has become America's composer laureate." Not bad for a guy who saw performances of his music cancelled after 9/11, and has often been sharply criticized for an opera based on a real-life terrorist attack. The fact is, though, that America hasn't had a true National Composer since Copland. "Samuel Barber's music, for instance, is too genteel, [Charles] Ives' too ornery and disruptive, Leonard Bernstein's too inconsistent, Elliott Carter's too ugly." Adams, it seems, is just about right. San Francisco Chronicle 05/18/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 9:46 pm The Culture-Mall of America? It's not a great time to be the head of an American arts organization, but Kathy Halbreich is thriving at the helm of Minneapolis's Walker Art Center. The Walker, already one of the Twin Cities' most popular cultural destinations, is embarking on a massive expansion at a time when other museums are having to scale back, and Halbreich is determined to prove that contemporary art can be a cultural centerpiece even in the dumbed-down world of 21st-century America. "I believe that if the Mall of America is about the consumption of things, a cultural institution like the Walker -- if it is properly designed and programmed and inviting enough -- can be about the consumption of ideas." The Star Tribune (Minneapolis) 05/18/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 8:59 pm Work As Self-Fulfillment: Why Hepworth Mattered "Barbara Hepworth was an artist of extraordinary stature whose importance is still to some extent occluded. Over 50 years, from 1925 to her death in 1975, she made more than 600 works of sculpture remarkable in range and emotional force. Her private life was complicated, at times traumatic: two marriages and four children, three of whom were triplets. And there was the long disruption of the war. What makes Hepworth wonderful was the strength of her ambition, the unswerving self-belief. She demonstrated so tangibly her understanding that 'the dictates of work are as compelling for a woman as for a man.'" The Guardian (UK) 05/17/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 7:47 pm Theatre Hairspray Big Winner At Drama Desk Awards Hairspray was the big winner Sunday in New York, picking up the most Drama Desk awards. "Hairspray" took 10 awards, distantly followed by "La Boheme," "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "Nine" with three apiece. New York Daily News 05/19/03 Posted: 05/19/2003 5:46 am Chicago, City Of Theatre "Chicago has nearly 200 theater companies, and for at least the last decade it has been the only city in the United States, and one of the few in the world, with a theatrical scene as vibrant as New York's. This season more than a dozen of these companies are presenting works by new playwrights as well as veterans like August Wilson and Stephen Sondheim. The appearance of so many world premieres within the space of a couple of months reflects the deep pool of Chicago-based dramatic talent and the city's growing appeal to playwrights and producers from other parts of the country." The New York Times 05/19/03 Posted: 05/19/2003 5:14 am Farewell to Les Miz Les Miserables has closed. The Cameron Mackintosh show about the lives and loves of peasants in the time of the French revolution ran on Broadway for 6,680 performances over 16 years. It spawned countless national and international tours, and remains one of the most popular musicals of all time. But post-9/11 fallout and the general misfortunes of Broadway in recession combined to compel the producers to put an end to the adventures of Jean Valjean, Inspector Javert, and the orphan Gavroche. Still, Mackintosh says he has no regrets. Toronto Star 05/17/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 9:50 pm The RSC-Barbican Split, One Year On When the Royal Shakespeare Company severed its ties with London's Barbican Arts Centre last year, both sides insisted that the split was for the best. The RSC would be able to focus more intently on its core mission without having to work around the Barbican's schedule, and the Barbican would be free to become a center for international touring theatre. But a year later, neither of the divorcees appears to be doing all that well, and speculation has begun about the potential for an eventual reconciliation. The Telegraph (UK) 05/17/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 8:26 pm The Hypocrisy of 'Political Theatre' Politically charged plots and subversive undercurrents are par for the course in much of the modern theatre world. But isn't there a distinct lack of authenticity to a bunch of actors putting on a play about suffering that they themselves have never known? For that matter, where do playwrights reared in the comfortable classes get off writing from the perspective of those who have never known comfort? "There is something improper about the well-heeled seeking to represent the disadvantaged; it is an unacceptable invasion of territory." The Guardin (UK) 05/17/03 Posted: 05/18/2003 7:55 pm Publishing Women's Writing Is More Than Chick Lit "It may sound ridiculous, but judging by the clichéd offerings in the bookshops at the moment, much of the great romantic writing by women would never have seen the light of day if it had been submitted to today's publishers. Manderley would have sustained minor fire damage. Rochester's blindness would become acute hay fever. Cathy and Heathcliff would have had near-death experiences, survived, married. You get the picture. Now I'm not knocking the writers who succeed in either the chick-lit or the mummy-lit genres. However much we enjoy these books, and I do, they provide a pretty limited literary diet. Why should we be forced to endure a long summer on a selection of novels where tragedy is a sick nanny and failure is a lacklustre dinner party?" The Observer (UK) 05/18/03 Posted: 05/19/2003 5:00 am What We Read - BBC Poll Tells All The BBC revealed the preliminary results of its poll to find out Britain's most-loved books. "Most of the usual suspects, and a few surprises, were on the list drawn from 7,000 titles nominated. The top 20 and the overall winner will be revealed in the autumn, after a summer of live radio and television, and online Big Read events. A poll by the BBC attracted 140,000 votes, four times as many as for the Great Britons last year. The corporation established elaborate precautions against ballot rigging and block voting, so it must be true that Jeffrey Archer's 'Kane and Abel' is hugged to the nation's heart, along with Winnie the Pooh, David Copperfield, and Jane Eyre. ." The Guardian (UK) 05/17/03 Posted: 05/19/2003 4:52 am Media Above And Beyond Movies Movies are the Big Medium, right? There are no small movies, only small.... whatever. But some movie makers are wondering if the movie form is too small to express their work. So could the internet or other digital technologies be the answer? One filmmaker is testing the idea. The New York Times 05/19/03 Posted: 05/19/2003 5:18 am Movie Industry Fights Copy Software The movie industry is suing to block software that allows consumers to make copies of their DVDs. "The powerful Motion Picture Association of America argues that this type of software circumvents the anti-copying digital 'locks' that studios employ on DVDs, which would be illegal under the 1998 copyright law. There are typically no such locks on music CDs. The Motion Picture Association maintains that consumers aren't permitted to make personal backups of DVDs, saying a movie buff whose disc becomes scratched needs to buy a new one." Hartford Courant (AP) 05/15/03 Posted: 05/19/2003 4:47 am