Ada Louise Huxtable: “By design, Lincoln Center was isolated from its surroundings. In accordance with one of the more faulty modernist practices of the day, it was built on a platform, or ‘podium’ (a favorite buzz word), separating it from the city streets and dedicating it to access by car.” In rebuilding the 50-year-old complex, architects are breaking down that bunker mentality, “reuniting Lincoln Center with the city.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Bausch’s Influence Reached Far Beyond Dance
The death of Pina Bausch “is an appalling shock and a tragedy not only for the dance world, but also for the entire international arts world. Bausch’s visionary work as dancer, choreographer and creator of the Tanztheater Wuppertal had a reach way, way beyond the confines of the German town where she worked. Theatre and opera simply wouldn’t look the way they do today without Bausch; she has also had an enormous influence on visual art and cinema….”
Oxford Press President: Google Settlement Is A Good Thing
“It has taken many months for the import of the settlement to become clear. It is exceedingly complex, and its design — the result of two years of negotiations, including not just the parties but libraries as well — is, not surprisingly, imperfect. It can and should be improved. But after long months of grappling with it, what has become clear to us is that it is a remarkable and remarkably ambitious achievement.”
Regrets File: I’d Have Been A Math Whiz — If I’d Played D&D
“There are many reasons that I wish I had played Dungeons and Dragons, or any RPG for that matter, when I was younger. Sure, it wouldn’t have garnered me much in the way of cool points, but I’d ostensibly revoked mine at the door by dressing like a hippie and burying my face in books.” The game requires doing simple math, and connecting that with the fun of role-playing means D&D players get good at it.
Dance-Theatre Innovator Pina Bausch Dies At 68
“Acclaimed German dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch has died at the age of 68. The recipient of numerous awards and prizes, she left her mark as an innovator in the hybrid genre of ‘Tanztheater,’ or dance theater.” Bausch, who died this morning, was diagnosed last week with cancer but had continued working.
With Crown, 21st-C. Architects To Alter Westminster Abbey
“Plans to build a new structure on the roof of Westminster Abbey have been announced, changing the London skyline in the first major building work at the medieval Abbey for 250 years. The addition – an architectural feature in the shape of a large crown – will complete a section of the church that has been left unfinished for centuries.”
Could Time Delay On Aggregation Save Newspapers?
Maybe the answer to newspapers’ ills isn’t a new business model. Maybe it’s as straightforward as rewriting copyright law. First Amendment lawyer David Marburger and his economics professor brother, Daniel, “propose changing federal copyright law to give the original newsgatherer a period — they’d like it to be 24 hours — in which the news item would be available only on the originator’s Web site. “
At 50, San Francisco Mime Troupe Is Still Making Noise
“Who would’ve thought that an avant-garde arts experiment would become one of the nation’s best-known companies within its first decade? That it would launch careers as diverse as those of Peter Coyote, Shabaka and Bill Graham? That a gritty anti-establishment troupe would win a Tony award? Or that mimes could be this vocal?”
To Survive, Skylight Opera May Need Aid Of A.D. It Fired
“The Skylight Opera Theatre continues to stagger under the weight of the public relations disaster in the wake of the firing of artistic director Bill Theisen on June 16. The social media, letter writing and e-mail campaigns to reverse that decision have maintained momentum.” The company’s only hope may rest in the man it fired, if he chooses to help it.
$25,000 Local Kresge Grant Makes Its Debut In Detroit
“The Troy-based Kresge Foundation today announced $450,000 in grants to 18 local visual artists. The $25,000 no-strings fellowships, which inaugurate one of the country’s most lucrative annual awards available to artists, are designed to give winners financial breathing room to allow them to focus on making art.” The foundation’s president “said that Kresge’s grants in 2010 would recognize performing and literary artists.”