As our electronics shrink, we more and more insulate ourselves from the outside world. “Each of us populates a personal tech-bubble of one. Solo-tech-travelers often are unaware that others occupy the same dimensions as them — that’s why they often bump into others, in their cars or on foot. If you don’t jump out of the way, they’ll jostle you with the outer edges of their bubble while text-messaging someone about something urgent — like, ‘wnt pzza 4 dnnr?’ “
Blog
Brooklyn Gets A New Theatre
The $38 million building “will be the first permanent home for the Theater for a New Audience, a troupe known for its productions of Shakespeare and classical drama. The theater is the first linchpin of the new BAM Cultural District, a $650 million effort to convert vacant and underused properties in the area into space for arts organizations.”
Frozen Conflict – A (Messy) Story About Replacing The World Trade Center
A new book by Philip Nobel chronicles the messy process of coming up with a design for something at the World Trade Center site. “A decade or two from now, New York City will have gotten what it wants and deserves – not a magnificent citadel but a patchwork of pragmatism, profitability and symbols. One day the World Trade Center site will bear the traces of its history – not just the epochal events, but also the pettier chronicle of craven compromises, showdowns and power plays.”
Do You Have To Be Beautiful To Be A Dance Star?
“Woman is the goddess, the poetess, the muse,” Balanchine once said. “That is why I have a company of beautiful girl dancers.” Would he have been happy, in that regard, with the current company? There are some very attractive women (and men, but Balanchine cared less about them) in today’s City Ballet. Yes, when he came to the United States he sought to make a company of all-American dancers, fresh-faced and perky. But some of the company’s biggest female stars now are spectacular dancers without being spectacular beauties. Is it merely sexist to lament that the current roster is not “a company of beautiful girl dancers?”
Nakedness And The Collapse Of American Civilization
Where is the trauma in anything having to do with the naked human form, asks Susan Paynter. “In a culture that glorifies violence, why are human penises, bums and breasts so threatening? Why did the foundations of American civilization quake when, for 1.5 seconds, Janet Jackson’s partially nude breast popped out at last year’s Super Bowl?”
Indian Art Market Soars
“Over the past 18 months, prices for modern Indian art have been rocketing. In New York, auctions of modern Indian art which were making less than $700,000 four years ago are now making more than $2.5 million. Saffronart’s last sale made $2.8 million.”
Workers Vote To Strike UK Museums
Workers at three UK museums have voted to go on strike. “Hundreds of staff are set to walk out on a one-day strike during the week beginning 14 February, to coincide with the school half-term holidays. London’s Science Museum, the National Railway Museum in York and the National Museum of Photography Film and Television, Bradford, will all be hit. Staff have rejected a 2.5% pay offer, which unions say was below inflation and derisory.”
Concert Companion, UK Version
The Concert Companion, a handheld device designed to accompany orchestra concerts, is heading to the UK after undergoing several tests on audiences in the US. After a flurry of interest by US orchestra, the device has stalled there. Maybe it will find a better business model in Britain?
The New Star Conductor
Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä has been music director of the Minnesota Orchestra since 2003. “In the past few years, Vänskä has gone from relative obscurity to the front ranks of conductors. In city after city, he has shaken orchestras out of their routines and audiences out of their slumbers.”
Iraq Art Hole
The art situation in Iraq is still bleak. “All museums remain closed, and looting of archaeological sites continues. The Iraqis lack the funds, equipment, and personnel to cope with the restoration and maintenance of museums and monuments and the protection of archaeological sites.”