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Monday, June 13




Visual Arts

Can You Afford To Work In A Museum? "The fact is that museum careers in the UK are becoming less and less affordable for anyone with even fairly modest life style expectations and a family to raise in a world of soaring cost of education, health and retirement provision. Add to this the cost of property (not just in London) and anyone starting off on a museum career today is almost guaranteed a pauper's existence. Are traditional museum jobs imperceptibly returning to be the preserve of the privately wealthy or otherwise financially independent, with a sprinkle of inveterate believers in the cause happy to ‘pay' for their careers with a garret existence?" Platform 06/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 10:21 am

Vennice Biennale Opens The Venice Biennale opens, this year a confirmation of what's hot in contemporary art rather than breaking new ground. "More tightly edited than in years past, this Biennale, the 51st, was organized by María de Corral and Rosa Martínez, who reduced the number of artists from some 300 two years ago to about 90." Some 300,000 people are expected to attend this summer. The New York Times 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 8:01 am

  • Venice Biennale - First Among World's Fairs Wold's fairs were important in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for sharing information. "The Venice Biennale remains the first, the biggest, the best. More important is who goes there. And everybody goes there. Documenta may be more influential; it is certainly more coherent. But nothing brings out the art world like Venice. It's a spectacular place to go. The national pavilions are part of it, but so are the other exhibitions." Los Angeles Times 06/12/05
    Posted: 06/13/2005 7:56 am

A Taste For Mexican Art There's a surge in interest in Mexican art - both the classics and new hotshots. "While rich collectors such as film producer Joel Silver, former HBO boss Michael Fuchs, and Daniel Filipacchi, the chairman of Hachette, favour 20th-century Mexican masters, a younger generation of collectors - mostly Latin Americans, Americans and a sprinkling of Europeans - buy work by a new generation of Mexican artists breaking new ground." The Telegraph (UK) 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:40 pm

A Rich Legacy Andrea Rich has been leading the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for ten years. "The museum has stable finances, longer hours, grand plans and, yes, fully operative telephone and computer systems. With star architect Renzo Piano poised to lead an expansion and reorganization of the crowded, confusing campus, the $130-million projected cost of phase one is already in the bank. These facts alone, many museum professionals say, should qualify Rich as a triumphant turnaround artist. But the closer you look, the more complicated that picture becomes..." Los Angeles Times 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:36 pm

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Music

Rap Nostaligia Sets In "Nostalgia for the not-so-long-ago sounds of early rap is kicking in hard for longtime fans who find themselves left cold by the genre's latest hits. The booming, market er-friendly audience members in their 20s and 30s are starting to find more mature alternatives to the ever-young party and gangster rap that populates the pop charts." Orange County Register (AP) 06/12/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 9:52 am

The Rise Of Reggaeton "The sound of reggaeton is just about everywhere these days. Think of it as the Spanish version of mainstream hip-hop, but with the bouncy beat of Jamaican reggae. Born out of a spontaneous musical dialogue between Panama and Puerto Rico, this fusion of Spanish reggae, Latin hip-hop and Jamaican dancehall has been embraced wholeheartedly by a young Hispanic demographic in the U.S. Reggaeton albums routinely dominate the Latin Billboard charts, and a recent Reggaeton Invasion tour featuring several heavyweights of the genre enjoyed resounding success on the West Coast." Chicago Tribune 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:16 pm

Cliburn, 2005 Another Van Cliburn piano competition is in the books, and John von Rhein gathers his impressions: "Among this year's medalists, there was general agreement about who deserved the gold. Bespectacled and skinny, Russia's Alexander Kobrin, 25, looks like a nerdy bookworm in need of a "Queer Eye" makeover. But he capped off his successes earlier in the finals with a Rachmaninoff "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" that was as thrilling as only a native son with superior pianistic chops can make it. Unlike some of his peers, he didn't have to emote at the keyboard, because the emotion was invested in the music." Chicago Tribune 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:12 pm

