Planned Canadian Portrait Gallery In Limbo "Hopes are fading that the new Portrait Gallery of Canada is going to be built across from Parliament Hill at the site of the former U.S. embassy in Ottawa. Yesterday a spokesperson for Canadian Heritage said funding for a portrait gallery remains 'available,' but what's at stake now is 'where it is going to reside.' "
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 10/03/06 Posted: 10/03/2006 8:13 am
British Antiquities Sales To Be Monitored on eBay "After months of negotiation, agreement was reached yesterday between the online auction site eBay, the British Museum, and the government's Museums, Libraries and Archives council, to control the booming trade in British antiquities on the site. Shoals of archaeological objects, an average of 600 a day when volunteers monitored the site, appear on the site: yesterday's offers included an elegant Roman bronze dress pin reportedly found in Bedfordshire, a small gold medieval ring, and a silver cap badge, once worn by a member of the household of the unfortunate Richard Duke of York...."
The Guardian (UK) 10/03/06 Posted: 10/03/2006 7:40 am
The New Leipzig School? What School? "Ever since the movement's 'discovery' in 2003, when Miami collectors Don and Mera Rubell went on a shopping spree in the former East German city, the New Leipzig School has been the talk of the art town." But, Blake Gopnik says, a touring exhibition of the Rubells' collection proves that it's "not much of a school. There isn't any shared agenda among its artists or even much in common other than an education at the conservative Leipzig Art Academy. (One thing they do have in common is their male sex. The only Leipzig women on view at the Katzen are in the paintings. They're often nude.)"
Washington Post 10/03/06 Posted: 10/03/2006 5:34 am
At MoMA, A New Department For "Media" "New media. Digital art. Interactive installation. No matter what ungainly term you choose, the field of artists whose work falls outside the traditional realms of photography, film, and video is growing. In recognition of that fact, the Museum of Modern Art announced yesterday the creation of a new Department of Media, to be run by a curator from the department formerly known as Film and Media, Klaus Biesenbach."
New York Sun 10/03/06 Posted: 10/03/2006 4:08 am
The Turner Prize Has Lost Its Way So this is the notorious Turner Prize, asks Rachel Campbell-Johnston? "It is supposed to showcase all that is most exciting on the forthcoming scene. But this year’s show looks set to stir little but intense public apathy."
The Times (UK) 10/03/06 Posted: 10/03/2006 2:16 am
Sorting Out This Year's Turner Crop This year's Turner Prize finalists are up. So "who should win anyway? Who is making the best art, and what does that mean nowadays?"
The Guardian (UK)` 10/03/06 Posted: 10/03/2006 1:23 am
Click here for more Visual Arts stories...
NSO Follows Yellow Brick Road To Kansas "The National Symphony Orchestra has announced that Kansas will be the site of the ensemble's 2007 American Residency -- the NSO's 17th such extended visit since 1992." Washington Post 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 5:30 am
Metropolitan Opera Offers $20 Orchestra Tickets More proof that things really are different at the Met under Peter Gelb: "The Metropolitan Opera says it will offer 200 orchestra seats to the general public at a cost of $20 each for performances Monday through Thursday, starting tonight. The seats, at the sides and toward the back of the hall, would normally cost $100." (Second item.) The New York Times 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 4:18 am
A Symphony Of Cell Phones "A device similar to a traffic light signaled the audience members to activate their rings — red for the balcony, green for the orchestra seats — at various points in the piece. An assistant conductor, Terrance Gray, followed the score and activated the lights." The New York Times 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 2:19 am
Controversial Idomeneo May Go On After All Last week Berlin's Deutsche Oper canceled a production of Mozart's Idomeneo However, there are signs that Idomeneo could be resurrected, either in Berlin or Austria. The Guardian (UK) 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 1:46 am
Toronto "Ring" A Hit At The Box Office The Canadian Opera Company's first "Ring" cycle sold 99 percent of its tickets. "More than 6,000 patrons saw The Ring of the Nibelung over a three-week run." CBC 10/02/06
Posted: 10/02/2006 6:48 pm
Click here for more Music stories...
