Author: Douglas McLennan

Best/Worst Of Times For LACMA Fundraising

The LA County Museum of Art just got $10 million for its education programs. But fundraising for the museum’s new Rem Koolhaas-designed building (estimated to cost between $200 and $300 million) has stalled out in the bad economy. “That fund-raising campaign, still in its “quiet phase,” suffered a setback in last month’s general election when a $250-million bond measure for improvements at county museums failed to pass. The bond would have given $98 million to LACMA, provided that the museum raised $112.5 million on its own.”

The Genius Of Flushable Art

Art Truism #873: The Public does not appreciate art which includes toilets. The Public is particularly irked by artistic toilets combined with religious imagery. But any toilets at all, even immaculate ones with books on top, are unlikely to be well-received at your next exhibition. Nonetheless, artists continue to use the porcelain repositories in everything from sculpture to photography, and a few galleries have even dedicated whole shows to them.

Troupe Forced To Resign

Quincy Troupe, who was forced out of his appointment as California’s first Poet Laureate this fall after it was discovered he had misrepresented his credentials on his resume, has had to resign his teaching post at the University of California, San Diego. “I very much regret my lapse in judgment and the problems it has created for my department and the broader UCSD community,” Troupe said.

Troupe Forced To Resign

Quincy Troupe, who was forced out of his appointment as California’s first Poet Laureate this fall after it was discovered he had misrepresented his credentials on his resume, has had to resign his teaching post at the University of California, San Diego. “I very much regret my lapse in judgment and the problems it has created for my department and the broader UCSD community,” Troupe said.

Troupe Faces Reporters

Troupe told a colleague last week that “he decided to step down after the university decided to suspend him for a year without pay or benefits.” Troupe told reporters that he is a person who faces up to his mistakes, but while some of Troupe’s supporters were angry that the university didn’t stick up for the poet, others seemed relieved that the affair is over. “I am relieved he chose to do the honorable thing by resigning. He’s a great poet, but he needs to be a great poet somewhere else.”

Troupe Faces Reporters

Troupe told a colleague last week that “he decided to step down after the university decided to suspend him for a year without pay or benefits.” Troupe told reporters that he is a person who faces up to his mistakes, but while some of Troupe’s supporters were angry that the university didn’t stick up for the poet, others seemed relieved that the affair is over. “I am relieved he chose to do the honorable thing by resigning. He’s a great poet, but he needs to be a great poet somewhere else.”

Confronting Hungary On The Nobel Stage

Many writers have penned fiction based on their memories of the Holocaust. But for Hungarian-born writer Imre Kortesz, this year’s Nobel Prizewinner for literature, those memories, and the healing of time passed, have led him to a different view of those horrible days than that shared by many of his contemporaries. Kortesz, who now considers Germany his home, describes the Holocaust not as an assault on Jews by Germany, but as a tragic and catastrophic failure on the part of all of Europe. Germany, says Kortesz, has come to terms with its guilt in a way that many European countries, his native Hungary in particular, have not.

Power To The Pub Lady

Sandra Esquilant’s East End London pub has been a gathering place for a generation of BritArt conceptual artists. Now, “for her role as a homely mother confessor to the angry generation of British conceptual artists, has won the improbable reward of 80th place in a list of the 100 most powerful figures in contemporary art.”

The Spires Of Singapore

Singapore has a new $343 million performing arts complex. But more than just theatres, The Esplanade — Theaters on the Bay is an architectural statement the city hopes will define it architecturally in the manner of the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Opera House in their respective cities. “Along with an 2,000-seat theater, the Esplanade boasts what is perhaps one of the world’s most acoustically meticulous concert halls. Besides, who could forget a building that is so, well, prickly?”