The city of Berlin thought companies would flow into the city to invest after the city was unified. It hasn’t happened, and Berlin is broke. Now, small creative enterprises are springing up in vacant buildings across the old East Berlin, “many of them former squatter colonies gone legit. Their stock in trade is art, music, publishing, software. ‘You can see them as seedbeds. These developments everywhere in these derelict places are perhaps the best hope the city has for better times’.”
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LA Considers Eliminating Culture Department
The city of Los Angeles is facing a budget crisis. So officials are considering “eliminating Los Angeles’ Cultural Affairs and Environmental Affairs departments. The Cultural Affairs Department grants about $3 million each year to the arts, offers neighborhood classes for adults and children, oversees a city-owned gallery and theaters, and is in charge of the landmark Watts Towers.”
Rushdie To Lead PEN
Salman Rushdie has been named the new president of PEN, the international writers organization. “Rushdie, who was officially named on Monday to serve a two-year term, succeeds Joe Conarroe, a former president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the former head of the Modern Language Association.”
The End Of Photography? Not!
So David Hockney has declared the end of photography. Oh really? asks Joel Sternfeld, winner of the Citigroup photography prize: “The Hockney argument is as simplistic as saying that any non-fiction book is truthful. You can never lose sight of the fact that it’s authored. With a photograph, you are left with the same modes of interpretation as you are with a book. You ask: what do we know about the author and their background? What do I know about the subject?”
Long-Unseen Boticelli Goes On Display
A long unseen Botticelli is among a collection of the master’s work that goes on display in Florence this month. It’s being called the largest show of the painter’s work ever mounted. “The never previously displayed masterpiece is the last of four panels that make up one of Botticelli’s most disturbing works – The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti.”
Writing Music Anytime, Anywhere
“Composers today, both professionals and amateurs, can write and produce music in home recording studios using versatile recording software and powerful computers. They can combine multiple tracks, mix in various instruments and even buy the rights to recordings by well-known artists to augment their music. The final product is digital music, and the sound is very, very close to studio quality.”
Tommasini: Wait Weight, Don’t Tell Me
Anthony Tommasini is “flabbergasted by the decision of the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in London to drop the soprano Deborah Voigt from a new production of Strauss’s ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’ in June because she was deemed too heavy for a slinky black dress that is central to the director’s concept of the role. The company’s move is so appalling that you have to wonder whether there is more to the story.”
Gospel Play Circuit
“Sometimes referred to as urban theater or chitlin’ circuit plays, these popular live productions tour major cities, selling out venues by using a moneymaking mix of comedy, music and melodrama to draw large crowds of African-American patrons. Filled with stereotypes and base cultural elements, gospel plays have been accused of promoting negative images within the African-American community. On the other hand, the productions employ and make money for scores of black actors, singers, comedians and playwrights.”
Parliamentary Collection – Not Enough “Traditional Landscapes?”
In Australia, “the future of the $85 million Parliament House art collection has been cast into doubt, with MPs considering proposals to curb purchases of emerging artists, stop temporary exhibitions, cut staff and hire a part-time corporate art curator.” The government undertook a review of the collection last year after Government backbenchers’ complaints that there were not enough “traditional” landscapes on offer to decorate their offices.”
Board Member Quits To Protest AGO Gehry Makeover
One of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s most prominent board members has resigned and withdrawn his financial support for the museum. He’s protesting the gallery’s plans for a $194 million transformation by architect Frank Gehry. Joey Tanenbaum describes the Gehry project as “needless destruction” and “a blatant attempt to eradicate the recent history of the gallery.”