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Tuesday, June 1




Ideas

Complexity Complex Complexity theory is "the ultimate of interdisciplinary fields." It "has blossomed into a broad movement of scientists searching for universal patterns that occur at all levels of nature and society when local interactions give rise to new collective behaviors. They want to know, for example, how millions of amoebas swarm into a self-directed slime mold, how a trillion-celled organism develops from a single egg, and how markets arise from the interactions of individual human beings. Complexity theorists want to reproduce these patterns with computer models, in order to gain a kind of insight that equations or statistics supposedly cannot match. What's more, they want to see both the forest and the trees, by viewing big patterns through the local rules of interaction that produce them." Boston Globe 05/30/04
Posted: 06/01/2004 11:01 am

Visual Arts

Canadian Art Market Sets New Records "The bullish Canadian art market showed no signs of slowing down as Sotheby's Canada sold more than 160 lots worth almost $6-million at its spring auction in Toronto, setting records for least four Canadian painters in the process." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/01/04
Posted: 06/01/2004 11:34 am

Public Show - Collectors On Parade Many collectors buy art and horde it away in storage. But more and more high-end contemporary art collectors are following the example of Charles Saatchi and putting their art on public display. The Observer (UK) 05/30/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 9:55 pm

Protests Over Art Donation "German collector Friedrich Christian Flick (grandson of a Nazi-era arms-maker) has offered his collection of modern art to a Berlin museum. But Jewish groups in Germany say the exhibit is based on blood money and should be refused." BBC 05/31/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 9:41 pm

Art Gallery Of Ontario - On The Comeback? The Art Gallery of Ontario has had a terrible year. But. "Suddenly following a year of one horror story after another, beginning with falling attendance and budget cuts, good news bulletins have been emerging from the Grange with startling regularity." Toronto Star 05/30/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 8:23 pm

  • AGO Remakes Gehry Design "The Art Gallery of Ontario has released details of architect Frank Gehry's modifications and refinements in his design for the gallery's $195 million makeover." Toronto Star 06/01/04
    Posted: 05/31/2004 8:15 pm

Libeskind - Fighting Over WTC Pay "Daniel Libeskind, the master planner for the World Trade Center site, and Larry A. Silverstein, the commercial leaseholder, are fighting over how much Mr. Libeskind should be paid for his work on the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower." The New York Times 05/30/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 7:36 pm

SF Gallery Owner Gets Black Eye Over Painting "After displaying a painting of U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, a San Francisco gallery owner bears a painful reminder of the nations unresolved anguish over the incidents at Abu Ghraib - a black eye and bloodied brow delivered by an unknown assailant who apparently objected to the art work." San Jose Mercury-News (AP) 06/31/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 7:07 pm

  • Supporters Demonstrate To Help SF Gallery A crowd of supporters turned up to help the San Francisco gallery-owner who has come under attack for showing a controversial painting. "The supporters had hoped to persuade Haigh, 39, to reconsider her decision to close the Capobianco Gallery, which came after she was threatened, spat upon and, most recently, punched in the face for showing Guy Colwell's painting of torture. Gathered on the sidewalk outside the small studio, her supporters talked of vigils, petitions and even providing volunteer security to help keep the gallery going." San Francisco Chronicle 05/30/04
    Posted: 05/31/2004 6:31 pm

Building Goes For Art "If art museums can benefit from ties with architects, can an architecture museum profit by partnering with artists? Officials at the National Building Museum think so." Washington Post 05/30/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 6:29 pm

sponsor

Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative: Discover the power of mentoring. Launched in 2002, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative programme pairs gifted young artists with renowned artists in their fields, for a year of one-on-one mentoring. The mentors for the Second Cycle are Sir Peter Hall, David Hockney, Mario Vargas Llosa, Mira Nair, Jessye Norman and Saburo Teshigawara. The Second Year of Mentoring begins in May 2004. http://www.rolexmentorprotege.com/

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Music

Barenboim Says He'll Be Done In Chicago Daniel Barenboim says he won't appear with the Chicago Symphony again as guest conductor after his contract runs out in 2005-2006. He has said he "disliked guest conducting, preferring to work with orchestras on a longer-term basis." Chicago Sun-Times 06/01/04
Posted: 06/01/2004 11:08 am

Pulitzer Music Changes Debated Changes in the criteria for the Pulitzer Prize for music to broaden it are provoking controversy. Defenders say: "The board has been concerned for many years that the full range of exellence in American music was not somehow getting through the process in such a way that it could be properly and appropriately considered. The changes in the wording are intended to make sure that the full range of excellence can be considered. The prize should not be reserved essentially for music that comes out of the European classical tradition." Boston Globe 06/01/04
Posted: 06/01/2004 9:44 am

