Eccentric Englishman Eadweard Muybridge discovered the photographic system that would revolutionize scientific understanding and the process for naturalist art. Was this dedicated craftsmen “a mad scientist, promoting his lab experiments as photographic art? Or was he an artistic opportunist, using science to gratify his flair for fantasy?” – Civilization
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NEENER NEENER – A LABEL BY ANY OTHER NAME
Deconstructing a new name for art on the internet. Does it fit? – Feed
CELLISTS UNITE
- More than 600 cellists from 45 countries, including Yo-Yo Ma and Janos Starker, got together last weekend in Maryland for the third annual World Cello Congress. The multiethnic, multigenerational festival stressed one message over others: that the cello is “the mating call of the orchestra.” – NPR [Real Audio file]
ON-THE-JOB TRAINING
Bobby McFerrin is a “deeply talented” artist. But can he conduct? Why not – This week he led the Baltimore Symphony in a performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. “In short, McFerrin is learning to conduct on the job. With curiosity and perseverance and many years of experience, he might well develop into an interesting conductor. Right now he’s granted access to major orchestras not for his musical insights but because he fills the seats.” – Washington Post
BRAHMS AND THE PLAYMATE
Classical music recording companies may be dumping the big established stars, but they have room for Linda Brava, a Playboy Playmate and moderately talented violinist. She’s being promoted by EMI Classics, no less. “Recording companies are no longer satisfied with a decent return on an investment that may take several years to realize. They want profits, they want them big, they want them now.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR ARTS FUNDING
As do most ex-chairpeople of the National Endowment for the Arts, Jane Alexander has written a book about her experience running the American public arts funder. “From her coy pose on the cover, to the last desperate Shakespeare quotation, Jane Alexander has…produced a stunning argument for saving trees. This account of her tenure as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 1993 to 1997, unfortunately reads like a high school student’s account of a summer abroad. – The Idler
THE “F” WORD
Artists at the Spoleto Festival address the issue of flying the Confederate flag on state buildings in South Carolina. The festival has felt a tourism boycott over the issue. – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
GST JITTERS
Sydney’s cultural institutions are bracing themselves for a projected drop in attendance when Australia’s GST (Goods and Services Tax) goes into effect July 1st. The Sydney Theatre Company and Symphony Orchestra plan to raise ticket prices 10 percent and fear the new tax will have the same adverse impact on sales that Britain’s VAT did when introduced in the 1970s. – Sydney Morning Herald
EAST AFRICAN ART FOR 200
What Ugandan city is the birthplace East Africa’s modern art movement? To what neighboring city did Ugandan artists flee during the political unrest of the 1970’s? What year was the first academy established for the study of modern art? Check your answers here. – Legacy (Africa)
BROADWAY REDISCOVERS DANCE
There was a time there, during the mega-musical era when Broadway seemed to forget what it was like to dance. Now most of the best musicals are energized by movement as the street remembers how much fun it is to dance. – The Times (UK)