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Thursday, January 22




Ideas

The Gaming Age It's official. Video games have become an ingrained part of our national consciousness, and their grip on our minds has begun to affect the way we view the world around us. Like any other cultural bellwether, gaming inspires devotion in the younger generation which has embraced it, and anger and fear in the older generation which sees the movement as a threat to its values. A new San Francisco art exhibit is examining the "moral, cultural and technical implications of the games industry," from the effects of violence in gaming to the cultural impact of a generation which chooses to live, at least part-time, in a virtual world. San Francisco Chronicle 01/22/04
Posted: 01/22/2004 7:02 am

Visual Arts

The Music's Great, But What About Those Bare Walls? Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts has been up and running for two years now, but something's still missing. The Kimmel, home to the Philadelphia Orchestra and various other groups, "was supposed to be accessorized with art selected and funded under provisions of the city's Percent for Art program. However, a number of problems slowed the project considerably, to the point where the seven-member jury tasked with choosing the art is just now entering the final phase of the process." Philadelphia Inquirer 01/22/04
Posted: 01/22/2004 6:51 am

Denver Science Museum CEO Resigns "Raylene Decatur, president and chief executive of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, resigned Wednesday after almost nine years of overseeing major and sometimes controversial changes at the 104-year-old institution... More than 30 full-time and part-time employees lost their jobs there in 2002 and 2003 as the museum struggled with the shrinking attendance and a reduction in contributions from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District... Decatur heard harsh criticism from some former employees and volunteers for the layoffs and the less than pure-science exhibits created during her tenure." Denver Post 01/22/04
Posted: 01/22/2004 6:43 am

Just Don't Lick The Walls When your city's national image is best summed up as "the American answer to Siberia," how exactly do you go about drawing a crowd of out-of-towners to take notice of your thriving community and impressive cultural scene? Well, if you're St. Paul, Minnesota, you first arrange to host the National Hockey League's All-Star Game during the dead of winter. Then, just before the cameras roll, you build an enormous palace out of 27,000 bathtub-sized blocks of ice, right smack in the middle of downtown, and just across the street from the hockey arena. The 2004 Ice Palace is a marvel of art and engineering, and it opens to the public tonight. Oh, and just for the record: the temperature in the Twin Cities this morning was a crisp 13 below zero. Minneapolis Star Tribune 01/22/04
Posted: 01/22/2004 6:32 am

Cuno Named To Head Art Institute Of Chicago James Cuno, currently director of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, has been named director of the Art Institute of Chicago. "For nearly 12 years Mr. Cuno was director of the Harvard University Art Museums, a complex that under his leadership doubled the size of its staff and budget and emerged as one of the best smaller museums in the United States. At Harvard in the 1990's he directed a $37 million capital campaign that ended up raising $55 million." The New York Times 01/22/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 11:22 pm

Stockholm - All In The Interpretation Everyone likes a controversy story, and that's why the Israeli ambassador's vandalism of artwork in Stockholm gets attention. But this is a silly story. "It's horrible, it's sick, but I can't for one moment accept that it is an apology for a suicide bomber. Everyone interprets art differently. That's what makes it art. If this were a propaganda work, the museum would have a case to answer - maybe. But it's not. It's in very poor taste, if you like, but is there a tasteful way to talk about terrorism? About people disintegrating into bits of flesh? Which is what, to me, that chunky pool suggests." The Guardian (UK) 01/22/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 7:16 pm

BritArt (Carefully Chosen) Goes To Iran A show of contemporary British art is being shown in Iran. The art has been carefully chosen in hopes of not offending Iranians. "The exhibition is being held at the invitation of Hamid Reza Sami-Azar, the director of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, established by the Shah before the founding of the Islamic republic. Among his collection are some works, including a Francis Bacon, which have never been exhibited. In the more relaxed atmosphere that followed the election of the reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, in 1997, the museum has become a popular meeting place for young artists and students." The Guardian (UK) 01/22/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 7:06 pm

On The Moral Justification For Attacking Art Roger Kimball sympathizes with the Israeli ambassador to Sweden who attacked a piece of art in Stockholm last weekend. But was he justified in attacking it? "I think not. His outrage at "Snow White" was understandable, even exemplary, but he should not have destroyed or defaced the exhibition. There were many steps open to him short of violence. To vandalize an art work--even a bad art work, even a morally reprehensible art work--is to adopt the tactics of the enemies of culture." OpinionJournal.com 01/22/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 6:20 pm

Music

The Most Eclectic Music You'll Ever Hear North of Fargo What with the well-documented financial woes of the Canadian orchestra industry, it's a wonder that the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's New Music Festival still exists. Now in its 13th year, the festival became one of the surprise industry successes of the 1990s, drawing thousands of fans from across North America with its quirky programs and relaxed style. This year's edition, which kicks off this weekend, will feature a 20-piece electric guitar band made up of teenage musician-composers; a rapper participating in a formal premiere of a Swedish composition; and an appearance by composer Arvo Pärt. Winnipeg Sun 01/22/04
Posted: 01/22/2004 6:14 am

