The US’s National Endowment for the Humanities has been supporting popular traveling exhibitions in an attempt to reach out to audiences. “To many scholars, the idea that the endowment supports barn photography with enthusiasm while it considers cutting scholarly projects represents a terrible shift in priorities. And to these scholars, the shift couldn’t come at a worse time, since the agency is already short on cash, with a budget of only $115-million.” – Chronicle of Higher Education 10/02/00
Month: October 2000
PIERRE TRUDEAU AND THE ARTS
Artists reflect on Trudeau’s arts legacy. “Although he was not responsible for the initial commitment of the federal government to fund Canadian artists, he certainly made sure they were well supported during his years in office.” – CBC 10/02/00
TEAM PLAYERS
How many artists’ work would benefit from a good partnership? – New York Times 10/02/00
THE ART OF COMMUNICATING
“The answer to the problems facing humankind in the 21st century was not more action, but more talk. Not lectures, nor speeches, nor poetry, nor prose, nor song, nor stories, nor debates, nor testimony, nor prayer, nor trials, nor sales pitches, nor talking cures, nor motivational speakers. Only one type of speech was called for: Facing a new millennium, in the age of the internet, what was needed was more conversation.” – The Idler 10/02/00
CHEAP BUT GOOD-LOOKING
Who says that buildings that don’t cost a lot have to be architecturally uninteresting? “Samuel Mockbee creates homes for the poor that are cheap, practical – and unconventionally beautiful. ‘Architecture is a social art. It has to function in an ethical, moral way to help people’.” – Time Magazine
I’LL TRADE YOU TWO HOCKNEYS FOR A BASQUIAT
Artist trading cards are a growing phenomenon internationally. The cards are traded like Pokemon or baseball cards, but feature different artists. “Like the Dada movement of the early 20th century, trading cards are a way of breaking down the hierarchy of the art world. – CBC
MASTER FORGER SENTENCED
Last week, after a remarkable trial a French judge sentenced a man called by French police “the most sophisticated and prolific master-forger in the history of European art” to one year in prison. “The extraordinary progress of the 57-year-old Geert Jan Jansen from the School of Fine Art in Amsterdam to a small-town courtroom 50 miles from Paris, is a story of two false names, seven fake bank accounts and up to 1,500 fake works of art.” – The Age (Melbourne) (Telegraph)
EATEN ALIVE
Floods and water aren’t the only menace to Venice’s art. The woodworm has struck in a serious way. “The nuisance, attributed to warm, humid weather, is devouring not only ancient books and precious paintings but also the beams and panels of some of the city’s most beautiful churches, local officials said yesterday.” – The Times (UK)
THE POLITICS OF PROTEST ART
“Much as most people in the art world are loath to admit it, their activities are strongly influenced by the state of the economy. In boom times, there tends to be a revival of painting and other decorative media, and a proliferation of vacuous or ideologically rebarbative objects meant to hang or sit in the living rooms of patrons. All large exhibitions – and even the rearrangement of works in public collections – now require sponsors, which means that art that is not attractive to sponsors is rarely seen.” – New Statesman
NEW TWIST ON THE OLD
“Many classical architects give the impression that the world stopped in 1830, or that it should have done. So the rotunda that Lord Sainsbury has just completed at his home at Preston Candover in Hampshire is something of a surprise.” – The Telegraph (UK)