For a new BBC TV series of the complete organ works of JS Bach, the producers asked artist Damien Hirst to create the opening titles. And what did he come up with? “A cloud of bees, like musical notes risen from the score, circles and hovers before settling like a thick black and gold wig on a bust of the composer JS Bach.”
Tag: 06.23.03
Chicago Philanthropy Down
A survey of Chicago foundations reveals that their giving will decline this year. “The survey indicates an average decline in grantmakers’ assets of 15 percent in the most recent fiscal year. But requests for money from non-profits showed no letup. According to the survey, donors are responding by awarding fewer grants, but of somewhat larger amounts. They also are giving more toward general operating expenses, rather than specific programs of non-profits, allowing the groups more flexibility in the use of the funds.”
Hipper Than Thou
“Bang on a Can is a loose association of self-consciously edgy composers and performers whose stated aim is to write music “too funky for the academy and too structured for the club scene.” They speak of their formative years this way: “We had the simplicity, energy and drive of pop music in our ears-we’d heard it from the cradle. But we also had the idea from our classical music training that composing was exalted.” This too-neat division of labor-funky fun on one side, serious structure on the other-threatens to repeat the mistake of Paris in the twenties. It undersells both the wildness of composition and the wiliness of pop. Try telling James Brown that his music isn’t structured.”
Hiro’s Light
Hiro Yamagata is one of the most commercially successful artists alive today. “His work, much of which is sold at shopping malls, generates an estimated $4 billion in sales a year.” Now he’s covered two building-size cubes on the Yokohama waterfront with mylar, shooting light into them to make them shimmer and pulse with color.
British Art Sales Down Since 9/11
Sales by the 400 leading British art and antiques dealers declined by almost 10 per cent in 2001-02. Dealers blame the downturn on the aftereffects of 9/11.
Stolen Schiele Painting Sold
A rare Egon Schiele painting that had been stolen by the Nazis has been sold at auction in London. “An anonymous telephone bidder who made the highest offer for the Schiele will pay more than £12.66 million once the buyer’s premium is included – a record auction sale for the artist and the most expensive restituted impressionist work ever sold at an auction.”
Baryshnikov: Still Dancing After All These Years
“At 55, Mikhail Baryshnikov plies his trade with wonder, grace and more than a touch of genius. He is not so much fighting the effect of time as he is miraculously making time his ally: The man looks almost as beautiful now as he did a generation ago, and his charisma grows with the passing decades. No one holds the stage with as much ease and command.”
Supreme Court Sanctions Porn Filters On Library Computers
The US Supreme Court has ruled that Congress can force public libraries to install and use porn filters on library computers. “Congress passed the law, the Children’s Internet Protection Act, in 2000, but it did not take effect pending the legal challenge by public libraries and civil liberties groups, which argued that any filter also inadvertently blocks access to other, noncontroversial sites, as some studies have shown. But in a 6-3 ruling, the court said the law did not violate the First Amendment guaranteeing free speech because libraries will have the capability to disable the filters for any adult patron who may ask.”
Classic Oprah – Anything Wrong With This Picture?
Oprah’s back with a book club – this time with classic literature…a little Steinbeck to start. “So what could be wrong with this? Thousands of readers will come to know a good book they might otherwise not have read. And, of course, ‘East of Eden,’ a best seller in its day, will come out of the experience no worse for wear. Maybe nothing is wrong with this. Maybe taking shots at Oprah for “inviting” Steinbeck to her talk show will, in the end, be exposed as just grumpy elitism. Or maybe something about ‘East of Eden,’ repackaged in an eye-catching Oprah Edition for the occasion, is in danger of being quietly lost in what could transpire in coming shows.”
Shakespeare’s Life – A Made-For-TV-Movie
“Amazingly, while Shakespeare’s plays have been regularly shown on television and there have been dramas and documentaries speculating on their authorship, there has never been a full-blown television biography of the national icon. Perhaps it is not so surprising, because so little is actually known about his life, particularly the early years. When Michael Wood first posited the idea, one TV executive sniffed that it would be rather dull as you would only be able to film in Stratford-upon-Avon and at the Globe, while an eminent history scholar pointed out that it was going to have to be a very short series given the paucity of solid facts known about Shakespeare’s life.”