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Graffiti Explained

“Most art is unadmittedly competitive; graffiti is nakedly so. Writers vie for prominence of their works, their size, complexity, technique and above all their ubiquity. Elaborate etiquette regulates this rivalry, and competition is joined by overwriting a rival’s work. When I accompanied a TV team to watch the well-known writer, Prime, produce a work on a quasi-official site, the most interesting and shocking act was his first – taking a large roller to the painting already there, entirely blotting it out. If convention governs the terms of rivalry and respect between writers, it also quite rigidly governs the look of graffiti.”

The Met Opera Donor Who Didn’t Get What She Would Have Wanted

Did the Metropolitan Opera use funds from a donor for a production of which she would have disapproved? That’s the charge from representatives of the estate of Sybil B Harrington. “He who pays the piper calls the tune, even if that tune comes from beyond the grave. It’s matter of trust, and arts organisations should take great care that cavalier interpretation of testamentary wishes doesn’t end up putting potential donors off. Meanwhile, the Met can ill afford either the Harrington executors’ demand for restitution of $5 million or the attendant bad publicity.”

Kennedy Center Boss Named US Cultural Ambassador

Kennedy Center chief Michael Kaiser has been appointed asa “cultural ambassador by the US State Department. “Kaiser said he has a different agenda from the artists’. ‘Funding patterns are shifting. In some countries 70 to 80 percent of an organization’s budget was being provided by the government. Government funding is being reduced or not growing. This is a time in history where the arts around the world are in transition’.”

Recording Industry Threats Don’t Deter File-Swappers

Music file-swappers seem to be unfazed by recording industry threats of legal action against them. “Just 17% of swappers ages 18 and over say they have cut back on file sharing because of the potential legal consequences, according to a survey released by Jupiter Research at the company’s annual Plug.IN digital music conference Monday. And 43% see nothing wrong with online file trading; only 15% say it’s wrong.”

Why Do Dancers Do What They Do?

Tobi Tobias posed a question: “Some would say that dancing is the cruelest profession, all but guaranteeing grueling work, physical pain, poverty, and heartbreak. Yet the field has always been rich in aspirants willing to dedicate their lives to the art. Why?” Among those taking up the challenge of an answer are Mindy Aloff, Lila York and Maina Gielgud…

Sonic Mush At The World’s Biggest Chamber Music Festival

Ottawa’s International Chamber music Festival is the largest chamber music festival in the world, with 110 concerts in two weeks, featuring some of the best chamber groups playing today. This is the festival’s tenth anniversary, and to celebrate it staged a concert with 16 pianists performing on ten pianos… resulting in a bit of a sonic mush, writes Colin Eatock.

For Your Protection – Who Owns The Art

For a long time museums turned a blind eye as to whether the art it was acquiring was attained legally. Now there are myriad laws passed to deter theft of cultural property from one country to another. “What prompted this shift in global attention, when the world often turned a blind eye in the past?” And are these laws doing what they were supposed to do?