Robert Campbell likes the way Boston’s new Institute of Contemporary Art looks while it’s still in construction. “I’m not saying the ICA looks better now than it will when it opens Sept. 17. But it looks and feels great, even — maybe especially — when enveloped by wind-driven rain and choppy seas.”
Blog
Gas Prices Squeeze America’s Touring Bands
High gas prices in America are hurting the touring business for bands. “If I have an act that’s about to go on a 40-day tour and they’ve got five trucks and five buses, and a 40-day tour could be over 20,000 miles, that’s almost an additional cost of $6,000 a vehicle. So if I have 10 vehicles, that’s an additional $60,000. That money comes directly out of the artist’s bottom line.”
Pirates Hurting The Super Heroes
Digital piracy is hurting the small-margin business of comic books. “Digital scanning and sharing of comic books have begun to make a dent in the business, driven by easy-to-use file-sharing tools and a culture in which enthusiasts eagerly pass along their copies to one another.”
The Film That Won Cannes
The Wind That Shakes The Barley is set in Ireland in the 1920s and “recounts events that led to the formation of an independent Ireland and the creation of Northern Ireland, still under the rule of Great Britain. Director Ken Loach’s aim is to cast his political eye on events that are rarely discussed in the UK and beyond and remain open wounds for many Irish citizens.”
Protesters Demonstrate At Opening Of Stratford Festival
Monday night a group of 60 anti-poverty protesters gathered outside the opening of the Stratford Festival. “The protesting groups referred to the opening night crowd in their advance publicity as ‘a who’s who of the rich and vile’ and condemned the festival as ‘a playpen for the rich.’ Despite vows by the groups to shut down the production, the show went on last night.”
Are we In A New Golden Age Of TV Drama?
Tom Shales thinks so. “The 2005-06 TV season probably boasted more solid hours of good drama than television has seen in many years. The networks showed what could be done when they let producers dare to stray from the familiar and formulaic — from the old cops-and-robbers and doctors-and-nurses templates. You know: the sick and the dead.”
Canadian Art Auction Beats The Estimates
“Adding to the excitement yesterday were record-setting prices for works by Alex Colville, Jean-Paul Lemieux, Henrietta Mabel May, Jack Shadbolt and Robert Pilot. The total take well surpassed the pre-sale estimate of $3.3- to $4.5-million, another affirmation of current robustness of the Canadian resale art market.”
The Doctors And Rachmaninoff’s Piano
The piano lives at Columbia University’s Medical School. Its “pedigree is more than just a nice tale. The medical school uses it to attract musically inclined applicants, part of its goal of producing well-rounded doctors. The Rachmaninoff identification was also mentioned in fund-raising efforts to restore it and several other medical school pianos, and to renovate practice rooms.”
Duchamp Tops Favorite Artist Survey
The Art Newspaper polled UK art students on who their favorite artist is. The winner: Marcel Duchamp. “The French conceptualist who famously placed a urinal in a New York gallery in 1917 and declared “this is art”, has come top of our survey of students from 11 of the leading art schools in the UK.”
Thieves Raid Ottawa Art Gallery
An Ottawa gallery was stripped of all its art by thieves this weekend. “Thirty paintings, 10 sculptures and about 30 pieces of jewelry by emerging and established artists from the area were taken in the heist at the Blink Gallery on Sunday night or Monday morning. The robbers even took the labels for each piece.”