Category: Issues

There’s a backlash against everything else – why not irony too? But it’s hardly likely. “If irony isn’t literally wired into the human brain, it seems an inevitable response to the human condition.” Newsweek

Enormous storms that have swept across Europe in the past week have damaged French monuments to the tune of $90 million. CBC

London will see an unprecedented new array of lottery-funded arts buildings built in the new year. Prepare to be transformed. London Telegraph

EToys, the online toy retailer sued Etoy, the European conceptual artist group to get the latter to stop using its name. Even though the artists got to cyberspace first. Now EToys offers to drop its trademark infringement suit.  New York Times

• And: NOT OVER YET: EToy artists not ready to accept terms.  Wired 12/30/99

Pretending to know is a ticket to nowhere. Knowing you don’t know is a good thing, a creative and freeing thing. A company that teaches the creativity in knowing you don’t know. Financial Times

Artswire looks at a year of arts events and news. Artswire Current

This year’s Kennedy Center Honors telecast (to be broadcast tonight) is so puffed up with itself, it borders on self parody. The show’s creaky format has outlived the honors bestowed. Washington Post 12/29/99 

• And: Too much flash, too little substance. Los Angeles Times 12/29/99
• And: The variety show is dead. Detroit News 12/29/99

Richard Branson is considering trying to buy London’s Millennium Dome when 2000 celebrations are done. Variety

In a decade when Singapore has congratulated itself on the flourishing of its arts, times haven’t been so good for those artists who dared say unpopular things. Singapore Straits Times

Jesse Ventura explains his position on the arts in an upcoming March Playboy mag interview sequel: The government shouldn’t be funding arts. “if a person wants to be an artist and is struggling financially, then they should support themselves by waiting tables. If you’re going to ask the government to subsidize artists, then you might as well subsidize stock car racers, too,” he adds. New York Daily News