Algerian musician Rachid Taha says there’s more censorship in Western radio than in the Middle East. “Censorship is actually stronger in the West. Western leaders lead us to believe we are free to express our views – when actually we’re not. Radio stations have become like dinosaurs,” said the star, who sings in Arabic and French.
Blog
Report: UK Libraries Need Major Help
A new government report says UK public libraries are in dreadful shape and need major lottery funding. “The report by the Commons select committee on culture, media and sport indicts 50% of library services as “persistently below standard” after decades of underfunding – an explanation for steadily falling book loans and visitor numbers over the past 15 years. The committee cites estimates that between a quarter and more than two-thirds of a billion pounds would be needed to wipe out the backlog of building repairs and refurbishments.”
Is The Science Boom Busting?
In the 1990s, books about science were hot. “With the boom, inevitably, there came a torrent of rubbish. The stylistic innovations of the trendsetters soon became, in the hands of the disciples, stale recipes, recycled over and over in formulaic and uninspiring ways. Even the titles began to seem repetitive: The Panda’s Thumb, Galileo’s Finger, Einstein’s Brain … What a pity nobody had the chutzpah to write a book about Newton’s penis. A decade and a half later, there are signs that the popular science boom is running out of steam.”
The Disfunctional ICA
London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts has a new director. But “what a strange, dysfunctional institution the ICA is. Part cultural department store, part youth club (where the vicar is the DJ), part Kunsthalle, part computer shack, part bar and restaurant … But this is the problem: there are too many parts, too many players, too many conflicting ambitions and drives, everyone pulling in a different direction amid perennial resentments. It is a situation where identity crisis is the norm.”
Is Shanghai The New Paris?
“China’s commercial capital is starting to take on the chic of Paris, the sophistication of New York and the futuristic vibes of Tokyo. It already boasts the world’s fastest train (the Maglev that takes eight minutes to run the 30 km from Pudong airport into the city), the longest underwater pedestrian tunnel (under the Huangpu river) and the world’s tallest hotel—the 88-storey Grand Hyatt, complete with the world’s highest swimming pool and longest laundry chute. Most interesting, it has Xintiandi, a two-hectare (nine-acre) complex of hip restaurants, bars and shops in an open, elegant, low-rise style that cost $170m to develop and is one of the first examples of China preserving its own architecture.”
Auckland Orchestra Gets Reprieve
Auckland’s City Council has approved an emergency $200,000 “top-up” for the budget of the Auckland Philaharmonia. “The Government arts funding agency approved a six-month operational deficit budget until June 30, 2005, “on the basis that the philharmonia’s structure would be reformed and other funding sources were secured, especially from territorial local authorities.” The orchestra recently declared it would be unable to operate past June without help, and negotiations with local governments have ensued.
Music Of The People, By The People, And For The People
Artist/musician Christopher Marclay went around Berlin posting music staff paper and inviting people to write on it. “My aim was to create a collective score made by the people of Berlin,” he says. “Did many people actually write music? “Yes, surprisingly, perhaps because Berliners are so cultured musically. Of the 800 photographs of these posters I made a selection of 150, which make up the ‘score’.” Since then the score has been interpreted in vastly different ways, which is natural enough, given that the mixture of squiggles, images, notes and words is hardly precise.”
A Concert Hall With Its Own Recording Label
London’s Wigmore Hall is “launching its own record label. In what is clearly becoming a significant industry trend it joins the likes of ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra and the Hallé, and artists as diverse as Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Michael Nyman, in taking recording work in-house. Uniquely, though, it is probably the first venue to take the step.”
Building A Better Case…
Arts advocates have been touting the arts’ economic benefits in making their case for the arts. But a new RAND study wonders if arguments for the arts shouldn’t bebroadened…
Major Prize For Author Who Can’t Read
“Writer Howard Engel, who has serialized soft-boiled Jewish-Canadian gumshoe Benny Cooperman in 10 mystery novels, took home the top prize last night when [Canada’s] Writers Trust handed out its annual awards… The white-haired author, 74, won the $20,000 Matt Cohen award ‘in celebration of the writing life’ for the body of his work, though the judges’ citation made it clear the prize was also given for the gallant way Engel has faced a difficult personal situation. A widower raising a teenage son, he suffered a stroke four years ago in the occipital lobe of his brain that deprived him of the ability to read, though he is still able to write.”