Where Dreams May Come (From) "Orthodox theory says that dreaming is linked to a phenomenon called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. That orthodoxy has been challenged of late, by studies that show people dreaming during other phases of sleep, as well. It also challenges the idea that dreaming is somehow necessary for mental well-being—in particular, the theory that it is involved in the process of memory formation." The Economist 09/09/04
Posted: 09/09/2004 11:27 pm
Veterans Criticize Warho Museum Plans American veterans groups are criticizing the Warhol Museum's plan to show images from the Abu Ghraib scandal. "Tom Sokolowski, the Warhol museum's director, said Friday the museum has not decided which photos will be displayed, but will choose from numerous images collected from various news outlets and Web sites." SFGate (AP) 09/10/04
Posted: 09/10/2004 3:25 pm
Painter Gets Billion-Rupee Commission Indian painter Maqbool Fida Husain has been commissioned by a Bombay businessman to create a series of paintings called "Our Planet Called Earth" for $21 million. "It is believed to be the biggest ever art deal in India. Husain, who is almost a cult figure in the world of Indian art, says he will use the proceeds of his sale to make a mega-budget Bollywood film." BBC 09/10/04
Posted: 09/10/2004 8:00 am
Stolen Painting Turns Up 20 Years Later A Maxfield Parrish painting, stolen 20 years ago in San Francsico, has turned up just blocks away from the gallery where it was stolen. "Investigators have been told that somehow it wound up with the owner of a hair salon, who died and left it to the woman who had cared for her, who in turn died and left it to her son. The son was trying to sell it at the Geary Street gallery, unaware it had been stolen." San Francisco Chronicle 09/09/04
Posted: 09/10/2004 7:13 am
Stars Vie For Architecture Prize The Riba Stirling Architecture Prize is Britain's most prestigious. This year's finalists include some of the world's best-known architects. "The list was generally welcomed by architects yesterday for its variety, although punters showed an overwhelming early preference for the gherkin: the new London landmark took 57% of the first 4,140 votes cast in a BBC internet poll, while Libeskind got 13% and the innovative Kunsthaus in Graz, designed by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier, was a whisker behind with 12%." The Guardian (UK) 09/10/04
Posted: 09/09/2004 10:55 pm
Chicago Public Art Program Faces Lawsuit A Chicago attorney has has filed a series of complaints alleging abuses by the City's public art program, "including holding meetings without a quorum. But the judge denied the city's motion on three other counts, which accuse the program of inadequate record keeping and awarding at least $101,400 in taxpayer-funded commissions without proper authorization." Chicago Sun-Times 09/08/04
Posted: 09/09/2004 10:26 pm
Does Politics Belong In Art? A show of political art at Arizona State University focuses on presidential democracy. But Richard Nilsen writes that it's difficult for contemporary art to not be partisan. And is that bad? "It raises in important question about politics and art: Can they be reconciled? Politics is about answers; art is about questions. Politics is about taking sides; art is about ambiguity. Politics is about making a commitment; art is about exploring all the options. Politics values simplicity; art values complexity. And, worse for the sake of visual art, politics is about words; art is about things." Arizona Republic 09/07/04
Posted: 09/09/2004 8:48 pm
- How To Politically Balance Your Political Art Show "When New Times first reported that the exhibition was being planned and included many anti-Bush works, Aeizona State University administrators promised that the show would not go on unless it was politically balanced. More than 400 pages of e-mails and correspondence written as far back as February through July 21 between museum staff, ASU administrative officials and the artists who were asked to participate in the show reveal how this 'balance' was achieved: Anti-Bush works were eliminated; museum director Marilyn Zeitlin allowed work she called 'mediocre' to be included; and ASU administrators with no background as curators, including President Michael Crow, weighed in on the content." Phoenix New Times 08/19/04
Posted: 09/09/2004 8:07 pm
Schwarz's Troubled Tenure At The Seattle Symphony Gerard Schwarz has been music director of the Seattle Symphony for 20 years. But his hold on the orchestra has been troubled in recent seasons. "The reasons are many and complex, including increasing conflicts between influential members of the symphony's board of trustees and Schwarz over artistic and administrative policies and doubts about his future value as music director..." Seattle Post-Intelligencer 09/10/04
Posted: 09/10/2004 9:34 am
Grokking The Club Talkers Why do some people go to clubs to listen to music, then spend the performance talking away? "Talkers embody the raw Darwinism of popular music. The harshest public trial for any unknown musician occurs on the night she opens for somebody else, to an entire room full of people prepared to ignore her. She's got to compel someone to listen or the jungle will close over her." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 09/10/04
Posted: 09/10/2004 8:08 am
Riding The Internet To Musical Fame "While the recording business litigates and lobbies over music being given away online, countless musicians are taking advantage of the Internet to get their music heard. They are betting that if they give away a song or two, they will build audiences, promote live shows and sell more recordings." The New York Times 09/10/04
Posted: 09/09/2004 11:10 pm
Low Pay Threatens UK Orchestras UK orchestras are endangered because musicians are woefully paid, says a new study. "The average rank and file orchestral musician has been in the job for 21 years and earns £22,500 a year, a Musicians Union survey has found. That is half the average salary of their professional siblings, it says." BBC 09/09/04
Posted: 09/09/2004 10:12 pm
American Cultural Exchanges Fall Off "The annual number of academic and cultural exchanges has dropped from 45,000 in 1995 to 29,000 in 2001. This means that far fewer American artists, including performing artists, are being given chances to ply their crafts on foreign soil. The study presumes that those figures have decreased even further in recent years. Back Stage 09/09/04
Posted: 09/09/2004 10:34 pm
British Library Puts Shakespeare OnLine "The British Library is putting online 93 high-resolution digitised copies of 21 of Shakespeare's plays. The texts date from Shakespeare's lifetime and are pamphlet editions of plays prepared to be sold after performances had finished. The printed works show how the text evolved and cast doubt on the idea of definitive versions of his plays." BBC 09/10/04
Posted: 09/10/2004 7:50 am
How The Internet Saved Bookstores It wasn't too long ago that many were predicting that the internet would kill bookstores. "The internet was supposed to bid farewell to the need for buying books in shops. When the dotcom bubble was at its peak, web gurus claimed sites such as Amazon would undercut and undermine traditional bookstores, and that ebooks would eventually do away with "dead tree" media altogether. But what no one saw coming was that the internet would, in fact, provide a lifeline for possibly the least fashionable and most technologically backward part of the marketplace: old books." The Guardian (UK) 09/09/04
Posted: 09/09/2004 11:02 pm
Old Underground Movie Theatre Discovered In Paris "Police in Paris have discovered a fully equipped cinema-cum-restaurant in a large and previously uncharted cavern underneath the capital's chic 16th arrondissement. Officers admit they are at a loss to know who built or used one of Paris's most intriguing recent discoveries." The Guardian (UK) 09/09/04
Posted: 09/09/2004 9:53 pm
