How America's Literary Culture Has Changed America's critical literary culture has changed over the years, writes Sven Birkerts. "The commercial consideration (sales, circulation, publicity) has in recent years become paramount. The logic of the situation is obvious. And desperation driven. What we are seeing is an effort in certain quarters to awaken a somnolent literary culture, to create attention, the idea somehow being that power and money go where the noise is. There is no way to solve the problem at the source, of course—it is systemic—so the best strategy is the quick fix." Bookforum 04/04
Posted: 03/30/2004 7:20 pm
The Global (And Somewhat Garbled) UN Collection The United Nations is supposed to be a forum for international diplomacy, but over the decades of its existence, it has become something of an accidental museum as well. "As a collector and custodian of art, the United Nations occupies a unique, and uniquely awkward, position. Since much of its authority rests on the sovereign equality of its member nations, it cannot comfortably refuse a gift from any of them. The objects on display are therefore of wildly uneven quality and provenance, and cannot be easily organized in terms of medium, period, style, subject, technique or geographical origin. It is a kaleidoscopic, but not overly coherent, collection." The New York Times 03/31/04
Posted: 03/31/2004 5:32 am
The Mating Dance Of Art Acquisition "Today, buying art with income from endowments is next to impossible for most museums, even in the world of contemporary art, which used to be considered affordable. As a result, museums that want to grow their holdings must rely on collectors." But the collector targeted by one museum is likely being wooed by several others as well, and the result of this complicated dance is a curious blend of hypercompetitive gladhanding and subtle begging. Some in the art world bemoan this state of affairs, and long for a return to the days when museums could afford to simply buy the pieces they wanted to display. But some curators seem to live for the thrill of the gentrified chase. The New York Times 03/31/04
Posted: 03/31/2004 5:18 am
A Skylon In London's Future? "An ambitious plan to recreate the Skylon, the glittering spaceship-like spearhead which once rose over London as a symbol of Britain's postwar resurgence, has been put to the South Bank Centre. The structure, 88 metres (290 feet high) in internally lit aluminium-clad steel, would rise again near the Royal Festival Hall, upriver from the London Eye, only yards from where it stood as one of the two centrepieces of the Festival of Britain. The original Skylon, built in the last year of the postwar Labour government and immensely popular as a futuristic shape, was vengefully scrapped, cut in pieces and sold as ashtrays by an incoming Conservative administration." The Guardian (UK) 03/31/04
Posted: 03/30/2004 8:58 pm
Emin Vs. The 8-Year-Olds, Part II Tracey Emin worked with a school class of 8-year-olds to create a quilt. The school wants to sell it, but Emin says it's not technically her artwork (thus making it less valuable). Nonetheless, she wants the school to give the quilt to her rather than sell it. And she's angry over the request to sell: "As a result of this incident Tracey has since declined any further requests to work with schools or with young people." The Guardian (UK) 03/30/04
Posted: 03/30/2004 8:53 pm
Russian Court Refuses To Return Nazi-Looted Rubens The Russian government has ruled that a Rubens looted by the Nazis and now in Russia, should not be returned to Germany. "Its owners have included Frederick the Great, Joseph Goebbels' lover, a Red Army soldier and finally, and most controversially, Moscow real estate tycoon Vladimir Logvinenko. The German authorities desperately want it back but Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has ruled that Mr Logvinenko is the painting's rightful owner and that he did not break any Russian law in acquiring it." BBC 03/30/04
Posted: 03/30/2004 7:44 pm
Winnipeg Symphony Buys Some More Time The provincial government of Manitoba is giving the financially strapped Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra another year to pay off it's CAN$1.3 million credit line which was guaranteed by the province in 1999. In addition the WSO will receive two additional $75,000 grants for the current year, as the organization struggles to return to fiscal solvency. The moves were welcomed by orchestra supporters, but some taxpayer advocacy groups were upset at the news, pointing out that Manitoba is running a deficit of its own, and can ill-afford to be subsidizing a money-losing symphony. CanadaEast (CP) 03/31/04
Posted: 03/31/2004 5:57 am