Neuenfels A Poor Poster Boy For Free Expression Has the "Idomeneo" controversy prompted a worthy discussion in defense of inferior art? "Whether or not the production goes forward next month, issues about artistic freedom and intimidation by special-interests groups - all very important - are being raised on behalf of a production that could well be an embarrassment to other daring opera directors, and to opera in general. ... Hans Neuenfels, the Berlin 'Idomeneo' director, is among the least credible of Europe's high-concept directors. Though I haven't seen this production, his past work has exemplified artistic license so out of control that it becomes high-budget provocation." Philadelphia Inquirer 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 6:13 am
California Attorney General Concludes Getty Investigation The Trust will be monitored by the state while it enacts reforms. "The report stated that the misuse of funds did not result from fraud and that the value of a settlement between the former president, Barry Munitz, and the trust exceeded the value of the losses from any improper payments. Notably, the attorney general found that a number of actions by Mr. Munitz that were approved by the board were consistent with the trust’s charitable purposes." The New York Times 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 2:22 am
Knight: Getty Should Do Better Christopher Knight writes that though the Getty can put the state's investigation behind it, there is a bigger issue. "Beyond the blot on institutional reputation, the bigger tragedy is that eight years have been squandered... You would be hard-pressed to name many major art initiatives to have emanated from its gleaming Brentwood offices. The trust has mostly been missing in action." Los Angeles Times 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 2:15 am
What Would A Big New Paris Arts Center Look Like, Anyway? "The plans for the building, a mass of vast swirling and jutting glass panels unveiled yesterday, make the city's other controversial edifices - the Louvre pyramid and the Pompidou Centre - look almost staid by comparison." The Guardian (UK) 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 1:25 am
A New "Foundation For Creation" (Louis Vuitton Style) "The 6,000 square metre space will be designed by Frank Gehry, the architect behind the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The goal of this foundation is to spread the influence of culture, and the influence of France." BBC 10/02/06
Posted: 10/02/2006 6:42 pm
Click here for more Arts Issues stories...
An Opera Director Who Doesn't Want To Take It Anymore "Jonathan Miller is in a state of disgruntlement. Despite his congeniality and his mischievous good humor, things are getting him down." At 72, he says New York, where his City Opera production of "The Elixir of Love" opens Saturday, will soon be crossed off the list of places where he's willing to work. " 'I even have to pay my own hotel. It took three hours to get the papers I need to work here. And another seven hours flying here. And what do I get in return? The New York Times.' " New York Sun 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 6:40 am
Actress Isabel Bigley, 80 "Isabel Bigley, who won a Tony award in 1951 playing Sarah Brown, the Salvation Army missionary who falls in love with a handsome gambler in the raucous Broadway hit 'Guys and Dolls,' died Saturday in Los Angeles." The New York Times 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 4:55 am
Click here for more People stories...
Pioneering On W. 37th St.: Madness Or Midas Touch? What if you built a beautiful, Off-Broadway theatre complex and the market for it failed to materialize? "Located on a stretch where parking lots are the only businesses open after dark, 37 Arts has an address that one producer joked was 'just east of dire,' alluding to the nearby Dyer Avenue, which is actually northeast of the building. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. The complex was conceived by some of Broadway’s most successful figures when a West Side stadium seemed inevitable. But now the stadium idea is dead, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan to develop the West Side railyard ... is stalled, mired in money problems." The New York Times 10/02/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 4:35 am
London Theatre Devotes A Week To Darfur "The Tricycle theatre challenged mainly black British and American writers to come up with their take on the humanitarian crisis. The result is seven short plays of five to 20 minutes, which will be followed by a debate involving the audience." The Guardian (UK) 10/02/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 1:53 am
A Chorus Line Of Stories (Waiting To Be Paid) The new Broadway revival of "A Chorus Line" has some of the dancers whose stories were used in the show remembering that they weren't properly compensated for those stories. "At one point, when we were young and stupid, we kind of signed our lives away, and they exploited that. We were the authors of the show, and we should have been paid accordingly." The New York Times 10/01/06
Posted: 10/02/2006 9:20 am
Click here for more Theatre stories...
Pete Doherty, Poetry Maven. No, Really! Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty may be better known for his tumultuous personal life than for his music, but it turns out all that prison time was an excellent opportunity for reading poetry. Rimbaud, Verlaine ... and don't even get him started on Emily Dickinson. "Aargh, she's outrageous man!" he says. "She's [expletive] hardcore! Can't ignore her." The Guardian (UK) 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 7:23 am
Laura Bush's Big Five The first lady lists the books that propelled her into literacy advocacy. Her commentary on her favorites is far from devoid of political implications -- but she does speak of the "fun" of reading "The Brothers Karamazov." Wall Street Journal 09/30/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 7:02 am
Would You Pay To Be In A Novel? "Jason Johnson, described by critics as 'the Irish Irving Welsh', will open up an unusual auction in cyberspace next month: a chance to become a character in his third novel." The Observer (UK) 10/01/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 1:55 am
Click here for more Publishing stories...
TV, Video Games Not Good For Kids After All "Middle school students who watch TV or play video games during the week do worse in school than those who don't, a new study finds, but weekend viewing and gaming doesn't affect school performance much. ... Children whose parents allowed them to watch R-rated movies also did worse in class, and for boys, that effect was especially strong." Los Angeles Times (AP) 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 5:10 am
Cost Of Making TV Skyrockets "A full season of a television drama now costs as much to make as the average feature film. More than half of the 14 drama pilots produced this fall for the major networks — CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox — cost $6 million or more. That's up 50% from just two years ago." Los Angeles Times 10/01/06
Posted: 10/02/2006 9:11 am
Click here for more Media stories...
Spain To Start A National Ballet "Spain is to try imitating the success of Britain's Royal Ballet by establishing a national classical ballet company to tap a well of talented dancers who have been forced abroad." The Guardian (UK) 10/03/06
Posted: 10/03/2006 1:28 am
Click here for more Dance stories...
