The Art Basel art fair opens, and as much as $300 million in sales could be made. “Names on collectors’ shopping lists include classic contemporaries, such as Andy Warhol; artists in mid-career who did well at the New York auctions, including Prince and Kippenberger, and younger ones who have waiting lists for new works, such as Kai Althoff and Neo Rauch, say collectors and dealers. It’s hard to see who the promising new artists are because a rush of money into the market has pushed up prices for everyone in recent years.”
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Barnes President Steps Down
Kimberly Camp, the embattled president and CEO of the Barnes Foundation since 1998, has resigned. Camp had joined the Barnes after heading the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.
Public Theatre Nominates A Chairman
Warren Spector has been nominated to be new chairman of New York’s Public Theatre. “Mr. Spector, a millionaire many times over who has overseen robust profits of late at Bear Stearns, the global banking and brokerage firm, said yesterday that he hoped to preside over an equally rosy period at the Public, which finished last fiscal year in the black and debt-free.”
Are You A “Prosumer?”
The word ‘prosumer’ was coined in 1979 by the futurist Alvin Toffler. Initially, it referred to an individual who would be involved in designing the things she purchased (a mash-up of the words ‘producer’ and ‘consumer.’) These days, the term more often refers to a segment of users midway between consumers and professionals. This kind of prosumer doesn’t necessarily earn money by making music, videos, or photos, but is still willing to invest in more serious hardware and software than the typical dabbler, and spend more time using it.”
US Supremes: Won’t Hear Media Ownership Challenge
The US Supreme Court declines to hear challenges brought by big media companies to whether regulations limiting ownership are constitutional. “The high court turned down appeals by media companies, including Tribune Co. and Gannett Co. Inc., which have argued that the ownership limits the Federal Communications Commission set in 2003 violate free speech rights and a 1996 law they said ordered deregulation.”
Nebraska Names Theatre School After Johnny Carson
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is naming its theatre school after Johnny Carson. “The college is Carson’s alma mater. Officials approached the entertainer about the possibility of honouring him last year, before he donated $5.3 million US to the school in November.”
Europe’s Oldest Civilization Discovered
“Archaeologists have discovered Europe’s oldest civilisation, a network of dozens of temples, 2,000 years older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids. More than 150 gigantic monuments have been located beneath the fields and cities of modern-day Germany, Austria and Slovakia. They were built 7,000 years ago, between 4800BC and 4600BC.”
Hope For German Ballet?
Germany has never had a strong ballet tradition. But “now, as a curious result of Germany’s and Berlin’s arts-subsidy meltdown, a company with such potential may finally be emerging in the German capital. After only its first season, it is far too early to tell how distinguished the new Berlin State Ballet can become. And there might seem to be disadvantages: a star dancer with little managerial or choreographic experience as artistic director, ever dwindling subsidies and no school to help shape a cohesive corps de ballet. Still…”
Can You Afford To Work In A Museum?
“The fact is that museum careers in the UK are becoming less and less affordable for anyone with even fairly modest life style expectations and a family to raise in a world of soaring cost of education, health and retirement provision. Add to this the cost of property (not just in London) and anyone starting off on a museum career today is almost guaranteed a pauper’s existence. Are traditional museum jobs imperceptibly returning to be the preserve of the privately wealthy or otherwise financially independent, with a sprinkle of inveterate believers in the cause happy to ‘pay’ for their careers with a garret existence?”
Rap Nostaligia Sets In
“Nostalgia for the not-so-long-ago sounds of early rap is kicking in hard for longtime fans who find themselves left cold by the genre’s latest hits. The booming, market er-friendly audience members in their 20s and 30s are starting to find more mature alternatives to the ever-young party and gangster rap that populates the pop charts.”