“Modernism is something old that we look back on, not without nostalgia. Its ashtrays and dinner sets, the chrome-tube-and-leather-strap Marcel Breuer chairs, get revived and recirculated without comment. The idea of modernism connotes some kind of ideal and even quasi-official mindset. Seen in one light, it even suggests too much solidity: think of how the innumerable descendants and clones of Mies van der Rohe created, in their high, bland cliffs of steel and glass, the face of American corporate capitalism. That certainly wasn’t the modernité Charles Baudelaire was thinking of in 1863.”
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Rijksmuseum Reopening Delayed A Year
Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum will reopen in 2009, a year behind schedule so added environmental checks can be done. “Work at Holland’s biggest museum is due to start in 2007, including plans for a cycling route under the building. It shut in 2003 after an asbestos scare forced its indefinite closure.”
French Parliament To Apple: Open Up!
The French parliament has passed legislation to force iTunes to open up its digital format. “MPs backed a draft law to force Apple, Sony and Microsoft to share their proprietary copy-protection systems by 296 to 193 votes. The aim is to ensure that digital music can be played on any player, regardless of its format or source.”
UK’s Free Museum Policy Creates Surge Of Visitors
“Since December 2001 there has been a 66% increase in visits to museums which once charged for entry. The rise comes despite a drop in visitor numbers as a result of the July bombings in London.”
Missouri Has Sunk To The Bottom In Arts Funding
“Its current budget of $485,000 places it in the bottom six of 56 states, territories and protectorates. The others are Montana ($406,356), the Virgin Islands ($309,568), Guam ($266,577), Northern Marianas ($260,000) and American Samoa ($44,000).”
Schwarzenegger Proposes Big Arts Ed Increase
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2006-2007 budget for California proposes $100 million to enhance and expand arts education throughout California’s K-8 schools. The plan is to apportion these funds to local school districts using a formula based on their enrollment levels…
Does Daytime TV Rot Your Brain?
Researchers report that “older women who say talk shows and soap operas are their favorite TV programs tend to score more poorly on tests of memory, attention and other cognitive skills.”
FCC: High Fines For Indecency Are Warranted
The FCC defends its decision to fine US broadcasters almost $4 million for indecency. “Whenever the commission is trying to determine what is appropriate and inappropriate, there’s inherently lines that end up being drawn. And all of that ends up involving the context of the way particular words are used or not used. This debate is not new.”
New Opera – A Future On Which To Build?
“Conventional wisdom holds that no one writes good operas anymore — not, at least, operas that anyone wants to hear. Yet in the United States, this view is yielding to the idea among presenters that new American opera — pieces by American composers based on American stories — may be the future of a field fighting the perception that it is static, Eurocentric and outdated.”
SXSW – Marketplace To Bypass The Majors
“As the major-label recording business struggles with ungovernable competition online, many musicians have decided that the way to make a career is in the mode of troubadours from time immemorial: performing live and hitting the road. But where troubadours depended on word of mouth, now musicians can spread their own reputations online; at SXSW, as the event is known, many seek the next link.”