In the heyday of Oprah’s Book Club, the lucky author whose book was picked for the club hit the jackpot. After Oprah stopped her club, it seemed like every other TV show on the air started its own club. How have the clubs fared? They’re no Oprah, but they help – the sales increase for a selected book is “about 20 percent of what an Oprah would do.”
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Off The Rack
The magazine business is changing in a big way. The pace is speeding up, and new titles spout as older ones fall away. “Publishing has become like show biz. There is no longer the wait-and-see attitude that there used to be. If advertisers think something is connecting with consumers, they will jump right in.”
Liverpool’s Building Of Bilbao Proportions
Liverpool is building a citry-changing architectural project. “The £225 million project on the Pierhead is the centrepiece of Liverpool’s urban regeneration plans. It’s big, both physically and in its ambitions, and includes half a million square feet of shops, a 20-storey block of flats, bars, a hotel and a museum. Above all, it will be overpoweringly visible. It is one of those skyline busting landmark structures that changes everything around it. If Liverpool needed a Sydney Opera House, this would be it.”
An Art Market Gone Dry
The weakening supply of Old Master paintings on the market has been an issue for several years in the auction business. But “last week the weakest line-up of Old Masters that dealers could remember for years totalled only a paltry £13.8 million at the two auction houses. Faced by scores of dull, substandard paintings, the market either bought cautiously or did not bid at all.”
Beck’s Futures Features Nuts
The Beck’s Futures Awards – Britain’s richest art prize – has chosen its shortlist of artists, and it’s “the most bizarre, outrageous and plain nutty group of young artists and pranksters ever shortlisted for a big award. The eight individuals and one collective in the running for the £65,000 prize include a man who apparently sewed short planks of wood to the soles of his feet, carried a bucket of water around for a week and spent another week avoiding eye contact with anyone.”
Note To Readers
Earlier today, we had two items posted from The Art Newspaper about financial difficulties at the Dia Foundation and Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Central Park project. The items were posted last night, but this morning editors at The Art Newspaper decided to pull them after important details were disputed by the principles. We’ll post more information when we get it. UPDATE: A spokesperson for Dia emails with a statement concerning the Foundation’s finances. Click the link at the top of this item to read it.
Dance Thrives After Company Folds
When Cleveland San Jose Ballet folded two years ago, it looked like Cleveland would be dry territory for lovers of dance. Instead, the audience has turned up for other dance offerings. Audiences are growing for the region’s smaller dance companies, and the main presenter of touring dance companies has seen its subscriptions triple in the past four years.
Broadway’s Back
A year ago, Broadway was empty, shows were closing, and emergency aid was needed. “But now shoppers pack stores, hotels have raised their prices, and New York theaters, in the midst of the busiest December of openings in decades, have begun to deal with post-terrorist angst with something other than escapism.”
The Canaletto Under Our Noses
After an extensive cleaning, a painting that had hung in Scotland’s National Galleries for 150 years, has been identified as a Canaletto worth £2 million. “The picture, which shows gondoliers and sailors at work in 18th century Venice, was identified at the time as a Canaletto copy by an imitator or student of the artist, and had been valued at no more than £5,000.”
Scotland’s Disappointing Arts Showing
Three years of Scottish home rule have not been the benefit to the arts many had hoped. It had been thought that Scottish governments would be able to better promote Scottish culture. But “before you knew it consultants were being commissioned and committees being formed, passing the baton back and forward. Serious money had been announced, but when a funding crisis hit local theatres last year the till was raided and the enterprise delayed a full year.”