EMI Announces Major Cuts The British-based EMI label has announced that it will lay off 1500 workers in Europe and the US, consolidate several of its record labels, and begin outsourcing much of its CD production to other companies, in a move which the company hopes will save it $91 million per year. EMI has had a somewhat troubled history in recent years, as it attempted to buy or merge with multiple other global music companies such as Bertelsmann and Warner Music, mergers which ultimately failed. The cost-cutting moves will actually cost EMI money in the short term, but may stabilize some long-term operations. BBC 03/31/04
Posted: 03/31/2004 5:44 am
Get Your Budget Opera Here Raymond Gubbay's new Savoy Opera is preparing to make its debut. But can the company succeed as London's third opera house? "Their idea is to present accessible opera sung in English for the price of a West End show (highest ticket price £49.50, whereas at the Royal Opera the best seats for the most sought-after shows cost £170). They want to tempt in the sort of audience who might go to Holland Park Opera or Gubbay's Albert Hall extravaganzas, but who might find the aura associated with Covent Garden or the Coliseum off-putting." The Guardian (UK) 03/31/04
Posted: 03/30/2004 9:01 pm
Study: Digital Piracy Doesn't Harm CD Sales Recording companies have been saying that digital piracy has killed their CD sales. But "researchers at two leading universities have issued a study countering the music industry's central theme in its war on digital piracy, saying file sharing has little impact on CD sales. 'We find that file sharing has only had a limited effect on record sales. The economic effect is also small. Even in the most pessimistic specification, five thousand downloads are needed to displace a single album sale'." Wired 03/30/04
Posted: 03/30/2004 7:58 pm
Can Art Cross State Lines? Creating a workable formula for local arts funding is always a tricky project, but when your metropolitan area spans two different states, it becomes a major headache. Kansas City has struggled with different funding methods for years, and now, the city's Metropolitan Cultural Fund has proposed a new system under which arts groups from across the region would compete for multiple "pools" of funding, which would come from a multicounty, bistate tax. But opposition is already being marshaled to the plan, which would require voters in all affected counties in both Missouri and Kansas to approve the new tax. Some opponents just plain don't like public arts grants, but others consider it an issue of state sovereignty. Kansas City Star 03/31/04
Posted: 03/31/2004 6:02 am
MOMA's Main Man When Glenn Lowry took over the reins at New York's Museum of Modern Art nearly a decade ago, news of his appointment didn't exactly set the art world on fire. But in his years at the helm of one of America's most visible museums, Lowry has made himself indispensible, and is now credited with having made possible the Modern's upcoming move to a huge new "campus" in midtown Manhattan. "Currently put at $858 million (including financing for endowment), the makeover is certainly one of the most expensive in museum history. And to date, the capital campaign is less than $200 million short of its goal." And to hear MOMA supporters tell it, credit for that funding success goes directly to Glenn Lowry. The New York Times 03/31/04
Posted: 03/31/2004 5:27 am
Broadway Actors, Producers To Clash Over Touring Shows "The last time Broadway producers faced off with a major labor union — the musicians union in March 2003 — the results were disastrous. Talks broke down at the 11th hour, resulting in a four-day strike on Broadway that shut down 17 musicals and cost the industry $5 million. Starting tomorrow Actors' Equity, the actors' and stage managers' union, will sit down opposite the League of American Theaters and Producers. Both sides agree that to avoid another strike they will have to come to terms with the knotty problem of non-Equity tours of Broadway shows." But it's not a cut-and-dry issue, and no one really knows how far Broadway actors are willing to go to protect theoretical union gigs in touring shows. The New York Times 03/31/04
Posted: 03/31/2004 5:13 am
Writers Union? Now There's A Curious Concept "The Writer's Union of Canada has done and continues to do great things for the community it serves, but I'm sure its membership would find the idea of a strike laughable. First question: Against whom do we strike? Publishers? Heather Reisman? The Malahat Review? And imagine the fallout if we did -- this is what really keeps writers in their place -- the resounding yawn we imagine would be the response to our announcement that we're mad as hell and not going to write novellas about it any more." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/30/04