NY Phil Tests Handheld Concert PDA The New York Philharmonic tests a new handheld device that beams information to audience members while the orchestra performs. "The device, nicknamed CoCo by its creators, also features program notes and video images, all delivered in real time from a computer backstage. Think of Cliff Notes for the musically challenged." The New York Times 05/29/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 10:43 pm

Pulitzer Music Category Expanding The Pulitzer Prizes are expanding in the music category, broadening the award in music that would "open the door to musical theater scores, film scores and works containing large elements of improvisation, in theory even an improvised jam session with a jazz ensemble. The move is sure to win plaudits in some circles, especially in Hollywood, on Broadway and within organizations like Jazz at Lincoln Center, while provoking criticism among more traditional composers at many of America's universities." The New York Times 06/01/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 10:31 pm

Split Shift - Levine Prepares For Boston James Levine's job at the Metropolitan Opera will change as he head to Boston. "What is the prognosis now that he is about to take over the music directorship of the Boston Symphony Orchestra? His title at the Met is being notched down from artistic director to music director, an acknowledgment that he will be away in Boston too much (12 weeks of concerts in addition to tours) to maintain the involvement he has had at the Met for more than 30 years. At the least, he will be less present to press for his vision with the executive committee of the board." The New York Times 05/30/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 9:00 pm

San Jose Orchestra Looks Forward To New Hall Symphony Silicon Valley is two years old. This fall the orchestra moves into a newly renovated theatre in San Jose, armed with high hopes the building will add excitement. "The new orchestra is fighting to establish a persona and an audience, trying to stay within budget and to keep its musicians working. With so few performances its first two seasons, it's stressful. 'It feels like we're starting from scratch each time'." San Jose Mercury-News 05/30/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 8:30 pm

Rankin: Why Abandon Scottish Opera? Author Ian Rankin unleashed an attack on the Scottish government for leaving the fate of Scottish Opera in question. "The Inspector Rebus novelist warned that the Executive had failed to answer crucial questions over the future of the beleaguered company, which this week faces the prospect of being forced to 'downsize' in order to meet ministerial budgets." The Scotsman 05/31/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 7:15 pm

Australia's Problem Orchestras So Australia is conducting a review of the state of its orchestras. "The reality is that orchestras in Australia are in the same position as many overseas - they are living on borrowed time. Lacklustre management, poor commercial focus and lack of ground-breaking ideas are all found in varying degrees." The Age (Melbourne) 06/01/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 6:53 pm

Arts Issues

Abu Ghraib - New Front In The Culture Wars? Is what happened with the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib the fault of sleazy American pop culture? Frank Rich says some are making the argument. "If porn or MTV or Howard Stern can be said to have induced a "few bad apples" in one prison to misbehave, then everyone else in the chain of command, from the commander-in-chief down, is off the hook. If the culture war can be cross-wired with the actual war, then the buck will stop not at the Pentagon or the White House but at the Paris Hilton video, or "Mean Girls," or maybe "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." The New York Times 05/30/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 11:08 pm

UK's Endangered Cities "The civic pride and freedoms of Britain's great regional cities have been "brutally gutted" during the past 100 years and power must be given back to them, the Guardian Hay book festival was told on its opening day." The Guardian (UK) 05/31/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 9:26 pm

Does Scotland Know Enough To Judge Its Arts? Scotland is undergoing a study of its cultural landscape in order to help the government formulate its funding priorities. But critics warn that a "scarcity of reliable facts and figures will hamper the work of the new commission, established a month ago by the Scottish Executive to inform and shape the future of arts and culture in Scotland." Glasgow Herald 06/31/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 7:02 pm

People

Kael & Sontag: Portrait Of Two Critics David Kipen is a fan of a new book about two very different critics. "Craig Seligman's new book about Pauline Kael and Susan Sontag is the sassiest, classiest work of popular criticism since Nick Hornby's "Songbook." Kael might have praised it as "fizzy,'' Sontag could call it "serious" and neither would be wrong. But "Sontag & Kael: Opposites Attract Me'' transcends these catchwords to present a funny, smart diptych of two bookish girls from California who took Manhattan and knocked it sideways." San Francisco Chronicle 06/01/04
Posted: 06/01/2004 12:20 pm

Theatre

In Search Of Shakespeare's Music Where is the music that originally accompanied Shakespeare's plays? "Many scholars believe that the music that originally accompanied Shakespeare's plays has been lost. But perhaps it was so much a part of the popular culture of Shakespeare's time that we simply haven't been able to sort it out from all the surviving examples in library archives. Enter Canadian musicologist Ross W. Duffin, who has not only collated and reorganized all previous known studies on this subject but used computer-matching techniques to supply appropriate period music for songs that have come down to us with Shakespearean lyrics but no known melodies." Miami Herald (LAT) 06/01/04
Posted: 06/01/2004 12:00 pm

