PICASSO IN COLOMBIA

An entrepreneur asks museums and galleries around the world to loan their Picassos for a symbolic exhibition of peace in war-torn Bogota, Colombia. Only one in 100 says yes – but our friend manages to collect 37 paintings. Were loaners afraid for the safety of their treasures? “Actually, walking along this street, I’m probably more in danger than the paintings back at the museum,” he says. Then he admitted that one asked for “war insurance,” which doesn’t exist. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

BROKEN SYNAPSE

Robert Rauschenberg’s latest work, “Synapsis Shuffle,” is comprised of 52 nine-foot panels adorned with his signature hand-painted passages and photographic screens. What’s unusual is that he’s asking a new group of artist- (and celebrity) friends to re-assemble them every time they’re exhibited. “At first I thought we should ask the first 12 taxi drivers who passed the museum to put panels together.” – New York Times

IN THE SPIRIT OF ART

Artists and religious groups got together last week in London to create dialogue between contemporary art and faith. Twelve places of worship in and around London are hosting performances and exhibiting the work of contemporary British artists – including Damien Hirst’s “Last Supper.” “It consists of 13 unappetising silk screens of text mimicking pharmaceutical packaging but prescribing food to be taken like medicine.” – London Evening Standard

GRAND INJUSTICE

Now wouldn’t you think that a TV special called “Piano Grand,” ostensibly celebrating the 300th “birthday” of the piano would put the instrument center-stage? You’d be wrong, grasshopper. All of the pianos used on this 90-minute PBS special show up anonymously. “Right where the identifying brand should be – just above the keyboard and on the right flank of the beast itself – there is a paste-over label that reads “Piano Grand.” It covers the basic tattoo every piano carries: Steinway, Baldwin, Yamaha.” The camera’s far more interested in the human stars – Dave Brubeck, Billy Joel, Jerry Lee Lewis. Washington Post

THE TROUBLE WITH OPERA…

American composer John Adams says American opera lacks heroism and doesn’t grab audiences’ imaginations. “Modern opera’s big mistake is to treat it as an extension of bourgeois post-Ibsenian drama. So many operas come out stillborn because they can’t add anything to plays or movies or books that are already dramatically complete in their own terms. Most American opera is just too sincere.” – The Telegraph (UK)

DEFINING CULTURE

“Culture” is an overused misunderstood word. A new book examines what “culture” means in the US.  ” ‘Faded Mosaic’ is no mere exercise in semantic hairsplitting but an argument – to me a most persuasive one – that in these United States at this point in their history, ‘culture,’ in the hard anthropological sense, no longer exists except inside a few fringe groups such as the Amish. – Washington Post