Artists who appropriate images (those not in the public domain) have been facing ever-increasing legal headaches. (Exhibit A: Shepard Fairey.) Appropriators often cite the work of Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons as justification. It turns out that those artists may have begun as copyright outlaws, but they ultimately decided that securing rights was more than worth the trouble.
Month: May 2012
Is ‘Theatre Hacking’ All That Bad? Maybe Not
Kelly Nestruck reviews the controversy over Olivier Choinière’s “hacking” of a Molière production in Montreal (via recorded commentary over headphones) and suggests that – far from being a “rape” (as the director of the Molière put it) – this could get interesting …
Futuro: The House Design That Really Did Look Like A (1960s) Spaceship
“Before the recession and the return of architectural probity, the phrase ‘like an alien spaceship’ was all over architecture journalism like a cheap suit. … Frank Gehry? Future Systems? Zaha Hadid? Yep, spaceship-mongers. Well there’s only one building where that simile is inescapable, and that’s the Futuro house, designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1968.”
“Great Icons Bring Great Prices”
“A blond bombshell and a twisted male figure — classic images by Roy Lichtenstein and Francis Bacon — tied for top price at Sotheby’s on Wednesday night, bringing $44.8 million each.”
Arts Council England Considers Major Staffing Cuts
“Plans to axe 150 posts – a quarter of its current workforce – are being considered by Arts Council England as the quango tries to halve its running costs, The Stage can reveal.”
Wary Movie Theatre Owners Weigh New Technologies
“Box offices have started off strong this year, but the number of tickets sold in the U.S. and Canada slumped 19% to 1.3 billion last year from 2002, Motion Picture Association of America data show. This has left cinema operators open to experimenting with new technologies that might lure back more cash-conscious viewers–especially younger ones–from their home plasma-TV screens, DVD and videogame players and, increasingly, Internet streaming services.”
The Listless CBC
“Ah yes, CBC-TV, shaken by budget cuts, wobbles forward. And, one suspects, clueless about its direction and meaning. Is it after audience share with humdrum programming or excellence and audience share with distinctive programming? Is it competing with Global, CTV and Rogers for eyeballs and advertising dollars or is it simply offering Kevin O’Leary four shows and hoping for the best?”
Journalists Asked To Pay For Interviews With Stars In Cannes
“On the menu: 1,500 to 3,000 euros for TV packages, 750 to 2,000 euros for group chats (called round tables) and that precious one-on-one time with the big names at 1,000 to 2,500 euros. Well, technically, not quite one-on-ones; time with Pitt comes with a side order of some other less marketable talent.”
On-Demand Music Gets Its Own Top 100 Chart
“The top 100 rundown will be compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) using statistics from audio streaming sites such as Spotify, We7 and Deezer.”
Writer Defends Amazon, Sees Big Opportunities In Publishing Revolution
“One, we have choices now that we didn’t have before, now that industry gatekeepers no longer control the sole means of distributing books in the digital-forward era. Two, publishing is a business, not an ideology,” and as such, innovation shouldn’t be frozen in place to keep brick-and-mortar booksellers afloat. And three, Amazon is not the great Satan.”