A spate of new British college buildings bring a refreshingly fashionable sense of style to academia. – The Telegraph (UK)
Category: visual
IS IT A TEAR? AN EGG? A UFO?
No, it’s Beijing’s spectacularly daring new French-designed theater complex. “But fears that foreign design will nevertheless raise cultural hackles are so pervasive that Peking has imposed a media blackout on the topic, even though demolition around the site has started.” – The Independent (UK)
THE ABC OF “SENSATION”ALISM
Australia’s National Gallery may have canceled a planned visit by the notorious “Sensation” show, but the Australian Broadcasting Corp. serves up another way to skin a cow in its new “This is Modern Art” series. – Sydney Morning Herald
NEW JEWISH MUSEUM —
— planned for San Francisco and designed by Daniel Libeskind is unveiled. – New York Times
FLAG OF CONVENIENCE
Irish artists have always felt ambivalent about London – the need to live there for career vs. resentment of the British omnipresence. The new generation of Irish artists working in London are finding national identity increasingly irrelevant. “Your nationality depends on who’s giving you the grant.” – Irish Times
THE ROCKWELL DEBATE
Was he artist or illustrator? Who cares, asks the Chicago Historical Society, on the eve of the opening of the blockbuster Rockwell show. The show was so popular in Atlanta they couldn’t get all the people in who wanted to see it. – Chicago Tribune
SWING LOW
New Paris footbridge across the Seine opens, then closes quickly after disconcerting swaying and “weird and wonderful” movement. – The Times (UK)
TRADE IN HORROR
Museums and exhibitions dedicated to the Holocaust have seen a growing commercialization in artifacts from the Holocaust. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
HERE A PLINTH, THERE A PLINTH…
Public statues are a guarantee to oblivion. Who pays any attention to them? “Who could have named any of the occupants of Trafalgar Square – apart from Nelson – before the Royal Society of Arts launched its campaign to fill the fourth plinth, which has remained empty since Charles Barry laid out the square in 1829?” – New Statesman
MONUMENTAL FAILURE
A Lyon opera house, built in 1993 by leading architect Jean Nouvel, had to close its doors and the company cancel its season after a rash of structural and mechanical failures in the building. This is the latest mishap in a pattern of failure afflicting celebrated modern French buildings. The Opéra Bastille, the Grande Arche de la Défense, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Conservatoire of music have all suffered collapses and dysfunctions costing millions to repair. – The Times (UK)