Ideas

Human Creativity vs. Human Crisis "Are we as a species really on the razor's edge between salvation and destruction? How does this impact the creative spirit of our generation?" Ben Tripp has had these and other fairly weighty questions on his mind of late, especially as the world appears to have settled into a near-permanent state of Global Crisis, which makes it fairly hard to concentrate on such niceties as Art. Still, we know from past experience that "the springs and freshets of Art will bubble up to wet the stoniest ground, if you must put it that way. But are all great works accomplished in the face of hardship, or can I get a massage?" CounterPunch 12/20/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 8:50 am

The Once And Future Toronto? There was a time when Toronto was one of the world's intellectual centers, writes Philip Marchand, a gathering place for the study of what used to be called "arts and letters," and there are those who believe it can be again. But as Canada embarks on a supposed 'new direction' under Prime Minister Paul Martin, one has to wonder about the priorities of the new PM and his countrymen. With the University of Toronto deemphasizing many of its less 'glamorous' departments and the country as a whole seemingly under-interested in the pursuit of studied thought for its own sake, can Toronto really be on the intellectual comeback trail? Toronto Star 12/20/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 8:10 am

Reasonable Faith, Or Faith In Reason? The 21st century's great intellectual conflict seems to be coming into focus, and it is a battle between Reason, the logic-based truth of scientists and academics; and Faith, the popular notion that truth is as much what we believe as what we can prove. The battle could be seen as a conflict between East and West, but those lines are blurring daily. It could be perceived as a battle between Left and Right, with the American right now teeming with evangelical Christians, and the left with secular intellectuals, but that leaves out the complicating factors of what is shaping up to be a truly global debate. "It is a conflict between competing certainties: between followers of Faith, who know because they believe, and followers of Reason, who believe because they know." The New York Times 12/20/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 7:50 am

Visual Arts

Final WTC Plans Unveiled "After months of bitter disagreement, the master planner and lead architect for the World Trade Center site yesterday unveiled the design of an iconic new tower that will rise 1,776 feet above Ground Zero to become the world's tallest building... The structure would be torqued in shape, giving it an asymmetrical look. And though its grand spire would pierce the sky, the building would house 2.6 million square feet of office space only up to the 60th floor... At the 66th floor, a public observation deck will be built. And at the 67th, the famed Windows on the World restaurant will return when the building is completed in early 2009." Washington Post 12/20/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 7:20 am

• Seeting Aside Ego For The Sake of Art With all the public feuding between architects Daniel Libeskind and David Childs, the public had good reason to fear that the eventual design of New York's newest skyscraper would turn out to be a monument to ego and greed. Instead, says Herbert Muschamp, maturity seems to have prevailed, and New Yorkers ought to be thankful that it did. "The architects have come close to transcending what's left of their battered selves. With some shrewd editing, the design could become one of the noblest skyscrapers ever realized in New York." The New York Times 12/20/03
  Posted: 12/21/2003 7:19 am

• Kamin: What Happened To Libeskind? The problem with the new Libeskind/Childs design, says Blair Kamin, is that it's pretty good. In fact, it's probably just good enough that no one will seriously object to its being built, thus depriving New Yorkers of a truly great addition to their skyline. "As the banality of the twin towers made clear when they were completed in the early 1970s, there is a critical difference between technical achievement and aesthetic quality." Chief among Kamin's complaints about the new design is that master architect Daniel Libeskind's grand vision seems to have been relegated to the sidelines, and David Childs' glittery clichès have taken over. Chicago Tribune 12/21/03
  Posted: 12/21/2003 7:19 am

• Now, About That "World's Tallest" Thing... New Yorkers are fond of leading the world in one thing or another. So it's no surprise that the new Freedom Tower is being pumped as 'the world's tallest building.' But is it, really? "It will certainly be the world's tallest cable-framed, open-air, windmill-filled, spire-studded superstructure, rising atop 70 stories of offices, restaurants, a broadcast center and an observation deck," says David Dunlap, but uninhabitable spires such as the one that will stretch some 625 feet above the tower's occupied space may not count towards the 'world's tallest' designation. The final decision on such things is left to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, which we swear we are not making up. The New York Times 12/20/03
  Posted: 12/21/2003 7:18 am

