The centerpiece of Millennium Park is the new Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which will serve as the new 11,000-seat home to Chicago’s Grant Park Orchestra. “Even in a city renowned for its big moves, Gehry’s project makes for an extraordinary structural drama. And the stage on which that drama occurs — a new 24.5-acre park at the foot of the downtown skyline — plays perfectly to the architect’s strengths, allowing his explosively sculptural forms all the room they need to preen, as they were not free to do in his dazzling, but more tightly confined, Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.”
Blog
The Marketing of Controversy
In the past few months, two of the most successful films in history have also been two of the most controversial. In fact, major controversy is just about the only thing that Mel Gibson’s bloody biopic of Jesus and Michael Moore’s brutal indictment of the Bush administration have in common. But Gibson and Moore have both tapped into a marketing concept that took Hollywood completely by surprise, yet seems like a no-brainer in retrospect: controversy sells, and you can’t let too many facts get in the way of a good story or the profits a good story will bring.
Oliphant’s Offspring
Betty Oliphant’s death this past week leaves a hole in the Canadian ballet scene, says William Littler, but her lasting mark on the genre has already been guaranteed in the form of her countless disciples, her professional children. She revolutionized professional ballet training, exposing her students to the widest possible variety of experiences, both dance-related and not. Denied many of the most basic aspects of a dancer’s development in her own youth, she was determined to turn out the world’s most well-rounded and intelligent dancers. “Biologically speaking, Betty Oliphant had no sons — she had two daughters. But in dance terms, her many children belong to both sexes and number among the most remarkable Canada has produced.”
How Dare You Spin Off My Copy Of That Duplicated Idea?
TV critics are used to seeing industry execs engage in some pretty petty sniping, but Tim Goodman cannot believe that he has spent the better part of a week listening to Hollywood types argue over who stole whose idea for a lousy reality show that wasn’t even remotely original anyway. “In a town all too familiar with the notion that there are only seven original stories and the rest is just, well, copy machines, ambition, connections and timing, why anyone is getting all uppity about theft is beyond comprehension.”
The Minnesota Microbroadcasting Movement
Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center is closed for the year as its building undergoes a major expansion, but rather than fade completely from public view, the museum is mounting a series of interactive exhibitions called “Walker Without Walls.” The latest project has Walker staffers “spending the summer helping as many as 500 locals build and operate their own miniature radio transmitters. It’s called microradio, and organizers hope the combined voices of the new microbroadcasters inspire a ‘Radio ReVolt’ (the project’s title).” The transmitters are all set to the same frequency (97.7FM, an open spot on the Twin Cities dial) and can broadcast for up to 200 feet.
Looking For Mr. Right
With the retirement of William F. Buckley, the intellectual conservative movement he founded seems to be in danger of fading into the past. After all, as one prominent conservative thinker puts it, the movement was founded to “defeat Communism and roll back creeping socialism… The first was obviated by our success, the latter by our failure. So what is left of conservatism?” Does the current dominance of the Republican Party in national politics mean that conservatism has won out, or has it merely dumbed itself down to achieve short-term victory? It’s a problem that a new crop of young conservatives are already wrestling with, and there is a definite hope among the old guard that Mr. Buckley’s ideas will find a voice among the youth.
Rescuing a Futuristic Icon of the Past
“Philip Johnson’s steel and concrete fantasia in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, designed as the New York State Pavilion for the 1964-65 World’s Fair, has been crumbling for decades. Now it is finally getting some attention… The Queens Theater in the Park — which produces performances geared to the borough’s immigrant communities — is planning to build an 8,000-square-foot addition to its space, a small section of the pavilion that was called the Theaterama during the World’s Fair… But the shiny new addition will also call attention to the blighted condition of [the huge ‘Tent of Tomorrow], which appears to be on the verge of collapse.”
Chicago’s Withering Art Fair
“The Chicago art establishment, from museums to galleries to artists, still seems shaken by what it perceived to be the failure this spring of its internationally known contemporary art fair.” In fact, Art Chicago has been gradually losing the interest of the international art community for years now, and the flurry of activity surrounding this weekend’s much-ballyhooed opening of the city’s new Millenium Park is meant in large part to put Chicago back on the map where art is concerned. Art Chicago’s organizers insist that a comeback is imminent, but observers are skeptical, especially as the fair prepares to move to temporary quarters in a 125,000-square foot tent.
Costello’s Crossover
Rock musicians who try to cross over to the classical world tend to fare about as well as sheep attempting flight. More often than not, their efforts tend to illicit scorn from classical audiences, and confusion from their traditional fan base. But if critical response is any indication, Elvis Costello be be the exception to the rule, as he prepares for the premiere of his first major symphonic work in Brooklyn this weekend. “‘Il Sogno’ was commissioned four years ago by an Italian dance company for its adaptation of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ Costello composed it in 10 weeks, writing it out painstakingly in pencil across 200 pages, without computers or collaborators.
Nazi Association Taints Flick Exhibition
“As Berlin prepares to unveil one of the world’s biggest private art collections, curators said Tuesday they had recruited historians to shed light on the controversial Nazi-linked past of its founder. The collection of Friedrich Christian Flick, comprising some 2,500 works, is due to open in September. Berlin beat out other world capitals that had vied to host its first public exhibition. But the event has faced fierce criticism already, especially from Jewish community leaders in Germany, who rail against showcasing a collection begun by Flick’s grandfather, a notorious collaborator of the Third Reich.”