The plan for the latest version of his project titled Ascension “was to rig the historic Basilica di San Giorgio to create a column of smoke, or shaft of light, that appears to rise from a central well of his own design and ascend all the way to the vaulted ceiling. But by the time the piece opened last night for the crowds, it looked more like a wisp of steam escaping from a pot of pasta.”
Tag: 06.01.11
Sarcasm Boosts Creativity? (Yeah, Right)
“Although it’s frowned upon in business school, some managers think of anger as a motivational tool. … Newly published research from Israel suggests this blow-your-stack strategy can produce the desired results – but only when workers are performing relatively simple tasks. If their job requires creative problem-solving, the catalyst you crave may be caustic contempt.”
Met Museum To Sell $50 Admission Tickets
“The Metropolitan Museum of Art said Tuesday that its Alexander McQueen show, which it recently extended by a week to accommodate the overflow crowds, will be opened during special viewing hours on Mondays, when the Met is usually closed, for patrons willing to buy $50 tickets.”
Sixty Years Later, Canada Struggles To Project Its Cultural Identity
“While Canada has done well to build the institutions that promote and support our culture, there is a growing gap between what those institutions represent and what is actually filtering down to younger generations. We see this anecdotally and in polling data all the time.”
The Twitterfication Of James Joyce
“On June 16, the anniversary of the single day in 1904 on which the entire story of Ulysses unfolds, there will be a concerted attempt to recast the novel on Twitter. Ninety-six fans are busy reinterpreting and translating 96 chunks of the novel into 140 character tweets, which will be posted every 15 minutes.”
The Art Of Being James Levine (Even In Decline)
“Unlike high-concept conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, the interpretively less obtrusive Levine emerges as someone who doesn’t conjure music, as many conductors would like us to believe, but releases it by allowing everyone around him to operate with an ease and comfort.”
A New Tenant To Replace NY City Opera – The New York Philharmonic?
“The New York Philharmonic is exploring the temporary occupancy of the David H. Koch Theater as part of a long-term plan to renovate its home, Avery Fisher Hall, according to a person familiar with the matter.”
A Defunct Victorian Textile Mill – The Ideal Place To Stage Dickens?
Murray’s Mills in Manchester – “littered with the odd bit of old machinery, broken wheels and great textile hampers” – will be “the venue for what promises to be a memorable stage adaptation of Charles Dickens’s grim industrial novel Hard Times.”