The sad state of contemporary Russian art is exemplified by the sham Moscow Biennale produced last winter, writes Viktor Misiano. “The biennale was paid for by the Russian government in a clear attempt to create a Western façade for the new Russia. The exhibition was wanted by the government and paid for by the government. It was practically imposed by the government. Some $2 million was spent on the blind reproduction of a Western biennale. Even the timing of the biennale was chosen for purely cynical reasons.”
Blog
Debating Sartre At 100
Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre would have been 100 last week. “French newspaper and magazine supplements, as well as television panels, radio shows and bookstore displays, utterly swamped the idea, pushed by ideological enemies of bad faith, that 20th-century Europe’s most famous philosopher has long since grown passe. Did Sartre hate America or regret it? Was the “freedom” he exalted the same as George W. Bush’s? Could the “later Sartre” fairly be dubbed a “godfather of political terrorism”? The tiny, wall-eyed, serial seducer and manuscript producer would have loved every paragraph.”
Chilling Effect – How Music Rights Are Killing Film
The process of getting rights for music for video or film has become so cumbersome and so expensive, even low-budget documentaries are being changed because of rights problems. Here’s a chilling account of what it took to clear music for just one project…
What If Victor Hugo Had Been Patented? (Yikes!)
“A novel and a modern complex computer programme have certain points in common: each is large and implements many ideas. Suppose patent law had been applied to novels in the 1800s; suppose states such as France had permitted the patenting of literary ideas. How would this have affected Hugo’s writing? How would the effects of literary patents compare with the effects of literary copyright?”
A Lot Of Hope Riding On One Opera
Tan Dun is writing a new opera for the Met. “One thing is certain: it will be unlike anything that has ever been seen or heard on the Metropolitan Opera stage – and will contain sounds that many have never before realized could be music. If this ambitious and experimental project succeeds, it could widen the possibilities of opera as a whole, expanding its entire future. It may also allow the Met, an august institution with an aging fan base, to expand its own future by reaching out to a significant new audience. And the process of the opera’s creation will shed light on the ideas and methods of one of the most uncommon composers at work today.”
“Breaking” The News
“Since Jan. 6, when the five-member Rochester-based group Newsbreakers executed its first bust, as it calls them, of a live remote in their hometown, viewers in Boston; New York City; Manchester, N.H.; Columbus, Ohio; and several other cities have seen their local news briefly hijacked by elaborately planned vignettes that are more likely to baffle or alarm reporters than make them curse on the air. “
A Place For Culture…? Or Beer…
“Over the last decade, the people of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and its neighbour, Gateshead, have all been joint lottery winners. Derelict wastelands, formerly national emblems of post-industrial decline, have been transformed by a succession of high-profile, and largely highbrow, new landmarks since the sculptor Antony Gormley first placed his rusty Angel of the North on the hills above Gateshead in 1998.” But do these culture projects make for a cultural haven?
Why We’re Not Going To The Movies(?)
“Grosses have been dropping for three years now, and, worse, after you adjust for inflation, it becomes clear that attendance is down even further, anywhere from 8 to 10 percent depending on who’s talking. People are simply not going to the multiplex as often as they used to. The question is not only why but whether the trend is reversible or if it’s part of a much larger cultural shift in the way we entertain ourselves.”
The Tap Circuit…
“Tap dancers no longer travel across the country to do battle. They do travel, however, to tap festivals in the summer. The festival has become a major vehicle for tap’s survival, offering classes, merchandise, showcases and performances – an answer of sorts to the vaudeville circuit and the big-band era.”
In LA – A Loss Of Theatrical Diversity
Los Angeles’ largest theatre cuts its major program to encourage diversity in the theatre. So what is lost? “To what extent did the initiatives that came about in the ’80s and ’90s lead to diversification of the management staffs of theaters? In the past two years some important artistic director jobs opened on the national scene. How many people of color were on the short list for the jobs? How many women? How many women and people of color who were not right for the jobs, or not available, were brought in to be a part of the process? Did board members ask about diversity as they put together their wish lists? Did women board members ask these questions? Did board members of color ask?”