Arts Issues

Prairie Art Central Sedan, Kansas is a prairie town that not long ago looked like it was dying. But the town has reinvented itself as an art colony. "As word spreads, artists have begun arriving. Some are refugees from what they say are overcommercialized art scenes in places like Santa Fe, N.M. One, Stan Herd, a pioneer of environmental art, has built a monumental stone work called "Prairiehenge" on a hilltop outside town." The New York Times 01/22/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 11:18 pm

People

Kennedy Center Appoints Interim Leadership "The Kennedy Center voted yesterday to appoint Alma Powell and Kenneth Duberstein, the vice chairmen of its board, to oversee the center's operations while it continues to search for a new chairman. Powell and Duberstein will take over the duties of James A. Johnson, who announced last April that he would step down this month after seven years as chairman... The 32-year-old federally supported arts center has enjoyed an artistic renaissance in recent years." Washington Post 01/22/04
Posted: 01/22/2004 7:25 am

Federal Feather Flap Back in 2000, Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small gladly consented to a series of profiles in national publications, detailing, among other things, his prized personal collection of Native American tribal art. But the articles touched off a three-year investigation which will culminate tomorrow with Small's guilty plea to charges that items in his collection contain feathers from endangered birds, and were imported illegally. Small is not expected to be sentenced to any jail time, and will probably not even pay a fine, but he is turning over some of the collection to the federal government. Washington Post 01/22/04
Posted: 01/22/2004 7:18 am

Bychkov - The Hot Young Thing...20 Years Later Semyon Bychkov is making his Metropolitan Opera debut this week, 20 years after he seemed like the next hot conductor. What happened? "Bychkov's career illustrates, among other things, the growing pains that take place in the trajectory from wunderkind to established maestro. At 51, with a mop of curly black hair, he's still young in conductor years. But for conductors and musicians of his generation, those growing pains were exacerbated by the decline of the recording industry, meaning that big cushy recording contracts with major labels were not renewed. Meanwhile his newness wore off. Always a conductor with a certain amount of brio and showmanship, a crackling energy that gets the audience going, he is sometimes branded heavy-handed." The New York Times 01/22/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 11:12 pm

Sadler's Wells Director Leaves To Run Paris' Chatelet The director of Sadler's Wells Theatre is leaving to run Paris' Chatelet Theatre. Jean-Luc Choplin's "no-nonsense management style was honed in his years working for the Disney Corporation, and instantly ruffled feathers at the more sedate Sadler's Wells. There was a string of well-publicised clashes culminating in a threat of legal action by four women managers over allegations of sex discrimination and constructive dismissal." The Guardian (UK) 01/22/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 7:10 pm

Yowzuh! Whatta Wintah! It's been a crappy winter for New York's intellectual class. "If ever there was a moment of generational split, this winter of our discontent is it. One need only consider the contrast: The struggling freelancers for a now-defunct journal of ideas are handed court papers, while the professional intellectuals, the ones with coveted staff jobs and 401(k)’s, are using prime literary real estate to lament their middle-aged romantic failures. The old guard is unraveling, the new guard is being sued." New York Observer 01/21/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 6:50 pm

Theatre

Atlantic Theatre Alive For Another Season "Officials with the Atlantic Theatre Festival, a premiere classical theatre venue in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, announced Tuesday that they have secured the financing they need to go ahead with its 10th anniversary season... Earlier this month, the festival had announced it was $300,000 in debt. While some creditors had agreed to a restructured payment plan of the $150,000 owed to them, others did not. Also, the Wolfville town council voted against a motion to guarantee a loan for the festival to repay its creditors. The ATF board had set a goal to stabilize its finances before beginning its new season and announced that if it couldn't find the funds, it would cancel the festival." CBC News 01/21/04
Posted: 01/22/2004 6:10 am

Seeing Stars - Billington Replies Theatre critic Michael Billington responds to David Hare's criticism of the newspaper stars system for reviews. "The problem is there are two sides to the case. As a critic, I often curse star ratings. Yet I know that a four- or five-star review can cause a stampede at the box office for a show that might easily be overlooked. As an occasional moviegoer and CD buyer, I also find the star system helpful in sorting wheat from chaff." The Guardian (UK) 01/21/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 7:01 pm

  • Previously: Hare: Newspaper Critics' Stars Is A Militantly Philistine Policy Playwright David Hare rails against The Guardian's practice of assigning stars to reviews. "Apart from anything else, why does a self-respecting critic agree to a system of grading that renders his or her detailed reaction superfluous? 'What did the Guardian think of it ?' 'Oh, they gave it two stars.' Why would any critic let their presumably thoughtful work be so diminished?" The Guardian (UK) 01/21/04

