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Monday, August 23




Visual Arts

Broad Vision - A Museum Donor Who Calls The Shots When philanthropist Eli Broad gave the LA County Museum of Art $50 million for its building project, he also won the right to pick the project's architect. "Relations between museums and donors get especially dicey during building campaigns, when dreams of grandeur call for creative fundraising and arm-twisting. But in a philanthropic culture that prides itself on snagging big money without ceding control, the L.A. museum's plan is a special case. The effort to transform LACMA's melange of buildings into an elegant unity strikes a precarious balance of power with the major donor." Los Angeles Times 08/23/04
Posted: 08/23/2004 9:09 am

Art Of The Hotel "Hotel art, once the mainstay of washed-out reproduced masterpieces and the butt of bad jokes, has recently acquired a bold new lease on life. Forget the Frette linens, celebrity chefs and Aveda bath products. To stay on top of the game, luxury high-end chains and boutique hotels must now provide their guests with cultural stimulation too, which is why a growing number of hoteliers in Canada and around the world are investing in serious modern-art collections to spice up their designer lobbies." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/23/04
Posted: 08/23/2004 8:29 am

Stolen "Scream" Wasn't Insured Edvard Munch's "The Scream" was not insured, says the Munch Museum, after the painting was stolen over the weekend. "The theft has highlighted gaps in the insurance of major works around the world, with a large number not covered against being stolen, according to some of the UK's leading art insurers. Many galleries and collectors cannot afford to pay for protection or do not think they will need it." BBC 08/23/04
Posted: 08/23/2004 8:25 am

  • Munch Museum Defends Security The director of the Munch Museum in Norway is defending the museum's security measures after Munch's "The Scream" was stolen. He said "a silent alarm went off and police arrived in minutes. 'We think of security problems all the time and work with security'." BBC 08/23/04
    Posted: 08/23/2004 8:22 am

  • Fate Of The Scream? "Art experts said that given the fame of both "The Scream" and "Madonna," it would be nearly impossible to sell them to a collector. They speculated instead that the thieves would demand some form of ransom. That is what happened in 1994, when another version of "The Scream" was stolen and later recovered." The New York Times 08/23/04
    Posted: 08/23/2004 8:06 am

Music

Bonn Opera House Fire The Bonn Opera House has been damaged by a fire. "The blaze started in the roof, where welding works were being carried out, authorities have said. There were no reported casualties but the fire and smoke plus water from firefighters also caused considerable damage to the stage and wings." BBC 08/23/04
Posted: 08/23/2004 8:20 am

A Detente Orchestra That Can't Play At Home Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is a youth ensemble comprised of equal numbers of jews and arabs. "This orchestra cannot perform in Jerusalem, for fear of disruption, or worse, from one set of extremists or another. This orchestra has never performed in any of the countries from which its members are drawn. Last year there was a single, heavily guarded, performance in Rabat in Morocco - the only one to date in an Arab city. Security for these youngsters, as they make their way to and from their homes, is such a problem that on occasion the Spanish government has even provided diplomatic passports. And - most chillingly of all - the concert programme contains no names." Financial Times 08/20/04
Posted: 08/22/2004 6:48 pm

Arts Issues

Looking At What's Original (And How You Decide) This summer the Globe Theatre in London produced Shakespeare using the original olde English pronunciations. And at the Proms, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment performed Wagner in period-instrument configuration. "Both were revelatory. Both pointed toward new ideas for staging Shakespeare and Wagner, and both perhaps suggested new ideas about the very nature of spoken and sung drama today." The New York Times 08/23/04
Posted: 08/23/2004 8:51 am

Ship Of Media Art An odd mix of participants – "ambient DJs, academics, experimental arts promoters, nutty conceptual artists, hard-bitten journalists and certifiable, electronic nerds" - recently boarded a ship to hash out issues in electronic arts. "Like some variant on the archetypal 'ship of fools', the International Symposium for Electronic Arts 2004 decided to transport itself by boat from Helsinki (Finland) to Tallinn (Estonia), creating a hothouse for performers, discussions and socialising." The Telegraph (UK) 08/22/04
Posted: 08/23/2004 8:14 am

Denver's Darwinian Proposition With the addition of a new Clyfford Still Museum project, Denver's list of cultural projects has grown large, with a half-dozen major fund-raising efforts threatening to bump into one another. The city's mayor is unconcerned. In the city "there is an unending level of needs. Does that mean you turn away a new opportunity? No. It comes down to some form of Darwinian selection. What a community truly cherishes and values, it will support." Rocky Mountain News 08/22/04
Posted: 08/22/2004 6:58 pm

