Margaret Atwood ponders the worlds of arts and science: “A lot of people are funny: they think there’s more money in science than in art, and they are right. It’s absolutely true. The catch is that what drives us is not our rational brain but our whole human arsenal of emotions and thought. And our only way of understanding that is through the arts.”
Tag: 04.01.04
Billion-Dollar Suit Filed To Recover Nazi-Looted Art
An American lawyer is suing for $1 billion to recover art looted by the Nazis. “The suit, brought by a new group calling itself the Association of Holocaust Victims for the Restitution of Artwork and Masterpieces, calls on two leading Austrian banks, the Austrian government and Sotheby’s auction house to return paintings and other works allegedly sold without the permission of their original Jewish owners. ‘Not one painting has been restored — not one,’ Edward Fagan said, contending the missing artworks include paintings by Monet, Cezanne, Delacroix and other Impressionist masters. ‘These victims are suing to recover their property’.”
Lebrecht: Why American Arts Journalism Is So Bad
Norman Lebracht doesn’t think much of American arts journalism. “The failure to challenge is a fundamental flaw in US arts journalism. The tone in US arts coverage is uniformly respectful, uninquiring, inherently supportive.” And how did this happen? Because there are few cities with multiple critical voices. “This monopoly places an unhealthy burden on critics. If theirs is to be the only voice to pronounce on a new show or the fate of an institution, they are obliged to wear a mantle of responsibility that is antithetical to good journalism. A critic is licensed to get it wrong from time to time. Restrict that license and the reviews grow safe and solemn. An era of incorporation fostered a pontifical tone in American arts criticism.”
Cincy City Council Deletes Theatre Company From Grant
The Cincinnati city council has taken a theatre company’s name off a list of grants. Last summer the company staged a production of Terrence McNally’s “Corpus Christie.” No protesters appeared before City Council during recent discussions about the grant, but a local group — the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati — sent a mass e-mail entitled, ‘Cincinnati City Council Subsidizing Blasphemy.’ In the e-mail, CJC’s leader, Nathaniel Livingston Jr., wrote: ‘This is America, and everyone has a First Amendment right to free speech, even if the speech is offensive. There are, however, consequences to your actions. And there should be no reward for the producers of ‘Corpus Christi’.”
Media Pro Named To Head BBC
Michael Grade is to be named the BBC’s new chairman, replacing Greg Dyke. “Grade has immense media experience – having headed Channel 4 – and was among the favourites to take the job despite being viewed as a maverick.”
US Broadcasters Consider A Code Of Decency
Scared that the US government might draft rules about what constitutes obscene content, 350 broadcasters meet to discuss alternatives. One idea? An industry code that broadcasters could follow. “I believe the industry could come together and craft a new code, perfectly able to pass court muster, and one that would serve the needs of businesses as well as those of concerned families.”
Will Digital Save The Arthouse Film?
“A New York-based company is trying to take art-house movies to small cities around the country by relying on digital projection. The company, Emerging Pictures, has sent computer hard drives to theaters in five cities to coincide with the opening on April 1 of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C. The hard drives, which can be connected to inexpensive digital projectors, contain 10 digital films from the documentary festival.”
Authors Auction Naming Rights For Book Characters
For a fundraiser, leading British authors auctioned off the rights to name characters in their books. “Successful bidders at the third charity auction for victims of torture included a man who paid £1,000 to see his mother’s name appear in the next novel by the Irish writer Maeve Binchy. Another secured a role in books by two authors, bidding £950 for the children’s writer Philip Pullman and £240 for Sue Townsend, the creator of Adrian Mole.”
Cautious Recording Companies = Dull Music?
EMI is laying off workers, and recording companies are slashing their expenses. So is that really a bad thing? “The real risk with major record companies being in a position where they have to be cautious with their money is that they’ll play safe, and the way to play safe is to play pop. That’s the thing that many people overlook when they see the downloading as simply stealing music from rich companies. If those companies aren’t able to invest in long-term artists, they will just continue to churn out manufactured pop bands.”
Recording Industry – The Big Gouge?
The recording industry says suing downloaders has helped reduce piracy. And new legal download stores are thriving. “None of these actions has done anything to change the public’s view of the music industry as one that gouges its customers. One reason that the illegal sharing of music files online is still so widespread is that music-lovers know how little of the price of a compact disc goes on its manufacture, or to the artist. Musicians, too, are becoming fed up.”