“Gap founder Donald Fisher and his family have decided to abandon their efforts to build a contemporary art museum at the Main Post of San Francisco’s Presidio…. The question now is whether the Fishers will invest additional time and money on a local proposal, trusting the word of critics who have said they would like to see the renowned collection stay in the city as long as a museum was built at a less sensitive location.”
Tag: 07.02.09
Not All $$$ News Is Bad: Ten L.A. Artists Get $20K Grants
“Forget the recession for a minute. The California Community Foundation, in partnership with the Getty Trust, is still doling out money to Los Angeles County’s visual artists. In this year’s round of fellowships, to be announced today, 10 mid-career artists will receive $20,000 apiece and four emerging figures will each get $15,000.”
Surge In Private Commissions Enlivens Concert Repertoire
“[S]mall-scale commissions by individuals are becoming increasingly popular as new types of networks link composers with potential patrons. While many of these commissions arise out of private occasions, the resulting music is set to revitalize the concert repertoire for generations to come.”
Thomas Jefferson, A Young Nation’s First Violinist
Music was Thomas Jefferson’s “particular delight, ‘an enjoyment, the deprivation of which . . . cannot be calculated,’ he declared in 1785. From early boyhood, he pursued this ‘passion of my soul,’ studying the violin with a teacher in Williamsburg, Va. By the time he matriculated at the College of William and Mary in 1760, his playing was so fluent that he was invited for weekly chamber music gatherings with the royal governor of Virginia.”
Auctions Aren’t Always The Best Way To Deaccession
Daniel Grant: “In most cases, museums prefer going to auction. Whatever criticism these institutions receive for selling objects only increases if they don’t do it that way.” But that doesn’t mean auctions are the smartest choice. “The method of disposing of deaccessioned objects needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and museum directors fearful of public criticism might want to broaden their outlook.”
Does Facebook Activism Translate Into Real-World Action?
“[W]hether our virtual virtuousness will result in real-world action is unpredictable, and has as much to do with human nature as it does with amassing enough numbers. This is the problem with activism born of social networking sites. … Do our Facebook groups — which are today often treated as the official barometer for a cause’s importance; more members must signify more gravitas — ever translate into significant change?”
‘Floating In Space’ On A Glass Ledge Atop The Sears Tower
“It’s a glass ledge, 1 1/2 inches thick and poking out about four feet from the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower. There is no frame under the floor, only air — 1,353 feet of it, straight down to the miniature taxis on Wacker Drive.” The trick to it “is an intriguing feat of engineering, a team of designers and builders said Wednesday, swearing on a stack of liability policies as they unveiled the project. “
Salinger Wins Preliminary Injunction Vs. Swedish Author
“In a victory for the reclusive writer J. D. Salinger, a federal judge on Wednesday indefinitely banned publication in the United States of a new book by a Swedish author that contains a 76-year-old version of Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of ‘The Catcher in the Rye.’ … While the case could still go to trial, [the] ruling means that [Fredrik] Colting’s book cannot be published in the United States pending the resolution of the litigation, which could drag on for months or years.”
The New-And-Improved Alice Tully Hall? Not Everyone Is So Impressed
Allan Kozinn: “I hate the new Tully Hall. To me it is everything Lincoln Center and its enthusiasts insist it is not. I find it corporate, sterile, claustrophobic and as acoustically arid a hall as I’ve ever heard. Similarly, everything now being said about the old Tully rings false to me.”