A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Elizabeth Taylor over a Van Gogh painting a German family claimed had been stolen by the Nazis. The 1889 artwork was bought by actress Ms Taylor at auction in 1963.
Blog
An Art “Happening” In Central Park
Hundreds of volunteers are working hard in New York’s Central Park this week to put up the 7,500 gates of Christo and Jeanne Claude’s project. “While each team seemed diverse in age and profession, from college students to retired teachers and doctors, all had a common bond: a resolve to be a part of the city’s biggest public-art happening ever.”
The Berman Factor
“Until January 2004, when he announced his retirement from the concert platform on grounds of ill-health, Lazar Berman played and recorded tirelessly, releasing studio and live performances that soon built up a discography of considerable dimensions. His concerto recordings include fabled accounts of the Rachmaninov Third (with Leonard Bernstein) and Tchaikovsky First (Herbert von Karajan). In an age obsessed with firework virtuosity Lazar Berman brought the requisite flawless technique – but one informed with a powerful Romantic urge. It was a deliberate reaction.”
Free For All (And Count The Returns)
Open source is the free distribution of software or information. But why give it away? “The characteristics of information — be it software, text or even biotech research—make it an economically obvious thing to share. It is a “non-rival” good: ie, your use of it does not interfere with my use. Better still, there are network effects: ie, the more people who use it, the more useful it is to any individual user. Best of all, the existence of the internet means that the costs of sharing are remarkably low. The cost of distribution is negligible, and co-ordination is easy because people can easily find others with similar goals and can contribute when convenient. The question is, can sharing be used to supply more than just information?”
The Golden Decade (The 50s?)
“The 1950s have an image problem. Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe are now the decade’s most famous faces: a pair of troubled celebrities who abused drugs and died young. Visual shorthand for the decade is always the same: black-and-white clips of row after row of cloned houses in Levittown, or gaudy tailfins on cars, or H-bomb clouds mushrooming over Bikini Island.” But maybe this is all wrong. Brian Murray contends that “the literary 1950s were a “third flowering of American talent.” In fact, American literature of the 1950s “now asserts special claims to greatness,” drawing energy from a decade that was far from being “smug and absorbed with its own splendors.”
Group Calls For Boycott Of Canadian Movie Theatre Chain
A group opposing same-sex marriage in Canada is calling for a boycott of Famous Players (the country’s biggest theatre chain) because of an ad being shown in the chain’s theatres. The ad “calls on theatre patrons to contact their Member of Parliament to say they support the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. ‘We are deeply saddened by Famous Players Theatres’ decision to subject unsuspecting moviegoers to ads promoting same-sex marriage,’ says the group.
Italy To Sell Off Public Broadcaster RAI
The Italian government says it will sell off 30 percent of RAI, the country’s public broadcaster. The sale should be complete by the end of the year. “A media reform law passed in 2004 eased restrictions on media ownership and paved the way for the partial sale of RAI and some of its branches. The controversial law once again raised accusations that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi – a billionaire media tycoon as well as a head of state with influence on the public broadcaster – faced a conflict of interest.”
Meet The Christo Groupies
New York officials are expecting thousands of visitors to come to the city to see Christo’s Central park Gates. “From art collectors to museum groups, tourists to paid Christo volunteers, the city expects 200,000 to flock to the city for the installation, which will remain through Feb. 27. Such figures, of course, are mere guesses for now. But there does seem to be universal agreement that in a traditionally slow tourism period, New York will draw record numbers of visitors, thanks to “The Gates.””
Factory Artists (21st Century Model)
“Cities like New Haven are installing artists in factories and other workplaces to see how technology, be it vintage or cutting-edge, can inform art in the 21st century. Under the auspices of Artspace, a local arts organization, 10 artists were selected last year to be in residence at Connecticut businesses.”
Appreciating Karl Haas
“Haas’ program cut an idiosyncratic path through the forest of music appreciation, seducing listeners through his humanistic exploration of music and ideas, his irrepressible enthusiasm and gentle humor. His melodious German accent — he was born in the city of Speyer and settled in Detroit in 1936 after fleeing the Nazis — carried Old World authority. But he cut against professorial stuffiness by adopting a casual manner: chatty, anecdotal and off-the-cuff.”