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Friday, January 14




 

Ideas

The UK's Freedom Of Speech Debate "There is the choice that faces our increasingly multicultural society. We can try to defend an ever growing number of "cultures", defined by religion, race, ethnic tradition or sexual preference, from public comment they regard as grossly offensive. There's a case for this, but let's be clear what it will mean. The result must inevitably be that we shall have less free speech. Future historians may look back on the last three decades of the 20th century as a high point of freedom of expression, never to be achieved again. There may be a net gain in other public goods - such as civic peace - but there'll be a net loss of liberty. Alternatively, we can take the view that, precisely because Britain is increasingly multicultural, all variations of religion, all "cultures" - including, of course, atheism, devout Darwinism, etc - should get used to living with a higher degree of public offence." The Guardian (UK) 01/14/05
Posted: 01/13/2005 7:14 pm

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Visual Arts

Whitney Biennial Curators Named The Whitney Biennial will be curated for the first time by two Europeans in 2006, with British-born Whitney curator Chrissie Iles teamed with Frenchman Philippe Vergne, senior curator at the Minneapolis-based Walker Art Center. "Both curators say it is too early to give any specific details about the direction the biennial will take or what themes, if any, will be addressed. Nor do they know if works will be shown in Central Park, as in the last two biennials." The New York Times 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 6:51 am

EU Bank Looks Forward With New Headquarters "The European Central Bank, seeking a home worthy of its growing stature in the financial world, on Thursday awarded the design of its new headquarters here to a Viennese firm, Coop Himmelb(l)au, which proposed a bold pair of twisted towers linked by a soaring atrium... Design professionals were pleasantly surprised by the choice, saying that the bank's headquarters would be a landmark on Frankfurt's skyline - perhaps even a powerful symbol of Europe's economic integration - provided it was not watered down too much during the building process." The New York Times 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 6:48 am

Chicago, City Of Wacky Bridges "Offering a major surprise, the City of Chicago on Friday will announce winners in its international design competition for pedestrian bridges along the lakefront, choosing a bold new look for the North Avenue Bridge instead of a plan that would have echoed the gently curving profile of the existing bridge." Among the winners are a boomerang-shaped bridge with solar-powered lighting, two S-shaped specimens, and a curving suspension bridge. Each bridge will cost several million dollars to build, and construction is slated to begin in 2007. Chicago Tribune 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 5:58 am

Alaskan Museum Counting On "Bilbao Effect" Fairbanks, Alaska's Museum of the North is expanding, hoping to generate some Bilbao-type publicity in the hopes of becoming a tourist destination. "Other museums that have created what we call signature buildings have experienced the same 'Bilbao effect,' where the building becomes a destination. I said, 'We really need to do this because we need to get tourists here in the summer to help us pay our bills."' CNN.com 01/13/05
Posted: 01/13/2005 7:48 pm

Physicist: Hockney Theory Is Wrong A California physicist says he has proof that David Hockney's controversial theory that Renaissance artists traced their work is wrong. "David Stork used computer imaging of a 1645 painting, Christ in the Carpenter’s Studio, by Georges de la Tour, to show that the only source of light in the work was a candle shown in Christ’s hand. It means the image could not have been projected, he said." The Scotsman 01/13/05
Posted: 01/13/2005 7:27 pm

Guggenheim Update: Expanding Into What? It's been a while since the Guggenheim generated much heat with its global outpost strategy. So where do the various Guggenheim satellite projects stand? "At present, four additional satellite facilities are in their early stages: Rio de Janeiro, Taichung, Hong Kong and Gaudalajara. The projects all face a certain amount of local opposition, and the Gugg's current strategy is to leave the local politics to the local politicians." Artnet 01/13/05
Posted: 01/13/2005 7:19 pm

