Designers Picked For Harvard's Stopgap Museum "The Harvard University Art Museums will announce today the selection of a California firm to design the Allston-Brighton structure that will be a temporary home for thousands of artworks when Harvard's two primary art museums close in 2008." Boston Globe 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 6:01 am
Turner Shortlist Announced The shortlist for the always-controversial Turner Prize has been announced in the UK. Sculptor Rebecca Warren (known for using twigs and bits of fluff in her work,) photographer Phil Collins, mixed-media artist Mark Titchner, and painter Tomma Abts will vie for the £40,000 prize, which will be announced in December, following public viewings of the work of all four finalists. BBC 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 5:52 am
- See For Yourself... View a gallery of the work of the Turner finalists here. BBC 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 5:50 am
Peeling Open The New Orangerie As Paris's Musée de l'Orangerie prepared to reopen following a 6-year, $36 million renovation, one of the biggest questions was how the Claude Monet masterpieces mounted to the walls had survived the trauma of construction. (These eight paintings cannot be removed, and an elaborate system of alarmed and reinforced boxes had to be devised to protect them from the dust and vibration.) As it turned out, the Monets are fine, and the Orangerie itself, while looking very much the same on the outside, has undergone a radical transformation inside. The New York Times 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 5:26 am
Has DaVinci's Lost Masterpiece Been Located? "Step by patient step, one man is drawing ever closer to the real Da Vinci mystery: tracking down the master’s greatest painting, lost for four and a half centuries... For art historians, finding Leonardo’s lost Battle of Anghiari is in the same league as finding the Titanic or the still lost tomb of the Ancient Egyptian architect Imhotep — as big as you can get... And it is hidden, [Maurizio Seracini] believes, in a room at the heart of political power since the Middle Ages in Florence." The Times (UK) 05/16/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 9:21 pm
Tate Modern's Director Throws Down The Gantlet "Tate Modern is Britain’s answer to the Museum of Modern Art in New York and to the Pompidou Centre in Paris. But while MoMA’s assets are being boosted by the gifts of wealthy Americans, carefully encouraged by US tax incentives, and the Pompidou enjoys buckets of state funding, Tate Modern is being left to wither and die." So says Tate director Vicente Todoli, who claims that the UK government is content to let the his museum twist in the wind as institutions in other cities pass them by. The Times (UK) 05/16/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 9:17 pm
The Clock, The Oil Boom, And The Russian Art Binge "At a time when Russians flush with oil money are making headlines spending millions on art, the forthcoming sale of a 100-year- old Fabergé clock is causing a stir in the Scandinavian auction world... The reason for the excitement is not because the clock is an outstanding piece of jewelry; most experts agree that the Fabergé workshops produced many objects of greater refinement. Rather, anticipation is linked to the clock's almost mystical provenance and how it fits into Russia's current boom." International Herald Tribune 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 9:10 pm
Is The Bar Lowered For Artists Who Make Films? An increasing number of painters, sculptors and other artists have recently been turning to film as a second medium, and many of the resulting films have been winning some high-profile prizes. "It is surely good that the art of film is developing in such a way as to be judged in arenas other than those in which Hollywood entertainment and the box office are the only criteria. And yet are these art-installation movies having the bar lowered for them? Aren't they being judged by much less exacting standards than regular films?" The Guardian (UK) 05/16/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 8:57 pm
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
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
Visual Arts stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Chicago Lyric In The Black Yet Again "Lyric Opera of Chicago posted a surplus for its third consecutive season and for the 18th time in the last 19 campaigns. According to preliminary results announced at its annual meeting Monday, Lyric had a surplus of $140,000 on a budget of $49.2 million last season... Lyric officials also reported that more than 277,000 tickets were sold -- or 95 percent of Civic Opera House capacity -- in the 83-performance season of 2005-06, bringing in $27.2 million at the box office." Chicago Tribune 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 6:06 am
