“A ‘treasure trove’ of more than 60,000 19th Century books is being made available by the British Library in a new iPad application. The paid-for app will be launched in full this summer, but until then a thousand titles can be browsed for free.”
Tag: 06.07.11
Harry Bernstein, Author Who Gained Fame At 96, Dead At 101
“In The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers, Mr. Bernstein described a childhood defined by grinding poverty and the unspoken divide separating Jews and Christians living on opposite sides of the same working-class street.” The book brought the nonagenarian a measure of fame, as did his next two volumes of memoirs.
Dodging China’s Censors With Chinese Puns
Kenneth “Tin-Kin” Hung’s “garish and busy large paintings feature images of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and other Chinese leaders juxtaposed with icons of Western culture, such as Marilyn Monroe and the Mario Brothers (of Nintendo fame). … [But] most Western viewers will fail to understand some of the games the artist is playing. His work depends heavily on Chinese puns about internet censorship.”
Are Unions To Blame For The Arts’ Economic Woes?
“The key issue is: why has revenue fallen so far for so many arts organizations? It is not the fault of union members that we are selling fewer tickets or raising less funds.”
Ken Burns’s Civil War: A History Professor’s Lament
“I listen to students tell me how much they love the film with a certain measure of dread. … Watching the film, you might easily forget that one side was not fighting for, but against the very things that Burns claims the war so gloriously achieved.”
The Inspiration Of Dance (Another Day, Another Movement)
“It comes along when it comes along. In the meantime you have to be in there, trying a bit of this and a bit of that, and staying with all those semi-moments, all those ho-hum kinda moments, trying something else and doing it over, and working, but also waiting. You have to keep yourself available, keep the work available, and work up to those whamo times, then with them, also after them, till the next, till the whole thing takes off, tells you it is.”
The Need To Help Ai Weiwei
“A curator’s signature on an online petition is not enough. The great museums should publicise China’s detainee via their sites.”
LA Street Art Show Illustrates Conflicts In The Form
An artist famed for his illegal work is invited to show at a museum but subsequently arrested for his artistic endeavours. The police clampdown “became almost like a carnival game, like shooting fish in a barrel”, according to Monica LoCascio, author of the Stickers street art books and arts editor of Paper magazine online.
Music Wants To Be Free (Or Does It?)
“One of the quandaries faced by today’s composers that seemed simpler a generation or two ago is how to distribute our scores. Previously, the established publishers were the only viable method for ensuring that our music reached interested parties and for producing beautifully engraved scores. Now, music notation software allows anyone to create scores that rival professionally typeset ones in their aesthetic appeal.”
A Venturesome Music Festival Rebuilds Its Home (In Traditional Fashion)
“Because music in performance is ephemeral and architecture is permanent and immovable, is it easier to build a public constituency for a risk-taking music festival than for an experimental building? Is challenging music somehow less threatening than challenging architecture?”