Author: Douglas McLennan

WHITE LIKE ME

Here comes New Zealand’s Prime Minister promising her constituents a push for “quality TV.” But what is quality? One pop culture expert says that when politicians talk about quality TV, “they are usually talking about ensuring that television reflects their own middle-class values and interests.” – New Zealand Herald

SPACE WARS

While closed to the public for renovation, the National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of American Art in Washington, DC are already feuding over how to allocate space when the building they share reopens in three years. At least there’s time to duke it out. – Washington Post

COOL AND COLLECTED

The Whitney Biennial opens today and one can’t help but be struck by the cool detachment of much of the work. “It is not indifference to connecting with viewers but a prevailing sense that the artists’ responsibility is more to themselves and their work than to some theory or some agenda of activism or career ambition.” – San Francisco Chronicle

DUOPOLY BUSTER

While Sotheby’s and Christie’s have been embroiled in a complicated federal antitrust investigation, Phillips auction house – with a solid reputation in London, but usually modest sales in the U.S. – has reported that their New York business has exploded.  Their spring sale of Impressionist and modern art is poised to set an all-time revenue record for the 206-year-old firm. “Phillips sees an opportunity to crack what for decades has been a virtual duopoly that controlled more than 90 percent of the worldwide auction market.” – New York Times

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

More than 50 leading UK artists have signed on to relaunch the new Tate Britain as a home for exclusively British art. The renamed gallery “will hold the major collection of British artworks ranging from Elizabethan miniaturist Hilliard to contemporary artist David Hockney.” – BBC

JOFFREY REBORN

By the time it left New York to relocate in Chicago in 1995, the Joffrey Ballet was a mess – in desperate financial condition and in artistic turmoil. “With typical Joffrey gumption and considerable help from an expanding group of supporters in Chicago with high-powered civic connections, the company has not only survived but acquired a presence here that it never had in New York.” – New York Times

PLAYING FOR PEACE

For the first time in ten years, an orchestra from border-conscious North Korea will perform in Seoul next month. “We hope that the concert will help promote peace between the two Koreas,” said the head of the entertainment company promoting the cross cultural duet. – The Times of India

“A” IS FOR ALLAH

Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, has returned to the studio to record his first children’s album, a spoken-word recording using the Arabic alphabet to “spell out the fundamentals of his Islamic faith.” – BBC