“The scent of soil arrested my nostrils as I stepped into ‘The New York Earth Room’ in Manhattan’s trendy SoHo district. Before me: a fortune in indoor floor space tied up with nothing more than 280,000 pounds of loamy dirt. … Perhaps that is how [Walter] De Maria seeks to change the world: by clearing out unexpected spaces where our imagination might grow.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Twitter Opera Winner Gives His Prize To DC Music Teacher
“Canadian music writer invents contest; Oregon-based Brit wins it; Washington music teacher gets prize, ball gown, Cinderella night. This one isn’t an opera plot. This is a true story. … The magic of opera, indeed.”
Spain’s Asturias Arts Prize Goes To Norman Foster
“British architect Norman Foster, famous for his glass and steel designs, was Wednesday awarded one of Spain’s highest honours, the Prince of Asturias prize for arts, the jury announced.”
Ambiguous Resolution Is A Theatre-Audience Favorite
“Art that bewilders one generation becomes accessible to the next; or so it would seem.” The explanation for this is partly “a natural process: the true artist is always ahead of the game and the public takes time to catch up. … But there is more to it than the depth-charge effect of great drama. Along with the erosion of the old certainties and the belief that life is explicable in religious or philosophical terms has gone a total revolution in the form of drama.”
What We Think We Know Of Fairy Tales Is A Fairy Tale, Too
In the scholarly debate about the origins of fairy tales, “the latest clash [is] over a new claim that, far from being passed down through an oral tradition, fairy tales actually have their history in print.” Stony Brook University professor Ruth B. Bottigheimer argues that “folk invention and transmission of fairy tales has no basis in verifiable fact.”
Kaiser: Arts Groups Scrimp On Marketing At Their Peril
“[C]utting back marketing and staff is the last thing an organization should do, says arts administration guru Michael Kaiser. However, small-budget arts groups feel they have no option. It’s either cut a marketing position or cut back on artistic product.” Kennedy Center president Kaiser cautioned arts leaders last week: “They don’t think anyone will notice. But marketing is the only way to grow an audience.”
Gardner Museum Trustees Green-Light Expansion
“The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s trustees voted unanimously yesterday to proceed with a new building designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano – a plan that has stirred up opponents who want a carriage house at the back of the museum preserved. … The plan calls for demolition of the carriage house, erected by Gardner in 1907. The museum building opened in 1903.”
Ban Dancing To Karaoke, And Drug Problem Disappears!
The government of Vietnam “wants to ban dancing at karaoke bars in what reports have said is a bid to limit drug use.” Clubgoers and staffers say the rule would be unworkable, and it would get in the way of relaxation.
For Charities, Hopes On Stimulus Funds Mingle With Fears
“Charities across the country have been eyeing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provides billions of dollars to projects in areas like the arts, child care, health, homelessness, special education, and job training — a seeming oasis in a desert of economic hard times. … Others, however, worry that organizations are building up false hope, saying the stimulus money will bypass most of them and will not resolve the economic distress afflicting the nonprofit world as a whole.”
Lesson Of Lean Times: Minor Changes Can Better A City
“San Francisco’s newest public space is outlined with planters made of thick paper tubes. Granite slabs turned on their side provide seating. The ‘ground cover’ is asphalt topped by paint the color of weary sand. Oh, and a streetcar runs through it. No matter.” It’s still “urbanity at its ad-hoc best- and a reminder that when the aim is to better a city, small moves can be more fruitful than grand schemes.”