“Digital technology now makes it very easy for one musician to copy and modify some appealing element from another musician’s recording. Now lawyers hover over new records, listening for any legally actionable borrowing. Such cases are usually settled out of court — for undisclosed, but often enormous, sums. More interesting than the legal-sideshow aspect, I think, is the question of how artists deal with the situation. Imitation, allusion, parody, borrowing stray bits of melody or texture — all of this is fundamental to creativity. The line between mimicry and transformation is not absolute.”
Month: March 2006
Scottish Sculptor Hamilton Finlay, 80
Known as the grand old man of Scottish Art, he first came to Scotland as a child to attend boarding school, but his education was interrupted by the Second World War and he was evacuated to Orkney. After the war, he worked as a shepherd, studied philosophy and began to write stories and plays, many of which were broadcast on the BBC.”
Maxwell Anderson To Indianapolis
Maxwell Anderson, former director of the Whitney Museum, has been named director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. “At the IMA, Anderson will lead a multifaceted institution with a $325 million endowment; a $20 million annual operating budget; 320 employees; a collection of more than 50,000 artworks; and $74 million worth of expanded facilities.”
The Remarkable Turnaround In Animation
“Not a single animated feature was released in the U.S. in 1984, and the five released in 1985 sold less than $50 million worth of tickets combined. How healthy are animated movies today? Well, in 2004, the top five animated films sold more than $1.1 billion worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada. The three films nominated for Best Animated Feature that year outgrossed the five live-action nominees, $858.6 million to $401.5 million.”
The Right To Art – Where Is It?
“Try to think of a contemporary piece of art that made a right-wing point? Or a British film, or TV drama, or play? No bells ringing, yet. Nope, there’s no risk of tinnitus. So why are right-wingers in the arts as rare as Saudi snowballs?”
Is London’s National Theatre Chasing Away UK’s Playwrights?
So David Hare is bringing his new work to America first, rather than to London and the National. “The bitter irony is that for years American dramatists have been looking to Britain – and specifically the National Theatre – to showcase their work. Now the boot seems to be on the other foot. Although Hare cites pragmatic reasons for staging his new play in New York, he is not exactly gruntled – as another British exile, PG Wodehouse, said – by his treatment by the National. And in this he is not alone.”
The End Of Feminism?
“According to a remarkable thesis that has blown open the debate around feminism, sexism and the future role of women, a new generation of bright, rich professionals have broken through the glass ceiling and have nothing to fear from the men around them. They will be just as successful.” But “the meteoric rise of this new generation of ‘go-getting women’ who want high-powered, well-paid jobs has dire consequences for society. It has diverted the most talented away from the caring professions such as teaching, stopped them volunteering, is in danger of ending the notion of ‘female altruism’, has turned many women off having children – and has effectively killed off feminism.”
Bollywood Looks Up From Its Formula
Bollywood certainly has its formula. The movies typically are “kitschy, megawatt musicals with lavish song-and-dance sequences largely disconnected from the plot. In a three-hour film – it could even be a grisly thriller – there may be as many as 10 songs with leading men and women strutting their stuff in settings as diverse as idyllic mountain meadows and grimy city streets. And every time the music starts, the storyline comes to a halt as the hero and heroine dance in gaudy attires that change with dizzying frequency.” Now some Indian directors are experimenting to change the formula…
500,000 Rally In LA Against Immigration Bill
Perhaps the largest demonstration in LA history gathered to protest federal legislation that would crack down on undocumented immigrants, penalize those who help them and build a security wall along the U.S.’ southern border.”
Seattle Rep To Produce “Rachel Corrie”
Seattle Repertory Theatre will be the first big American company to produce the controversial “My Name is Rachel Corrie.” “The fact that Rachel Corrie was from Olympia, and went to college at Evergreen, is a big part of why we want to do this. This is about someone local, who could have been any of us. And it’s about what happens when your passion and activism reaches the level that hers did.”