London mayor-elect Ken Livingstone’s recent promises have already thrilled the art world. He plans to support the film industry, strengthen independent cinemas, and help make London a user-friendly environment for filming. He also “intends to maintain free entry to museums, and to introduce a “capital arts card” in partnership with business to give students, senior citizens and the unemployed the chance to attend theatres, cinemas and concerts for £3. And he wants to support cultural diversity in the arts.” – The Times (UK)
Author: Douglas McLennan
HANOVER BAILS
NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s wife, actress Donna Hanover, who was supposed to perform in the sexually suggestive “The Vagina Monologues” Off-Broadway has postponed her appearance in the show, citing family circumstances. – Chicago Sun-Times (AP)
KIDMAN & CRUISE
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise are reportedly planning to star on stage together in a London revival of Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” The West End production would be directed by Donmar Warehouse director Sam Mendes (of “American Beauty”) who directed Kidman in her dramatic breakthrough, “The Blue Room,” last year. – The Age (Melbourne)
“WATERSHED OF BRITISH CULTURAL LIFE”
The big bold Tate Modern “signals the importance of the art of our times, and its centrality in our culture.” – The Guardian
TIME WILL TELL
“Sinister, bleak and elitist? Or cool, beautiful and welcoming?” London’s new Tate Modern opens officially on Thursday, but three days of parties and lavish preview receptions – expected to draw 10,000 people – are already underway. And no one’s without an opinion on how the new gallery will or will not transform the city’s cultural life. – The Telegraph (UK)
ONLINE SALES FRENZY
A California man recently put a “‘great big wild abstract painting’ that he said was bought years ago at a garage sale in Berkeley and had a small hole inflicted by a son wielding a plastic tricycle” up for sale on eBay. Bidding started at 25 cents, and within minutes had soared to $135,805, due to speculation that it was actually a 1952 Diebenkorn. “A six-figure sale would not only be one of the highest prices paid online for art, it would also be a powerful testimony to the ability of the Internet to ignite a sales frenzy.” – New York Times
AUSTRALIAN ART BOOM
Melbourne antique dealer John Furphy was proud to announce that the Australian art market has experienced an unprecedented boom over the last three years – due in part to the growing popularity of Aboriginal “dot” paintings – with total sales doubling (to $69 million) between 1997 and 1999. – The Age (Melbourne)
GOING FOR THE GOLD
Cannes 2000 Film Festival gets underway Wednesday. Twenty-three films (from Europe, Asia, the U.S., and the Middle East) will be competing for the Palme d’Or. – BBC 05/09/00
THE POLITICS OF TV REAL ESTATE
Last week’s Time Warner/ABC debacle point up the complex considerations of who gets to decide what channels get to live where in your TV box. – Los Angeles Times 05/09/00
A LIFE WELL LIVED
Celebrated conductor Semyon Bychkov reflects on his 26-year career – from being thwarted by anti-Semitism in his native Russia to “the KGB’s seemingly arbitrary decision to allow him to emigrate” to the U.S.at age 23. – Irish Times