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Weekend, November 5-6




 

Ideas

Art + Science = The Future? "California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, or Calit2, a $400 million research consortium assembled over the last five years," is in the process of nurturing a groundbreaking collaboration between science and art, housing a team of artists in what is primarily a research facility and encouraging them to collaborate with in-house scientists on all sorts of projects. "The juxtaposition of digital art with next-generation science and technologies like wireless networks, biosensors and optical supercomputers gives Calit2 a degree of panache that has largely been lost in the American scientific and corporate research worlds in the face of financial cutbacks over the last decade." The New York Times 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 7:02 am

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Visual Arts

Should Art "Belong" To Its Home City? There has been much discussion lately about the trend of museums selling off their art to balance the budget. But museums aren't the only ones divesting themselves of great works: Alan Artner points out that private collectors do it all the time, and the effect on a city's artistic reputation can be drastically changed by such actions. "In the past it was thought that artworks collected in a city should stay in the city, for in a sense, they belonged to it. People rich enough to have significant collections made their money in particular cities and leaving art to them was a way of giving something back." But beginning in the 1980s, when art really became a financial investment as well as an aesthetic one, this view began to change. Chicago Tribune 11/06/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 9:20 am

Vanity Amid The Calligraphy Illuminated manuscripts - those ornately decorated pages of calligraphic words that are meant more to be admired than read - were more than just a way to honor profound texts with high art. In fact, "[they] functioned a little the way today's society pages do: they advertised the status of movers and shakers while at the same time they made them seem noble and generous. The manuscripts followed a basic formula: the more dazzling the word and image, the more prominent the church patron. Not content to be anonymous donors, people who commissioned such manuscripts even had their own likenesses incorporated into scenes along with their coats of arms." The New York Times 11/06/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 8:54 am

MFA Reverses Course On Art Theft Inquiry Days after Italian prosecutors announced to the world that they have clear and unimpeachable evidence that Boston's Museum of Fine Arts is in possession of stolen art, the museum is reaching out to Italian authorities in an effort to head off serious legal trouble. Originally, the MFA had planned to wait for officials to come to them in the controversy surrounding dealer Robert Hecht and Getty Museum curator Marian True, but when press coverage intensified at week's end, the museum decided that it could not afford to wait. MFA officials also issued a statement promising to return any objects which could be proven to have been stolen. Boston Globe 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 7:30 am

The Getty In Crisis "Today the Getty Museum is under siege. Its former antiquities curator faces an indictment in Italy, and allegations of lavish travel by [museum president Barry] Munitz have led to a wide-ranging investigation by the California attorney general into the trust's finances. Overlooked in these controversies, some of Mr. Munitz's critics say, is the harm suffered by the museum itself, including acquisitions, curatorial choices and departures by talented staff members who bridled at Mr. Munitz's decisions and style." In fact, some observers believe that the Getty's problems can be traced all the way back to 1982, when it received the bulk of oilman J. Paul Getty's fortune and became a major player on the international art scene. The New York Times 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 6:33 am

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Music

Back To The Future In Birmingham? Conductor Paul Polivnick had a good run as music director of the Alabama Symphony in the late 1980s, and even appeared to be making a stab at raising the orchestra from a little-known regional band to a big-budget ensemble that could have broken into the second tier of American orchestras. But when the ASO went bankrupt in 1993, the dream of bigger things for Birmingham's symphony died, and Polivnick moved on. Now, with the ASO back in business (it reincorporated in 1997) and in need of a new music director, Polivnick is back in town to guest conduct his old musicians, and there is much speculation that he and the orchestra would like very much to pick up where they left off more than a decade ago. Birmingham News 11/06/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 8:32 am

Are Orchestras Losing The PR Game? Are They Even Playing? The Oregon Symphony is facing a serious ticket sales slump, as audiences who packed the hall for the first two seasons following music director Carlos Kalmar's arrival have deserted the orchestra in droves this fall. "Kalmar's agenda -- his choice of music -- isn't resonating with ticket buyers. It's quirky, bordering on -- how shall we say -- bizarre." But the orchestra's problems may run deeper than programming choices. "Classical musicians aren't good at rousing the electorate. They don't know how to create buzz. They either think buzz is beneath them or they believe people don't care enough about them to justify buzz. And yet, in this digital age, it takes a rapid-response public-relations blitz to get anything done." The Oregonian (Portland) 11/06/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 8:26 am

