Museums Resist Artifact Claims More and more countries are making claims on artifacts held in foreign museums. "Museums are concerned that if they acquiesce to one request, everyone with a claim will do the same and they will lose their incentive to be the museum they are. As a result, many shy away from it completely in order to protect their entire collections." BBC 07/27/04
Posted: 07/27/2004 9:28 am
Two Jailed In Van Gogh Theft Two men have been jailed for stealing two Van Gogh paintings. "The thieves were arrested separately in 2003, in Spain and in Amsterdam. The Van Gogh Museum has put in a claim for 1.8 million euros for the two uninsured paintings, which were stolen in 2002 and have never been recovered." (a judge has rejected that claim...) BBC 07/27/04
Posted: 07/27/2004 7:24 am
Beaverbrook Dispute To Arbitrator "England's wealthy Beaverbrook family and a Fredericton, Canada-based art gallery have agreed to let a Canadian arbitrator decide who owns tens of millions of dollars worth of paintings that the two sides have been feuding over for months." The Globe Mail (Canada) 07/27/04
Posted: 07/27/2004 6:57 am
Does The 21st Century Belong To China? Phillip Dodd is leaving as director of London's Institute of Contemporary Art to focus on Asia. "In my usual pompous way, I have a kind of wager that the 21st century belongs to a constellation of China and India and my deepest feeling is that Britain shows no sign of understanding this. There is a lack of engagement with that part of the world which is just crazy. My real worry is that we spent the past 10 years being so in love with ourselves - that's what Cool Britannia was, like Narcissus - we thought we were the centre of the world. But the world has moved on and we are bewildered." Financial Times 07/27/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 7:54 pm
UK's Latest "Big Project" Disaster: Diana's Fountain London's memorial fountain to Diana, Princess of Wales, opened only last month by the Queen, has turned into a disaster. "The £3.6 million fountain, supposed to express Diana's spirit and love of children, is closed indefinitely over the school summer holidays after three people were hospitalised in accidents while paddling, among them a child who had to be treated for a head injury. It is the third and most serious stoppage, following break downs due to a malfunctioning pump and 'a rogue leaf'. An urgent investigation is now under way." The Observer (UK) 07/25/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 6:17 pm
Goldberger: Eyes On Shanghai-On-The-Hudson "To just about everyone except the tax authorities, the Jersey City waterfront is a part of New York," writes Paul Goldberger. "Cesar Pelli’s tower is the anchor of a new city, a kind of Shanghai on the Hudson, that has sprung u over the past decade on what was once industrial land. It is an enormous complex—by far the largest cluster of skyscrapers in the region outside Manhattan." The New Yorker 07/26/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 5:33 pm
Vandals Destroy/Steal Art In Venice And Rome "Italy’s rich heritage is under attack as never before from vandals and professional thieves. In a series of incidents in the past four weeks in Venice and Rome, hammers have been used to smash statues and fountains. In some cases, the heads of Roman statues more than 2,000 years old have been cleanly cut away using powerful circular saws, more than likely by professional thieves working to order." The Scotsman 07/26/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 4:57 pm
The Mona Lisa's Serious Deterioration "Leonardo’s most celebrated work, the Mona Lisa, has deteriorated so significantly over the last year that conservation experts at the Louvre have ordered urgent analysis of its condition. It will then be moved to a new, specially-designed gallery as part of a E2.3 million project paid for by the Japanese company, Nippon TV. Although this project was announced a few years ago, it is finally coming to fruition." The Art Newspaper 07/26/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 4:54 pm
Miami Mayor Threatens Museum Park Funding The mayor of Miami threatens to scuttle a $2 billion bond issue if proposed funding for two museums isn't removed. "The mayor said he is concerned that 'Museum Park' could turn into a fiasco like the Performing Arts Center being built in downtown Miami, which is almost two years late and now $240 million over its original budget." Miami Herald 07/26/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 4:48 pm
Music Dimminished By Copyright As the recent case involving copyright and the recording label Hyperion shows, copyright of music is an issue fraught with peril. The question is: who is helped by the current law? It would appear that everyone loses all around... The Scotsman 07/27/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 9:39 pm
