In 2008, less than a year before he died, Cunningham took his dancers and musicians to a Minnesota quarry for what would be the last performances of his 90-minute masterpiece, Ocean. Charles Atlas, a longtime Cunningham collaborator, made an inventive and fascinating film of the event.
Month: April 2012
NEA Cuts PBS Funding For Arts Documentaries
“The National Endowment for the Arts, a major supporter of PBS shows devoted to performing arts and independent documentaries, is proposing substantial cuts in their financing. Collectively, the cuts, which will not be official until April 25, would strip more than $1 million in federal production aid from PBS shows.”
The Congo’s Intrepid Symphony Orchestra Makes 60 Minutes
“There’s a remarkable symphony orchestra in the Congo, 200 musicians defying the poverty of their war-torn country and creating some of the most moving music we have ever heard. Bob Simon reports.”
Elizabeth Catlett, 96, Sculptor And Harlem Renaissance Figure
“Though much of her early career was ignored by the mainstream art world, Catlett’s work is now collected by museums all over the world. Still, the artist said it was too much when NPR told her last year that she had been described as the matriarch of modernist sculpture.”
What’s The Difference Between A Foreword, A Preface And An Introduction?
“The terms foreword, preface (from Latin praefatio, ‘speech before’), and introduction (from Latin introducere, ‘to lead in’) all seem to be saying ‘Me first.’ But each has a particular meaning in book publishing – allowing for a fair bit of overlap – and there is a traditional order for presenting them.”
Was Carrie The Musical Doomed From The Start?
“Several theater producers contacted recently said that Carrie, no matter how well acted and sung, presented far more than the usual share of difficulties, the most insurmountable being that nearly every character is dead at the end.”
What’s The Great Art Of The Future? Data Visualization
“Why are we picking at [Damien Hirst’s] carcasses of creativity? We should instead be celebrating the really new and relevant: the rise of the data visualizers. Their medium is the one with momentum, the one genuinely changing how we think and feel. And it’s about to boom.”
Italy Commits 105 Million Euros To Help Save Crumbling Pompeii
“There has been growing concern that the site, where volcanic ash smothered a Roman city in AD79, has been neglected. A number of structures have fully or partially collapsed, including the “House of Gladiators” which fell down 18 months ago.”
Why Literature Needs To Be Disruptive
“Texts have become detached from robust criticism. The role of the serious, independent literary critic with their own orientation in the world, part of a critical culture which holds writers up to clear standards, has fallen away – often seen as an outmoded, elitist bourgeois affliction best blotted out. The results are far from desirable.”
How Theatre Is Shrinking In The Recession
“From an artist’s perspective, going lean can be fairly constricting. San Francisco playwright Mark Jackson laments that the new ethos has come full circle: Playwrights won’t write large ensemble plays anymore because nobody wants to stage them.”