Blog

First Saddam, Now Karadzic (Everyone’s A Writer)

War-criminal-on-the-run Radovan Karadzic has published a volume of poetry. “Karadzic’s publisher told AP news agency the poems had been completed in the past few months, but refused to say how they came into his possession. They describe mountains, thick green forests, rivers and wild animals. Mr Karadzic is accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for the persecution of non-Serbs in Bosnia.”

Dario Fo, Mayor?

Playwright Dario Fo says he’ll run for mayor of Milan next year. “Mr Fo, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997, wants to run for office in his home city next year. He is known for his left-wing stance in plays such as Accidental Death of an Anarchist and The Two-Headed Anomaly.”

Turner Prize Shortlist

This year’s Turner Prize finalists are announced. “The early favourite to win the prize is painter Gillian Carnegie, who creates unsettling versions of traditional styles like still life and landscapes. The other nominees are Darren Almond, Jim Lambie and Simon Starling, who all produce installations. The winner will be announced on 5 December.”

Australian Opera Can Now Pay To Play

Australian Opera’s budget uncertainty has come out of limbo. “The State Government has agreed to make $225,000 available to the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, to satisfy a condition for the Federal Government to provide funding, too. Until Friday, Opera Australia had been unable to finalise contracts with 2007 season performers because of the budgeting uncertainties.”

The Getty, The Italians, And Some Nervous Museums

The Italian government case against the Getty is a warning to all museums. “At the center of the case is the reckless youth of the Getty, which opened in the villa in 1974 to fulfill the oil baron J. Paul Getty’s twin obsessions with art collecting and imperial Rome. But the case also presents a paradox, for curator Marion True had gone to considerable lengths to acknowledge the Getty’s past excesses and to cast the museum as a model citizen of the museum and archaeological worlds.” Nonetheless, “Italian officials say that the evidence they have assembled reaches far beyond the Getty. Whether more prosecutions are planned or such warnings are simply intended to force the return of art and deter illicit purchases remains unclear.”

The Day Italian Culture Went On Strike

Hundreds of Italian cultural events ground to a halt Saturday in a one-day strike to protest government arts-funding cuts. “A performance of Rossini’s Barber of Seville at Milan’s La Scala opera house was among scores of cancelled shows. Critics say the cuts could lead to the demise of thousands of cultural institutions, including such venerated events as the Venice Film Festival. ‘In these conditions, the film festival cannot go ahead’.”

A Seattle Fringe Rebound

“The quality of the so-called ‘fringe’ — the ever-changing circle of independent Seattle troupes with large creative aspirations and modest means — is a cyclical thing. Today (knock wood), it’s on the upswing. Is it the wildly imaginative, thrillingly relevant fringe scene of my dreams? No. Curiously, there is a dearth here of provocative, topical fare that ignites discussion and makes theater part of the public debate about burning issues of war, peace, class, race, et al. But there are compensations.”

The Joffrey Turns 50

“It has consistently paid homage to the ‘old Europe,’ but from the start it was, above all else, a quintessentially American troupe — the highly individualistic creation of Robert Joffrey (the son of Afghan immigrants who had settled in Seattle), and Gerald Arpino (the son of a working class Italian-American family from Staten Island, New York).”