“I see we have a whole generation of Americans growing up with inadequate education in the arts, but yet we want a society which is more creative, innovative and ingenious as we come into the 21st century. The American economy (of the future) is not going to thrive on cheap labor and raw materials. It’s going to thrive on our ability to be inventive and creative, and I can’t see that a generation that’s been deprived of creative problem-solving is going to meet that challenge.”
Blog
Hirst Tops The Power 100, But What Does It All Mean?
Is Damien Hirst the most powerful figure in the art world? ArtReview magazine’s widely respected list of the Power 100 says he is, but what does such power mean in a highly fragmented age? And more importantly, does the dramatic shift between last year’s list and this year’s edition mean that the art world now moves so quickly that power can no longer be measured as it once was? Maybe, but for the moment, ArtReview’s list still serves as an important harbinger of what’s to come in art over the next year.
Art To Engage A Damaged Mind
Can exposure to art slow the advance of Alzheimer’s Disease, or at least make its effects more bearable? The answer seems to be yes, but no one really understands why. “Art therapy, both appreciating art and making it, has been used for decades as a nonmedical way to help a wide variety of people – abused children, prisoners and cancer and Alzheimer’s patients. But much of this work has taken place in nursing homes and hospitals. Now museums like [New York’s] Modern and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, are trying to bring it into their galleries, using their collections as powerful ways to engage minds damaged by dementia.”
Picasso Vase Headlines Auction
“A ceramic vase by Pablo Picasso sold for 33,600 pounds ($59,600) at a London auction of more than 100 Picasso ceramic works, Sotheby’s auction house said today. At 75.5 centimetres, the painted and glazen earthenware vase entitled ‘Tripode’ is one of the artist’s largest ceramic pieces, and was the most coveted item [in] yesterday’s auction.”
Wilma’s Terrible Timing
As South Florida begins to dig out from the damage caused by Hurricane Wilma, the region’s theatres are struggling to cope with the revenue loss that will inevitably be the result of continued power outages and civic chaos. “Most arts groups are hopeful that early-November shows will go on as scheduled, and once a facility’s power is restored, that should be the case.” But the weekend that the hurricane hit was opening weekend for a number of local productions, and “by the time the reviews ran (though people who didn’t get a newspaper, have Internet access or were otherwise consumed with post-hurricane life undoubtedly didn’t read them), the theaters were like the vast majority of South Florida’s population: in the dark.”
Denver Orchestra On The Rise Even As Ballet Sinks
Denver’s performing arts scene is a study in contrasts these days. On the one hand, the Colorado Symphony has been reinvigorated by the arrival of its new music director, Jeffrey Kahane, and recently reported a $71,000 surplus for the 2004-05 season. “In stark contrast, the Colorado Ballet has suffered one setback after another, culminating with a mid-September revelation that it suffered a deficit of $341,000 in 2004-05 and accumulated debt totaling $700,000… So the unfailing cycle plays out yet again in a story of two vital Denver arts organizations on different paths.”
The Future Of Orchestral Programming
“Programming decisions are crucial for orchestras, and the preferences of the subscribers they hope to attract can be difficult to gauge. Symphony orchestras may have been invented in the steam age, but there is a technological revolution going on behind the scenes that will change the way they do business.” Increasingly, orchestras are integrating new technologies into their ticket sales and marketing departments, and the sales information generated is poised to have a huge impact on what we hear in future orchestral seasons. “It’s to do with market segmentation, and shaping concerts programs in a way that will appeal to people with different musical interests and levels of knowledge.”
Some Architect-On-Architect Action
Richard Meier’s trademark-white High Museum of Art in Atlanta, which opened to wide critical acclaim in 1983, has been conjoined with an addition by Renzo Piano…”
Taking The Measure of Porgy
It’s opera’s most predictable typecasting: every African-American baritone will eventually be asked to sing the role of Porgy in George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess. The racially explicit casting was Gershwin’s firm instruction, but it does tend to point up how infrequently black baritones are asked to sing any role other than Porgy. For Gordon Hawkins, a 46-year-old baritone who has sung the role many times, the struggle is in finding a way to define Porgy as a man, rather than as a vaguely racist caricature. “He aims for nuance, some way to measure the man, not the facade… His Porgy has to have fire and flesh, he says. He’s not the beaten-down cripple that some find demeaning.”
A Museum For All Seasons
“The National Building Museum turns a quarter-century old this fall, and tonight lots of folks will be celebrating underneath the stupendous Corinthian columns of the museum’s Great Hall. There is, indeed, much to celebrate… It is not an architecture museum. Not engineering, not city planning. Not a museum for stonemasons, sheet metal workers, steel fabricators, real estate developers, social historians, taste makers, apartment dwellers, homeowners and… the list is almost endless. But if the museum is not one of these things, it is all of them.”