Said: The Artist As An Old Man Before he died last year, Edward Said mused on the powers of the artist late in life: "What of the last or late period of life, the decay of the body, the onset of ill health (which, in a younger person, brings on the possibility of an untimely end)? These issues, which interest me for obvious personal reasons, have led me to look at the way in which the work of some artists acquires a new idiom towards the end of their lives - what I've come to think of as a late style." The Observer (UK) 08/01/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 8:02 pm
Defending Diana's Fountain The London memorial fountain for Diana has collected huge criticism. "The design was denounced as unworkable. Experts were found to say that algae would make the fountain green and slippery, that bacteria would make it unsafe. It was described as a storm drain, a cattle trough that thinks it's a toddler's waterchute, a hole in search of a meaning." Gustafson defends her work: "The fountain is a victim of its own success. We need to make some minor modifications to cope with that success, with the sheer number of people." The Telegraph (UK) 08/04/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 10:05 pm
Libeskind: Architecture Is About The Long Haul Architect Daniel Libeskind would seem to be having a bad year. He's battling with the developer of the WTC site. And his "Spiral" addition to the Victoria & Albert Museum is likely not going to happen. But he's philosophical: "When you're a kid with artistic yearnings brought up in the Bronx, you don't get fed up too easily. It took 10 years to build the Jewish Museum in Berlin [his first building; overall, a critical success]. Nearly everybody said it would never happen. It was too crazy, too unrealistic. But it did happen." The Guardian (UK) 08/04/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 9:42 pm
Turning Paintings To The Wall (Psssst - It's Conceptual) The Michaelis Collection at Cape Town's Old Town House is renowned for its collection of Dutch and Flemish masters such as Frans Hals, Jan Steen and Anthony van Dyck, and "is seen as one of the best of its kind outside the Netherlands." Next month the museum is opening a show that will flip these paintings with the faces to the wall. The exhibition "Flip" is "a conceptual art intervention" on one of the country's premier art collections. The Guardian (UK) (Reuters) 08/04/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 9:28 pm
Write On! Study Says UK Graffiti A Big Problem Graffiti is a big problem in the UK, says a new study. More than £27 million a year is spent on cleaning it off public structures. "Organisers of the anti-litter campaign believe part of the blame lies with advertisers, pop stars and members of the art world who depict graffiti as part of a modern trend." The Scotsman 08/02/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 9:23 pm
Edinburgh's Smart New Festival Art Space Edinburghers are proud of the new visual arts exhibition space for the annual Edinburgh Festival. "For more than 50 years, it has not been possible to complement the drama and music programme of the Edinburgh International Festival with a large-scale exhibition of visual art, because of the limited gallery space in the city. With the completion of the Playfair Project, that barrier no longer exists. Scotland now has a world-class exhibition space of the size to take the largest international shows, and mount them in perfect conditions." The Scotsman 08/03/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 7:43 pm
The Instant Concert (Thanks To Technology) In London, "organizing using the Web, cell phones and instant messaging, upstart guitar bands are staging secret, spontaneous concerts at unconventional venues in the latest online music craze, dubbed 'guerrilla gigging'." Wired 08/04/04
Posted: 08/04/2004 7:15 am
Not Lost Beatles Songs After All Last month brought reports that a man had "bought an old suitcase at an Australian flea market for $36 (U.S.) and found it filled with memorabilia and hours of unreleased Beatles songs. Speculation is rampant that the suitcase contains the secret stash of late Beatles associate Mal Evans, which has been missing for years. Except, of course, it's not true. The stuff in the suitcase dated from 1995, 20 years after his death." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/04/04
Posted: 08/04/2004 7:00 am
Of Critics And New Discoveries What role do critics play in the musical infrastructure? Justin Davidson: "Few critics discover new talents. We do not, by and large, conduct the equivalent of artists' studio visits. Mostly we rely on presenters and performers to sift through the mountains of novelty and put their own reputations at the service of an unknown composer's. Often those people do a very good job. By the time a composer's work is being performed at Carnegie Hall or at Disney Hall, that person has likely put in some time in lofts and basements." Critical Conversation (AJBlogs) 08/03/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 10:57 pm
New eBay Music Download Service Hits Some Snags eBay opens a new music download store, but the first songs listed for sale weren't owned by those posting them. Hmnnn. "Count eBay as a definite 'maybe' in the rush to digital music sales, placing the auction giant alongside Net retail powerhouse Amazon.com as one of the slowest in the race to forge new digital download businesses." CNet 08/03/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 9:01 pm
Art And The Business Of Art There is "an emerging camp of artists who see today's shifting marketplace as one that can support the lives and work of artists—business-savvy artists. And their idea could change the face of fine arts higher education. 'This is not just about getting artists to sell their work; this is about helping artists live a life with art in it, which can mean anything from starting neighborhood arts projects to placing one's work in corporate settings to attract attention'." Village Voice 08/04/04
