Blog

NY Governor Gives Freedom Center The Boot

New York governor George Pataki has canceled plans for a “freedom center” as part of the World Trade Center site redevelopment. “Pataki initially said the state would help the International Freedom Center find another home, but center officials said they weren’t interested and considered the project dead. The decision followed months of acrimony, with some Sept. 11 families and politicians saying that such a museum would overshadow and take space from a separate memorial devoted to the 2,749 World Trade Center dead and would dishonor them by fostering debate about the attacks and other world events.”

Adams: A Link To Our Atomic History

John Adamsa says his new opera Dr. Atomic is an attempt to reconnect us with history. “Every time you pick up a paper, turn on the TV or go on the internet, you’re presented with some huge human tragedy. It might be an Iraqi policeman blown apart, or somebody shot by a terrorist, but the way it’s presented in the media, it all just becomes so much data. The story of the development of the atomic bomb has become like a comic-book narrative: all these ingenious young American scientists building this bomb, and then setting it off in the desert, and then we drop it on the Japanese. We’ve heard this story so often that it doesn’t have any meaning any more. It’s just an event in our cosmic consciousness. It’s my job to make people feel the significance of the story again.”

Artists Grab Control Of Their Future

“Some artists—painters, for instance—have always been able to produce work themselves, relatively cheaply. Others, like musicians and filmmakers, had to pay for studio time, which proved prohibitively expensive for those without corporate backing. Now systems like ProTools enable musicians to produce top-quality recordings from a home studio for a fraction of the outlay. The new technology has given aspiring artists an unprecedented degree of control over their careers.”

NEA Chief Attacks Proposed International Culture Pact

Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, has attacked a proposed international pact that would give governments more power to protect their own country’s artistic heritage. “He called the draft text a trade document designed to give governments power to protect such interests as a country’s film producers by keeping down foreign competition – not a protection for individual artists. Artists should have full freedom to share their work throughout the world, he said. ‘As I read it, it gives central governments the right to protection by prohibiting imports’.”

Summing Up The Thomas Krens Era

“The Krens Era showed that museum directors could wander far from the traditionally ethical as long as their boards were compliant. While many of Mr. Krens’ peers copied his “innovations,” many more watched and said nothing. The Association of Art Museum Directors—a strong candidate for the most spineless, useless industry association in America—never sanctioned, censured or formally criticized Mr. Krens in any way. In the end, Mr. Krens’ most lasting legacy is this: He made the building of synergies between nonprofit art museums and for-profit corporations acceptable to his peers. More than anything else, that’s made him the most influential museum director in America.”

An Iowa City Reinvents Itswelf With Ambitious Culture Agenda

“With this month’s gala for the $46.9 million Figge Art Museum and the June debut of a $7.4 million skybridge that joins downtown to the riverfront and was designed by Chicago architects Holabird & Root, Davenport has signaled that it is repenting for past urban planning sins and recovering from the 1980s, when farm-equipment manufacturers here slashed thousands of jobs. And the city is using dramatic insertions of modern architecture to make its point. Aesthetically, the results are mixed.”