“Claude Nobs … was injured on Christmas Eve after he ‘fell while practising cross-country skiing’ near his home in the village of Caux in Switzerland, festival organisers said on Monday. He has undergone surgery but remains unconscious.”
Tag: 01.07.12
Considering Bar Codes And QR Codes As Design
“What effect does the bar code have? Everything about those black-and-white lines screams order, precision and efficiency. … Conversely, there is nothing orderly, efficient or precise about a QR code, not in its appearance, at least. Even the neatest (and I use the word relatively) of those mosaic ciphers look like uncontrollable explosions of toxic bacterial spores.”
In Its Arts Boom, Is Qatar Forgetting Its Own Arts And Artists?
“[The] rapid building of museums, invitations to big-name artists and purchases of major Western artworks have, some in the art world say, overshadowed the sovereign state’s grassroots intention: to explore its cultural heritage, nomadic history and develop deeper bonds with the Middle East and beyond.”
Fisk Univ.-Crystal Bridges Art Deal In Jeopardy Again
“An appeals court upheld Fisk University’s right to sell a $30 million share in its famed Stieglitz art collection to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark. But Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper, who opposes the collection leaving Tennessee, has a Jan. 28 deadline to challenge that ruling.”
Omus Hirshbein, Classical Music Impresario, Dead At 77
A co-founder of the New York Chamber Symphony and (briefly) a top official at the US National Endowment for the Arts, Hirshbein is best remembered for reviving the concert series at Manhattan’s 92nd Street Y and turning it into a major force in New York’s cultural life.
Vermeer, Or At Least His Women, Bring In The Patrons In Record Numbers
A small show in Cambridge, U.K., has been drawing record numbers to the Fitzwilliam Museum. “The exhibition’s success is nothing if not testimony to the almost cult appeal of this master of so few paintings, most on a small scale.”
In Your Face, E-Books! Hardback Design Steps It Up
“Not since the palmy days of late-Victorian publishing has so much care and attention been lavished on the hardback. Go into any bookshop now and you will find piles of brand-new hardbacks sporting coloured endpapers, scarlet silk bookmarks, heavy, deckle-edged paper and elaborate laminated boards.”
Sisters’ Chat Leads To Ballet San José’s Liaison With American Ballet Theatre – And A Lot Of Drama
“Jane Austen this isn’t, although the plotline is worthy of a novel or a ballet movie — Black Swan, maybe, on overdrive.”
Why Liberals Like ‘Downton Abbey’ – Think Wish Fulfillment
What could possibly interest liberal Americans in a costume drama about British nobility before the Great War? Start with the complex women. Plus, it reminds people of “West Wing.” Really.
Revolt! Anger! Joy! Confusion – How To Measure How We Respond To Public Art
Can reactions to public art be quantified – and indeed, should they be? “Some are of the opinion that even if significant time were spent on justifying public art’s existence by ‘proving’ its practical usefulness, this would still be a losing battle that could lead to the withdrawal of support for public art, the production of bad art that panders merely to public needs, or both. “