ARTS ISSUES
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues
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Flash-Mobs - Hard To Take Seriously? Are the so-called "flash-mobs" springing up in cities around America a serious movement or a quick-to-pass fad? "Whether one views them as part of a serious social movement or a form of quirky entertainment (or both), flash mobs are perfectly appropriate for this town. Historically, San Francisco has been rife with pranking and performance art organizations. Loosely organized groups of merrymakers - including the Amateur Press Association, the Church of the SubGenius, Survival Research Laboratories, Billboard Liberation Front, the edgier Suicide Club, Santarchy, and the still-kickin' Cacophony Society - have been tugging San Francisco's pigtails since the turn of the 20th century." SF Weekly 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues/redir/20030731-27342.html
Arts Studnets Die At An Earlier Age? "A study of thousands of former students of Glasgow University found that arts and law students were most likely to die early. Arts students were most likely to die from lung cancer or other forms of respiratory disease." BBC 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues/redir/20030731-27336.html
From Books To Art Evansville Indiana has a beautiful old 1931 Art Deco central library which is due to be vacated after the library moves into a new home next year. So what to do with the vacant building? One plan is for a new mixed used community cultural center... Evansville Courrier & Press (Indiana) 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/artsissues/redir/20030731-27331.html
MEDIA
http://www.artsjournal.com/media
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BBC Radio1 Ratings Down The latest ratings show that BBC Radio 1 is losing great numbers of listeners. "Radio 1 is now listened to by fewer than 9.9 million people per week - the lowest since a new method of counting was introduced in 1999. Under a previous counting method, it attracted 16.5 million 10 years ago." BBC 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/media/redir/20030731-27341.html
The Software Stuntman Many movie stunts are dangerous and take days or weeks of set up and planning. But a software company has "developed a simulation system that lets them swiftly generate action sequences that would ordinarily demand the skills of a stuntman. The AI system controlling the bodies of the simulated stuntmen means they fall, run, move and react like real people." BBC 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/media/redir/20030731-27340.html
When Special FX Leave You Numb With each year movie special effects get more and more sophisticated. Indeed, in Hollywood some believe that CGI effects are a realistic substitute for reality. And yet, all the whiz-bang has overloaded audiences to the point that many are immune to technical wizardry. The bottom line? There's still no substitute for a good story... Newsweek 07/24/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/media/redir/20030731-27337.html
MUSIC
http://www.artsjournal.com/music
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Developer: NY City Opera Still In Runninbg For WTC Site Developers deny a story that ran in the New York Times earlier this week that the new hall to be built as part of the performing arts center at the World Trade Center site would be too small for New York City Opera. Crain's New York Business 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030731-27346.html
Touched By The Music A new electronic music interface makes creating music easier and more physical. "In terms of the style of play it encourages, it's easier to improvise a more expressive style of play. Because it's physical, there's also a dynamic that engages the audience. They can actually see what the performer is doing. The Audiopad is projected on a special table equipped with radio sensors that track the position and movement of half a dozen plastic discs, or 'pucks.' Most of the pucks control a series of preprogrammed tracks - the rhythm, the bass line, the melody and so on." Wired 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030731-27339.html
Report: Online Music Sales Won't Make Up For CD Declines Sales of online downloadable music are picking up. But a new study says the sales won't make up for the decline in CD sales. "Online analyst Jupiter Media has slashed its estimates for the amount record companies will be able to generate from online sales in 2003 to $800m (£490m). Although the figure refers only to the more developed US market, it spells bad news for record companies hoping to shore up declining CD sales worldwide." The Guardian (UK) 07/30/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030731-27335.html
Opera House At Ground Zero Looking Unlikely It's looking more and more unlikely that New York City Opera will find a home in the performing arts center planned for the World Trade Center site. Space for the center has been reduced by 20 percent. "Given the reduction in the space available and the footprint that City Opera says it needs, it would seem that a significant change in plans would be needed to accommodate an opera house. The opera has proposed a new house with a 60,000-square-foot footprint, Paul Kellogg, general and artistic director of the opera, said in an interview yesterday — so 40,000 square feet would appear to be severely inadequate." The New York Times 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/music/redir/20030731-27313.html
PEOPLE
http://www.artsjournal.com/people
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When Stalin Tried To Kill John Wayne A new book reports that Stalin was so enraged by the anti-communism of movie actor John Wayne, he tried to have him killed. "John Wayne - The Man Behind the Myth, by British writer and actor Michael Munn, says there were several attempts in the late 1940s and early 1950s to kill the man known to audiences around the world as Duke." The Age (Reuters) (Melbourne) 08/01/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/people/redir/20030731-27333.html
