This year marks the 50th anniversary of Nijinsky’s death. His choreography is a study in grace and brutality, in his “madness” he invented modern dance, he was 50 years ahead of his time, his life was an erotic spectacle – narcissistic, instinctive, free – and his work captured the emerging rhythm of mind for a generation that was heading into the fearsome carnival of the Great War. But Nijinsky was a sleek gazelle trotting round the edge of a precipice; he was a primitive: how did he come to be the patron saint of modern art? – The Telegraph (London)
Month: July 2000
SHAKESPEARE IN THE HEARTLAND
The Utah Shakespeare Festival won this year’s Best Regional Theatre Tony Award a few months ago. The theatre “was virtually unknown in New York until the Tonys but well known among a Shakespeare underground in the heartland. As many as 155,000 theatergoers, mostly young families and older people from the Midwest and Far West, surge into this sedate mountain town in the southwestern corner of Utah each summer for afternoons and evenings of professional theatrical productions.” – New York Times
OUTSIDE THE BOOM
London’s museums are booming these days. But outside the capital it’s quite a different story. “It is no secret that many of our large regional museums – Bristol, Exeter, Cheltenham, Leeds, Leicester and, most important of all, Glasgow – are in serious financial difficulties, as indeed are many university museums.” – The Telegraph (UK)
THE REBIRTH OF ART
“All over London, the words ‘make it new’ have lately been applied to museums.” Art has the new buzz of the 21st Century. – New York Times
CHARACTERS WITH OPINIONS
Louis de Berniere, author of the best selling novel “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” says the main character of his book is purely fictional. But An 89 year-old Italian veteran, who wartime experiences seem to uncannily match those of the fictional Captain Corelli, speaks out, saying the author was not only rewriting history, but is a racist to boot. – BBC
CHAPTERS IN ARREARS
HarperCollins cuts off deliveries of books to Chapters, Canada’s largest bookstore chain, says National Post. Chapters owes as much as $11- million in unpaid bills dating back to 1999, and there are fears the superstore bookseller may be in deep financial distress. – National Post (Canada)
- SO MUCH FOR THE EVIL EMPIRE: “The bankruptcy of Chapters would be a calamity that might set publishing back two decades. One publisher told me this week that about four out of five Canadian publishing houses will go under if Chapters goes bankrupt.” National Post (Canada)
FLORENTINE DILEMMA
Discovery of a long-hidden Leonardo fresco behind a Vasari painting in the Palazzo Vecchio has put Florence’s art solons in a difficult spot. “Councillor for culture, Rosa di Giorgi, is not planning to rip the later fresco off the wall without strong evidence that the Leonardo is in good condition, for as she said ‘Vasari may not have been Leonardo, but he is still Vasari’.” – The Art Newspaper
GONE TO THE DOGS (ER, COWS?)
The most visible art in New York this summer is of the animal kind – from the Koons giant dog to cows on parade. – New York Times
GETTING BOOZED FOR BEETHOVEN
“Alcohol and creativity have always staggered along together. We are never surprised when we hear tales of pissed pop stars, inebriated artists, wasted writers. For many, though, it comes as a surprise that classical musicians carry a similar collection of tales and troubles. Set against the rough excess of pop, classical music is seen as a pure and civilising experience.” – The Guardian
MEDIA LAB COMES TO DUBLIN
Tod Machover and MIT’s thinky Media Lab have set up shop in Ireland. “They believe Dublin will host the creation of an entirely new, large-scale art form that combines a variety of media. ‘We need to figure out what comes after theatre, what comes after cinema,’ Machover says. ‘We’re hoping to develop a large part of it in Ireland.'” – Irish Times