Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron have been selected to design an ambitious new museum of modern art in Calcutta (Kolkata) scheduled to open in 2013. They were chosen from a shortlist which included Frank Gehry (US) and David Adjaye (UK).
Month: June 2008
That Guadalajara Guggenheim? Don’t Count On It
A prominent Mexican businessman says that the Guggenheim’s Thomas Krens “insisted on a project comparable to the Guggenheim Bilbao, with a $170m construction budget and a $20m fee to the Guggenheim, both of which are far more than the government and private backers in Mexico could afford.”
Will New “Orphan” Copyright Rules Hurt Visual Artists?
“The Copyright Office proposal would have a disproportionately negative, even catastrophic, impact on the ability of painters and illustrators to make a living from selling copies of their work. This is because–unlike books, songs and films–works of visual art lack universally accepted titles that permit searching by name. And, the number of works by most artists typically exceeds the output of novelists, composers or script writers.”
80 Million Piano-Players
“Currently, as many as 80 million children play the piano in China and the factory churns out one keyboard a minute. China is evidently in the grip of some kind of fever. Rachmaninov seeps from loudspeakers and you can scarcely make it ten yards down the street before being forced to buy an illegal Goldberg Variations box set. If you’d ever suspected Brahms could be used as a deadly weapon, then here was the proof.”
Canadian Stage Director To Step Down
Martin Bragg announced yesterday that he would leave his position as artistic producer of the Canadian Stage Company at the end of the 2008-2009 season, his 17th with the organization.
Prediction: CDs Will Be Dethroned Within Three Years
“The compact disc has less than three years left in its reign atop the music industry in Canada, with new data on music sales indicating the download will officially be king by 2011.”
Classical Recording’s Potemkin Village
“One look at this week’s charts and you’d be tempted to think that all is well in the classical dovecote and the doomsayers have got it wrong again. But check the bottom line and the gloom is unconfined. Insiders at Universal, which released [chart-topper Hilary] Hahn on the Deutsche Grammophon label, tell me she is selling no more than 500 CDs a week in the world’s biggest market.”
Is Black Radio Dying?
“Black radio was an eloquent voice that opened the gateway to other voices. Without that, we don’t have access to information. We don’t hear about the war. We don’t hear independent artists.”
Australia’s Most Expensive Painting?
A 1954 Picasso became the most expensive painting sold at auction in Australia when it went under the hammer Tuesday for $6.9 million.
What Does It Mean To “Watch TV” Anymore?
” ‘Watching television’ is a term full of assumptions that, after a half-century, are increasingly suspect. For one thing, just what does ‘television’ mean now? The ‘watching’ part is also open to debate.”