“Copyright lawyers have been arguing over Shepard Fairey’s appropriation of a news photograph of Barack Obama for his ‘Hope’ campaign poster and whether it constitutes ‘fair use.’ But no one has disputed that it is a work of art. But what about the photograph on which the poster is based?”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
About That Cultural Olympiad: What Is It, Anyway?
“Does anyone know what a Cultural Olympiad will look like? Does anyone want one? London’s winning bid to host the Olympics included a programme for a Cultural Olympiad. So, we will get one.” But, with three years to go, the idea remains disconcertingly vague.
Liverpool Aims To Maintain Its Cultural Momentum
“A programme of more than 100 free events are to be held in Liverpool to build on the success of its year as European Capital of Culture. The 2009 plans include the On The Waterfront festival to reflect the city’s connection to New York and a public art event in the winter. … The 2008 culture year is estimated to have generated about £800m for the regional economy.”
Product-Placement Model May Be Key For Online Shorts
“While the very phrase ‘product placement’ elicits jeers and hisses in the TV and movie worlds, on the web something surprising has been happening: Branded content is emerging as not just a promising way to make money, but as creatively viable as well. … [I]n some cases, the show can be the brainchild of the advertiser itself.”
Why Is What Women Want A Mystery To Hollywood?
“In a marketing culture so perfectly calibrated that experts can predict what’s in our fridge by the car we drive, why is it that what women want in a movie is still considered mysterious? We clearly aren’t unreadable consumers (Seriously. They know what milk you buy), so it’s odd that every woman I know has a movie appetite that includes more than ‘chick flicks’ (though we love those too), when for years nobody seemed to know it.”
Radiology Artist Takes Barbie For A CT Scan
“Doctors and researchers regularly rely on CT scanners to create images of body parts like brains, chests and knees. But an artist-turned-medical-student in Manhattan is using one such machine to peer into the meat and guts of cultural icons like the Big Mac, the Barbie and the iPhone, creating whimsical and occasionally creepy images.”
Pop Songs Have A New Story Line: The Economy
“[T]he global financial crisis is providing fodder to all manner of musicians, from rock legends and country singers to folkies and rappers. Contributions from rappers are especially notable, with more and more hip-hop artists forgoing, or at least decreasing, lyrics about excessive materialism in favor of ones about the common man’s economic grind….”
As Other Media Outlets Contract, NPR Is Bigger Than Ever
“At a time when newspapers, magazines and TV news continue to lose readers and viewers, at least one part of the traditional media has continued to grow robustly: National Public Radio. The audience for NPR’s daily news programs, including ‘Morning Edition’ and ‘All Things Considered,’ reached a record last year…. The favorable audience data, however, hasn’t spared NPR from the budget woes that are affecting almost every news organization in the nation.”
Antiquities Battle’s ‘Silver Lining’: Getty-Italy Collaboration
“The J. Paul Getty Museum and the National Archaeological Museum of Florence, Italy, have entered into a long-term cultural collaboration that will bring one of the latter’s most important masterpieces and other significant works to Southern California, officials of both institutions announced today.”
How ‘Bout More Funding For Street Arts? No, Seriously!
“Joy strikes me as being in pretty short supply in the theatre – and in everyday life, particularly given the economic situation. But street arts often seem to contribute to levels of national happiness in a similar fashion to the Olympics or the rugby World Cup. They give people a reason to be cheerful. They make a community of us all. Apparently, crime levels drop during street festivals.”