Defending History (But What About The Historians?) A year-and-a-half after Keith Windschuttle published his book The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, the Australian academic world is "still anguishing over its impact. It is terrified of what he will do next. Windschuttle struck at the heart of the accepted view of Australian colonial history in the past 30 years - that the settler society had engaged in a pattern of conquest, dispossession and killing of the indigenous inhabitants. The facts, he said, did not stack up." The Australian 08/22/04
Posted: 08/22/2004 6:31 pm

People

Opera Director Cleared In Mooning Charges Brazil's Supreme Court has dismissed obscenity charges against opera director Gerald Thomas. "After an August 2003 performance of Wagner's “Tristan and Isolde” at Rio de Janeiro's municipal theatre, Thomas shocked the audience and members of his cast by pulling down his pants and displaying his buttocks in response to jeers at the curtain call." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/21/04
Posted: 08/23/2004 9:03 am

Remembering Elmer Bernstein The death of film music composer Elmer Bernstein marks the end of an era. "Over the years, Bernstein worked with many of the greatest directors and, with a fair number of them, he collaborated several times, including three films with Martin Scorsese. But he became increasingly disillusioned with the ignorance and crude commercialism of Hollywood's approach to music." The Observer (UK) 08/22/04
Posted: 08/22/2004 6:11 pm

Harvey Weinstein As Moby Dick A new book about producer Harvey Weinstein details "with some appalled glee the food stains on Weinstein's shirts, the thuggish threats to journalists, the thrown telephones, the impossible demands to directors, the bullying of staff. He talks of Weinstein as an 'artist of anger' and as 'the 800lb gorilla in the corner'. Really, though, he is his Moby Dick, his white whale. No matter how often the journalist seems to have harpooned his target, Harvey keeps emerging from the deep, clutching a contract and a side order of fries." The Observer (UK) 08/22/04
Posted: 08/22/2004 5:57 pm

Publishing

Copymight - Plagiarism In The Digital Age Plagiarism is big business. And there are plenty of websites waiting to help you out. "Many companies sell term papers, essays and book reports by the thousands, for as much as $250 a pop, all just a click and Mom's credit card away, and all in the privacy of an undergraduate's dorm room." The New York Times 08/22/04
Posted: 08/23/2004 8:03 am

Media

Making Games Look Like Movies Video games are looking more and more like movies. But the game industry is also looking more like the movie business. "The entire industry is looking more and more like filmed entertainment. Soon a handful of hits will drive the entire industry. Video game executives say they have no choice if they want to make their $11 billion industry as mainstream as the movie business." The New York Times 08/22/04
Posted: 08/23/2004 7:57 am

The Set-less Movie? Hollywood is awaiting the release of a new movie with high anticipation. It was filmed without any locations or sets, those supplied by computers. "If it becomes a hit, the implications for filmmaking are enormous. The action-filled adventure with spectacular special effects cost around £40 million – less than half the budget for a similar film made in conventional fashion. Because there were no sets to construct, it did away with the need for production designers, art directors and carpenters. It could be the most important cinematic breakthrough in years." The Telegraph (UK) 08/22/04
Posted: 08/22/2004 6:23 pm

UK Media Discovers Ethnic Consumers UK TV and radio stations have discovered that non-white consumers have money. "A few years ago, businesses were obsessed with the pink pound and grey pound, launching charm offensives at gay and older consumers. Now, they've turned their attention to ethnic minorities and the brown pound, worth £32 billion according to a recent advertising industry report. The airwaves have changed as well. At last, it seems, black consumers are being taken seriously." The Observer (UK) 08/22/04
Posted: 08/22/2004 5:53 pm

Dance

What Kind Of Dancer Is A Mark Morris Dancer? "From the start, Morris has gone in for nonconformity when it comes to the bodies he chooses to animate his work.  Instead of selecting for uniformity and conventional notions of a physical ideal, he has regularly assembled a miniature motley society of the small, the stocky, the lushly ample, the tall-and-skinny beanpole type, the delicate, the blunt, and, yes, a few whose ballet teachers may have had high hopes of placing in one of those finalists-only classical companies that go by their initials. The flat-footed and those whom the gods of turn-out have not favored have their place with Morris, as do the fresh and frank American girl and the sultry glamour girl (Betty and Veronica, if you will), the beach hero and the fellow into whose face the beach hero kicks the sand." Seeing Things (AJBlogs) 08/22/04
Posted: 08/22/2004 7:04 pm


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