“Among the alleged problems: leaks throughout the building, mold growing on its brick exterior, and poor drainage in the center’s amphitheater.” Last month, “the MIT student newspaper … quietly reported that the university has settled its suit against Gehry and the builders of the Stata Center.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Browsing On iBooks Doesn’t Have To Bite — Yet It Does
“[S]hopping for books using iBooks, which essentially applies the maddeningly blunt tools of iTunes to a collection of some 30,000 idiosyncratic titles (even more will be added later), is like being asked to dismantle a wristwatch with a butter knife. I love reading on my iPad, but that doesn’t blind me to the abject inadequacy of the iBooks store.”
Stripped Bare, The Guggenheim Is A Revelation
“I’ve always considered the Guggenheim a tug of war between architecture and whatever was on display, with the latter often losing. But being in the freshly painted interior–not stark white, which Wright hated, but a kind of soft ivory–reminded me what a remarkable gift he left us.”
Arts Advocates’ Secret Weapon: A Retired Brigadier General
“Nolen Bivens, who served 32 years in the Army, including a year in Iraq during 2003-04, was an unusual enlistee in arts supporters’ annual ‘arts advocacy day’ deployment to Capitol Hill in a push for an elusive objective: ample funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.”
France Fills An Education Gap With College For DJs
“It’s not for deadbeats. During one recent class, teacher Olivier Colignon–who goes by the professional name DJ Getdown–blasted a student for his narrow repertoire. ‘You have no pop-rock on your computer?’ he barked. ‘No Nirvana? No Queen? A DJ’s job is to make people dance, not just play music you like.'”
Eleanor Ross Taylor Wins $100K Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
The editor of Poetry magazine acknowledges that Taylor is an obscure choice: “Until the excellent selected poems, Captive Voices, was published by LSU Press last year, virtually all of Taylor’s work was out of print. Her slow production (six books in 50 years), dislike of poetry readings…, and unfashionable fidelity to narrative and clarity haven’t helped matters.”
The Dallas Cowboys Are Synonymous With … Art?
“[F]ootball and Texas go together; Texas and money go together; money and art go together. Voilà : Football and art go together.” No wonder, then, that the new and “spectacular Cowboys Stadium” includes “big, bold displays of site-specific, privately commissioned and funded pieces, mostly abstract, by 14 living artists.”
At Leipzig’s Bach Museum, Research Is In The Forefront
“Visitors learn about Bach’s penmanship, as well as the paper and ink he used. The display even explains how to date a Bach manuscript. But what makes this [newly renovated and expanded] museum unique is the interactive approach it takes to the teaching of its subject matter.”
NYC Theatre Company Borrows A Game Plan From Farming
Stolen Chair Theatre Company’s approach is modeled on a “Community Supported Agriculture program, in which, at the start of growing season, members pay a lump sum to farmers and then, throughout the summer, reap the harvested benefits.” Rather than buying produce, theatregoers pay a fee to fund the development of a play.
Experts Tussle Over ‘Recently Discovered’ Degas Casts
“[A] controversy is swirling among Degas experts the world over about 74 ‘recently discovered’ plaster casts of his sculptures that were purportedly made during his lifetime,” notably “a plaster cast of the Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans (Little Dancer Aged 14).” The unconvinced “have started mobilizing in opposition.”