Posted: 03/30/2004 8:38 pm
The Word Project The Oxford English Dictionary was a long work in progress. "Thirty-one years ensued before the last of 414,825 words was cataloged. From its inception in 1857, the enterprise had consumed 71 years and witnessed the deaths of numerous employees (including the astonishing James Augustus Henry Murray, who was editor from March 1879 until his death in the summer of 1915). The dictionary would number among its contributors J.R.R. Tolkien and novelist Julian Barnes. And, of course, a murderer." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 03/28/04
Posted: 03/30/2004 3:17 pm
How To Protect Your Children, The V-Chip Way The last time that Americans and their government got their knickers in a twist over supposedly "obscene" content on television, the result of the brouhaha was the much-heralded V-Chip, which was mandated for all new TV sets, and which provided concerned parents with a way to prevent their children from viewing inappropriate programming, even when unsupervised. But, in what could be seen as a measure of just how much ordinary Americans actually care about this issue, it turns out that virtually no one uses their V-chip, and many parents don't even know (or care) how to turn it on. So the government has launched a new ad campaign to tell viewers all about it. Los Angeles Times 03/31/04
Posted: 03/31/2004 6:32 am
France Joins The Lawsuit Party France's recording industry (which goes by the snappy acronym SNEP) has announced that it will follow the lead of the American and British industries and begin suing consumers who illegally download and share music online. In recent days, an international recording federation sued 247 people in Italy, Germany, Canada, and Denmark, and the U.S.-based RIAA has sued more than a thousand file-swappers over the past year. The decision by French companies to jump into the fray is significant, because "French law does not offer the same levels of protection to copyright holders as British and American laws afford." Wired 03/31/04
Posted: 03/31/2004 5:38 am
Paramount Shows The Money It's been quite a while since Paramount Pictures decided to cede the blockbuster ground to other Hollywood studios, and to content itself with a product comprising something less than top-flight material and A-list stars. But "after many years of putting out formulaic, B-grade thrillers fueled by a philosophy of sticking to mid-range budgets and lesser-known stars, Paramount is on a mission to turn things around," and they're putting out the word that they're not afraid to spend whatever it takes. The New York Times 03/31/04
Posted: 03/31/2004 5:08 am
TV Nation "Television viewers worldwide spent 15 minutes more per day glued to their screens in 2003 than in the previous year, bringing global average viewing time to three hours and 39 minutes daily, according to figures released today. Based on eight hours of sleep, that means the average viewer spends almost a quarter of their waking hours in front of the TV - and maybe a few of the sleeping ones as well." Sydney Morning Herald 03/30/04
Posted: 03/30/2004 9:48 pm
TV: It's A Gay Old Time Gay culture is hip on TV, where it's become a popular part of mainstream TV fare. Why? "A number of factors have coalesced to fuel the mainstream media's appetite for all things fabulous. Not least the fact that gay culture is frequently viewed as more trend-savvy, fashion-forward and rampantly creative than the rather dreary heterosexual one - which, quite frankly, is screaming out for a good zhuzhing." Sydney Morning Herald 03/31/04
Posted: 03/30/2004 9:46 pm
World's First Maori TV Channel New Zealand has launched the first Maori TV channel. "The government-funded station aims to preserve the culture of New Zealand's indigenous people, who make up around 12.5% of the country's four million population. Half of the station's programmes must be in Maori, which is now spoken by fewer than a tenth of Maoris." BBC 03/30/04
Posted: 03/30/2004 7:37 pm
Mariinsky Asserts New Authority The Mariinsky Ballet has claimed its contemporary credentials, writes Clement Crisp. "For the fourth Mariinsky Ballet Festival the ballet company made its best claim for a valid modernity in a post-Soviet age with stagings of three ballets by Frankfurt's William Forsythe. I have been watching and loving the Kirov since its first appearances in the west in 1961. I recall few evenings more significant, more assertive of the troupe's potential and its greatness, than this, and I salute the company's artistry in Forsythe as a logical extension of its grand academic identity." Financial Times 03/30/04