Is Live-To-Tape The Future For Classical Recording? Large-scale opera recordings appear to be rapidly becoming a relic of the past, as record companies continue to cut costs and ease classical music out of their catalog. "But before we all get out our handkerchiefs, what are we really losing? Is a studio recording, especially of a complete opera, so much better than a live performance captured on tape? Is an edited sequence of perfect takes worth all the losses in continuity and physical atmosphere? And is the studio recording really finished, or is its rumoured demise just clever promotion?" The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 8:13 am

New Deal In Fort Worth The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra has finalized a new 5-year contract with its musicians which calls for a 14% raise over the life of the deal and makes changes to certain working conditions. There had been speculation that the musicians might refuse to ratify the contract, which was offered with only the faintest endorsement by the musicians' negotiating team. But when the votes were counted, the orchestra, which has been performing under an extension of its previous contract since August, could breath a sigh of relief. Fort Worth Star-Telegram (2nd item) 11/06/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 8:06 am

Are Orchestras Hurting Themselves By Pandering To Audiences? Symphony orchestras in North America are notoriously conservative in their programming choices, and if a glance at the history of American musical criticism is any indication, critics have been complaining about the lack of daring for as long as orchestras have lacked it. "Mainstream musical organizations in general and symphony orchestras in particular still prefer — allegedly for box office reasons — to comfort their listeners with the familiar rather than challenge them with the new... [But] repetition tends to stifle curiosity and it is curiosity that needs to be encouraged in the listening public if our concert halls are to be more than museums to past greatness." Toronto Star 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 7:49 am

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Arts Issues

Rockettes High-Step Into Pittsburgh Add Pittsburgh to the list of cities welcoming the Rockettes to town for the holidays. And as usual, the arrival of the touring Radio City show is being greeted by both enthusiasm and trepidation. On the plus side, the show could pump as much as $25 million a year into Pittsburgh's hospitality industry. But for local arts groups, the Rockettes represent a serious threat to their own holiday-themed programs, and thus to their overall bottom lines. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 11/06/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 9:51 am

Construction Boom Causing Venue Crunch In KC Kansas City is pumping millions of dollars into renovation projects for two of the city's venerable performance venues. But a decision to move up the start of one of the projects by a year has arts groups scrambling to find a place to perform during the renovations. "Some blame the construction rush on the city’s desire to book The Lion King, even though the Broadway blockbuster has yet to announce whether it will play [Kansas City] in 2007-08." Kansas City Star 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 8:18 am

The Franco-Louisianan Ties That Bind They may have given it up for pennies an acre back in 1803, but the French have always maintained a certain affection for Louisiana. "That attachment paid off for Louisiana, in money and relief supplies, after Hurricane Katrina, and on Friday it took a more symbolic turn in the form of a quick but apparently heartfelt visit to this stricken city by the French minister of culture, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres. The minister came to announce a series of cultural initiatives: a planned exhibition here with the help of the Louvre and other French museums, and benefit concerts across France. But since he was the highest-ranking foreigner to come to this city since the storm... his visit was just as much the reaffirmation of a link that has never quite disappeared. The New York Times 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 6:58 am

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People

A Literary Superstar, Primed For A Fall "With his pinched face and shambling gait, he is, to say the least, an incongruous figure; he looks more like a local wino than a world-famous man of letters. But [Michel] Houellebecq, 47, is the nearest thing to a literary superstar France has produced in recent years. His books have been translated into 36 languages and recent film deals have made him a multi-millionaire... [But in France,] he is often depicted as a calculating and manipulative operator who courts controversy to boost sales. This is also the argument of two recent biographies of Houellebecq." The Observer (UK) 11/06/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 9:41 am

Famed Director Leaves Chicago Lyric "Peter Hall, the eminent British director who oversaw four productions at Lyric Opera of Chicago, including a stellar new Otello in 2001, has withdrawn as director of a new production of Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage. The opera is scheduled to open Nov. 19. According to the Lyric, the move comes 'on doctor's orders' for the 75-year-old director. Hall has not been feeling well over the past few days, and he leaves for his home in London today for medical tests." Chicago Sun-Times 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 7:39 am

