“According to a report released Thursday, the Getty’s $12-million investment in Pacific Standard Time, the sprawling collaboration among Southern California museums, has generated almost 10 times that amount in spending by tourists and local residents.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Crane Dangles Over Carnegie Hall Like Real-Life Sword Of Damocles
“The crane boom dangling over West 57th Street like a broken violin bow, a result of Hurricane Sandy, has paralyzed life at Carnegie Hall, one of the world’s most precious concert spaces almost directly across the street. … The city has cordoned off streets surrounding the hall and cut off utilities to the area for safety reasons.”
Post-Revolution, Egypt Battles Increased Looting Of Antiquities
“Despite the efforts of its protectors, looters managed to make off with 50 of the [Egyptian Museum’s] treasures … Of the stolen pieces, 29 have since been recovered. … At the same time, however, reports have started to come in of sophisticated and systematic looting occurring across major Egyptian archaeological sites.”
‘Peru’s Sistine Chapel,’ Newly Restored
Inside the chapel of San Pedro Apóstol at Andahuaylillas, about 40 km from Cuzco and built between 1570 and 1606, every surface is either covered in gold or painted with fantastical designs and imagery – and those surfaces are glowing once again following a four-year restoration. (The chapel also houses the two oldest surviving organs in the Western Hemisphere, both recently refurbished as well.)
After Year Of Turmoil, Ballet San Jose Brings In New Artistic Chief
Last winter saw the ouster of Dennis Nahat, the company’s founding artistic director, and serious dissension on the board and within the community. Now the organization is getting a fresh start with the hiring of former ABT star Wes Chapman as artistic adviser, who’s renewing the repertory and adding dancers.
Spokane Symphony, Though Fiscally Stable, Wants To Reduce Musicians’ Pay
“In 2006 the Spokane Symphony, in a move designed to boost its artistic quality, imported fresh talent to its ranks with the promise of 191 services yielding $19,000 annually. Today, the symphony’s financial outlook is vibrant by any definition.”
‘Steal My Book!’ Why I’m Abetting A Rogue Translation Of My Novel
Peter Mountford: “I wouldn’t have known about my Russian pirate translator had I not set a Google Alert for the title of my debut novel when it was published … But in March, the alerts began pointing me to a message board on WordReference.com. There, a user with the handle AlexanderIII, who gave his location as Moscow, was regularly seeking help understanding my unusual word choices.”
Manhattan’s Gallery District Left Waterlogged By Sandy
“The first thing you noticed walking through the streets lined with art galleries between 10th and 11th Avenues in Chelsea, on Wednesday, was the constant, undulating roar of generators, and the hoses, in clumps of three or four, snaking out of just about every gallery, from which cold water that had come flooding in from the Hudson River now gushed into the street.”
The Psychology Of ‘Truthiness’: Pictures (Any Pictures) Are Convincing
“[Recent] research finds that a statement in the presence of images or other additional information enhances people’s feelings of truthiness, even when they don’t provide any evidence the statement is true.”
Batsheva Dance Company Tries Out Cunningham/Cage-Style Indeterminacy
In Session, the dancers’ movement vocabulary comes from Ohad Naharin, their artistic director, and house choreographer Sharon Eyal, but the rules (such as they are) determining where they move and when are vrey much along the lines of an old Merce Cunningham-John Cage happening. (A DJ determines the music on the spot, without dancer input.)