“If there was ever a time that the world needed artists, it is now. We need their radical ideas, visions, and perspectives in society. … The world [can] only be changed by those willing and able to conceive of reality in a holistic and intuitive manner.” Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries in London, sounds the call, with reference to artists from Joseph Beuys and John Latham to Theaster Gates and Tania Bruguera to Edi Rama, they mayor who had the dingy old buildings of Tirana, Albania repainted in bright colors and transformed the mood of the city.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Judi Dench And Maureen Dowd Play ‘Confirm Or Deny’
“MoDo: You love embroidering rude cushions with bawdy language and giving them to your famous friends.
JuDe: I used to do that a lot, but my eyesight doesn’t let me anymore. I found someone to make the cushions for me.”
Albert Speer Jr., 83, Architect Who Tried To Transcend His Father’s Notoriety
“The genial architect in wire-rimmed glasses planned and designed soccer stadiums in Qatar, sweeping roadways in China and entire cities in Algeria, and in a five-decade career was described as one of the finest urban planners in Germany. For all the acclaim, he received few commissions in the German capital. Clients, he said, probably feared the inevitable headline: that Albert Speer – ‘the devil’s architect,’ Hitler’s master builder – was again building in Berlin. Never mind that the builder was in this case his son.”
Montreal Metro Bans Ballet Company’s Ad, Saying It Could Incite Violence
“The provocative image of dancer Vanesa Garcia-Ribala Montoya striking a pose, covered in blood with a nail through her foot, was chosen to advertise [Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal’s] performance of Stabat Mater, set to a score by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.”
Bolshoi Says Cancelled Nureyev Ballet Will Premiere In December
Performances of the new biographical work were abruptly called off just a couple of days before the scheduled premiere on July 11 – allegedly, though not officially, because the piece would have violated Russia’s notorious anti-gay “propaganda” law. Meanwhile, the ballet’s creator, avant-garde stage director Kirill Serebrennikov, is under house arrest on unrelated charges, and the premiere may proceed without him.
English National Opera’s ‘Rescue’ CEO To Step Down Early
“The former McKinsey management consultant [Cressida Pollock] took over running of the crisis-hit company in September 2015 after Arts Council England placed it in special measures and demanded the recruitment of a leader who would turn the business around.
How The National Symphony’s New Music Director Got Through What Should Have Been, But Wasn’t, The Busiest Summer Of His Career
“He and his wife called a taxi to get him to his orchestra engagement. But when the taxi pulled up to deliver him to the theater, he couldn’t get out of the car. He had to be taken away by ambulance. ‘You have to be operated on within 72 hours,’ the doctor told him.” Anne Midgette writes about how Gianandrea Noseda coped with an enforced 50-day break due to a herniated disc.
The Ten Most-Produced Plays Of 2017-18: Shakespeare Leads The List, Even Though His Plays Don’t Count
As it does every year, American Theatre magazine omits the Bard’s plays and A Christmas Carol adaptations (because they’d lead year in, year out). Yet the most-produced play of the coming season is … Shakespeare in Love. (Most of the rest of the list is higher-brow.)
The 20 Most-Produced Playwrights Of 2017-18 (Excepting Shakespeare)
Editor Diep Tran: “This year, when I finished calculating the … list for 2017-18, and saw who was at the top, I let out a laugh. ‘Of course!’ I exclaimed. I was not surprised by the name at the top; she had been on it last year, at No. 2, just under August Wilson. It was almost poetic.”
Documenta 2017 Was An Unprecedented Success Despite Huge Costs In Athens, Say Officials
The mayor of the German city of Kassel, which hosts and helps fund Documenta, acknowledged that this year’s unprecedented €7 million deficit was the result of extending the show to Athens. (This was the first time Documenta had taken place in any other city.) Even so, the organizers argued that, with total attendance of more than 1 million, this year’s Documenta was the most visited contemporary art exhibition of all time.