Author: Douglas McLennan

BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST?

There’s never been a shortage of filmmakers (from “The Agony and the Ecstasy” to “Basquiat”) trying to get inside a painter’s mind and tell the imagined backstory of a work of art. Spanish director Carlos Saura’s new film, “Goya in Bordeaux” blames a thwarted love affair for the Spanish master’s nightmarish masterpieces. – The Guardian

THE NEXT SENSATION

Two curators talk about the Royal Academy’s follow-up show to 1997’s “Sensation.” “Apart from Monet, ‘Sensation’ was the most successful exhibition we’ve had in recent years, we had 300,000 visitors and, above all, they were young visitors, and everybody likes young visitors. There’s this perception that young people are more important, so Sensation gave a kind of buzz to the Royal Academy which was unique, and they said ‘Do it again’.” – The Independent (UK)

RELUCTANT COLLABORATORS

  • Hans Haacke’s controversial installation at the Reichstag isn’t yet a success. “Because it was designed to involve MPs’ active participation, the artistic statement will never be complete. It will be missing Mr Haacke’s most important ingredient: earth. For the trough is supposed to be filled with dirt scraped together by MPs from their own constituencies. So far, about 30 [of 669] have filled the sacks provided by the artist.” – The Independent (UK)

BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST?

There’s never been a shortage of filmmakers (from “The Agony and the Ecstasy” to “Basquiat”) trying to get inside a painter’s mind and tell the imagined backstory of a work of art. Spanish director Carlos Saura’s new film, “Goya in Bordeaux” blames a thwarted love affair for the Spanish master’s nightmarish masterpieces. – The Guardian

IN NEED OF A “RADICAL RETHINK”

Ever since moving into its new home in Covent Garden last winter, the Royal Opera has been plagued by financial and management crises. “Almost everything that has gone wrong at the Dome was dry-run at the ROH. The long-running crisis is neither a matter of money (the usual excuse) nor of human frailty, but of a deep-seated structural fault that can only be remedied by a radical rethink.” – The Telegraph (UK)

BARENBOIM NEGOTIATES WITH BERLIN

The City of Berlin says that Daniel Barenboim will not renew his contract as director of the Staatsoper, after the city’s culture minister flies to Chicago for negotiations with Barenboim.  “Given Barenboim’s stature in the international classical music world, Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen has stated that the city should try to keep him at the Staatsoper ‘no matter what’. But so far, the city’s senate has refused to allocate additional money.” – Chicago Sun-Times