Nixon Nixed in Norway Three portraits of former U.S. President Richard Nixon have been removed from the walls of the Norwegian parliament, after MPs complained that they were inappropriate, disquieting, and generally "shocking." The head of the parliament's foreign affairs committee insists that he's all for freedom of expression, but doesn't feel that the disgraced former president is an appropriate symbol for a governmental institution. BBC 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 6:56 am
California Town Legislates Against Art Glut The town of Carmel, California could be considered an art mecca in miniature - four out of every ten businesses in Carmel are art galleries, with 61 having opened in the last four years. But last month, the Carmel city council decided that you can have too much of a good thing, and passed a moratorium on new galleries. "The ordinance puts an immediate halt to issuing business licenses for new art galleries that don't meet certain standards, such as being a working artist's studio or a gallery that features the work of just one artist." Monterey County Herald 09/27/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 5:27 am
Vermeer Mysteriously Appears In Philadelphia "Johannes Vermeer’s Young woman seated at the virginals, was sold for £16.2 million ($30 million) to an unnamed bidder at Sotheby’s in London on 7 July. Now it has quietly appeared on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (until 30 March 2005)... A spokesman for the institution would not answer questions concerning the ownership of the painting, nor would he say whether the Philadelphia Museum expects to receive more works of art on loan from the same source." The Art Newspaper 10/04/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 9:59 pm
Kremlin Museum To Get Makeover Russia's State Kremlin Museum will be getting a major face lift over the next two years, with the federal government picking up the lion's share of the tab. "The buildings to be restored include part of the 17th-century Patriarch’s Palace which is to open as a new exhibition hall, as well as the early 16th-century Belfry of Ivan the Great that is to get a new hall for a permanent exhibition on the history of the Kremlin’s architecture. The early 16th-century Archangel Cathedral, which currently functions as a royal crypt housing the remains of Muscovite leaders from the early 1300s until the end of the 1600s, will also be renovated." The Art Newspaper 10/04/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 9:56 pm
A Busy Fall Auction Season To Come "Sensing that a heated market may soon reach its peak, collectors have consigned hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of artworks for the November sales at New York's auction houses. Sotheby's and Christie's say the estimated sales totals are the highest in nearly 15 years. Usually it is the so-called 3-D's - death, divorce and debt - that motivate people to sell at auction. But this fall, in addition to the many millions of dollars that the auction houses are estimating people will pay to get what some in the business call 'wall power,' many collectors have simply decided that now is the moment to cash in." The New York Times 10/04/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 9:38 pm
Is Britain Ready For Gaudi? "The surrealist architecture of Gaudi may have helped Barcelona turn itself into a magnet for tourists and one of Europe's most admired cities. But the emergence of a shop-front in north London in the anarchic style the Catalan pioneered has divided locals and led officials to order its removal. This may be a battle about architecture and commerce in one north London area, but it also reflects a concern that shopping streets across Britain are increasingly looking the same. It is also a test of how adventurous English taste has become. While Antonio Gaudi's buildings, such as the Sagrada Familia church and his other multi-coloured offerings, perk up Barcelona's streets, some say they are too radical for Britain." The Guardian (UK) 10/04/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 9:19 pm
