With tough economic times, what art is selling? Surprise – contemporary art is hottest. “The Zurich-Art Market Research Art and Antiques Index reveals that contemporary art has been by far the best performer, with prices for a sample group of artists increasing by 126 per cent since 1995 and by 26 per cent during the past year.”
Tag: 02.17.03
Mutant Gene Responsible For Human Creativity?
Some researchers say population increase triggered creativity. But an anthropologist says human creativity is the result of a mutant gene. “There was a biological change, a genetic mutation of some kind that promoted the fully modern ability to create and innovate. When you look at the archaeological record before 50,000 years ago, it is remarkably homogeneous. There are no geographically delineated groups of artefacts. Suddenly, modern-looking people began to behave in a modern way, producing art and jewellery… manufacturing styles and different cultures.”
Founders Of Modern Drama (Even Though They Didn’t Like Each Other)
“It is tempting to see Ibsen and Strindberg as inherently antithetical. On the one hand, Ibsen: sane, progressive, rational, formal. On the other, Strindberg: neurotic, reactionary, religious, fragmented. Ibsen’s characters think and speak logically and consecutively: Strindberg’s dart backwards and forwards. They do not think, or speak, ABCDE but AQBZC. ‘I see the two men as violent, necessary opposites, who between them laid the foundations of modern drama’.”
Melbourne May Lose Fair
The 15-year-old Melbourne Art Fair, one of Australia’s largest and most successful showcases of contemporary art, is in danger of being cancelled due to lack of funds. The problem is partly one of perception: the fair’s wild success over the past decade is seen as proof by many that it no longer requires public funding, but the truth is that the fair’s budget is quite tight, and disruptions to regular revenue streams could prove deadly. Such a disruption is currently underway in the form of an impasse on the city council, which has chosen not to make its usual contribution to the event.
Muschamp Uncensored
New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp has been one of the loudest voices in the debate over what should fill the huge space currently known as Ground Zero. But now, some observers are charging Muschamp with promoting the designs of architects to whom he has close ties. “Critics love to provoke, of course, but with the Ground Zero discussion down to a pair of finalists chosen by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, another question is being asked: Is Mr. Muschamp—long a lightning rod for criticism—getting too cozy with his advocacy? Some within the architectural community think so.”