Eventually, Everyone Will Hire Barenboim It's official - Daniel Barenboim has been named principal guest conductor at La Scala, and will be the highest ranking conductor there for at least the next several years (the company having declined to name a true music director for the time being.) Barenboim is also chief conductor at Germany's most prestigious opera company, the Berlin Staatsoper, and the two companies plan to come together for several productions in future seasons. Gramophone (UK) 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 5:06 am
Hawaii Orchestra Finally Gets Some Good News The Honolulu Symphony has been battling serious fiscal problems for years, and this season was no exception. But as the orchestra wrapped up its year onstage, the Hawaii state legislature came through with a $4 million matching gift for the HSO's endowment, as well as a $150,000 for educational programs. The orchestra will need to raise an additional $4 million in order to keep the state money, as part of a wider campaign to boost the HSO's endowment. Honolulu Advertiser 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 8:12 pm
Is The Balance Of Orchestral Power Shifting In Tokyo? The city of Tokyo has a whopping eight professional orchestras, but until recently, only three - the NHK Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony - have been considered major players on the national and international scene. Now, though, two of the lesser ensembles, both notable for operating without a major commercial sponsor, are making a major push for promotion to the top ranks of orchestras. But market factors are also at work, and with many in Japan (as elsewhere) questioning how many orchestras even the biggest cities need, the upstarts still have a long road ahead. Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo) 05/16/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 7:52 pm
Click here for more Music stories...
Music stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Who's Gagging Who? The Ottawa chapter of the American Federation of Musicians has been outspoken in denouncing a new confidentiality agreement proposed by the National Arts Centre for its employees, and has encouraged members of the NAC Orchestra to refuse to sign. But apparently, the union itself has rules governing what its members can and cannot say publicly. A union bylaw states that members should not speak ill of one another publicly. However, union officials note that the bylaw is part of a code of ethics, not a legally binding command, and further point out that, while the bylaw is only in effect while a musician is a member of the Ottawa local, the NAC's new rule would require that employees stay silent for their entire lives. Ottawa Citizen 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 5:18 am
UK Facing End-Of-Year Academic Crisis There is an ongoing targeted strike in the UK by lecturers at the country's universities, and as the school year draws to a close, the continued refusal of lecturers to mark papers, assign grades, and give tests puts thousands of British students at risk of having their graduation delayed. "Many universities [expect] the greatest disruption to take place in subjects such as history, sociology and education, where academic staff tend to be the most unionised." The Guardian (UK) 05/16/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 8:46 pm
NAC To Reconsider Internal Gag Order In response to vociferous objections from unions at the National Arts Centre, the confidentiality agreement the NAC had asked all employees to sign is under review. "The letter threatens workers with punishment or termination if they break the confidentiality agreement," and opponents say that it would nullify a law passed in 2004 to protect whistleblowers. CBC Ottawa 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 8:27 pm
- Ottawa Orchestra Demands Silence (From Its Employees) Ottawa's National Arts Centre has ordered its employees, including the members of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, to sign "a document promising to reveal no supposedly confidential information about the [NAC] for as long as they live." The push for silence comes in the wake of months of controversy over NACO music director Pinchas Zukerman's relationship with his musicians. As one might expect, the union representing the NACO players is not pleased with the proposal... Ottawa Citizen 05/13/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 8:24 pm
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
Arts Issues stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Stanley Kunitz, 100 "Stanley Kunitz, who was one of the most acclaimed and durable American poets of the last century and who, at age 95, was named poet laureate of the United States, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 100... Over the extraordinary span of his career — nearly 80 years — Mr. Kunitz achieved a wide range of expression, from intellectual to lyric, from intimately confessional to grandly oracular. Among other honors, he won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1959, the National Book Award in 1995, at age 90, the National Medal of the Arts in 1993 and the prestigious Bollingen Prize in poetry in 1987." The New York Times 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 5:41 am