Is Berlin's Art World Finally Back On Track? Sales have been unexpectedly brisk at this fall's Art Forum Berlin, suggesting that the German collecting world may be coming out of a 3-year malaise touched off by the brutal recession that hit the country in 2001. The controversy surrounding the Frick collection and the decision of many vendors at the Art Forum to showcase a new generation of younger artists may also be contributing to the uptick in sales. The Art Newspaper 10/04/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 9:15 pm
What, No Naming Rights? Michigan's Henry Ford Museum, which specializes in U.S. history, has announced a major partnership with America Online which will give the museum access to AOL's 30 million subscribers. "[The deal] comes a week after Walt Disney Imagineering of Glendale, Calif., agreed to give the Henry Ford unlimited access to artifacts from its theme parks to design a first-ever museum exhibit that examines the invention and legacy of Disneyland as a U.S. pop-cultural phenomenon." It may all sound fairly, um, corporate, but the museum is hoping that its willingness to aggressively market itself through synergy will pay off in long-term financial security. Detroit Free Press 10/04/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 9:13 pm
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
Iranian Hardliners Cancel Outreach Concerts "A series of concerts organized by foreign embassies in Iran have been cancelled at the last minute, apparently due to increased curbs on cultural events by the Islamic republic's hardliners, diplomats said yesterday. Two jazz concerts organized by Italy's embassy were cancelled last week just hours before the Italian performers -- who had flown here for the event -- were due to take to the stage... In addition, diplomats said a series of Swiss embassy-sponsored classical music soirees due to take place this week were ordered to be cancelled without any explanation." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 6:29 am
Are Reggae Protests Hiding Racist Undertones? Several prominent reggae artists have recently faced widespread protest and condemnation for their antigay lyrics, and some have even found themselves disinvited from events and awards shows. But many of the same groups that have been so furious in their condemnation of the exclusively black reggae singers seem to take a wholly different tone when dealing with the viciously homophobic (but blond/blue-eyed) rapper Eminem. Could there be a twinge of racism behind all the protest? Boston Globe 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 6:13 am
Dodging Tomatos Before The Overture The English National Opera's current revival of Calixto Bieito's much-hated 2001 production of Don Giovanni is causing critics and opera devotees the world over to wonder whether those involved in the show have taken leave of their senses. Mark Stone, who has the lead in the revival, doesn't quite see what all the fuss is about, but as he reveals in his online diary leading up to opening night, he's more than a bit nervous about his decision to accept the role. Opera News Online 10/04/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 9:40 pm
- It's Really Not That Bad So how bad is Bieito's Don Giovanni? Not bad at all, says one critic, and while all the simulated sex on stage does frequently make the singers look quite uncomfortable and damned silly besides, there's nothing here to offend anyone with prior knowledge of how lascivious opera plots can be. Oh, and in case anyone cares, the cast is apparently singing Mozart's music quite well... Financial Times 10/05/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 9:39 pm
- Previously: The Worst-Reviewed Opera Ever (Take Two) It isn't often that a production of a Mozart opera can inspire critics to foam at the mouth, and yet, the English National Opera managed it three years ago with Claixto Bieito's mounting of Don Giovanni. "A crude, anti-musical farrago", a "coke-fuelled fellatio fest", and a "new nadir in the vulgar abuse of a masterpiece" were but a few of the barbs hurled ENO's way. So what does a company do after such a spectacular critical failure? Bring it back for an encore, apparently, and the reviews ("I should sooner poke my eyes out and sell my children into slavery than sit though it again") aren't looking any better the second time around. The Guardian (UK) 09/29/04
Click here for more Music stories...
