Fourteen years after landing at the center of the American culture wars, the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati mounts a show of controversial art from the 1980s. “Cincinnati remains a conservative redoubt in a battleground state. But the selection of paintings, sculptures, videos and photographs in this show — on view through Nov. 21 in Zaha Hadid’s acclaimed new building — feels like a brave attempt by a rejuvenated institution to confront its local audience, and perhaps at the same time begin to repair the city’s reputation for cultural provincialism.”
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Munch Museum Beefs Up Security After Scream Theft
After heavy criticism after “The Scream” was stolen, the Munch Museum in Oslo is installing new security measures to protect its art. “We are closed and will be closed for three weeks to install alarms, among other things.”
Cantrell: A Fabulous Hall
It takes a pretty good hall to impress a critic over many years, but Scott Cantrell likes Dallas’ Meyerson: “Fifteen years on, and with the experience of a lot of concert halls around the world, the Meyerson is still my favorite modern symphony hall and one of my favorites of any period. It’s not a perfect hall – there’s no such thing – but it’s a fabulous one.”
A Violent New “Alice In Wonderland”
A new version of Alice in Wonderland, by Frank Beddor, has inflamed critics for its violent and bizarre retelling. “Mr Beddor, who produced gross-out movie There’s Something About Mary, and is a former world champion skier, has transplanted Alice into a modern and violent fantasy world that could have come straight out of a computer game.” But he defends the story: “Kids are used to a more violent and real world now – video games and movies are dominating, and hopefully they will love this book.”
Ono To “Recreate” 60s Naked “Happening”
Yoko Ono plans to recreate one of her most famous pieces of art at the Tate Modern, 40 years after first performing it. “The original 1964 ‘happening’ involved Ono having clothing cut from her body by the audience until she was naked. The 71-year-old recreated the work in Paris last year in an effort to promote world peace, but left the stage in her underwear.”
A New Museum For Paris
“A $265 million museum devoted to the indigenous art of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania is rising on the banks of the Seine beside the Eiffel Tower. Within a year the Musée du Quai Branly, as it is known, will begin receiving the 270,000 objects in its collection.”
The Pain Of The Dance
In the dance industry, where careers can be made or broken before the performers finish high school, and in which a freak injury or simple old age (defined as “older than 30”) can doom even the most talented individual, the competition to be “discovered” is intense and sometimes psychologicaly damaging. Sylviane Gold spent the summer following one 14-year-old hopeful through physical agony, teenage mind games, and ultimately, the triumph of a dancer’s spirit.
New York Reclaiming Its Skyline
Contrary to popular opinion since 9/11, the New York skyline consists of far more than the Twin Towers and whatever replaces them. In fact, the look of the insanely crowded Manhattan cityscape is currently being transformed by “a growing list of stunning residential towers designed by celebrated talents like Richard Meier, Santiago Calatrava, Christian Portzamparc and Enrique Norten.” But if these residential skyscrapers represent the best of the new New York look, the worst is always just around the corner, represented by a new wave of monolithic office towers. Still, the changes are exciting, particularly following an era in which New York seemed to have lost its architectural bearing.
Pulling The Bard’s Strings
“This autumn, for the first time in its history, the Royal Shakespeare Company is to collaborate with one of the country’s leading puppet theatres to present a marionette masque version of Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare’s great, sensual poem… Over the past three months the puppets have been crafted in secret by experts from the Czech Republic, Germany and South Africa inside the Islington workshops of the puppet theatre. The miniature costumes are still being sewn together in the wardrobe department at Stratford-upon-Avon.”
Handicapping The Booker
“Even when it comes to inexact sciences — beauty pageants, presidential elections — creating odds for the Booker Prize is screwier than most.” In fact, the most well-known handicappers for the UK-based literary award freely admit that they don’t even read the books before setting the odds, a neat trick which allows them to post odds mere moments after the shortlist is announced. Betting on one of the world’s most infamously persnickety book prizes may seem like a losing proposition anyway, but it hasn’t stopped the gambling-happy Britons from making it a popular pasttime.