Today’s art critics have been marginalized. “Ultimately, the critic seems trapped in an inherently reactive and ever-more marginalised position. After all, the function of critics has remained largely static while the art world metastasised, growing too big to allow them any real overview, charging too fast for their publication deadlines and developing a slew of new information channels that bypass critics altogether. Not so long ago, Europeans depended upon travelling critics to relate the latest developments in New York or London. Today, fairs and biennials function as seasonal trend updates, and anyone curious about a faraway show can simply hit the gallery’s website for JPGs and a press release.”
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Video “Cleaning” Riles Artists
A growing number of companies are offering “sanitized” versions of music and movies. They remove scenes or language they believe is offensive and sell the cleaned up versions. But what about the integrity of the original work? What about the rights of the artist to control how his or her work is used? “The challenge of ensuring artistic integrity in a digital age will only grow as the free market offers new ways to customize what we view, read and hear. Copyright protections have changed enormously since the introduction of the printing press to England in the late 15th century. They’re about to change again.”
The First Fiction Tour
Take a group of emerging writers, put them in a bar and watch the crowds roll in. “Whenever I would see a band in a bar, I’d be amazed that the place would be packed even if the band was terrible. So I started to think, what if we brought book writers and readers together in places other than bookstores. Of course, we didn’t invent this — Allen Ginsburg did this years ago in bars in New York. But we also wanted to take books to where the people are since they weren’t coming to bookstores. And we wanted to try to make writers of literature as cool as rock stars.”
Ex-Concertmaster And Seattle Symphony Dispute Gets Very Public
A dispute between the Seattle Symphony and violinist Ilka Talvi, who was the orchestra’s concertmaster for 20 years until he was fired by the SSO last summer, has gotten ugly and very public since Talvi started a blog (http://schmaltzuberalles.blogspot.com/) airing criticisms of the orchestra. Talvi’s accusations have “led to Internet accusations, police involvement and the threat of legal action.”
The New Walker – Exhilarating
“For decades now, the Walker has been one of the liveliest museums in the country, an institution that maintained a strong independent voice despite its ties to the mainstream art world. When the museum hired the Swiss team of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron to design a $67 million expansion and renovation of its existing 1970’s-era building, it seemed like a match made in heaven. The architects had built their reputations on museum projects like London’s Tate Modern and the Goetz Collection in Munich, known for their meticulously refined materials and a sense of inner tranquillity. The result is an exhilarating place to view art.
The World In A Click
Major music labels may not think world music is worth the bother, but thanks to small labels there’s never been so much music easily available. “The broad rubric holds a wealth of music that is now more accessible than ever before. And while major labels have largely lost interest in world music, independents have been busy, while listeners are no longer dependent on the shelf space or classification skills of local record stores.”
Ah, You’re Such A Romantic (Just Don’t Admit It)
Why are people so snobby about romantic fiction? “Domestic? Boring? Who would want to be dubbed romantic as well? Maybe that explains the collective identity crisis that seems to have seized the Romantic Novelists Association in its choice of shortlisted novels for its annual prize.”
Will The Minnesota Orchestra Be America’s Best?
“When Osmo Vanska says that within a few years, the Minnesota Symphony will be one of the best orchestras in the United States, right up there alongside the Chicago Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra, you’re inclined to believe him. He says it in such a matter-of-fact way that it never for a moment sounds like boasting and, more importantly, he does have the track record to back up his claim, having taken a run-of-the-mill municipal orchestra in Finland, the Lahti Symphony, and, in less than two decades, transformed it into one of the most distinctive bands in Europe.”
Indies Protest UK Chart Downloads Plan
Independent music labels are complaining that a plan to include downloads in UK Top 40 singles charts is unfair to indies. “A large chunk of the independent community are concerned about the way the chart has been thrust on us and the fact that most indie labels are unable to get their music into i-Tunes, which is unfairness from the off.” Some indie reps say they’ll game the new downloads system in protest.
Peru’s Emergency Plan For Machu Picchu
The Peruvian government has come up with an emergency rescue plan to save the ruins of Machu Picchu from erosion and tourists. “The $132.5m (£70m) plan is to be studied by Unesco and the World Bank at a three-day meeting in Lima beginning on Saturday. Machu Picchu is the most visited archaeological site in Latin America. It has been a Unesco world heritage site since 1983, but the UN’s cultural organisation made it clear last year that if something were not done soon it would be put on the list of sites at risk.”