“The United Nations says that by 2010, some 18 of the world’s 30 largest cities will be in Asia (compared to only three from Europe and North America). In the region’s new megacities, height is might, speed is wealth, density is power, and the skyscraper — that American symbol of modernity — grows on steroids and is colonizing the sky.” Trying to define these supermetropolises as good or bad, dangerous or progressive, is useless, and misses the point in any case. Any organism as huge and complex as a city cannot be reduced to such platitudes, and the startlingly fast growth going on in Asian cities provides plenty for urbanists of all stripes to marvel and shudder at.
Blog
The New Graham Devotees
Martha Graham’s dances are hardly what one would call timeless: in fact, many look distinctly old-fashioned in the modern era. So what is it about the mystique of Martha that has made her legacy such a draw for young dancers seeking to make their mark in the dance world? A new generation of Graham proteges gives varying answers to the question, but all speak of a certain “emotional trutfulness” that distinguishes a Graham dance.
Emerson Quartet Wins Avery Fisher Prize
This year, the administrators of the $50,000 Avery Fisher Prize for American musicians changed its rules of eligibility to include ensembles, and the first beneficiaries are the members of the Emerson String Quartet, who will be announced as the 2004 winners of the prize in a Monday ceremony. The group says it will “try to do something creative [with the money.] We won’t just spend it.”
Tracey Emin: I Can’t Get No Respect
“She is the artist the British public likes to laugh at most. Even Damien Hirst’s infamous pickled sharks and cows are treated with more respect. And yet until now Tracey Emin, the creator of ‘that bed’, has accepted ridicule and contempt as all part of being a famous conceptual artist. No longer. Speaking for the first time about her row with a primary school over the sale of a quilt – a row that has seen her branded as selfish and money-grabbing – Emin reveals she has been deeply upset by the onslaught of criticism. Blame for the unpleasant affair, which at one point came down to a physical tug-of-war, lies with the school, the 40-year-old artist claims.”
U.S. Music Sales Bounce Back
“Music sales in the US rose by more than 9% in the first three months of 2004 compared with the same period last year – signalling an end to a four-year dip. The 9.1% upturn in sales of CDs, music DVDs and legal downloads is a ray of light for an industry that has battled online piracy and new technology.”
Scottish Opera On The Brink
Scottish Opera is planning to lay off 80 staff members in a desperate effort to avoid fiscal collapse, according to a union representing Scottish actors. The crisis managemant plan the union claims to have seen would cut across the entire organization, with dozens of musicians, crew members, and administrators losing their jobs, and “the entire 34-strong chorus [would be made] redundant.” Scottish Opera has already taken a £4 million advance on next year’s £7.5 million grant from the Scottish Arts Council, and general consensus has been that the company is severely underfunded. The company isn’t commenting on the layoff report.
Arts Make A Comeback In The Heartland
The post-9/11 focus on national security and the weakened U.S. economy has famously cost arts groups millions of dollars in local, state, and federal funding over the last few years, but in some cities, the arts are starting to rise again. In Indianapolis, where funding cuts hit hard, the city’s Arts Council will see its budget rise this year, despite flat levels of government funding. Contributions from foundations and the private sector are up, and there is reason to believe that local officials are beginning to buy into the notion that money pumped into the arts is returned to the local economy in measurable ways.
Whither The American Sound?
Nationalism can be a dangerous thing, but a love of country and all that it stands for is the only thing that can lead to the development of a serious “national sound” among composers, says Robert Jones. Individuals like Copland and Bernstein aside, America has never really had its own tradition of classical music, and even works identified as distinctly “American” are often written by European composers like Dvorak. “America always seemed nervous about nationalism in music,” and Jones says that will have to change if anyone expects the U.S. to develop a compositional tradition as easily recognized as those of countries like France, Finland, and the Czech Republic.
U.S. Denies Visas To Cuban Supergroup
“A two-month US tour by the 15-piece Cuban jazz-pop band Cubanismo! has been canceled because its members were denied visas to enter the United States. The group had planned a 43-show, 34-city itinerary… Cubanismo!, made up of musicians from various Cuban bands, has played in the United States several times over the last decade, including last year.” The Justice Department has offered no explanation for the refusal to grant visas.
Glamorizing The Whitney Biennial
This year’s Whitney Biennial is a hit with public and press alike, says Peter Goddard, “because some of it reflects a new kind of thinking about art. But that brings us back to glamorizing. Is there such a word? There should be, to point to how much otherwise indescribable stuff is going on at the Whitney Museum of American Art.” In addition to the new embrace of art that’s hard to “get,” there is also a distinct sense of generational turnover about the Biennial, and the subtle air of competition between young and old, old and new, has given the whole event a feeling of renewed vigor.