  • Pianists For The Video Age In decades past you wouldn't have exactly touted top pianists for their glamorous fashion sense. That's changed, as exhibited at the just-concluded Van Cliburn Competition. "You couldn't help notice the snazzy, slinky gowns a lot of the women were wearing, and the big smiles and confident strides as they walked out onstage. In a noticeable change from the 2001 Cliburn, these were emphatically pianists groomed for the video age." Dallas Morning News 06/12/05
    Posted: 06/12/2005 5:01 pm

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Arts Issues

Is Arts Criticism Dead? "Blame it on Pablo Picasso. Anyone who took a college arts course knows that modernism began in 1907 with his painting Les Demoiselles D'Avignon. Implicit in modernism, as seen in Picasso's use of flat perspective, non-Western art and the deconstruction of the human body, was a critique of art itself. From the death of art to the death of art criticism is a step that, amazingly, has taken a full century. The Internet is but the latest manifestation of modernism. And it follows that if in art anything goes -- as opposed to the Academism that modernism rejected -- the same is true for criticism. Everybody's a critic. Blog it." Miami Herald 06/12/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 9:18 am

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People

The man Behind King Tut Zahi Hawass is the man responsible for bringing King Tut back to America. He "controls Egypt's vast archaeological trove as secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, is part Indiana Jones, part P. T. Barnum - intent on dusting off Egypt's holdings through a mix of entertainment, commerce and archaeology." The New York Times 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 8:03 am

Foucault's Iranian Journalism Debacle In the fall of 1978 French philosopher Michel Foucault went to Iran to be a journalist. "Foucault's Iranian adventure was a "tragic and farcical error" that fits into a long tradition of ill-informed French intellectuals spouting off about distant revolutions, says James Miller, whose 1993 biography "The Passion of Michel Foucault" contains one of the few previous English-language accounts of the episode. Indeed, Foucault's search for an alternative that was absolutely other to liberal democracy seems peculiarly reckless in light of political Islam's subsequent career, and makes for odd reading now as observers search for traditions in Islam that are compatible with liberal democracy." Boston Globe 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:07 pm

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Theatre

Beautiful Watermill Theatre For Sale Britain's countryside Watermill Theatre is housed in an 1820s redbrick mill, and it's for sale. "Under the directorship of Jill Fraser, backed up by her husband James Sargant, who worked in senior positions for the RSC for many years, this rural idyll has quietly become one of the most admired and influential theatres in the country. In the past five years, it has transferred more shows to the West End than any other theatre in Britain." The Telegraph (UK) 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:49 pm

Playwright Veto: When You Can't Do It That Way A Philadelphia theatre tries to mount an all-female production of "Grease" but the musical's creators object. So "how much control does a creator retain after releasing a play for production? When does a director's interpretation override an author's intention? There is a "strong presumption" in the theater community to protect the intentions of the playwright, and that outrageous staging could be framed as a copyright violation. Whether a court would side with the playwright or the producer in such a case is uncertain, because almost no cease-and-desist letters result in court action." Philadelphia Inquirer 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:24 pm

Spacey Pulls Out Of Old Vic Production, Fans Protest Kevin Spacey suddenly pulled out of a production at London's Old Vic, which he has run for the past year. And ticket-buyers, who had gobbled up £1.2 million worth of ducats "for the cash-strapped Old Vic - a figure almost unprecedented for a straight play in the West End - are unhappy. Still, "espite his critically unsuccessful first season on the South Bank, with unenthusiastic or bad reviews for the first two plays he staged, Cloaca and National Anthems, a recent poll suggests that his support remains solid." The Observer (UK) 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 10:14 am

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Publishing

Another Look At Don Quixote "Much is being said this year about "Don Quixote," in celebration of the 400th anniversary of its publication. And indeed, much has always been said about this extraordinary epic, narrating the misadventures of a half-mad hidalgo who seeks to re-establish the traditions of knight errantry. Faulkner reread it annually; Lionel Trilling said all prose fiction was a variation on its themes. But aside from its literary achievements, "Don Quixote" sheds oblique light on an era when Spain's Islamic culture forcibly came to an end." The New York Times 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 8:06 am

