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Monday, May 15




This Week Only

A Debate About Arts Journalism This week (May 18-21), 100 alumni of the National Arts Journalism Program are gathering in Philadelphia to debate the future of arts journalism. Between now and when the conference opens, we have asked 15 cultural journalists from around America to have an online discussion here on ArtsJournal. You can access the blog here. To read about our topic, go here. And to see who is participating online, go here. We invite you to join in, and comments will be part of the blog. To read more about the Philadelphia conference, go here. Posted: 11:06 am

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From AJ's Weekend Edition

20 stories Speculators are driving up the prices of contemporary Chinese art... Many UK museums have stopped collecting art. Why? No money... Fearing the loss of future audiences, the once-staid Berlin Philharmonic has constructed an elaborate education program... A bill in the California state legislature would "forbid the teaching of any material that reflects adversely on persons due to sexual orientation... What does it mean for a film to win the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival?... These stories and more in AJ's weekend edition. ArtsJournal.com 05/13-14/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 9:30 am

Ideas

Write A Screenplay, Win The Lottery - It's all The Same, Isn't It? Want to strike it rich? Write something. At least that's what an awful lot of people seem to be thinking about these days. They are writing the screenplay - or, since Harry Potter, the children's book - that will overnight, pay off the mortgage, free them from the job, allow the kids to have a great education and pay for the rest of their lives to be lived in tasteful but significant luxury." Trouble is - your chances of that ever happening are about the same as winning the lottery... The Guardian (UK) 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 8:56 am

Do We Need To Remember To Fail? "The unprecedented success of technology in the last 50 years may have also created an expectation that failure should be anticipated and eliminated in all aspects of life. This leaves less and less tolerance for its inevitable persistence; very little margin is left for error. That is understandable in deciding whether bolts or welds should be used in a skyscraper (as became an issue in the Citigroup Tower in New York); large forces hinge on such small decisions. But that absolutist approach also entails unexpected sacrifices in other aspects of life, particularly when avoidance of failure and accident becomes the guiding principle for future design and behavior." The New York Times 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 8:52 am

All The Books In The World In One Place That's the dream of armies of copiers, working to digitize the world's libraries. "The dream is an old one: to have in one place all knowledge, past and present. All books, all documents, all conceptual works, in all languages. It is a familiar hope, in part because long ago we briefly built such a library. The great library at Alexandria, constructed around 300 B.C., was designed to hold all the scrolls circulating in the known world..." The New York Times Magazine 05/14/06
Posted: 05/14/2006 6:08 pm

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Ideas stories submitted by readers
Louvre Bans Photos Culturekiosque 4/29/06
We Love N.Y. AmericanStyle magazine 4/21/06
Emerging Artists: No Room to Grow Art Info 4/4/06
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Visual Arts

The Killing Of The WTC Memorial Michael Arad thought he had won big when his design for a memorial at the WTC site was chosen. But the memorial has been caught up in the mess that is the whole project. "The latest cost estimate issued this month—an impossible $972 million—has Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanding that the design be scaled back, while others suggest that it be scrapped altogether. The battle that is now breaking into full view has been raging behind the scenes since the moment Arad’s plan was picked. He has waged a personal war against the LMDC—to defend his design, he says, from the agency’s cronyism and shoddy management." New York Magazine 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 9:26 am

King Tut Goes Online "Oxford scholars are preparing to post the notes, diaries, drawings and photographs from the 1922 excavation of the tomb of King Tutankhamun on the internet in an attempt to study it completely." The Guardian (UK) 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 9:01 am

Getty: We're Not Panicking "Rather than impressing the governments of the Mediterranean lands to which it pays such elaborate tribute, the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, Calif., has roused their anger. Saying that the villa's galleries are full of antiquities that were illegally removed from their historical settings, Italy and Greece are demanding the return of dozens of objects." Getty Museum director Michael Brand plans a stead hand: "It is a matter of not panicking and thinking the Getty Museum has a crisis, but of approaching it calmly and rationally and trying to work toward a solution." The New York Times 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 8:49 am

Morgan Library Gets Game "As the Morgan's longer name indicates, the library's $106 million transformation is intended to make it more appealing to museum-goers and cultural tourists in a city where the competition from such powerhouse institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art is all but overwhelming." Chicago Tribune 05/14/06
Posted: 05/14/2006 8:28 pm

The Chicago Art Institute Code "Like most museums in the United States, the Art Institute of Chicago owns nothing by Leonardo, but that doesn't mean its permanent collection isn't studded with artworks that harbor secrets of their own. In some cases -- particularly in works from the Renaissance, the golden age of "coded" art -- the images originally were meant to be mysterious. To demonstrate their erudition, the artists packed their paintings with so many symbols, allegories and allusions that viewers were forced to resort to reference books in which the most popular emblems of the day were unpacked and explicated." Chicago Sun-Times 05/14/06
Posted: 05/14/2006 7:19 pm

The Titain That Maybe Wasn't A Titain But Might Be A Titian Once Again... "Long known as the work of the great Italian Renaissance painter Titian, this somber, unsigned oil portrait of a middle-aged, 16th-century Italian duke was consigned to obscurity when an art critic questioned its authenticity nearly 70 years ago. But an art historian who has spent eight years researching the painting believes it is a Titian after all." Baltimore Sun (AP) 05/14/06
Posted: 05/14/2006 6:15 pm

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Music

Study: Women Driving Sales Of Recordings An awful lot of money has gone to marketing pop music to men. But new studies show that "more women now spend more time listening to music than their male counterparts, with record labels speculating that the rise in digital downloads means they now find it quicker and easier to explore new artists." The Guardian (UK) 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 9:03 am