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Music

Adding Some Color To Classical Music Classical music may not be as elitist as some claim, but there's no disputing the obvious fact that it attracts almost none of America's famous racial diversity. In fact, an African-American musician in a symphony orchestra is such an unusual sight as to be jarring, and token attempts to bridge the racial gap have generally been short-lived and unsuccessful. So when an entire ensemble of minority musicians starts to achieve commercial and critical success with a classical product, it's worth taking note, and Imani Winds, which brings together African-American and Latino composers and performers with an interest in serious new music, is establishing itself as a unique voice in the lily-white classical wilderness. Hartford Courant 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 6:29 am

The Day Lang Lang Came To Dinner Pianist Lang Lang is much in demand these days, and like any soloist, his schedule generally demands that he flit from city to city, with barely enough time to accustom himself to the piano placed in front of him before it's time to move on to the next one. And yet, there Lang was in Detroit this week, taking an entire day off to entertain 80 schoolchildren at a private home. "It's difficult to convey how rare it is for a pianist of Lang's celebrity to find his way to an anonymous suburban home to play a free concert disconnected from any corporate sponsorship or commercial agenda or the kinds of formalized outreach and education programs that have become de rigueur in classical music. Maybe Brad Pitt accepting an invitation to your daughter's birthday party would be a similar jaw dropper." Detroit Free Press 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 6:14 am

Chicago's New Star Trumpeter? Succeeding an orchestral legend is no small undertaking, and the Chicago Symphony has proven itself most determined to find the perfect fit for the principal trumpet chair once occupied by 53-year veteran Bud Herseth. One hopeful was given the job in 2001, but failed to acheive tenure. Now, the CSO is preparing to announce the hiring of the Atlanta Symphony's young principal, Chris Martin. Chicago Tribune 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 4:59 am

The New Women Conductors Three women conductors lead orchestras in New York this weekend. "These artists represent a new wave of female conductors in their late 20's through early 40's. Others are Joana Carneiro, Sara Jobin, Sarah Ioannides, Sarah Hicks, Keri-Lynn Wilson and Anne Manson. They confront significantly less prejudice than did their counterparts who are only a few years older: Gisèle Ben-Dor, Catherine Comet, Rachel Worby, JoAnn Falletta, Marin Alsop and others, performers who have made women a familiar presence on the orchestra podium." The New York Times 01/14/05
Posted: 01/13/2005 7:39 pm

English National Opera Soldiers On English National Opera's Sean Doran announces the company's new season. But there are plenty of questions about how well the company is doing (and why it's taking so long to find a new music director). The Guardian (UK) 01/14/05
Posted: 01/13/2005 6:59 pm

UK Opera A Mess It's looking like a tough year for UK opera. Scottish Opera just lost its director, English National is having difficulty finding anyone to take its music director job, Welsh National is precarious, and Opera North is out of its home... The Times (UK) 01/13/05
Posted: 01/13/2005 4:56 pm

ENO Commisions Gadaffi Opera The Ebglish National Opera has commissioned a work about Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi. The unnamed work is about "a man of humble origin, born into a Bedouin tribe who became a powerful and influential political leader... the volatile relationship between the Middle East and the West and... international politics and their representation in the media of both worlds". Sky News 01/13/05
Posted: 01/13/2005 4:51 pm

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Arts Issues

Is Copyright An Immoral Monopoly? Extension of copyright is all the rage lately, with companies and individuals scrambling to protect their exclusive rights to various moneymaking characters, songs, and images. On the surface, such protection seems at least somewhat reasonable, but isn't the public interest hurt when the government repeatedly prevents classic songs from entering the public domain? "We rightfully grant the monopoly called copyright to inspire new creative work. But once that work has been created, there is no public justification for extending its term. The public has already paid. Term extension is just double billing." Wired 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 5:37 am

British Writers Protest Proposed "Religious Hatred" Law Leading British writers are meeting with the government to express concerns that "the proposed new law on inciting religious hatred will stifle artistic liberty. Salman Rushdie and more than 200 writers of various faiths signed a letter from the writers' group English Pen which was sent to the home secretary, Charles Clarke, earlier this month seeking an "urgent" meeting with him." The Guardian (UK) 01/13/05
Posted: 01/13/2005 5:19 pm

