“Merce Cunningham’s artistic heirs plan to offer classes in his technique after his dance company ceases operations at the end of the year.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Cheap Shots: What Ever Happened To The Nineties’ Microbudget Filmmakers?
“In 1991 two films changed the landscape of indie cinema by making the frugality of the budget a selling point. Where are the microbudget film directors now?”
Gaudí’s Sagrada Família Gets A Completion Date
The fantastical Barcelona church “finally has a completion date – 2026 or 2028, more than 140 years after it was started. Joan Rigol, president of the committee charged with finishing the building by Antoni Gaudí, said it should be finished in time for the centenary for the architect’s death – or, if not, two years later.”
Scotland’s Arts To Suffer Relatively Mild Budget Cuts
“Scotland’s cultural sector is to receive lower than average financial cuts from the Scottish government, with a 3.49% cut to the draft cultural budget for 2012/13 announced today at Holyrood.”
Are The British Now A Nation Of Cinephiles?
A report from the British Film Institute “claimed that the British public regards film as more important than, in diminishing order: world news, restaurants, the countryside, pop and rock music, literature, politics, museums, pubs and clubs, watching and playing sport, theatre, art, celebrities and religion.”
United States National Slavery Museum Files For Bankruptcy
The yet-unbuilt museum in Fredericksburg, Va. – led by Douglas Wilder, Virginia’s first black governor – “has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The action Wednesday would … put an end, at least temporarily, to the possibility that [the museum’s] land will be sold.”
Christianity’s Original Sin: Fear And Loathing Of The Human Body
Jonathan Jones: “Why did Christianity, alone among the great world religions, lead eventually to the birth of a secular society by the 20th century? Because it is the only one that so fiercely condemns a basic human biological drive.”
Lars von Trier Honestly Can’t Help Saying Outrageous Things (And He’s Not Sorry)
“This is why I shouldn’t do interviews – I should just shut up and I should do my films. … I know that I cannot be with a person for three hours without saying at least ten things that would kill me.” (His interviewer writes, “This will turn out to be absolutely true.”)
Judith Miller Is Now A Theater Critic
The controversial former New York Times war correspondent’s reporting during the run-up to the Iraq War drew heavy criticism, as did her notoriously uncollegial behavior. Miller has added a new gig to her current career as a conservative pundit: she is now drama critic for the Jewish web magazine Tablet.
And Why Shouldn’t A War Correspondent Review Theatre?
Michael Billington: “I see nothing wrong with the principle that a war and politics writer should be appointed to judge plays. In fact, I think people are in danger of getting a little prissy about the qualifications to be a theatre critic. … I’ve come to believe that a knowledge of public affairs and life’s larger crises is also a useful attribute for a critic.”