It may be last year’s news, but the defunct Enron Corporation is still trying to pay off its accumulated debt, mainly through asset liquidation, and the company’s art colection is the latest asset to hit the block. When it was acquiring the collection, Enron hoped to eventually be the caretaker of an eye-popping collection of important contemporary art, but the open disdain of auction attendees would suggest that Enron’s taste in art was as flawed as its bookkeeping.
Tag: 05.16.03
A Museum Worthy Of Its Name
Washington, D.C.’s new City Museum is an exciting addition to a city which too often seems hesitant to admit that it is a city, says Benjamin Forgey. “Splendidly tucked into the old central library, a century-old Beaux-Arts building in Mount Vernon Square, the new institution is a museum with an attitude. Washington is a capital city, the familiar saying goes, and the emphasis here falls definitively on the city side of that equation. It’s a healthy shift of emphasis. The functional and symbolic monuments of the nation’s capital do, after all, get plenty of attention. The city itself deserves a space to call its own.”
Glitter, Glamour, and Glitch
“The excitement of attending the Cannes film festival fizzles quickly when you discover that you’ve landed in the midst of a general strike — in France, where anarchist endeavours are something of a national pastime.” Trains are delayed or cancelled altogether, nothing seems to happen on time, and even getting to Cannes becomes a major endeavor in the face of the labor strife currently ongoing. Still, Cannes is Cannes, and most of the glitterati are finding a way to make the best of the situation.
Strange Bedfellows
As the FCC continues steamrolling towards what now seems to be an almost inevitable loosening of the rules governing media ownership, a bizarre coalition of opponents has come together to agitate for the necessity of diverse media voices. Perhaps the most unexpected participant in the organized opposition is the National Rifle Association, which is concerned that its message will go unheard in a media world dominated by a few large conglomerates. In joining the masses of artists, liberals, and media critics who oppose the changes, the NRA is taking a bit of a political risk, since the Republican politicians proposing the changes are frequently the gun lobby’s most reliable supporters.
New Names, New Responsibilities
The L.A. Opera is hoping that a few changes in title will spark renewed enthusiasm among its staff and patrons, even without anything much changing in the way of personnel. Placido Domingo, who has been top dog at the company for several years, will now be the ‘general director,’ and Kent Nagano goes from ‘principal conductor’ to ‘music director,’ a move designed to draw him closer to the day-to-day operations of the company. “In many respects, the [Domingo] promotion formalizes a shift in power that became apparent in late 2001, when the opera’s then-executive director, Ian White-Thomson — nominally Domingo’s equal in the company hierarchy — abruptly resigned, complaining that the tenor’s frequent travel made collaboration impossible.”
Domingo In Demand
On the same day that he accepted his new title as general director of the L.A. Opera, Placido Domingo was named to the same job with the Washington (D.C.) Opera, a company where he has been artistic director since 1996. But unlike L.A., no one in Washington seems entirely sure of what, if anything, the change in title will mean for Domingo or the company.
DeCordova Expansion Ambitious But Achievable
The Massachusetts-based DeCordova Museum is going ahead with plans for an ambitious $10 million expansion and renovation. The plans include a sculpture ‘zoo,’ a new visitors’ center, and loads of behind-the-scenes improvements designed to better protect and house the museum’s collection. The fund-raising will be a challenge, but the museum’s director insists that “ten million dollars is not really a lot of money,” and with no signs of imminent economic recovery nationally, the DeCordova’s decision underlines a feeling by many arts groups that forward progress can no longer be put on hold simply because conditions are less than perfect.
What Is Infrasound?
“The big brother of ultrasound, infrasound means frequencies too low to be heard by the human ear. Infrasound occurs naturally – from waves pounding shores, storms, earthquakes, meteors hitting the atmosphere. Longer pipes in church organs also create infrasound, which many believe gives the music a particular atmospheric power. Humans have a hearing range of roughly 20 to 20,000 Hz (the lowest note on a piano is around 33Hz). Sounds that fall below that threshold are not audible – but they are felt.” And musicians are learning to play with it.
Criticisms Of Aussie Arts Funding Increase
The Australian government has pledged an increase in arts spending of $19 million over the next four years. But some are disappointed. A report last year recommended a $9 million a year increase. And there are strings attached to the money that is offered. “The Federal Goverment’s pledge, which averages out to $4.75 million a year, falls a little short, and comes with strings attached – it is contingent on the states and territories matching the amount dollar for dollar.”
A Colony Of Their Own
The MacDowell Colony is one of about 100 artist colonies in the US that offer refuge for artists. “The 20 or 30 artists in residence at any given time gather each evening at Colony Hall, the large administrative building, for a family-style meal (served promptly at 6:30 p.m.) and informal activities such as pool and ping-pong. Other than breakfast, it’s the only time they are likely to see one another. The rest of the day the “colonists,” as the artists are called, scatter to some 30 studios that dot the rolling, wooded property. There they sculpt, paint, write, design, or compose. They don’t even have to account for how they spend their time.”