- Poetry's "Surrogate Father" Stanley Kunitz was more than just a great poet, he was a generous soul who always took the time to help and inspire the next generation, according to those who knew him. But he was also the best critic many of his devotees ever had, and the toughest, always keen to "improve a fellow poet's work with bold, unflinching editing." Washington Post 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 5:20 am
The Conductor Who Wants To Do Everything You would be hard-pressed to find a more celebrated conductor of the moment than Valery Gergiev, and the still-young Russian is mounting a very public push to propel one of his orchestras, St. Petersburg's Mariinsky, into the top of the international ranks. But "[Gergiev's] energy has not always endeared him to orchestras or critics, some of whom equate his jet-setting lifestyle with a shallowness of preparation. Stories are legion of Gergiev turning up hours late to rehearsals, giving interviews during concert intervals and holding up the second half, and cutting his schedules so fine that they give orchestral managers panic attacks." The Guardian (UK) 05/16/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 9:03 pm
Gelb's Met: Artists May Love It, But Will Audiences Follow? As Peter Gelb prepares to take the helm of New York's Metropolitan Opera, he has served notice that he intends to make some major changes to the venerable company. "Gelb argues that this approach will attract, not threaten, the opera establishment: 'By having more new productions in any given season - of standard repertoire as well as new operas - the Met will become an even more attractive place for the top singers. The greatest artists and conductors want to be stimulated.' Ah - but do opera audiences? There's the rub." New York Sun 05/15/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 8:37 pm
Click here for more People stories...
People stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Theatre stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Take Your Author To Work Day "With authors fiercely battling for attention in a media-saturated world, an increasing number of writers — from first-time novelists like Ms. Dean to celebrities like Madeleine K. Albright, the former Secretary of State — are visiting people where they spend much of their time: at work... A growing roster of corporations, including Microsoft, Boeing, Google and Altria, the owner of brands like Philip Morris and Kraft Foods, have played host to writers in their offices. Even the United States Treasury Department has invited nearly 40 authors to speak over the last two years. Executives see the author readings as akin to other perks like in-house gyms, subsidized cafeterias and financial advice." The New York Times 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 5:42 am
The Great eBay Publishing Experiment "A first-time author has bypassed the traditional route of getting an agent, and is publishing a collaborative thriller on eBay. The novel is being written one page at a time, one writer to a page. As each installment is finished, the chance to create the next is offered for auction on eBay. So far, 17 pages have been completed, with 234 to go, and while the quality of the writing might charitably be described as variable, there is no shortage of plot." The Guardian (UK) 05/16/06
Posted: 05/15/2006 8:54 pm
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
Click here for more Publishing stories...
Publishing stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
Failing, Hollywood Style In Hollywood, success comes with the most public of accolades, and the richest of financial rewards. So it stands to reason that failure on the Tinseltown stage would be an equally dramatic event. "Hollywood is so enamored by success that few people can cope with the flop sweat of failure... After a fall, some people flee the city, seeking refuge. Others stay inside, the doors closed and lights dim. After all, who wants to work the room when your friends, not to mention your enemies, can barely disguise their glee at seeing you fall on your face?" Los Angeles Times 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 6:27 am
Tiptoeing Into The Brave New World The world of bloggers, on-demand media, and participatory journalism has required a lot of adjustment from the traditional press, and those at the helm of America's public broadcasters have been struggling to decide which elements of the global online world they can afford to embrace, and which ones they can't afford not to. Wired 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 5:48 am
DaVinci's Hype Machine Includes Withholding Sneak Peeks Ordinarily, when a movie is released without critics being given an advance screening, it's because the product is so mind-blowingly awful that the studio doesn't want to give the press a chance to bad-mouth it before the first weekend's receipts are in. But for the producers of The DaVinci Code, who have raised hype to an art form in the months leading up to this weekend's premiere, the withholding of advance screenings is all about building the suspense. The New York Times 05/16/06
Posted: 05/16/2006 5:32 am
Click here for more Media stories...
Media stories submitted by readers
More reader-submitted stories... | submit a story