The Kimmel's New Organ Philadelphia's Kimmel Center unveils its new organ. "If the Philadelphia Orchestra has done well all this time without a proper in-residence pipe organ (as opposed to the Academy of Music's movable organ), is this really something we need? Given the organ's flashy range and magnitude of sound, will it usher in an era of effects more than music? Will it be some sort of Frankenstein's monster, strangling all subtlety in its path?" Philadelphia Inquirer 05/14/06
Posted: 05/14/2006 10:37 pm

Daniel Barenboim On Top Of The World? "Barenboim's appointment at La Scala, like the CSO's recent appointment of Bernard Haitink as principal conductor and Pierre Boulez as conductor emeritus, buys the respective institutions time to fill two high-profile posts without rushing to make choices they might regret. Barenboim's prominent role in La Scala's future opens the door to a possible ascendancy to Muti's former post somewhere down the line. A couple of major successes there could cinch it for him." Chicago Tribune 05/14/06
Posted: 05/14/2006 8:34 pm

Will Yale Be The Next Juilliard Or Curtis? Starting next year, thanks to $100 million gift, tuition at the Yale Music School will be free. "Now as the school prepares for commencement on May 22 for the final graduating class to have paid the $23,750 annual tuition each year, many faculty members and students are wondering how the donation will affect Yale's reputation. Will subsidized tuition affect the type and quality of new students? Will the school claim a place alongside conservatories like the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia?" The New York Times 05/14/06
Posted: 05/14/2006 6:11 pm

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Music stories submitted by readers
Peru's Peak Performer Washington Post 5/14/06
A Free Ride at Yale? Where Do I Sign Up? New York Times 05/14/06
SSO renews Schwarz's contract and fills 2 positions Seattle Post-Intelligencer 5/10/06
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Arts Issues

The NEA At 40 The National Endowment for the Arts celebrates the milestone. An exhibition gives some idea how far. "We've come a long way. Parallel to the art of engagement has been a politics of disengagement, at least when it comes to arts funding. The only reason the NEA could meet in the midst of this exhibition without a firestorm is that, politically, the NEA has disengaged not just from funding this kind of art, but from the people, artists, curators and audiences who are interested in it." Washington Post 05/14/06
Posted: 05/14/2006 10:22 pm

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Arts Issues stories submitted by readers
Smithsonian Salary Cap Passes Panel Washington Post 5/11/06
A string of successes Atlanta Journal-Constitution 5/3/06
Duo's string of lawsuits target San Diego arts organizations San Diego Union-Tribune 04/23/06
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People

Fans Bury Rowling In Paper JK Rowling complained of a paper shortage near her home. "Fans, who are anxiously waiting for the seventh and final Harry Potter book, sent Rowling everything from a single sheet of paper to entire notepads. A paper merchant even delivered a set of notebooks embossed with the author's name." BBC 05/13/06
Posted: 05/14/2006 10:06 am

A Leading Architecture Firm Does The Splits After a decade working together, Rem Koolhaus and Joshua Prince-Ramus are splitting up, with Prince-Ramus taking all of the architecture firm's 35 members of the New York office with him. "So, no hard feelings, no intrigue? No, both men insist, their parting is simply a response to unfolding circumstances and an attempt to clarify issues of authorship and control. 'It ultimately became a clear decision, but not an easy one,' said Mr. Prince-Ramus, 36. 'The sadness is something we deal with in private,' said Mr. Koolhaas, 61." The New York Times 05/14/06
Posted: 05/14/2006 6:49 am

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Theatre

New Scottish National Theatre Scores High In Awards Scotland's new National Theatre picks up 11 nominations in the annual Scottish Critics Awards. "The first few months of the National Theatre of Scotland has proved to be both a popular and critical success. It is in line with its innovative model that all its nominations are the result of partnerships and co-productions with the existing talent pool." TheStage 05/12/06
Posted: 05/14/2006 7:54 am

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Publishing

How Did The Da Vinci Code Become A Breakout Hit? "To hear some people tell it, author Dan Brown stumbled on the literary equivalent of turning lead into gold. They say his was a formula that mixed clumsy, forgettable sentences with breakneck pacing, lectures on art, history and religion, sinister conspiracies, evil villains, puzzles and cliffhanger chapter endings to produce literary gold. While some like novelist Salman Rushdie called the book "typewriting" and others, like critic Laura Miller, called it "cheesy," book industry professionals refuse to sneer, saying this was far from a case of good things happening to a bad book." Yahoo! (AP) 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 9:07 am

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Media

Sony's Christian Da Vinci Code Strategy The Da Vinci Code is controversial with Christians. But is Sony (who owns the movie) trying to minimize the conflict? No. In fact... The New Yorker 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 9:20 am

Will The Internet Have A High-Def Problem? As high-definition video clips become more popular on the internet, things are slowing down, say ISPs. "Most home internet use is in brief bursts -- an e-mail here, a web page there. If people start watching streaming video like they watch TV -- for hours at a time -- that puts a strain on the internet that it wasn't designed for, ISPs say, and beefing up the capacity to prevent that will be expensive. To offset that cost, ISPs want to start charging content providers to ensure delivery of large video files, for example. Internet activists and consumer groups are vehemently against those plans." Wired (AP) 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 9:16 am

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Dance

New Orleans Gets Its Dance Back The New Orleans Ballet Association has got up and running again. "NOBA lost most of its season and its chief venue, the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts, to Hurricane Katrina. It also was forced to suspend its educational outreach efforts temporarily with thousands of area youth. Help has poured in from patrons, volunteers and artists, including the New York-based Parsons company, which waived fees for its Wednesday and Thursday performances." New Orleans Times-Picayune 05/14/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 8:44 am

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