Actor Kevin Spacey is in London pounding the pavers trying to raise £1 million from 200-350 investors to create a foundation to fund plays and other theatrical events. “I don’t think the fund managers knew what to expect when they turned up and at first they just sat there, arms folded and looking pretty skeptical. By the time Kevin had done his bit a lot of them were ready to invest.” – The Guardian
Author: Douglas McLennan
GLASGOW ART SUFFERING
“Few cities in the world, let alone the UK, have public displays of old masters and cutting-edge local art to rival the works that can be seen on the walls of the Kelvingrove, or the Burrell collection in Glasgow. But unless a £10 million shortfall in funding can be found, masterpieces by the likes of Rembrandt, Botticelli and Turner – some worth far more than the grandiose buildings in which they are housed – will deteriorate beyond the point where they can be restored.” – The Scotsman
AUSSIE ART SAGS
Australia’s art market has been robust in the past year. But the air seems to have suddenly gone out of the boom. “Trading in art – at least for the many anonymous auction suppliers – is much less attractive under a new regime that embraces a GST and an increased buyer’s premium.” – Australian Financial Review
MIRROR, MIRROR (NOT) ON THE WALL
Two ancient mirrors, dating back to the 1st century B.C., have been discovered in a burial site in Fukui, Japan. While the inscriptions are illegible, mirror-ologists believe the two pieces were imported from China and used for ritualistic purposes. – Daily Yomiuri (Japan)
MAINE ART
Museums are not the first thing you think about Maine. But the state’s natural beauty has always attracted artists. And where there are artists there are museums. Seven good ones in fact. – New York Times
WILL THE REAL MOSCOW PHILHARMONIC PLEASE STAND UP
A miracle has been reported in Hong Kong: apparently the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra was in two places at the same time – Asia and Europe! Either that or a group of Russian musicians masquerading as the MPO sold tens of thousands of dollars in tickets to unknowing Hong Kong music-lovers…who may begin demanding their money back. – South China Morning Post
AUDIENCE WONDERS WHETHER TO ASK FOR MONEY BACK: Hong Kong’s music lovers are having to face the embarrassment that no one spotted their mistake. – BBC
NO PLACE TO LIVE
San Francisco artists gather for a weekend protest/conference about the gentrification of their city. Rising rents and the prosperity of the Dotcoms have led to the eviction of many artists and arts organizations in the city. – San Francisco Chronicle 09/11/00
MYTHS OF THE NEW
One of the dominant myths of our time is that all art that preceded modernism’s shock of the new was mediocre, overseen by a dour old-boy network, needlessly preoccupied with realistic representation, calculated to avoid inflaming barely curtailed passions, contrived to ignore simmering class hatreds, and devoutly uninterested in the sort of true truth of human experience, concealed and overt, that had been explored by Sigmund Freud. – Feed 09/01/00
HIGH.RENTS
- Artists are being forced out of San Francisco by the high-rent dot-coms. “Estate agents in San Francisco say that in the past 12 months rents for prime start-up space have doubled from about $45 per square foot to $90 per square foot. According to official statistics less than 1% of commercial real estate in San Francisco is unoccupied. The organisations that can least afford higher rents have been hardest hit. Non-profit organisations such as charities and the city’s artistic community are being forced out of their space.” – London Evening Standard 09/01/00
SPEAKING OUT IN SALZBURG
Since he resigned and then unresigned, Salzburg Festival director Gerard Mortier has been uncharacteristically quiet about the new ultra-right-wing elements in the Austrian government. Until last week. “When I go out of my office and I see members of the right-wing party in the office next-door, I feel it in my stomach, like a pain.” – Los Angeles Times 09/01/00