The British government proposes to bore a 1.3 tunnel for cars under Stonehenge. “The costly u-turn, with a bill shared for the first time between the highways agency and the Department for Culture, is intended to end the embarrassment over the world’s most famous prehistoric monument, still clenched in the fork of two roads 13 years after a parliamentary committee described Stonehenge as ‘a national disgrace’.
Blog
Policy Against Fire Fails In Norway
A devastating fire destroyed a block of historic buildings in Trondheim, Norway last week. Critics charge the government hasn’t done enough to protect the country’s historic structures. “Fires leading to the loss of irreplaceable national cultural treasures shall not occur,” reads a state declaration from last year. “The fire in Trondheim shows that this goal hasn’t been adequately followed up.”
Merger of collections and Money
On-again-off-again plans for a merger between the rich Autry Museum for Western Heritage and the impoverished Southwest Museum is on again. “The merger rescues Los Angeles’ oldest museum from a life-threatening financial crisis and brings the Southwest’s 350,000-item inventory, one of the world’s leading collections of Native American art and artifacts, under the same umbrella as the Autry’s $100-million endowment.”
End of Abstraction?
Abstract art is so imprinted on our conciousness that it seems odd to question its ongoing viability. Yet Hilton Kramer believes there are important reasons that “the place occupied by abstract art is now so radically diminished not only on the contemporary art scene but in cultural life generally… I mean its power to set the kind of agenda that commands the attention of new and ambitious talents—and at times, indeed, even the emulation of established talents.” Can that even happen anymore?
Why The New York Times Needs Another Architecture Critic
Architecture is one of the most important arts. Unfortunately it doesn’t get a lot of thoughtful attention in the world’s daily press. The New York Times’ Herbert Muschamp is a vigorous and effective critic. But he’s only one voice – and one with a very specific point of view. “Another talent could write in parallel with Muschamp, counterbalancing aggression with desire, particles with waves—someone to cover the subject when he cannot or isn’t interested, one who will reach outside Muschamp’s territory and complete a column when he does not. The time is right; the subject of design, on everyone’s lips, deserves the commitment.”
Fire Season Wreaks Arts Havoc In Sydney
With temperatures near 100 degrees and bush fires raging all around Sydney, Australia, arts organizations around the region are finding themselves having to cancel or delay performances due to interference from the elements. Special effects went “berserk” at a performance of Swan Lake due to flickering power, and no one seems to be able to guarantee that any performance will go off as scheduled.
War And Peace And Literature
Does war really spur writers to churn out great works, as conventional wisdom holds? “Closer examination reveals precisely the opposite to be the case. The library of war writing is so vast as to be beyond the comprehension of any single reader, critic or scholar, but the amount of it that can be called literature is astonishingly small.”
The Importance Of The Arts Patron
“Popular opinion would have you believe that the classic arts patron — the wealthy individual who forges private relationships to nurture a favourite artist as much as their own ego — was long ago eclipsed by the equalizing power of the state. But there will always be a certain type of patron who quietly stands in the shadows, providing the financial means and emotional support that allows their hand-picked protégés to survive — and sometimes thrive.”
Leaving On A High Note
Rarely does the head of a national arts funding organization receive as much praise at the end of her tenure as at the beginning, but Shirley Thomson, who steps down from the head of the Canada Council on the Arts this month, may be the exception. “Ask almost anybody in the arts about Thomson — and, believe me, I’ve done a survey — and the superlatives come thick and fast.”
“Walter The Ripper” Doesn’t Have Quite The Same Ring To It
Novelist Patricia Cornwell knows who Jack the Ripper was. Or she says she does. Others may disagree, (‘others’ being defined in this case as ‘every criminologist in the UK,’) but Cornwell insists that British painter Walter Sickert can be conclusively linked to the notorious killing spree in late-19th century London through letters and other written material previously dismissed as hoaxes.