Lebrecht: Regretting The Walkman The Walkman is 25 years old. Norman Lebrecht says it transformed (and cheapened) music. "Its advantages were many, mostly unforseen. Actors learned their lines by Walkman on the bus into rehearsal. Splenetic executives used it for lunchtime meditation. I once heard Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony on a vertical Alpine train as a thunderstorm crashed all around. In unforgettable settings, music acquired unsuspected dimensions. But these benefits were soon outweighed by its corrosive effects." La Scena Musicale 07/26/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 5:43 pm
Miami PAC - Off The Rails (The Saga Continues) "Fighting to finish construction on Miami's Performing Arts Center, only half-built, 20 months late and $67.7 million over budget, Miami-Dade County will seek county commission approval to hire a new project management firm at up to $150 an hour for five of its executives and more than $100 an hour for five more -- for $2.3 million by year's end." Miami Herald 07/27/04
Posted: 07/27/2004 8:19 am
Maxwell Davies: Scotland's Ignorant Arts Policy Composer Peter Maxwell Davies has lashed out at the Scottish Executive's arts strategy, labelling it a jackboot in the face of Scottish culture. Sir Peter accuses the First Minister and the Cabinet of 'absolute ignorance' of cultural affairs, citing the recent £7 million restructuring of Scottish Opera as a prime example of the their 'vicious' attitude towards the arts." The Scotsman 07/27/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 9:00 pm
Remaking Barcelona Through The Arts "Barcelona is host to a 141-day-long cultural fiesta comprising art exhibitions, pop and classical concerts, dance and theater performances and assorted other happenings. Costing $400 million, the festival, called Forum 2004, which began in May, hopes to draw five million visitors through Sept. 26. By then, the organizers say, the whole city should have benefitted." The New York Times 07/27/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 8:30 pm
Met Opera Raises New Objections To Lincoln Center Plan Only three months before construction on a $325 million redevelopment plan for Lincoln Center was supposed to begin, the Metropolitan Opera has raised objections. "The Met had agreed to the 65th Street plans in April, along with 11 other participating groups. But the opera now says a recent traffic study it commissioned indicates that plans to move a garage entrance would cause delays at curtain time, inconveniencing patrons." The New York Times 07/27/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 8:20 pm
Carlos Kleiber's Laser Focus Carlos Kleiber was a singular conductor. "There was, in fact, only one guiding force in his life -- music -- and he gave himself to it with almost supernal passion and intensity. Every concert and opera performance he conducted was a genuine event, and not simply because he conducted so seldom. His painstaking preparation, his abhorrence of routine, his fanatical musical idealism made it so. 'Difficult' was the word most commonly used to describe the Berlin-born Austrian conductor, who was the son of another famous conducting Kleiber, Erich." Chicago Tribune 07/27/04
Posted: 07/27/2004 7:40 am
Damien Hirst's New Relationship With Death "For an artist said to be preoccupied with death - pickled sharks, pinned butterflies, decomposing cows' heads - the reality of it didn't hit Damien Hirst until 18 months ago. Shortly before Christmas 2003, his great friend Joe Strummer, former lead singer with The Clash, sat down in a chair in the kitchen of his Somerset home, near Bridgwater, and had a fatal heart attack." The Telegraph (UK) 07/27/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 8:07 pm
Those Overweight Medieval Monks "A recent study of skeletal remains from monks that lived during the Middle Ages (476-1450 A.D.) that revealed most monks were overweight, but perhaps not entirely jolly because they suffered from conditions associated with obesity, such as arthritis." Discovery 07/26/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 5:19 pm
The SF Show That Closed Before It Opened It's the quickest opening and closing of a commercial theatre show in San Francisco history. The press was invited to "V", a Vegas-style variety show in a 275-seat theater at Pier 39, renovated for $1 million. But before the show even opened to the public the next day, publicists were calling critics to say the show has been "postponed" indefinitely dued toi disagreements among the show's backers... San Francisco Chronicle 07/27/04
Posted: 07/27/2004 9:02 am
An Equitable Deal? Of Actors, The Union And Road Shows The recent agreement between Broadway producers and the actors union promises a truce in disputes over non-union touring shows. But don't expect the issue to completely go away. "As long as customers are willing to pay the same amount to see a non-Equity tour as a fully unionized one, producers will continue to see nonunion tours as a way to ensure profits - and Equity will continue to fight them." The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 07/27/04
Posted: 07/27/2004 8:56 am