PUBLISHING
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing
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Gutenberg On The Web The University of Texas is the latest to digitize and post a copy of the Gutenberg Bible on the internet. "Just as Johann Gutenberg made knowledge more accessible with the invention of the printing process, this digitization project continues that legacy." CNN 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030731-27344.html
The Serious Side Of Comic Books...Er... "Graphic Novels" "A generation of ambitious, serious artists and writers have been applying vast amounts of their creative energy into a milieu which is essentially the visual equivalent of the rock opera: the "graphic novel"—that is, a full-length book in comics format (cartoon drawings with word balloons for dialogue) printed between hard covers or glossy soft-cover. The idea is not new." New York Review Of Books 08/14/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030731-27343.html
Russian Writers Protest Removal Of Books Top Russian writers are protesting plans by their government to remove Russian literary classics about the repression of the Soviet era from school curriculums. "The protesters allege that bureaucrats are trying to keep literature dealing with the purges of the Soviet era away from schoolchildren, presenting an anodyne version of the nation's former imperial glory." The Guadian (UK) 07/28/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030731-27317.html
A Rollicking, On-The-Edge History Of Libraries So you thought libraries were staid, quiet places? "In Library: An Unquiet History, Matthew Battles, the Harvard rare-books librarian tells the story of that peculiar institution, whose fortunes, since man first etched a symbol in stone, have been governed as much by mass uninterest and bureaucratic incompetence as by war and natural disaster. 'Libraries are as much about losing the truth ... as about discovering it,' writes Battles, pointing out that much of what has survived through the ages is owing not to public institutions but to private collectors, who were better able to weather the tides of biblioclasm - the destruction of books - that have periodically swept the world." National Post (Canada) 07/31/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/publishing/redir/20030731-27307.html
THEATRE
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre
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Puppet Masters "Long relegated to children's birthday parties, puppets are no longer considered strictly kiddie fare. At venues like New York's P.S. 122, St. Ann's Warehouse, and HERE Arts Center, puppeteers are tackling Rossini operas, Shakespearean tragedies, and Ionesco tales. Puppets are also a growing presence on Broadway. Christian Science Monitor 08/01/03
http://www.artsjournal.com/theatre/redir/20030731-27330.html
VISUAL ARTS
http://www.artsjournal.com/visualarts
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Arrest In Fake Ossuary Case An Israeli art dealer has been arrested and charged with faking an ossuary that was thought to be the resting place of Jesus' brother. "The limestone box is inscribed in Aramaic with the words "Ya'akov (James), son of Yosef (Joseph), brother of Yeshua (Jesus)." CBC 07/31/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030731-27345.html
The Skinless Child Of Edinburgh "Organisers of an exhibition involving the skinless body of a child have insisted it will go ahead today, despite being refused a venue by Edinburgh City Council. The professor, who claims that he turns human bodies into works of sculpture when he injects them with plastic to preserve them, faced criticism from politicians and bereavement support groups who called for a boycott of the exhibition." The Scotsman 07/30/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030731-27338.html
Cambodian Cultural Sites Destroyed The pillaging and destruction of Cambodian temples has accelerated at an alarming rate. "As the latest holes testify, anyone wishing to pillage the remaining hidden riches will encounter few obstacles. Experts fear the decades-long looting for artefacts across Cambodia is now so rampant there will soon be little left outside the splendours of the Unesco world heritage site at Angkor. Almost all sites of antiquity and temples far from towns are being destroyed..." The Guardian (UK) 07/31/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030731-27334.html
Art In Slow Motion In Laguna Beach, California people create living tableaux of great works of art. "This experience in trompe l'oeil (fooling the eye), an artistic extravaganza once featured on 'Ripley's Believe It or Not,' takes place not in Hollywood, but 50 miles south in the hilly coastal art colony of Laguna Beach. Quiet most of the year, and filled with white water, surfers, and artists, the village comes alive every summer as it hosts the Laguna Beach Art Festival and the internationally acclaimed Pageant of the Masters, where a cast of thousands have mastered the art of holding still - for about 90 seconds." Christian Science Monitor 08/01/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030731-27327.html
Iraq Art To Tour US Having invaded and occupied Iraq, the United States is planning to assemble some of Iraq's greatest art treasures for a traveling exhibition to tour the US within the next six to eight months. Artwork will include "the so-called treasures of Nimrud, a collection of Assyrian jewellery dating back to the 8th century BC, which has never been shown abroad before." NineMSN (AFP) 07/31/03
http://artsjournal.com/visualarts/redir/20030731-27298.html
