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Culture To the People…

“The pompous, almost self-flagellatory, tone which compels us to suffer for our art is sounding increasingly irrelevant. Walk into the Tate’s Turbine Hall and what you will see is young people “hanging out”. That funny word from the cultural explosion that was the 1960s, “happening”, is happening again. And it is happening everywhere: at the National Theatre, whose new director Nicholas Hytner signalled his intent by putting on a blasphemous satire of trash culture; at the National Gallery, which surrounded us with ultra slow-mo videos that had us double taking to detect movement from stillness; at the Royal Opera House, which for the first time admitted a bona fide musical – Sweeney Todd -through its doors. We all felt a little dislocated in 2003.”

Are Corporations Playing Censor?

An artist whose image for a London light projection was rejected by sponsors, says corporations are increasingly getting a censorship role in art. “The patrons of contemporary art, the Medicis of today, are the corporations. They give the impression of supporting dissident views and freedom of expression, but if there is any danger that your sponsored work encourages even a modicum of critical debate, you’re out the door. The sponsors are in it to ratchet up ‘the buying mood’. Censorship of culture is something one does not speak of in the free market – it brings back images of Lady Chatterley and the Lord Chamberlain. But in the visual arts it is an increasing determinant of what people are allowed to see in public spaces.”

Piano Museum May Close

Kalman Detrich’s New York piano museum is out of money and almost out of time. “For 40 years he repaired pianos, and for 20 years he has exhibited them in the Museum of the American Piano, the eccentric little Manhattan attraction he created. On Wednesday, unless a benefactor miraculously appears to pay his rent, he will close his museum and send his collection to foster homes while he figures out how to pursue his passion.”

Protecting The Nude Barbie

A US federal court has ruled that a Utah artist can make art depicting nude Barbies being menaced by kitchen appliances. “Noting the image of Barbie dolls is “ripe for social comment,” a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected toymaker Mattel Inc.’s appeal of a lower court ruling in favor of lampooning the popular doll.”

Suing The Downloaders (It Works?)

Canadian recording companies are about to begin suing downloades. Why? It appears to be an effective tactic. “In the United States, since the American recording industry began filing lawsuits earlier this year, Kazaa usage has fallen 41 per cent, according to monitoring of Internet use by Nielsen/NetRatings. As a result, sales of CDs began to rise in the U.S. after three years of decline.”

Rethinking Music (And How To Sell It)

There are numerous experiments in selling music online competing for consumers. A company called Magnatune offers no set prices, and a variety of creative music licenses. “Magnatune is one example of a growing movement among arts organizations, civil libertarians and artists who are rethinking the whole notion of access to creative works and copyright laws. Some, like Magnatune, believe they can profit if their artists make their works more readily available, in some cases for no charge; or if they even relinquish at least some rights to their works.”

The Case Against PowerPoint

There seems to be a mounting backlash against PowerPoint as a means of conveying ideas. “Visual artists say Microsoft’s popular “slideware” — which makes it easy to incorporate animated graphics and other entertainment into presentations — lulls people into accepting pablum over ideas. Foes say PowerPoint’s ubiquity perverts everything from elementary school reports to NASA’s scientific theses into sales pitches with bullet points and stock art. One of the internet’s original developers, Vint Cerf, gets laughs from audiences by quipping, “power corrupts and PowerPoint corrupts absolutely”.”