Dallas - Looking For The Mainstream Dallas theatres seem to be making a rush to produce "mainstream" theatre. "The premise seems to be that a lot of theatrical material has ventured away from the concerns of average folks. The trouble is, there's not a lot of consensus about where the mainstream is. What seems like the broad channel to some might be a stagnant eddy to others." Dallas Morning News 07/27/04
Posted: 07/27/2004 7:49 am
The Phantom Lives In Vegas A production of the mega-musical Phantom of the Opera is taking up permanent residence in Las Vegas. "Clear Channel Entertainment, a unit of Clear Channel Communications (CCU), will produce a 90-minute, $35 million version of the Tony Award-winning musical, set to open in the spring of 2006 at the Venetian hotel-casino." CNN (AP) 07/24/04
Posted: 07/27/2004 7:18 am
Being Yourself Onstage At The Edinburgh Fringe "This year at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a host of non-actors is taking to the stage, with journalists and musicians, cartoonists and restaurateurs spilling beans, not about their personal lives, but about how they earn a living." The Observer (UK) 07/25/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 6:38 pm
Australian Publishers Withdraw Khouri Book The Australian publishers of Norma Khouri's controversial book, Forbidden Love, have withdrawn the book from sale and advised booksellers to do the same after doubts surfaced about whether the bestseller's tale is true as claimed... The Age (Melbourne) 07/26/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 7:04 pm
- Is Khouri's Story A Fake? Norma Khouri's frightening story of fleeing her Middle Eastern homeland in fear for her life became a worldwide bestseller. But now she is being attacked and her story branded a fake. "Far from being a Jordanian who fled her home in the late 1990s after the "honour" killing of her best friend, Khouri is accused of being an American passport-holder who lived in Chicago from the age of three." The Guardian (UK) 07/26/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 6:44 pm
A Real Look At Realism - Where Is It? Considering their importance in literary history, there's relatively little scholarship being done on realist authors. Postmodern suspicion of any claim to be able to represent reality is only part of the problem. "Realist works tend to be forthright and explicit, so there's less of an overt challenge for scholars to 'crack' them. Nor is it that easy to get students to crack the novels." Chronicle of Higher Education 07/26/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 5:13 pm
Big Chill - FCC Rulings Scare Broadcasters The FCC crackdown on content commissioners believe might be offensive is having an effect on broadcasters. "We've got to err on the side of restraint because we can't make any one of our stations liable for legal action, for FCC fines. That would be irresponsible." Hartford Courant 07/27/04
Posted: 07/27/2004 8:05 am
How Blockbuster Hopes To Stave Off Extinction Many have predicted the death of the video rental business. But Blockbuster, America's largest video rental chain, is fighting back. "Blockbuster is expanding programs that let customers trade both videos and video games. The strategy is to transform Blockbuster from a place you go to rent a movie to a place you go to rent, buy or trade movies and games: new or used, in store or online.'' The New York Times 07/27/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 8:36 pm
Study - Learning A Little About Dance The British government improbably conducted a study into the state of dance. Predictable? Funny? Ok, but the researchers actually took the time to learn something. "They heard about the funding ceiling encountered by mature choreographers, the difficulty in moving up from small to larger-scale productions that British and foreign theatres want to see. They concluded that the Arts Council's woolly and obscure processes were at fault, that the Council should focus on excellence and leave social agendas to Government departments." The Telegraph (UK) 07/27/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 8:01 pm
The Bolshoi's Rebuilding Program The Bolshoi Ballet brand has been seriously degraded in the past decade. "The ballet company was booked into dubious venues - Las Vegas, the Royal Albert Hall - by dodgy impresarios; tours by troupes styling themselves Stars of the Bolshoi proved to be anything but." Now though, the company has taken some significant steps in restoring its honor. The Observer (UK) 07/25/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 6:09 pm
Ashtoniana "No one that I have read has ever been able to explain why the general public likes ballet so much, and why, when other troupes are pulling in half a house, ballet companies are able to fill the seats. I can’t explain it, either, nor, presumably, could Ashton. But he had the magic formula. The stories, the wisdom—that was one part. But the other part was just ballet, this set of apparently meaningless steps and poses that somehow—probably by seeming the noblest possible action of the body, the body that we basically are—ratify the story, make us believe in it." The New Yorker 07/26/04
Posted: 07/26/2004 5:28 pm