What The Barnes Can Teach Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario is expanding, and simultaneously undergoing a bit of an inner identity crisis, with the recent controversial closing of its Canadian wing, and the announcement that it will begin to integrate such decorative arts as pistols and fountain pens into its collection. "Through the history of museums... idiosyncratic tastes have driven great institutions forward -- and hobbled smaller ones in perpetuity." For a sense of what paths the AGO may wish to explore, and which ones it may need to avoid, Kate Taylor suggests a fresh look at the various melodramas surrounding Philadelphia's embattled Barnes Collection. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/20/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 6:45 am

Change of Ownership, But No Change of Plans Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art is in the final planning stages for its new home on the South Boston Waterfront, but everyone involved had to pause this week, when it was announced that the family which owns the land on which the new ICA will sit intended to sell the plot, after deciding not to develop it. ICA officials are saying that the sale should not affect their plans, since any new owner would be required to abide by the terms of ICA's lease with the current ownership. Still, a new developer could choose to build whatever it wished on the non-ICA portion of the land, and observers are wincing at the possibility of a grand new museum surrounded by parking lots. Boston Globe 12/20/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 6:37 am

Music

Pittsburgh Symphony Sued For Age Discrimination The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is being sued by its former ticket manager, who claims that she was the victim of age discrimination when she was dismissed without cause at the age of 60, and replaced by a 30-something employee who made a lower salary. The plaintiff "is seeking back pay and benefits, compensatory damages and attorneys' fees." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 12/19/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 10:09 am

The Composer Who Didn't Kill Mozart Ask your average classical music buff how Mozart died, and most will probably answer that he was murdered (or at least driven to the grave) by his jealous rival, Antonio Salieri. This theory has been around for centuries, and was firmly embedded in the modern consciousness by Milos Forman's 1984 film, Amadeus. But the truth is that Salieri had very little motive to kill off Mozart, and there is nothing but the thinnest anecdotal evidence to link him to the master's death. Furthermore, Salieri was hardly the hack composer that Amadeus made him out to be, and a newly revived interest in his operatic work is sweeping across Europe. The Guardian (UK) 12/19/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 9:51 am

A 'Pocket Of Classical Resistance' In The Deep South "The defensive posture of classical music these days has been much argued. But in the face of folding orchestras, diminishing finances, vanishing record sales and retracting audiences, there exist stubborn and imaginative pockets of resistance determined, for example, to put string instruments into the hands and ears of children. The University of South Carolina, now a model for the rest of the country, is doing work here that may at best keep the violin a mainstream instrument and at worst provide it a permanent niche. It will not be allowed to become an antique." The New York Times 12/21/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 9:10 am

Good Marketing, Or A Legacy Diminished? The Montreal Symphony Orchestra is currently marketing the heck out of a new Christmas CD it recorded with Quebec singer Bruno Pelletier. To date, the disc has sold over 100,000 copies, which has Arthur Kaptainis despairing for the orchestra's reputation. "Pelletier is a voiceless wonder in the Helmut Lotti tradition. Splashy arrangements by Simon Leclerc cannot disguise the ghastly mediocrity of Pelletier's singing, which is not even reliably in tune... If there is a musical equivalent of blasphemy in Quebec, this is surely it." Montreal Gazette 12/20/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 8:57 am

Whatever Happened To Using A Couple of AAs? Apple iPod users are, let's face it, a bit over-the-top in their love of the device, which is, let's face it, just a jukebox with a long memory. Still, many iPod users claim they couldn't live without theirs, which has caused some consternation of late, because as it turns out, the rechargable battery packs that power the little boxes of joy can run down after a year or so. No problem, you say? Just pick up a replacement pack, you say? Good thought, but Apple doesn't actually sell replacements, and the company has been telling users to shell out $300-$500 for a whole new iPod when their batteries run down. One jilted user was so angry that he's made a film about Apple's betrayal. Washington Post 12/20/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 8:32 am