  • Telegraph Weighs In On Review Stars "I am very proud that we have held out against the tide, because I am with David Hare on this one: star systems demean the role of reviewers, and they devalue the art forms reviewed." The Telegraph (UK) 01/22/04
    Posted: 01/21/2004 6:59 pm

Remaking The Young Vic - With Care So the West End's Young Vic Theatre is about to get a £12.5 million makeover. And does it ever need it. But hold on - much of the theatre building of the past ten years has had problems, and no one really wants to disturb the feel of the place. So how to go about it? The Guardian (UK) 01/22/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 6:58 pm

The End For Toronto Theatre Alliance? The Toronto Theatre Alliance, which runs the city's discount dicket booths and coordinates annual theatre awards, is in dire financial straits. Unable to meet expenses, and "in the face of what the organization's new Executive Director, Jacoba Knaapen, calls 'a major financial crisis,' she gave four weeks notice to herself and her entire staff." Toronto Star 01/21/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 6:39 pm

Media

Staring Down The Ratings Board Bernardo Bertolucci's new film, The Dreamers, premiered at Sundance this week, sporting an eye-catching NC-17 rating. It's the first film in years to carry the adults-only rating, normally considered a death sentence by studios, and Bertolucci is eager to take on the MPAA for the criteria it uses to assign ratings to films released in the U.S. No movie has ever been rated NC-17 for violent content, no matter how gory, but certain sexual content makes the rating automatic. Bertolucci's view: "an orgasm is better than a bomb." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/22/04
Posted: 01/22/2004 6:03 am

532 More File-Traders Sued "The Recording Industry Association of America is suing 532 more individuals it says are illegally sharing copyright music over peer-to-peer networks, the group announced Wednesday. It's the largest group of copyright-infringement lawsuits that the music trade group has filed since it began its crackdown on file traders in September. The latest batch of traders targeted by the RIAA are accused of distributing, on average, 858 music files. Currently the RIAA doesn't know exactly who these people are, so it must use a 'John Doe' process to obtain the names of those it says are illegally sharing music. Defendants are identified by their IP addresses." Wired 01/21/04
Posted: 01/22/2004 5:23 am

  • Draconian Or Not, Lawsuits Work Privacy advocates and computer users may not be wild about the music industry's decision to combat illegal file-sharing by suing individual downloaders, but don't expect the tactic to go away anytime soon. The fact is, the well-publicized lawsuits are doing more to stem the tide of piracy than anything else the industry has tried, and a global crackdown on the websites that facilitate the downloads may be next on the agenda. BBC 01/22/04
    Posted: 01/22/2004 5:18 am

Sunday Morning's Top-Rated Show (Quietly) What's the attraction of the arts/newsmagazine CBS Sunday Morning, which is celebrating 25 years on the air? “Sunday Morning” viewers, Osgood says, defy conventional wisdom. They do not watch with a clicker in their hand. They sit or lie in front of the TV for much of the show's 90 minutes. It is the highest-rated Sunday morning program, easily outdistancing “Meet the Press” with more than 4 1/2 million viewers a week. They tune in for stories that are not told anywhere else on TV." Akron Beacon Journal (KCS) 01/21/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 6:45 pm

Blighted Reality (And It's Getting Worse) "In the weeks ahead, channel surfers will find it virtually impossible to avoid aspiring pop stars, scheming careerists, thrill seekers, lovelorn geeks and all-star survivors. Why is this happening? The long answer might involve a florid excursion into the cyclical nature of television. A commentary on why pop culture is inherently disposable. Or how "reality" shows generate buzz and ratings by creating an artificial sense of urgency. But let's start with the short answer: TV execs are big, fat liars." Toronto Star 01/21/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 6:43 pm

All About The FX "Once upon a time - say, back in the 1970s - the visual trickery employed by filmmakers was meant to look real. In many of today's movies, however, the effects are meant to look cool. The difference is huge." CBC 01/21/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 6:02 pm

Dance

A New Home For Boston Ballet? Well, Maybe. Boston Ballet, searching desperately for a new home for its annual production of The Nutcracker since being kicked out of the Wang Center in favor of a touring Radio City Christmas show, may have found more than just a holiday staging ground. If things go the company's way, the city's Hynes Convention Center could be renovated into a performing arts center, and Boston Ballet could take up permanent residence there. Of course, the company doesn't own Hynes, and hasn't yet spoken to the city of Boston about the plan, and any renovation would take years to complete, but what the heck? It never hurts to dream. Boston Globe 01/22/04
Posted: 01/22/2004 5:40 am

Sewell Survivor James Sewell is "no stranger to the city, but few New Yorkers have been able to watch him develop, at 43, into one of American ballet's most inventive choreographers. A leading dancer in Eliot Feld's company in the 1980's, he founded his dance troupe in New York in 1990, but then moved it to his hometown, Minneapolis, in 1993." The New York Times 01/22/04
Posted: 01/21/2004 11:15 pm


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