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People

What, Did He Flunk Phys Ed Or Something? Filmmaker Michael Moore may be a hero to thousands of disenfranchised liberals across the country, but at his old high school in Michigan, his name doesn't engender a whole lot of respect. Nominated three times to the high school's honorary "hall of fame," Moore has been soundly rejected all three times, with one voter describing the controversial documentarian as "an embarrassment." Still, some rather determined sorts are actually spending money this year in an attempt to enshrine Moore in the hall. The Globe & Mail (AP) 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 6:23 am

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Theatre

Broadway 2005: Serious Star Power, Seriously Goofy Musicals It's a bit early to be declaring 2005 the Year Of The Anything, but a look at the upcoming Broadway schedule does make a few trends abundantly clear. If all goes as expected, this will be the year that the Broadway musical regained its footing (likely on the back of the Monty Python blockbuster Spamalot), and the year that the Great White Way threw in the towel on new plays, opting instead for a host of revivals of classic stage works featuring big-name stars to draw in the tourists. The Christian Science Monitor 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 6:04 am

  • Getting Ready To Rumble Conventional wisdom says that Broadway only has room for one smashingly successful blockbuster musical per season. But this year, Spamalot will be going head-to-head with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, with plenty of star power, Hollwyood glitz, and industry buzz on each side. Michael Riedel can't wait to see who wins: "At this point, I'm not betting on either combatant. I'm just looking forward to the struggle. Let's hope it's bloody, with dashed hopes and dreams all over the place." New York Post 01/14/05
    Posted: 01/14/2005 6:00 am

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Publishing

When The Working Class Read Classics It was once thought that working class people didn't read the classics. But the reverse was true. "Working-class autodidacts read the classics in part because contemporary literature was too expensive. A 1940 survey found that while 55 percent of working-class adults read books, they rarely bought new books. An autodidact could build up an impressive library by haunting used-book stalls, scavenging castoffs, or buying cheap out-of-copyright reprints such as Everyman's Library, but these offered only yesterday's authors." City Journal 12/04
Posted: 01/13/2005 7:54 pm

The Psycho-bio Problem Why do we feel the need to pass artists such as Shakespeare under a magnifying glass for clues to their work? Such psycho-bios often sell better than the actual artist's work. "The explanations of literary activity which are required by the market for literary biography tend to be made up from a dash of Freud, a handful of social aspiration, a scratching from Foucault’s armpit, and a willingness to entertain simple-one-to- one correspondences between fiction and life." London Review of Books 01/11/05
Posted: 01/13/2005 7:32 pm

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Media

Handicapping The Oscars: What's The Point? Handicapping Hollywood's various awards shows used to be a simple matter of watching a lot of movies, and assessing which was the best. These days, you need a calculator, an official odds cheatsheet, and a serious knowledge of the industry's increasingly absurd social order to even begin to make a prediction. "But don't we risk losing some of the fun and surprise of awards night, by trying so hard to figure out something that is essentially unfathomable? Didn't most critics get into arts writing because they didn't want to grow up and become accountants?" Toronto Star 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 7:02 am

Fox Agrees To Balance 24 With PSAs It's not an easy time to be Muslim in America, and lately, Islamic advocates have been complaining mightily about Fox Television's new season of the terrorism drama 24, which depicts an ordinary Muslim family as a covert terrorist "sleeper cell." Fox isn't apologizing for the plotline, but has agreed to air several public service announcements produced by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which depict Muslims in a positive light. BBC 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 5:32 am

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Dance

Previewing The Year In Dance The American dance scene will become ever more eclectic in 2005, with plenty of crossover (Savion Glover tapping his way across scores by Bach and Beethoven), a healthy dose of classic ballet (Martha Graham's Appalachian Spring will be revived in Washington), and "a veritable atlas of international dance troupes [visiting] US shores, in case Americans needed further reminder of how small the world has become." The Christian Science Monitor 01/14/05
Posted: 01/14/2005 6:09 am

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