A PBS series explores art through its artists. “More than explaining any discrete work of art, `Art 21′ leaves you with a sense of how artists think about what they do, as well as why they feel compelled to do it, and demystifies a group the public at large sometimes views as eccentric, unstable or, worse, charlatans.”
Blog
The New “Modernism”
“Nowadays, ‘modernism’ is everywhere. Gargantuan ‘modernist’ lofts jut up from every block of the SoMa district. Boutiques with monosyllabic names and monochrome wall-paint are everywhere selling “modernist” trinkets. An ever-growing slew of home catalogs offer requisite modernist furnishings, the photo spreads illustrating (proudly!) how 40 rooms in 20 different houses can look totally indistinguishable from one another. There’s even a Web site – Etekt.com – that offers architectural plans to create your very own tract home based on designs by your favorite modernist designer. Oh yes, and on sale now at Levitz: the new “modernist” collection. Really. What’s so frustrating is that this surge of minimalist modernism – what I will now refer to as modermalism – is not ‘modern’ at all.”
Cleveland Institute Expands
The Cleveland Institute of Music is embarking on a $26 million expansion. “If the expansion turns out as well as it’s starting to look, it could strengthen an important institution, reinforce the prominence of the arts in the local economy and boost the allure of University Circle, the cultural and educational district four miles east of downtown. That’s good news in an otherwise depressing season for architecture and development in Cleveland, epitomized by the failure of local civic and political leaders to move ahead with a new downtown convention center.”
When Writer Marries Writer
Two writers under one roof inevitably leads to friction. “In the nature of things, one partner usually succeeds more than the other. Or they may succeed at different times, so that literary reputation shifts within the marriage.”
In Development – An Opera That Matters
A new opera set to premiere in 21 months has a lot of people watching already. “The combination of high-profile creators and a commission shared by three major companies – Opera Company of Philadelphia, Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit and Cincinnati Opera – could make the stakes high for all parties concerned. With luck, there will be national sponsorship to help defray the commission and development costs, plus the $4.8 million cost of the production, which will first be seen in May 2005 in Detroit and continue in July 2005 in Cincinnati and February 2006 in Philadelphia. With legs like that, the project is a likely candidate for PBS. But such matters are barely in the talking stage.”
Coming Together Over A Building
“The debate that has unfolded over the rebuilding of the World Trade Center for the last year has brought New Yorkers as close as they have ever come to the ancient Florentine conviction that the most profound questions of urban design demand a public voice. Now, as the second anniversary of 9/11 approaches, that democratic moment seems to have passed.”
Carnegie Hall’s New Hall
Carnegie Hall’s new performance space, down in the basement, offers new flexibility for the groups that have traditionally performed at Carnegie. “Zankel Hall, with 644 seats, opens on Friday, and its eclectic inaugural season, with some 90 events, makes good on Carnegie Hall’s promise to provide an alternative space suitable for the widest range of contemporary repertory, including world music.”
Vänskä In Minnesota
Conductor Osmo Vänskä takes on the Minnesota Orchestra this week as music director. “Vänskä’s personality has intriguing contradictions. He’s a clarinetist who loves hockey and motorcycles. He speaks of personal modesty and subservience to the composer, and yet he works in a glamorous, ego-driven profession in which he has become a star, first in Europe and now increasingly in the United States, where, as a guest conductor, he is constantly re-engaged by the nation’s major orchestras. He embodies the patient, hard-working maestro who in his early years shunned the international spotlight, turning down prestigious guest-conducting offers in Europe in order to devote himself to the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, a once-provincial Finnish ensemble that is now famous the world over for its revelatory recordings of works by Sibelius.”
Lorca’s Grave Found?
“One of the mysteries of the Spanish civil war may soon be solved by the excavation of the communal grave in which the poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca is believed to have been thrown after his execution by one of Franco’s death squads in August 1936. Considered by many the greatest poet and playwright of 20th-century Spain, the author of Blood Wedding and Poet in New York was killed by members of the Escuadra Negra (Black Squadron) for his left-wing sympathies and homosexuality.”
A Tower On Tate Modern’s Front Door?
A developer proposes to build a new 20-story apartment building about 50 metres from the front entrance of the Tate Modern. It’s “a notion described by the Tate director, Sir Nicholas Serota, as ‘the equivalent of building a tower block in the forecourt of the British Museum’.”