“It seems to me abhorrent that library disputes have become mixed up with midnight police raids. We have moved suddenly into the realm of secrecy and force, an alarming step. The dismantling of a library system that was one of the glories of Victorian enlightenment and the envy of the world is happening across the country.”
Month: June 2012
The Language Wars (Sigh)
“Define the 1 percent however you want–the upper echelons of commerce, government, culture, academia, even the British royal family–and you’d be hard-pressed to argue that they are paragons of correct usage and good style. For quite some time now the language connoisseurs have been schoolteachers, writers of letters to the editor, and ink-stained wretches on Grub Street (and their digital descendants).”
Cy Twombly Museum To Be Built In Manhattan
“On Tuesday, a foundation he set up paid $27.75 million to buy a 25-foot-wide Beaux Arts mansion on East 82nd Street, with a plan to turn the five-story space into an education center and a small museum to celebrate the artist’s work and burnish his reputation.”
Bamiyan Buddhas, Destroyed By Taliban, Will Not Be Rebuilt
“Here the Muslims strictly oppose images; to recreate the Buddhas would be an insult even to non-Taliban Afghans. We must show good manners.”
Plays Make Big Comeback On Broadway
“After years in which the Tony category for best play had difficulty finding four credible nominees, this season has given us something resembling a crowded competition. No one would call it an open race, but neither would anyone deem it a cakewalk. And that may not even be the biggest shocker.”
Getty Launches Online Art History Research Library
“So far, Columbia University, the Frick Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Art Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Institute of the History of Art (INHA) in Paris, the University of Malaga in Spain and Heidelberg University in Germany have contributed. In all cases, the full digital texts of the books can be downloaded free of charge.”
BBC’s Radio 4 To Refocus Programming On Arts And Culture
“Radio 4 controller Gwyneth Williams is to refocus the network’s schedule on arts and culture which she said has been overshadowed by the recent emphasis on global political and economic uncertainties.”
Israeli Orchestra To Break Wagner Taboo
While there have been several attempts (notably by Daniel Barenboim) to break the longstanding unofficial ban on live performances of Wagner’s music within Israel, the orchestras involved were foreign. This performance – part of a daylong symposium sponsored by the Israel Wagner Society (yes, there is one) – will be given by 100 or so Israeli musicians contracted just for this event.
Reopening Of Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden Delayed For Another Year
This new setback “is on the heels of a previously announced one year delay. The refurbishing was originally supposed to be finished by October of next year and now the theater is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2015.” The company, led by conductor Daniel Barenboim and director Jürgen Flimm, is currently housed across town at the Schiller Theater.