“Architects are living in one of those all-too-brief moments in which the world seems to be swimming with fat wallets — cities, Middle Eastern oil states, capitalist dictatorships — with the means and the egos to indulge in fantastical visions.Not in Britain, naturally. We prefer to get our visionary fantasies in the sale aisle at Matalan. No, it’s in China, of course, and Dubai, but also in culturally adventurous continental Europe, and even in the once architecturally cautious America, that experimentation is flourishing.”
Tag: 06.07.06
Borders Cuts Staff
“Borders Group has eliminated 90 positions, approximately 6% of its corporate workforce. No store positions were cut, but reductions were made “across the board” at the company’s Ann Arbor headquarters.”
Australians To Investigate Aboriginal Art Biz
The Australian government is launching an investigation into the business practices of selling Aboriginal art. “Once a $750,000 business in 1971, aboriginal art is now reputed to bring in at least $149 million. But many well-known aboriginal artists continue to live in third world conditions in remote communities, sometimes paid with a crate of beer or a used four-wheel drive, while their representatives are seen driving brand new Rolls Royces in downtown Sydney.”
For-Profit Arts Center Dumps Theatre
Seattle’s Capitol Hill Arts Center has sidestepped the traditional non-profit model to be a for-profit operation. But audiences haven’t shown up for the center’s theatre offerings, so CHAC is shutting them down. “Everything [we do] is really successful, except the theater season. If what we do is so important to the community, they have to come out. If the Seattle audience doesn’t recognize Seattle value, the value will have to migrate elsewhere.”
Congress Boosts Indecency Fines
The US Congress has hiked fines for “indecency” on TV networks. “The bill raising fines to $325,000 per violation, which Bush said he would sign, caps fines at $3 million for continuing violations. The U.S. House of Representatives approved the measure by a 379 to 35 vote on Wednesday, while the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent last month.”
Documenting Broadway In An Hour
“Some 400 filmmakers spread out simultaneously along the thoroughfare for one hour Tuesday to capture every block of Broadway, which runs almost the entire length of Manhattan and a section of the Bronx.”
A Controversial New Business Model For Trading Music
A new website “allows fans to trade music discs for just $1 plus shipping, pledges to give a fifth of its sales to all the musicians, including lesser-known session studio players, involved in the making of CDs exchanged on its site. In a move that is certain to stoke controversy with music promoters, the founder of the Silicon Valley startup said la la will circumvent traditional copyright and royalty payment systems to compensate identifiable working musicians.”
The Digi-Book, 2.0
Techies are taking another shot at making a digital book that someone might want to read a book on. Alex Beam is skeptical…
Outlook For Culture…
We hear all the time about the arts being endangered. But maybe that’s not the reality… “Pop culture remains mass culture, of course, and people who consume entertainment with the help of electronics continue to outnumber those who prefer the real thing. But the doomsayers who expected the arts to be swept away in the “digital tsunami” of the past decade, as it’s been called, turn out to have been gratifyingly off the mark.”
US Congress About To Pass Supercharged “Indecency” Fines
The US House of Representatives is debating a bill that “would boost the top fines that the Federal Communications Commission could impose on broadcasters from the current $32,500 to $325,000 for each violation. A vote was scheduled for this afternoon. The legislation, expected to be signed by President Bush, is another outgrowth of Janet Jackson’s breast-revealing incident at the Super Bowl that has made the FCC more aggressive in cracking down on indecent and obscene material on TV and radio airwaves and in turn has prompted broadcasters to be more cautious in the material they air.”