Publishing

Town Offers Bounty To Bookstore "In an ever-tougher business environment for independent booksellers, the town of St. Johnsbury, Mass., population 7,571 as of 2000, is offering startup money and a break on rent to a qualified person willing to open a bookstore downtown. The word is out in the book trade, and St. Johnsbury officials say calls are coming in." Boston Globe 06/01/04
Posted: 06/01/2004 9:29 am

The New Yorker Fiction Formula A Princeton student has figured out a formula to determine what gets a story chosen to be published in the New Yorker magazine. She "read 442 stories printed in The New Yorker from Oct. 5, 1992, to Sept. 17, 2001, and built a substantial database. She then constructed a series of rococo mathematical tests to discern, among other things, whether certain fiction editors at the magazine had a specific impact on the type of fiction that was published, the sex of authors and the race of characters. The study was long on statistics and short on epiphanies: one main conclusion was that male editors generally publish male authors who write about male characters who are supported by female characters." The New York Times 05/30/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 10:13 pm

Media

Finding Valenti's Successor Who's going to replace Jack Valenti as head of the Motion Picture Association of America? Valenti's a legend, and after his glamorous 38 years on the job, you'd think there would be no shortage of candidates to replace him. But the job is harder now and... The New York Times 05/30/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 10:52 pm

Weinsteins Buy Distribution Rights To Moore Film Miramax might have been barred from distributing Michael Moore's new movie, but the company's owners aren't. "The studio's founders, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, personally bought back the rights from parent company Disney, which had refused to distribute it." BBC 05/29/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 9:33 pm

Dance

Forsythe: Next Up After Frankfurt Ballett There was an uproar last year when German officials announced they were closing Ballett Frankfurt to save money. The company's well-regarded director William Forsythe isn't sitting around though. "Forsythe plans to form a new, smaller ensemble soon, and Ballett Frankfurt will cease to exist in August." San Francisco Chronicle 06/01/04
Posted: 06/01/2004 12:15 pm

Figuring Out The Dance Theatre Of Harlem Puzzle So Dance Theatre of Harlem's financial woes are being blamed on inept management. "Inept management?" asks Tobi Tobias. "Mitchell, the NYCB’s first African-American principal dancer, conceived DTH to correct the virulent concept that blacks can’t do classical dancing, curtailed his own performing career to bring the company (and the school necessary to it) into being, and miraculously held these enterprises together for three and a half decades, leading the troupe to successive moments of glory and repeatedly getting it to rebound from near-death situations endemic to arts institutions.  You call that inept management?  I call it heroic achievement, and I think it should be acknowledged with admiration and gratitude—at the same time as the current grievous problems are being addressed." Seeing Things (AJBlogs) (3rd item) 06/01/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 11:45 pm

Australian Ballet Posts Record loss The Australian Ballet has posted its largest loss ever. "The ballet posted a $1 million loss for the calendar year 2003, nearly half of which was attributable to problems renting out space in its Australian Ballet Centre at Southbank." The Australian 05/31/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 9:05 pm

Boston Dance Center Dream On The Line Dan Yonah Ben-Dror Marshall had a dream to open a community dance center in the Boston area. "With a lot of help from friends and family, he opened the Brookline Community Center for the Arts in Coolidge Corner early last year. With six studios, provisions for live music and performances, and about 100 teachers on board, he thought this one-stop shopping for dance would sell itself in no time. One year later, the center is struggling to stay afloat, and the dream could very well die on July 15." Boston Globe 05/30/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 8:56 pm

Is Houston Ready To Step Up To Modern? Houston throws a big dance festival but no ballet allowed. "The sheer number of choreographers surfacing at the Big Range Dance Festival suggests that a new fertile period has sprouted. But does Houston really have the chops to be a good modern-dance town? And how can it keep the momentum going this time around?" Houston Chronicle 05/30/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 8:06 pm

New York's Dance Guru "Like the top teachers who came before him — Stanley Williams, Maggie Black, David Howard — Wilhelm Burmann, who has presided over this particular 90-minute class for nearly 20 years, is easily the most revered New York ballet teacher of his era. That his class is packed with ballet stars who forgo company class in favor of his instruction is a testament to his remarkable ability to see the problem, be it a wobbly pirouette or a sagging ankle, and fix it. What you see in his class is raw, exposed dancing in which members of American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet and the Dance Theater of Harlem learn together, dance together and, most thrillingly, egg each other on." The New York Times 05/31/04
Posted: 05/31/2004 7:28


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