Pop Opera Comes Full Circle When Bugs Bunny first appeared in a cartoon as the protagonist of a spoof of The Barber of Seville, the public roared with laughter, but classical purists rolled their eyes at what they saw as the bastardization of Great Art. Decades later, with classical music becoming an endangered art form, and pop culture occupying an ever more important role in society, the Vancouver Opera is using the cartoon to promote their more traditional performances. "You might call this missionary work. From a company with a million-dollar debt, teetering a few years ago on the brink of bankruptcy, Vancouver Opera has transformed itself into a debt-free, community-conscious, grassroots purveyor of an art form once associated with social elitism and a disdain for everything Bugs Bunny stood for." Toronto Star 12/20/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 8:16 am

Arts Issues

Is The Pen Mightier Than The Playstation? You can hardly turn around these days without encountering some public scold decrying the influence of violent movies, video games, and television shows on the behavior of the public at large. At the same time, you rarely hear anyone threatening to slap warning labels on books, lest any susceptible souls take them seriously. But literature has long influenced some of the world's most notorious crackpots, (the Aum Shinrikyo cult took some of its ideas from an Isaac Asimov novel,) and such notorious terrorists as Timothy McVeigh are known to have worshipped at the altar of a terrifying book of hate called The Turner Diaries, not at the game console of Grand Theft Auto. Toronto Star 12/20/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 8:23 am

Theatre

'Storefront Theater' Fights City Hall Chicago is teeming with theater groups, and in recent years, a lively subculture of theaters performing in semi-converted grocery stores and abandoned warehouses has sprung up, to the delight of audiences and critics. But many of the performance spaces are not even remotely up to city building codes, and "2003 may be remembered as a year not unlike 1999, a year in which the city cracked down, hard, on small theaters operating without a license... Unless the city streamlines the process by which a small theater can open its doors legally and affordably, 2003 may be remembered as the year the pendulum swung too far - and Chicago theater never quite recovered in full." Chicago Tribune 12/21/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 9:28 am

Media

Court Ruling Stuns Record Industry In a surprise ruling, a U.S. federal appeals court has told the recording industry in no uncertain terms that it does not have the right to demand the names and addresses of subscribers from the nation's internet service providers (ISPs). A lower court had previously upheld the industry's demand that Verizon and other ISPs release the names of their subscribers, and paved the way for nearly 400 lawsuits against users suspected of illegal file-trading. The ruling doesn't mean that the industry must cease suing online pirates, but it will make such actions much more complicated. San Francisco Chronicle 12/20/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 8:02 am

• Am I My Users' Keeper? Not In Holland. "The makers of Kazaa, the world's most popular computer file-sharing program, cannot be held liable for copyright infringement of music or movies swapped on its free software, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled Friday. The decision upheld a 2002 appellate-court verdict... In the United States, a federal judge already has dismissed the entertainment industry's lawsuits against two rival file-sharing services, Grokster and StreamCast Networks, saying they could not be held liable for what their users do with the software. That ruling has been appealed, with a decision expected in February." Wired (AP) 12/19/03
  Posted: 12/21/2003 8:00 am

Dance

Kirov's Dangerous New Direction "Questions about the Kirov Ballet's direction and management -- and their effect on the company's good name -- have dogged the troupe for months." One of the company's star ballerina's defected to the Bolshoi in August, and Artistic and General Director Valery Gergiev says that he is planning a major "restructuring" of the Kirov's leadership team. All the uncertainty is adding to a growing sense of fear and unrest inside the Kirov, which has struggled for years to make the transition from a state-sponsored troupe to a privately funded ballet company competing on the international stage. Washington Post 12/21/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 10:17 am

Dancing For Two Dancers are more or less expected to exhibit a flawless body type at all times, and dancers who do not conform to the classic "look" are frequently nudged out of the spotlight, or out of the profession entirely. So when a star dancer at a major American ballet company chooses to continue performing while pregnant, as Julie Kent of the American Ballet Theater did this fall, it is a big story. Kent says it was an easy decision: "If I had chosen not to dance, I think I would have been wondering why — you're not injured, you're not sick, and there's nothing that different about you except your waistline's growing." The New York Times 12/21/03
Posted: 12/21/2003 9:12 am