How do you build a memorial to a tragedy? How can you properly commemorate human deaths while also creating something enticing enough to draw spectators? New York is struggling with this problem at Ground Zero, of course, and Christopher Knight has spotted a textbook example of what not to do: Berlin’s new Holocaust memorial. “Your mind knows that the place is supposed to confuse and disorient. It creates a theatrical sense of slowly enveloping claustrophobia and entrapment, meant to parallel the rising tide of Nazism 70 years ago. But you never feel it in your body. Walking among the tombstone-like shafts, there is no sense of threat. Menace is absent. Absurdity begins to loom.”
Blog
Puppets To Go
Need a puppet? Or a whole show? Head for Brooklyn’s new New York Puppet Library, “an unusual joint venture inside the landmark Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza.” The library is the brainchild of the Puppeteers Cooperative, and is basically a bartering arrangement, under which the cooperative gets rent-free space to store their creations, and the public can come right in and borrow a puppet or two for a party, a political demonstration, or anything else they can think up.
Creating An African-American Building
Baltimore’s new Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture was a long time coming, and organizers struggled to insure that their vision would stand out from the crowd. “The architects’ challenge was to create a building that fits into the urban context but stands out enough to convey how unusual it is. They responded with a boldly modern building that makes the most of its tight but prominent site. Then they imbued the building with layers of meaning that help tell what’s inside. The design doesn’t make literal references to African architecture. Its strength lies in the use of architectural symbolism – through colors, forms and materials – to create a building that avoids cliches but is undeniably African-American in spirit.”
A Discovery Under Site Of Ethiopian Obelisk
In preparing to erect an obelisk being returned from Italy to Ethioipia, workers have found at the ancient site of Axum a series of underground chambers and arcades near the original position of the obelisk, beneath an area converted into a parking lot in 1963.
Record Price For Francis Bacon
A Francis Bacon painting has sold at auction for £4.9 million, “a new record for the artist. Portrait of George Dyer Staring into a Mirror reached the price at a Post-War and Contemporary Art auction by Christie’s on Thursday. The 1967 painting, sold to a private collector from Europe, had only been expected to sell for up to £3.5m.”
This “R” Is For Rude
Nell Minow wishes there was a movie rating for rudeness. “After all, the ratings for language are based on the traditional profanities. They don’t apply to insults or obnoxious comments that are what used to be called “fresh.” On the contrary; in today’s media, children who are rude, even to adults, are applauded — literally, in the case of sitcoms, which give insulting and disrespectful comments full-out laugh-track approval.”
BookExpo Canada Opens – Where Do Canadians Buy Books?
The Canadian book industry is gathering in Toronto this weekend for BookExpo Canada. “Among the concerns for booksellers this year is an emerging U.S. trend for publishers such as Penguin Books to sell directly to the public through their website.” A new study of Canadians’ book-buying habits says that “59 per cent buy at the national chain Indigo, 28 per cent buy at smaller independents and the number that buy only on the Internet is ‘inconsequential’.”
Saratoga Looks For New Life
The Saratoga Performing Arts Center is reopening with hopes for a fresh start. “The performing arts center is pronouncing itself reborn after a grim year touched off by the announcement that the New York City Ballet – a founding constituent – would be banished because of a financial crisis. The news led to a scathing state audit, an attorney general’s investigation and a bombardment of critical articles in the local press. But a new and politically connected executive director was appointed. The old board resigned en masse last month and was replaced.”
Congress Votes Not To Cut Public Broadcasting Budget
The US House of Representatives has voted not o cut funds for public broadcasting. “The 284-140 vote demonstrated the enduring political strength of public broadcasting, whose supporters rallied behind popular programs such as ‘Sesame Street,’ ‘Postcards From Buster’ and ‘The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.’ The Public Broadcasting Service undertook a high-profile campaign to rescind the proposed cut. Lawmakers were flooded with letters and phone calls.”
Which Los Angeles Shall It Be?
Los Angeles is “a city re-examining its past. And it comes as the strength of Latino culture is increasingly evident – in everything from the city’s murals to its concert halls and stages. The city is poised for a cultural shift. Latinos will form a majority of the population in the US’s second-largest city within a few years.”