Liu Bolin “paints himself into” locations around the world, covering his body so as to blend into, say, a Beijing commune or the bronze bull on Wall Street. Emma Hack makes “skin illustrations,” asking models “to stand still for between eight and 15 hours while she covers them in intricate patterns.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Renzo Piano Builds Right Next To A Le Corbusier Landmark
Le Corbusier’s chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, France attracts pilgrims of religion and architecture alike. Designing a convent adjacent to that site would be daunting for any architect; Renzo Piano took on the challenge – and, says Jonathan Glancey, has created a masterpiece.
Bodleian Library Asks Visitors Which Buried Treasures Should Go On Display
The new exhibition “Treasures of the Bodleian” displays some of the library’s finest pieces – a Magna Carta, a 14th-century illustrated Travels of Marco Polo, a Sappho manuscript – that have been in storage. Visitors “will be invited to suggest which ones deserve to be given permanent display in [a] new gallery.”
So-Called ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Opens – With An Art Show
Park51, the Islamic cultural center in lower Manhattan that was the subject of a ginned-up controversy two years ago, “opened Wednesday without controversy. Instead of protesters, who tried to shut down the Park51 center several times, spectators milled about the center before entering to view a photographic exhibition.”
Philadelphia Orchestra Bankruptcy At A Fork In The Road
A judicial hearing this week “was important for laying out two possible imminent paths – a quick resolution or a long, acrimonious battle that could stretch on for some time and have tragic consequences for the orchestra.”
Arquitectonica’s Latest Showpiece: South Miami’s New Cultural Center
The South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center’s “central architectural motif [is] two folded planes wrapping around the sides of a vast glass façade. … But this is a building that pays homage to the act and art of performance, and so the metaphor of applause is both appealing and persuasive. The building is its own best playbill.”
Boston Symphony Begins Its Music Director Search
It has been a full 40 years since the BSO undertook a full-fledged search for its leading maestro. (Following Seiji Ozawa’s long tenure, the Bostonians pretty much knew they wanted to work with James Levine). Jeremy Eichler answers some basic questions about the upcoming process.
Half Of Colorado Symphony Board Resigns En Masse
“A week of rancorous negotiations between the Colorado Symphony and its 79 full-time musicians ended Friday with the resignation of about half the orchestra’s board and the players’ agreement to an emergency 9 percent pay cut.”
How Pierre Boulez Changed Music
Tom Service: “Like no one else has managed to do in music before, he has turned timbre – the texture and grain of the way instruments sound, and the special, surreal possibilities of electronic music – into a carrier of feeling and emotion.” (Yes, feeling and emotion.)
Cesaria Evora Abruptly Retires Due To Ill Health
The renowned Cape Verdean singer, who is now 70 and underwent open-heart surgery last year, and her manager “decided to end her career, and give up this wandering life that has taken her to the four corners of the world.”