“Do we want the center of culture to be based on a closed system, a process of text in/text out, and no empirical contact with the real world? One can only marvel at, for example, art critics who know nothing about visual perception; ‘social constructionist’ literary critics uninterested in the human universals documented by anthropologists; opponents of genetically modified foods, additives, and pesticide residues who are ignorant of genetics and evolutionary biology. A realistic biology of the mind, advances in physics, information technology, genetics, neurobiology, engineering, the chemistry of materials—all are challenging basic assumptions of who and what we are, of what it means to be human. The arts and the sciences are again joining together as one culture, the third culture.”
Blog
Sydney Opera House Closure Requires Intricate Dance
The Sydney Opera House Theatre will have to close for a big renovation – probably in 2005. Opera Australia, the Australian Ballet and the Sydney Dance Company will all be affected. So “what will happen in the Sydney performing arts scene when the Opera Theatre of the Sydney Opera House closes for renovation?”
French: American Movies Make Stupid Children
In Francs, as in most countries, American movies dominate the theatres. “But a number of French critics are attacking Hollywood movies for what they see as a poverty of ideas, which in turn is having an adverse effect on the country’s children. If the technology is controlling us, it will transform us into stupid children, and in a way, part of the American cinema does that.”
Texas Commission On the Arts Braces For Cuts
After a seven percent cut in its budget the Texas arts council cut some programs. State agencies have been asked to trim 12.5 percent. And there’s at least one recommendation to do away with a freestanding arts commission and its employees altogether. With a state deficit of $10 billion, arts supporters are bracing for trouble.
Can Good Writing Be Taught?
Judging by the number of writing courses offered, the answer for many is yes. But “a quick glance at the bestseller lists will tell you it’s hard enough to find something halfway decent to read at the best of times, so no great synaptic leap is required to intuit that most writing courses produce writers who are only going to be read by those unlucky enough to be friends, family or fellow course mates. So there is a lurking feeling that many creative writing courses are driven by market forces rather than any altruistic desire to release untapped genius.”
Can Salon Survive?
Can Salon magazine survive past the end of February? “The company has already been through several rounds of layoffs and cut everyone’s pay by 15 per cent. It now employs fewer than two dozen staffers.” But its remaining employees are loyal: “Our impending non-existence has been predicted in the press for so long and with such conviction that we considered adopting ‘die another day’ as a marketing slogan until the Bond franchise beat us to it.”
A Cello’s Tale
Several cellists in the New York Philharmonic could have solo careers. Some have. But there’s something special about being a member of an elite orchestra. “Ask cellists to define the part the cello plays in an orchestra, and they describe it as subtle but essential. ‘It’s a foundation role. It provides stability and structure.”
Critics: More Must Be Done To Keep British Art Treasures Home
Britain is losing some its important art to foreign buyers, the the current laws only delay export, not keep it permanently in the country. “The objects that have been temporarily kept here, but then exported, invariably through lack of funds, greatly outnumber those that have been saved. Several important pieces of art currently under temporary export ban are expected to end up overseas.”
A Book A Day…Creating The Instant Book
Forty German authors are hoping to set a new world record by conceiving, writing and printing a book in 12 hours. The team of writers will get their topic at 7.45 a.m. on April 23, World Book and Copyright Day. “They aim to have the finished book on shop shelves in 10 German cities by the evening of that day.”
Dresden Cathedral Decides On Modern Organ, Purists Protest
Music purists are protesting the decision at Dresden’s famed Frauenkirche to replace the organ there with a more modern instrument. “The board of trustees of the foundation in charge of reconstructing the cathedral, which was destroyed at the end of World War II and left as a ruin during more than four decades of communist rule, decided on Monday to give the contract to an organ builder in Strasbourg. In doing so, they rejected a competing proposal for an exact reproduction of the original organ was described by a number of prominent supporters as ‘historically correct’.”