The Central Park “Gates” have been a huge hit. “Such a mass affirmation of the imagination was, in my view, a grand pursuit, an affirmation capable of washing away the psychic residue of 9/11 and the memory of those flaming orange chrysanthemums of fire that appalled and humbled us all. But the physical incarnation of the idea — The Gates themselves — were another matter. Approaching Central Park, one was immediately struck by an obvious truth: As a sculptural installation in the landscape, it didn’t work.”
Blog
Is Public Radio Getting Out Of The Classical Music Business?
“There are more hours of classical programming on the air now than five years ago, but total listening to classical public radio stations has remained flat. News programming is much better than classical music at raising money to keep a station going. A listener-hour of NPR news may generate twice as much listener income and much more business underwriting income as classical or jazz.”
Depicting Rwanda’s Massacres – Documenting, Or Apalling Atrocity Tourism?
“The massacres in Rwanda were real enough and there are, at present, no shortage of artists – film directors, novelists, script writers – engaged in the complicated process of trying to imagine exactly what happened over those 100 days in 1994, in all its desolating detail, and then recasting it in fiction. What is one to make of all this western interest in the unhappy central African state? Is there not something indecent in the haste with which non-African film-makers are competing with each other to be first with the cinematic news about the events of 1994? Is there not an element of atrocity tourism at work here – as well as a kind of stylised poetics of misery?”
WebSide Story… (The Web For TV Shows)
“The days of promoting a TV show with a basic website are over. Network executives now are developing elaborate Web productions for many of their shows to create buzz, earn extra advertising dollars and, by strengthening viewer loyalty, keep ratings up. “Reality” shows blazed the trail by putting outtakes on the Web. Now producers of scripted prime-time dramas have joined the trend, bringing some interactivity to a historically one-way medium.”
On Campus – Where Are The Risk-Takers?
“In order to flourish, university life needs individual risk takers – people who are ahead of their time and prepared to search for the truth, wherever it may lead and whomever it may offend. Intellectual and scientific breakthroughs inevitably challenge the prevailing order, which is why those who make them frequently face repression and the attention of the censor. Sadly, contemporary academia takes academic freedom for granted, and treats it as no big deal. Some seem to view it as a redundant privilege, not worth making a fuss about”
Trustees To Vote On Cleveland Expansion
One week from now, the board members of the Cleveland Museum of Art have a huge decision to make: should they commit to a $225 million expansion and renovation of their building, as designed by architect Rafael Vinoly? The advantages of such a project are obvious, but the complications for the museum could be myriad. The city of Cleveland is fighting decades of decline and is currently in a deep financial hole, limiting available civic funds for the museum project. Board members have already raised some money for the expansion, but there are questions about whether they have the connections necessary to raise the rest. Still, there’s little question that Vinoly’s design, if realized, would be a huge boon to the institution, and that may trump all other concerns.
Can Cultural Relevance Be Bought?
Singapore is a country with a reputation for economic success, but little in the way of a creative side. In the last decade, the government has sought to change that, investing hundreds of millions of dollars in arts and culture, but somehow, the results still seem strangely stilted and authoritarian. More importantly, it may be flatly impossible for a truly creative environment to be nurtured in a country as repressive as Singapore.
The Lucky Few
Getting a first book published is a monumental undertaking for most authors, particularly if their tome is not a new-age self-help book or a shrill political diatribe. So for those writers who manage to get a publisher interested in their work and make it to press, the anticipation of publication is a heavy time, and every wannabe’s road to success is unique.
England’s Irish Obsession
The sociological and national tensions between the British and Irish go back hundreds of years, but so does Britain’s obsession with Irish culture, literature, art and music. The uneasy balancing act of the UK’s Irish population is getting a close look this year at London’s National Portrait Gallery, “surveying visual representations of the artistic, literary, dramatic and political influence exercised in Victorian London by Irish incomers, determined to make their mark. Culturally fashionable Irishness was not just the result of rampant Celtic Tigerism over the past decade and a half; it has, apparently, a long-established pedigree.”
Two Charged In Painter’s Murder
“Warsaw authorities charged two teenagers Friday in the stabbing death of surrealist painter Zdzislaw Beksinski. One suspect is the son of a longtime friend and aide to the painter. Beksinski, 75, considered one of Poland’s leading contemporary artists, was found stabbed to death Monday at his Warsaw home. He was best known for his abstract renditions of skeletons, monster-like creatures and other apocalyptic images evoking death and decay.”