Posted: 08/04/2004 6:52 am
Barenboim: UK Government Is Failing The Arts Daniel Barenboim speaks out against the level of the UK government's support of the arts. "Music has become a specialised commodity for both performers and audiences. Young people do come to concerts - that is not the problem. The problem is that we have lost the intellectuals. And when that happens its role in society diminishes." He ascribed this decline to the reduction of music education. "Music is a strange animal, in that you cannot explain a Beethoven symphony in words. That doesn't mean that it doesn't have content, but if you reduce music education you not only get fewer musicians and audiences but also you take away the sense of content." The Guardian (UK) 08/04/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 9:32 pm
Maazel Has Emergency Eye Surgery Conductor Lorin Maazel has withdrawn from conducting Carmen at the Seville Festival in Spain because of emergency eye surgery. "Due to this surgery, doctors responsible strictly recommended that Maestro Maazel should not undertake any physical activities for the next four to six weeks, including conducting." Philadelphia Inquirer 08/04/04
Posted: 08/04/2004 7:05 am
Sidney Morgenbesser, 82, Philosopher Someone once likened philosopher Sidney Morgenbesser to "a cross between Spinoza and Groucho Marx." The longtime Columbia University professor (since 1954) died last weekend at the age of 82. He was "known for his wit, erudition, and blunt conversational style." New York Sun 08/03/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 7:33 pm
Light As A Featherstone It's an amazing thing, Vicky Featherstone being named to head the new Scottish National Theatre. "The names being touted for the job were all Scotsmen. For an Englishwoman placed at the helm of a body which it is hoped can inspire a Scottish theatre revival, Featherstone has faced remarkably little grumbling from the old guard, not much beyond the odd letter to a newspaper." The Scotsman 08/03/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 9:20 pm
NEA: Writing In A Time Of War The National Endowment for the Arts' new writing program for soldiers "seeks to address a seeming cultural paradox. War stories, after all, occupy one of literature's longest, weightiest shelves, and American fighting men, from Ulysses S. Grant to Anthony Swofford, have set down their battle-forged memoirs, but these days the military and literary worlds barely overlap. The program, called 'Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience,' is aimed at preserving stories from the battlegrounds of Iraq and Afghanistan. The endowment expects to hold 20 or so workshops at American military installations between now and next spring." The New York Times 08/04/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 9:56 pm
Deciphering The Da Vinci Code Success The Da Vinci Code is a worldwide publishing phenomenon. "Around the world it has sold in excess of 10m, nearly 8m of those in hard covers, making it the best-selling hardback novel ever. Why is this book such a smash? I suspect the triumph of the Code tells a larger story. First, it confirms that people are prepared to believe the worst of the church - even in America, the most "churched" society in the world..."
The Guardian (UK) 08/04/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 9:46 pm
Taking A New Look At The NYT Book Review What will the New York Times Book Review look like under new editor Sam Tanenhaus? "It still feels like there's an institutional history that I don't want to necessarily disrupt. We're responding to the cultural moment, which seems a contentious one, and trying to capture those diverse energies. We're also trying to capture the breadth of the literary culture, the highs as well as the lows. We're trying to do justice to commercial and mass-market books as well as the serious and rarefied works of literature that come out. We're trying to have a balance, and trying to have a mix of voices—the established writers but also newer writers. We're encouraging reviewers to speak in their own voice and trying to accommodate their sensibilities. We might run a very long review for one writer and also run some short punchy reviews of mass market books and mix the two together. The biggest changes will probably be in appearance and presentation, though." Media Bistro 08/03/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 7:37 pm
UK Raids On Pirates Net 57 "Anti-fraud investigators swooped on a number of markets and car boot sales in the UK last weekend, netting over half a million pounds worth of DVDs and CDs. Fifty-seven people were arrested for piracy. The joint investigation found people selling films such as Troy, Spider-Man 2 and Shrek 2." BBC 08/04/04
Posted: 08/04/2004 6:14 am
Nigeria Gets A Movie Theatre Nigerians love the movies. "The country is famous for its thriving and expanding home-video industry." But until now, Lagos, the largest city, hasn't had a songle movie theatre. "Now, however, that has all changed, thanks to the Silverbird Cinemas - an upmarket five-screen Cineplex in the heart of Victoria Island." BBC 08/03/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 7:50 pm
Video Games Are Looking More Like Movies The production process for the lucrative video game market is looking a lot more like the way Hollywood movies are made. "Hollywood definitely wants a piece of the $11 billion video game industry. Game producers say they can help get it by guiding a movie-based video game through production so that it hits stores the day the movie opens." Chicago Tribune 08/03/04
Posted: 08/03/2004 7:25 pm
