“The festival, which opens in Istanbul on Friday, will screen about 100 films from 40 countries dealing with all kinds of crimes and punishments, but focusing especially on coups d’état, the inaugural year’s main festival theme.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Gabriel García Márquez Book A Surprise Hit Among Iran’s Opposition
“Copies of [his] 1996 work News of a Kidnapping have sold out from bookshops in Tehran this week after detained opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said the book’s description of Colombian kidnappings offers an accurate reflection of his life under house arrest.”
Edward Villella To Retire From Miami City Ballet
“Edward Villella, the founder and director of Miami City Ballet, will be leaving the company he has built into one of South Florida’s leading artistic institutions and one of the nation’s top dance companies at the end of the 2012-2013 season.”
Bolshoi Says It Will Stick With The Classics
While many troupes in Russia are trying to move beyond the strict classical repertoire established during the Soviet era, Bolshoi general director Anatoly Iksanov says, “The Bolshoi Theatre is based on classics and classics will remain its priority in both opera and ballet.”
Philadelphia Orchestra Launches Long-Term Cultural Exchange With China
“Nearly four decades after becoming the first American symphony to tour Communist China, the Philadelphia Orchestra announced it will embark on a cultural exchange to find and nurture young Chinese musicians and composers and bring orchestral music to audiences beyond the biggest cities.”
Mohammed Ghani Hikmat, Iraq’s Top Sculptor, Dead At 82
“[He] created many of Baghdad’s most famous landmarks” – including the series of crossed-sword arches and a series of statues based on The 1,001 Nights – and “led the effort to recover works of art looted from the National Museum of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.”
England’s Summer Of Riots Is Already Being Made Into Theatre
“After the riots comes the drama. The Tricycle theatre in London is responding to the lack of an official public inquiry into the causes of last month’s chaos by mounting its own theatrical inquiry.”
American Folk Art Museum Saved (For Now)
“The quilts will live to see another day.” The long-troubled Manhattan museum “decided to continue operating at its current location at Lincoln Square in Manhattan with the help of financial infusions from trustees and the Ford Foundation.”
Rafael Viñoly’s ‘Golden Banana’ Building Set To Open
“It has been eight years in the making, come in more than $15.8 million over budget, and been mired in litigation throughout its construction, but Rafael Viñoly’s $44.3 million arts center in Colchester, England, will finally open its doors on September 25.”
Attention Must Be Paid (For)
Esther Dyson: “Many companies [in the Internet age] are looking for ways to automate the act of ‘paying attention’ to individual customers on a grand scale, even as many of them also confuse attention with intention (to buy). … But attention is neither a currency nor a commodity. It can, to some extent, be bought and sold. But it cannot be traded to third parties, and it is not entirely fungible.”