“Events and anxieties in Bangladesh tell us how Western museums are seen outside the west: as terrifying places with insatiable appetites for works of art. They are also seen as the arm of a more powerful state, with infinite funds and power at their command. To tell a Bangladeshi protestor that universal museums ‘build bridges across cultures and promote mutual understanding’ would only provoke anger or derision.”
Month: June 2008
Police Recover Stolen Monet
The paintings were stolen Aug. 5 by gunmen as a handful of visitors milled about the museum in Nice. The stolen paintings were Monet’s 1897 “Cliffs near Dieppe,” the 1890 “Lane of Poplars near Moret” by fellow Impressionist Alfred Sisley and Flemish master Jan Brueghel the Elder’s 17th century “Allegory of Earth” and “Allegory of Water.” Together, they are worth about $1.55 million.
No-Brainer: Computers Make Kids Smarter, Right? (uh…)
For many kids, computers are indeed more of a distraction than a learning opportunity.
Hockney – The Angry Artist
“David Hockney is over 70 years old, and very angry. With the passing of the years, the Sixties working-class wonder boy has metamorphosed into a very cross pensioner.”
Spanish Are Reading More Than Ever
“Spain is experiencing an unprecedented boom in books. Once the nation that read fewer books than any other in Europe, Spaniards have become voracious readers, devouring more books than ever before.”
Arts Festivals – It Ain’t Easy Being Green
“From the massive amounts of energy needed to move people to and from festival sites to the mammoth stage lights and speaker towers to the mountains of concert programs and water bottles that get tossed in the trash — the only “green” connected with the festival experience may be the grass audiences sit on. Some festivals are attempting to minimize the damage.”
Linz As European Capital Of Culture? Really? Somebody Check The Calendar?
“By some quirk of Brussels chicanery or a triple ironic bypass after a liquid lunch, Linz has been chosen to succeed Liverpool as Europe’s artistic hub for the year 2009. It’s a decision beyond satire, or reason. Even if there were cultural grounds for celebrating Linz – and there are some – someone on an EU salary should surely have spotted that 2009 is the 70th anniversary of Hitler’s war and the 120th of his birth.”
What Defines A Copy?
“What exactly is an exhibition copy? If the artist oversaw its creation, why isn’t it an original? The Cai exhibit, which drew huge crowds to the Guggenheim, raises questions that many museum goers have probably never considered. And when we’re talking about contemporary art made from common or mass-produced materials, how do we know when a work of art is the ‘real thing’?”
Conductors On TV (But Not This)
“It is about time television shone a light into the conductor’s rostrum. No musical function involves so much mystification. Why is it that two men, making the same gesture, obtain a completely different sound, and why do they almost always have to be men. Is it a suspension of disbelief on the part of musicians and listeners, or is there some inscrutable transmission between baton and orchestra that eludes neutral observation?”
Movie Ads That Get Around The Rules To Get To Kids
“In courting young fans, some studios — and their licensing partners in particular — are becoming so aggressive in their marketing of PG-13 titles to children of all ages that the Federal Trade Commission, as well as an advertising watchdog concern and one children’s advocacy organization, have all taken notice.”