“The foundation still celebrates American art, lending works from its collection; giving exhibition grants; supporting scholarship through fellowships, residencies and academic programs; and maintaining a 9,000-title research library in Paris that it says is the only one in Europe devoted exclusively to American art.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Dancing Garbage Trucks Rock SXSW
“Allison Orr’s jarringly visceral The Trash Project – in which 24 employees of Austin’s Solid Waste Services Department animate the cranes, lights, and other features of 16 trucks on an old airport tarmac – has been captured in a documentary film. Directed by Andrew Garrison, Trash Dance is receiving accolades right out of the gate; The film floored audiences and won a special jury prize at its world premiere last weekend at Austin’s South by Southwest festival.”
The Performing Arts Are Ephemeral – And Don’t You Forget It!
Terry Teachout considers George Balanchine’s ballets (still performed three decades after Mr. B’s death), the new Broadway staging of Death of a Salesman (which reproduces the original set and incidental music) and an enterprising and detailed 2011 re-creation of the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!.
BBC Moves Into Download Business
“The BBC has unveiled plans to make its content available on a download-to-own basis. … BBC director general Mark Thompson said Project Barcelona would allow members of the public to purchase a ‘digital copy of a programme to own and keep’. He added that there would be a ‘modest charge’ for doing so.”
Man Asian Literary Prize To Shin’s Please Look After Mom
” South Korean author Kyung-sook Shin won Asia’s most prestigious prize for literature on Thursday for her novel about a family’s guilty soul-searching after the disappearance of their elderly mother. … Shin is the first woman to win the award and the first South Korean to be shortlisted.”
Translating Novels To The Theater – Is It Worth It?
Ben Brantley: “The return of Gatz to New York got me to thinking about other attempts to capture the essence of books on stage. … Mostly, interpreting written words into spoken dialogue is an act of translation in which something is invariably lost, though are there are sometimes compensations that only theater can provide.”
Looted Medieval Frescoes Head Home To Cyprus From Texas
“A set of 13th-century Byzantine frescoes – plundered after Turkey invaded Cyprus and on display in Houston for the last 15 years – is headed home at last. It’s the closing chapter in what turns out to be a remarkable odyssey.”
Watching A Pilobolus Audition
“The basic math was staggering: About 300 women and 60 men … showed up to try out for one job.” What the process “exposed about audition behavior, and how dancers can sabotage themselves, was painful to witness. … While movement quality and thought process is central, the ability to listen and take notes without attitude is essential. And rare.”
Belarus Free Theatre Seeks Funding To Prevent Closure
“The Belarus Free Theatre troupe faces closure in three months unless it gets significant funding, warns its founder.” The company, which is formally banned in its homeland and performs there in secret, “needs about £200,000 a year to pay staff and cover costs, and raise funds from small and large donors to produce shows.”
Author Of The Time Traveler’s Wife To Write New Ballet For Covent Garden
“Audrey Niffenegger, who has also worked as an artist and graphic novelist, is to collaborate with the [Royal Ballet’s] resident choreographer Wayne McGregor.”