MoMA's Man Among Architects "As one of the few to follow in the footsteps of Philip Johnson at the Museum of Modern Art, Terence Riley has had an important platform in the world of architecture and design over the last 14 years. He helped raise awareness of foreign architects like Rem Koolhaas, Kazuyo Sejima and Herzog & de Meuron in the United States. He made architecture shows a high-profile staple of the museum's exhibition program. He served on the juries of several major architecture projects and on countless panels discussing architecture. And he was instrumental in the creation of the new Modern, the redesigned building by Yoshio Taniguchi that opened last year. Now someone else will fill Mr. Riley's shoes; he announced on Thursday that he would step down as the museum's chief curator of architecture and design in March." The New York Times 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 6:55 am

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Theatre

Radio City Exec Scuttled Deal With Apology Demand, Musicians Claim The striking (or locked out, depending on whom you ask) musicians at New York's Radio City Music Hall have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, saying that the musicians actually accepted the terms of a new contract on Friday, hours after the strike began, but that the head of Radio City's ownership group refused to implement the deal unless the union placed a newspaper ad saying that it had lied in its press statements leading up to the strike. Radio City isn't commenting directly on the charge, but it has issued a hotly worded statement blasting the musicians' union. Radio City's famous Christmas Spectacular performances have been continuing with recorded music in place of the 35-piece orchestra. The New York Times 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 8:24 am

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Publishing

Searching For The Giller Algorithm Canada's Giller Prize will be awarded on Tuesday, which means the window for guessing the winner is closing quickly. But handicapping the Giller has always been tricky, and this year, even picking a frontrunner is a struggle. "What drives the Gillers? According to Calgary novelist Aritha van Herk, it's 'a weird mixture of circumstance, accident, the chemistry of jury members and the books published, what the publishers chose to submit, and the publishers who have the money to pay the entrance fee. There must be a math equation for that.'" The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 9:35 am

DaVinci's Long Coattails How popular is The DaVinci Code? So popular that there are actually authors other than Dan Brown getting rich off it, apparently. Books about the book have been flying off the shelves, and now, two writers are about to come out with new books dedicated to speculating about what the upcoming DaVinci sequel might be about. Toronto Star 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 7:43 am

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Media

Zeroing In On Piracy In Malaysia "Malaysia's government has been accused of failing to act on evidence that licensed CD factories are producing pirated music, films and software. The country's recording industry says pirated discs from 12 of the 44 factories licensed by the government have been exported abroad. The suspect plants continue to operate despite complaints while illegal plants have been shut down, the industry says. Malaysia is thought to be the world's largest exporter of pirated discs." BBC 11/06/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 9:04 am

America's New TV Hotspot "Telemundo, the nation's No. 2 Spanish-language network, which was bought by NBC three years ago for $2.7 billion, has been unfolding a plan to produce all its own prime-time entertainment instead of buying it from elsewhere. In the process, it is fostering a whole new Spanish-language TV industry, clustered around the city of Miami." The New York Times 11/06/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 8:52 am

Ousted CPB Boss May Face Criminal Charges Details are beginning to emerge of the soon to be released internal report that led to controversial Corporation for Public Broadcasting chairman Kenneth Tomlinson's ouster from the CPB board on Thursday. Tomlinson, who was already under fire for his unapologetic efforts to force PBS to air conservative opinion programs, is accused in the report of a serious misuse of corporation funds and the invention of phantom employees when it served his purposes. The inquiry crosses over into Tomlinson's work as a member of the largely unknown but highly influential Broadcasting Board of Governors, and insiders believe that he could face criminal charges before all is said and done. And then, there's the inevitable Karl Rove connection... The New York Times 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 7:16 am

Clear Channel Shutting Down Local Concert Promotions? Well, Maybe. Last week, entertainment behemoth Clear Channel appeared to pull out of the concert promotion business in several U.S. cities, laying off employees and shuttering its offices. "This all coincides with the splintering of Clear Channel, which plans to spin off its concert business into a separate company while keeping its radio and billboard divisions." But the company says that the layoffs merely mark a shift in corporate philosophy, with Clear Channel intending to run its concert promotions from the home office in San Antonio. At the moment, in cities like Minneapolis, Seattle, and Nashville, it's difficult to accurately assess whether Clear Channel is really gone, and what it means if they are. Minneapolis Star Tribune 11/05/05
Posted: 11/06/2005 6:24 am

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