Today, “it’s the bearers of culture rather than the wielders of power who are taxed with elitism. If the term is applied to powerful people, this is strictly for cultural reasons, as the different reputations of the identically powerful Obama and Bush attest.”
Tag: 01.13.11
Can Hong Kong Handle Merce?
“This weekend the Grand Theatre at Hong Kong’s Cultural Centre will host the last performances in Asia by the storied Merce Cunningham Dance Company, preparing to dissolve after 58 years. But the significance of these final shows seems lost on Hong Kong.”
Brisbane’s Art Galleries Cope With Floods
“Floods in the Queensland capital of Brisbane have surrounded the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, damaging front of house areas but leaving works of art unscathed. As floodwaters rose, staff at the QAG moved exhibitions … to higher levels.”
Choreographer Tim Rushton Left Britain for His Dance Utopia
“For the past 10 years, [he] has been artistic director of the Danish Dance Theatre, now one of the leading contemporary companies in Scandinavia and very much his baby. … [He] has found liberation in the smaller, less ‘suffocating’ world of Danish dance.”
Thou Shalt Not Use Two Spaces After a Period. Period.
In a rant that has drawn more than 1800 reader comments (so far), Farhad Manjoo declares that putting two spaces after the end of a sentence “is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong” – despite the fact that “two-spacers are everywhere, their ugly error crossing every social boundary of class, education, and taste.”
Gene Smith, Rescuer of Tibetan Literature, Dead at 74
In the chaos of the 1959 Tibetan uprising and China’s harsh response, untold amounts of Tibet’s old literature were destroyed or scattered. “Over five decades, Mr. Smith made it his business to put Tibetan literature back together. He did it more or less single-handedly.”
On Britain’s Arts Funding Cuts: It’s Not a Bright New Day of Philanthropy
“[By] largely diverting taxpayers’ money away from the arts, in favour of its replacement by this putative largesse from grateful, recently unburdened multi-millionaires, the final outcome of this policy is a shift from the arts being something of which we as a country could be proud, to something for which we-as-arts-goers must thank some rich people.”
Re-Imagining the Classic Yellow Taxicab (A Few Modest Proposals)
New York City is in the final stage of its current “Taxi for Tomorrow” competition. Former Honda research and development staffer and current “conjurer of ‘ludicrous’ ideas” Steven M. Johnson offers nine proposals – “some pragmatic, some dystopic, others clearly silly” – for the next-generation yellow cab.
Exorcising the Bad Vibes in Foreclosed Houses
“The foreclosure crisis has helped resurrect an ancient tradition: the house cleansing. Buyers … are turning to witches, psychics, priests and feng shui consultants, among others, to bless or exorcise dwellings. Sellers, too, are adopting the trend to help move a property stuck on the market.”
The Endangered Enlightenment Virtue: Disinterestedness
“One finds the word frequently in private letters, public newspapers, and on crooked headstones in churchyards from the period. To judge without prejudice, to observe without inclination, to weigh the ‘facts’ (another 18th century word) without placing a thumb on the scale – this was a measure of greatness.”