From a British perspective, the American way of funding the arts is problematic – Americans are dependent on conservative private funders and don’t have the benefit of significant government funding the way most European artists have. On the other hand, the Americans don’t much like the idea of government interference in their artistic affairs. – New Statesman
Author: Douglas McLennan
A REAL CIRCUS
The State of Florida decides to give control of Sarasota’s Ringling Museum (with a fine collection of Old Master paintings) to Florida State University. Now the museum’s director has resigned and the Board, University, and public are in conflict. – Sarasota Herald-Tribune
LET A HUNDRED FLOWERS BLOOM
If Harold Bloom’s new book “How to Read and Why” seems smug and condescending, that’s because it is. The book claims to be a practical guide to show us how to read great literature and provide the reason why. “But Professor Bloom’s own rhetoric is so poisonously alienating to the general reader – with its mandarin locutions and tireless self-congratulation – that he ends up sounding like a parody of the jargon-spouting Neo-post-whatever-ists he keeps complaining about.” – New York Magazine
LONG TERM STRATEGY
Even though last week’s auction in New York by Phillips – pushing hard to gain a toehold on Sotheby’s and Christie’s – was little short of a disaster and cost the company a great deal of money, Phillips is in to stay. “It would be a mistake to believe that it can be done quickly. It will take three to five years to reposition ourselves and grow from there. This is by no means a quick fix.” – The Telegraph (UK)
THE WORLD’S TALLEST YACHT’S MAST
“In the very heart of Chicago, work is about to begin on the tallest building in the world. Including its twin 450ft lightning-conducting digital communications antennae, 7 South Dearborn will be 2,000 ft tall, with 108 floors.” It will be as beautiful as it is tall, as innovative as it is graceful. – The Guardian
THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Berlin’s answer to London’s Millennium Dome is an ambitious exhibition called “Seven Hills – Images and Signs of the 21st Century,” a celebration of humankind’s future and a catalog of its past. – Die Welt (Germany)
MY BODY, MY ART
A number of artists are tapping into a vein of concern about what some see as runaway technology in medical science. “The debate’s over what we do with our bodies – science is catalyzing these debates – but where they play them out are culturally, personally, and legally. The artwork becomes a corporate body to mimic what happens in reality.” – Wired
WILL CLICK FOR ART?
Last week’s sham sale of a fake Diebenkorn over an E-Bay auction had plenty of people scratching their heads. Of course there was all the business about the speculation over the painting. And yes it was peculiar how gullible some people apparently are. But what really threw skeptics was the fact that someone would actually pay six-figures for a piece of art by clicking a mouse. Maybe the internet can sell online art after all. – New York Times
BUT HOW TO PAY THE TAX?
Under a new Australian tax system, all small businesses (including artists) must have an Australian Business Number or face having 48.5 per cent withholding tax taken out of every payment they receive. But many aboriginal artists on the edge of the Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory operate largely outside the formal economy. “Advocates for the Aboriginal arts industry claim it is unrealistic to expect most of the estimated 18,000 Aboriginal artists who derive an income from their creative work to comply with the details of the new tax system.” – Sydney Morning Herald
ART OF THE WEB?
Last week the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art gave out a big award for online art. Did anyone care? A panel in SF talked about web art at the museum this weekend. “Asked whether artists working on the Net need or want the collaboration of traditional art institutions, Webby-winner Michael Samyn – prefacing his response by remarking he didn’t understand the question because he is ‘a designer, not an artist’ – said ‘No.'” – Wired