“A manhunt was under way Saturday in Greece for two suspects who tied up a guard, stormed the Archeological Museum of Olympia, smashed glass casings and stole dozens of small statues.” Meanwhile, the Minister of Culture resigned.
Month: February 2012
This Art Project Isn’t For Chickens (Though It Does Involve Killing A Few)
“‘The Story of Chickens: A Revolution’ is set to begin with an unveiling of a mobile chicken coop. … It ends with a public-invited slaughter and a potluck dinner with the chickens on the menu.”
Papermaker Might Save History, One Page At A Time
“The notion of a page is being expanded as we speak. I imagine the book going in two directions — one as an art object, printed on paper in small quantities and so expensive only the rich can afford it, and the other as an electronic form that will incorporate still images, animation, a diverse set of links to the open Web and a significant social component.”
Holocaust Movies: Always A Good Oscars Bet
J. Hoberman: “In the 52 years since Shelley Winters won a supporting actress Oscar for The Diary of Anne Frank, there have been 20 nominated features — including foreign-language and documentary films — that treated the Holocaust from the perspective of its victims. Only two have gone home unrewarded.”
Can You Spare A Nickel (For Off-Off-Broadway)?
The League of Independent Theater has an idea: If every Broadway show included 5 cents for Off-Off-Broadway, the money available for independent theatre would shoot up – without affecting Broadway ticket prices much.
A Symphony of Horns – Car Horns, That Is
“New York artist Zefrey Throwell flew in to create the Entropy Symphony, a series of aural interventions around the world that’s included air horns in Berlin and an attempt to get all the guards at the Whitney to use their walkie talkies at once. The Los Angeles edition was an orchestrated movement in five parts of some 1,000 cars across the Southland. Each participant received an mp3 attuned to their car horn and were instructed to honk along with the mp3.”
Who Owns Venezuela’s ‘El Sistema’? Not Chavez, Critics Say
“‘A lot of us are upset that Chávez has taken Sistema as his own child, and it’s not,’ said Gabriela Montero, a Venezuelan pianist with an international career who has written a piece, ‘Ex Patria,’ denouncing the Chávez government and the fraying of civil society here. ‘It’s almost like he’s stolen something that we lived with for the past 40 years and dirtied it with his presence.'”
Books, The Prequel
Not long ago, publishers decried low e-book prices as a scourge on their industry that cannibalized print sales and drove down the value of their products. Some even delayed digital editions for months following a print release to nudge readers toward more expensive hardcover editions. Now, in a strategic shift, some publishers are experimenting with cheap digital “prequels” to help build buzz and snag readers in the months leading up to a splashy print release.
Video – “The Beginning Of The Future”
Although “it’s been pretty fashionable for different pundits to bash television,” said Bill Duggan, group executive vice president at the advertiser association, watching video content and interacting with it on various screens is booming.
The Orchestra As Multimedia Experience
“Is multimedia the breakthrough orchestras have been looking for to attract new audiences – as supertitles were for opera 25 years ago? Audiences have shown little resistance to visual elements incorporated into the Houston Symphony’s concerts, orchestra CEO Mark Hanson said. Yet other factors complicate the question.”