“Public culture long ago became synonymous with public acrimony. The direct negotiation over meaning and value that occurs between patron and artist, or buyer and seller, never happens when art is displayed by a patron state as an act of general cultural “uplift.” Instead, the cultural becomes political, and the less meaning a work has — “art that does not offend anyone” — the better for the state.”
Tag: 05.04.04
Neville Marriner At 80
“Sir Neville Marriner, who has just turned 80, has made more than 600 recordings of 2,000 musical works, a greater legacy than any maestro except Herbert von Karajan (whose 900-odd stack contains much repetition). But where Karajan was a global media player with something going in every metropolis, Marriner played in the second fiddles of the London Symphony Orchestra and gave maestros a hard time. He was one of the lads and by no means the quietest.”
Wright: Great Poetry Requires Great Readers
Pulitzer-winning poet Franz Wright on poetry in America: “Devoted and discerning readers with a genuine love of poetry will find, in this country, an astonishing wealth of wonderful poetry being written and freely offered—it is one of the finest things about the United States, though I’m afraid far too few people have the skill, patience, or the opportunity to benefit from it. I am always haunted by Walt Whitman’s remark to the effect that there will be no great poets without great readers. And there is, of course, a considerable audience for all this and always has been—there is a longing for poetry that can never be eradicated by the more glaring, consumer-oriented forms of popular culture; that’s pretty obvious.”
Historic Homes As Theme Parks
“Until now, most of the America’s 3,000 or so historic-home museums have resisted opening pop-culture exhibits and renting out galleries for corporate dinners – even as prestigious art museums have done just that. But sharp state budget cuts, stiff competition from more modern attractions and the overall tourism slide have left many of the homes with little choice. Just in time for the summer tourist rush – and to the dismay of purists – historic homes from California’s Hearst Castle to Virginia’s Mount Vernon are rolling out Broadway-style productions, opening fast-food outlets and courting party planners to combat a steep drop in financing and plummeting attendance.”
Why Are So Many Dancers Quitting The Royal Winnipeg?
Nine of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s 26 dancers are leaving the company? Why the exodus? According to two of the dancers, “the ballet company is not being challenged creatively — and they say that’s the fault of artistic director André Lewis.” Lewis has put the company on solid financial footing, but there is grumbling about his artistic choices.
Fire Destroys Southern California Arts Colony
A Southern California fire Sunday night destroyed Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, founded in 1979 in the foothills of Palomar Mountain. “The fire destroyed valuable antiques once owned by the colony’s late founders Ellen and Robert Dorland, including a Steinway grand piano believed to have been played by renowned Russian pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff.”
I’ll Take Three Memories To Go…
The human mind is a mysterious thing. Or is it? “Memory-improving and memory-deleting medicines may be available within five to 10 years. More than 40 drugs aimed at improving memory are currently going through clinical trials with the US Food and Drug Administration.” Will there come a day when what we remember is the product of our own science?
Brooklyn Museum’s New Face
The Brooklyn Museum is projecting a new face to the world. “Arnold L. Lehman, the museum’s waggish, enterprising director, is emphatic about wanting to ‘open the museum up.’ He’s trying to make it more like a town square than a temple. This sounds beneficent. But remember, nowadays everywhere you go is like a town square; a museum has the singular, sometimes transporting virtue of being a place where you can leave the group and immerse yourself in the richness and mystery of the group mind. Nevertheless, to those who might think his ideas are faulty, Lehman bluntly replies, ‘I don’t care.’ Under his leadership, the museum has increased attendance and reinstalled the collection in showily painted spaces. Sometimes the results are illuminating, other times infuriating.”
The Iraq Musem – One Year Later
“One year after looters stole some of its most prized antiquities, the Iraq (news – web sites) Museum in Baghdad is undergoing a top-to-bottom restoration that its leaders hope will make it one of the premier museums and research centers in the world. The project is being funded by donations from around the world and is not likely to be completed for at least two years.”
Monster Mashup (Taking The Mashup Challenge)
“For some time, DJs – at first in England and later in the United States and other countries – have been developing a new style of remix, known as mashups, in which two songs are melded together. Often, the resulting track features the melody of one song and the vocals of another. Until recently, mashups had been the province of underground DJs, in part because those doing the remixing hardly ever had permission from the original artists to do so.” But now, David Bowie has issued a mashup challenge…