Putin's Crackdown On Free Expression As Russian president Vladimir Putin continues to consolidate power around himself, the country's artists, authors, and journalists are becoming alarmed at what seems to be a return to Soviet-era censorship. Books are being confiscated by government agents, media outlets are almost completely under the thumb of the Kremlin, and authors are facing official harassment, even prosecution, for expressing controversial opinions. The Chronicle of Higher Education 10/08/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 6:48 am
Spending Money To Make Money "After nearly two years of debate over how to spend a $120 million gift from pharmaceutical heiress Ruth Lilly, Americans for the Arts has decided to spend a small slice of it to start a citizens' movement for the arts. The organization's officials are expected to announce today in Washington that they are creating the Americans for the Arts Action Fund, a membership group that will adopt the fundraising and lobbying tactics of the Sierra Club and the League of Women Voters to build support for arts and arts education." The program is expected to cost $1 million. Washington Post 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 6:46 am
Ignore the Masses, Find A Niche The days of mass marketing in the entertainment world seem to be swiftly drawing to a close. As new technologies give consumers an increasingly diverse array of options, niche marketing is the wave of the future, and marketing to the bland middle as a way of reaching everyone is no longer the most reliable route to profitability. "Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it in service after service, from DVDs at Netflix to music videos on Yahoo! Launch to songs in the iTunes Music Store and Rhapsody." Wired 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 6:06 am
BAM's Big Boost The Brooklyn Academy of Music has long struggled to maintain fiscal solvency in the face of slack attendance and an underfunded endowment, but in recent years, BAM has begun a turnaround that will culminate this fall with the completion of an $8.6 million restoration. In addition, the academy has announced two major gifts totalling $30 million, which will double the size of its endowment. Still, the organization's long-term success seems to be inextricably tied to the fortunes of Brooklyn as a whole. The New York Times 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 5:49 am
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
The Matriarch of 20th Century Music Composing may still be a predominantly male profession, but the individual who had arguably the greatest impact on the American musical landscape of the 20th century was a woman, Nadia Boulanger, with whom more than 130 American composers studied their craft. "Unlike Schoenberg, she did not try to create followers who hewed to a set style or compositional approach. That is clear from the diversity of her students, ranging from famed atonalist Elliott Carter to Joe Raposo, who wrote music for Sesame Street." Denver Post 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 6:22 am
Boulez, In Retrospect Pierre Boulez, the iconoclastic composer/conductor who, in his youth, delighted in savaging his contemporaries and disdaining his predecessors, seems to be mellowing in his old age. How can you tell? Well, he recently admitted to being occasionally wrong. The Telegraph (UK) 10/04/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 10:22 pm
Click here for more People stories...
Remote Controlled Orchestra As Broadway pits have shrunk to make room for theater seating, musicians (especially those who play bulky instruments) have increasingly found themselves consigned to remote locations, following a conductor on a monitor and playing into a microphone. Not that they're complaining - not being in the pit means wearing whatever you want to work and getting to read or talk to friends between cues. Besides, as one Broadway music director points out, "Once you're hearing an orchestra solely through a sound system instead of hearing them acoustically, then it doesn't really matter where they are." The New York Times 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 5:36 am
Who Knew New York Was A Swing State? Actor and playwright Sam Shepard is the latest in the ever-extending line of theater types who would like a piece of President Bush, and he'd like it before November 2, if possible. That's awfully short notice in the New York theatre world, but Shepard's new play found a willing short-order team at Manhattan's New School University. Performances of The God of Hell, which Shepard describes as "a takeoff on Republican fascism, in a way," begin four days before the presidential election. The New York Times 10/04/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 9:27 pm
Click here for more Theatre stories...
Kirkus Goes Kommercial "Kirkus Reviews has long prided itself on being a sort of Consumer Reports for the book publishing industry, proclaiming its independence by steadfastly refusing to accept advertising and producing early, plain-spoken reviews that can amplify or smother a new book's early buzz. Now, however, Kirkus is embracing a new spirit of commercialism," offering to review any book for $350 in its new online publicatiion, and considering the possibility of selling ads in its main print edition. The New York Times 10/05/04
Posted: 10/05/2004 5:43 am
Click here for more Publishing stories...
Positive Presence As the AIDS epidemic closes in on a quarter-century of global devastation, many of the world's biggest television networks are embarking on a concerted effort to increase awareness about the disease. For some networks, this means more prominence for news coverage about the epidemic; for others, HIV-positive characters will soon begin finding their way into sitcoms and other staple programming. Sydney Morning Herald 10/05/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 10:28 pm
No Red Carpet For Some Foreign Filmmakers Some of the best foreign-language films of the year will have no chance at winning the Academy Award for best foreign language film, due to industry politics and an outmoded set of rules regarding which films can be considered. "Every country designates a group that presents a single film to the Academy, which has special committees that winnow submissions down to the five nominees announced in January." So what if your country actually managed to crank out more than one Oscar-worthy picture this year? Tough. And if you're a director with an enemy or two on your country's panel? Gee, that's a shame. See you next year. Maybe. New York Post 10/04/04
Posted: 10/04/2004 9:21 pm
