- London’s Globe Theater, a replica of the building where Shakespeare’s plays were first performed, announces a new exhibition, said to the be the largest ever dedicated to England’s greatest writer. The exhibit is expected to attract up to 400,000 visitors a year. Those visitors “will be able to compose their own sonnet with a quill, watch displays of swordplay and even join in a production through micro-camera technology.” – The Times of India (Reuters)
Blog
LACK OF BROADWAY DRAMAS —
— has some in the theater business lamenting the Disneyfication of Broadway and wondering if there’s a crisis in American theater. – CBC
LITERALISM —
— isn’t just for religious fundamentalists. The doctrine of literalism flourishes in a variety of American endeavors. – Chronicle of Higher Education
FROM PARIAH TO PIED PIPER
Frank Gehry’s droopy, wonderfully-weird Experience Music Project now nearing completion in Seattle is an experience in unconventional building techniques. He enabled the engineer to design 280 different, undulating steel ribs, without anyone writing down or calculating the geometry of a single one. And he’s inspired a technophobic building team to accomplish considerable engineering feats. “For high-flying architects, they are great to work with. You can’t say that about all architects,” says one contractor. – Engineering News-Record
WRITING TO IMPRESS
Great ideas don’t necessarily translate into great writing. But obscure writing shouldn’t fool anyone into thinking obscurity translates into profundity. And yet that’s the kind of writing some of today’s philosophers seem to want to hide behind. – Prospect
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND
The United Nations headquarters complex is falling down. The 50-year-old buildings currently feature leaking roofs, crumbling walls, and failing HVAC. The U.N.’s immunity from New York City building codes means asbestos remains throughout, there are no sprinklers, and wheelchair access is poor. According to The New York Times, saving the property could cost $800 million. The solution? An island getaway. – Architecture Magazine
THE OLD NEW THING
Sure the dance critic’s getting old, but “the really strange thing about contemporary avant-garde art is that most of it could have been created at any time since the twenties. Yet actually in the twenties, avant-garde artists were doing things that had really never been done before.” – Dance Magazine
DISC-DANCING
CD-ROM and some inexpensive equipment is changing the way choreographers create their work. And how their work gets chosen for performance. – Dance Magazine (first item)
PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES
A Scottish engineer says we’re only just learning what glass can do as a building material. He envisions skyscrapers built entirely of glass. So why are so many critics skeptical? – Metropolis Magazine
PORTRAIT OF INDIA
How paintings have defined the identity of a nation. – Art India