Rowling Calls Teen Reporters The increasingly reclusive JK Rowling is limiting her contacts with the press. "Rowling has refused to grant interviews to British journalists for two years. Her only contact with the media on the release of the new book will be through 'cub reporters' under 16, who will be selected for a 'press conference' through competitions. Emerson Spartz, an 18-year-old student from Indiana, was asleep at 9am when his telephone rang. A Scottish voice asked 'Hello, Emerson? This is Jo. You believe me, don’t you'?"
The Times (UK) 06/10/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 7:49 am

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Media

Canada Invests In TV Programming The Canadian government is putting $100 million into production of new Canadian TV content. "Ottawa has contributed $800-million to the fund since it was formed in 1996. The private-public partnership, which supports creation of programming in French, English and aboriginal languages, has helped create $5.7-billion in Canadian programming." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 8:13 am

Canadian Movie Theatre Chains Get Together Canada's two largest movie theatre chains are combining. Cineplex is buying Famous Players from Viacom Inc. for $500-million. "Last fall, New York-based Viacom said it planned to sell its Famous Players arm in Canada, the largest movie exhibitor in this country with a market share of about 40 per cent. Famous Players operates at 81 locations with 787 screens across the country." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/13/05
Posted: 06/13/2005 8:08 am

Hollywood's Latest Marketing Tool? Blogs "Costing almost nothing to maintain, the vast majority of blogs are mental clearinghouses for their authors, lo-fi Web confessionals or bully pulpits that vary from current events to niche pastimes to sex. Directors' blogs, by contrast, are slickly engineered to virally market their movies — to stoke fan ardor. Some observers say this approach allows studios to put a spin on moviemaking — and, by playing to fan interest, head off potential controversies. Movie marketers say the sites allow blogger-directors to reach out to fans in an up-close-and-personal way." Los Angeles Times 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:44 pm

Podcasts For Fun And Profit Is podcasting breaking in to the big time? "Earlier this month, talk-show host Rush Limbaugh began offering podcasts of his shows for $50 a year, and competitors like The Dr. Laura Schlessinger Program may follow his lead. Meanwhile, commercial and public radio stations are trying to figure out where they fit in the podsphere and how they can make a buck by filling up your MP3 player." Wired 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:05 pm

Gallup: Americans Don't Trust Newspapers, TV American news media are having a difficult time. A new poll says public confidence is falling. "Those having a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in newspapers dipped from 30% to 28% in one year, the same total for television. The previous low for newspapers was 29% in 1994. Since 2000, confidence in newspapers has declined from 37% to 28%, and TV from 36% to 28%, according to the poll." Yahoo! (AP) 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:03 pm

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Dance

100 Years Of Ashton Celebrating Frederick Ashton's 100th birthday has been a major undertaking. "During the Ashton 100 season, along with Scottish Ballet, British companies have performed 23 ballets and excerpts, while overseas American, Russian, French and Asian companies have joyfully learnt ballets often described as "typically" English - forever burying the myth found readily expressed at the Royal Ballet only 10 years ago that Ashton was parochial and out-of-date. No one, surely, would have been more surprised than Ashton himself." The Telegraph (UK) 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:51 pm

Russell, Stowell Leave PNB After 28 years, Kent Stowell and Francia Russell are stepping down from leading Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet. They built the company from a virtual non-entity into one of the top half-dozen in the country... Seattle Post-Intelligencer 06/10/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 5:30 pm

Don Quixote - Recreating A Work In Progress Suzanne Farrell takes another look at Balanchine's Don Quixote. The piece hasn't been performed since 1978. "During the 13 years of its life, Balanchine made numerous changes to the ballet, adding dances, taking out divertissements, cutting sections. There never was a true "finished" version, so she has had to decide what to keep, what to cut, what to preserve." The New York Times 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 9:32 am

ABT's Male Eloquence American Ballet Theatre has some great male dancers these days. But none act as well as Marcelo Gomes. "The danseur (male ballet dancer) often treats parts of his body as means to an end. We notice the legs, for example, only insofar as they propel him into the air, or around and around. Gomes' legs - like his arms, his hips, his neck - speak with the eloquence of a ballerina's, though at a masculine pitch." Newsday 06/12/05
Posted: 06/12/2005 7:15 am

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