“The train barreled into the station with the usual deafening roar; it was a big, ugly, gun-metal gray tube, but suddenly one of the cars jumped out at me. It was spray-painted in bright fluorescent colors with blocky letters, and to the side were images of cartoon characters. I stood gaping in awe. To that point, I had only experienced graffiti solely as vandalism, the messy scribbles that made the interiors of subway cars that much more drab. This was totally different; it was public art as mass transit.”
Tag: 07.21.09
The Addictiveness Of U.S. TV: Bet You Can’t Watch Just One
“American television series are more addictive than British ones, according to a poll of British viewers. … [B]y and large, they’re right. American series are more addictive. But that’s because, for commercial reasons, they have to be. American television bosses are much more ruthless than ours.”
Plummer Tempest? Stratford Eyes Toronto Co-Production
“The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has been in discussion with Toronto’s annual Luminato arts festival to bring The Tempest – starring Christopher Plummer – to the stage next year, a source close to the talks says. … At first glance, it might not make much sense for Stratford to cannibalize its own audience by staging a play in Toronto,” but the festival has been strapped for cash lately, and Luminato has plenty.
The City As Stage Set: Why We Still Crave Urban Centers
“The physical need to occupy a specific patch of earth has never been less important to one’s success. Everything we might acquire can be tracked down online; most culture we seek can be procured through a handheld device. … All this should signal a death knell to the traditional core. Instead – recession aside – marquee hubs such as San Francisco stand more desirable than ever.”
Pittsburgh Opera Aims To Have Green-Certified Home
“After redding up the George Westinghouse Air Brake factory in the Strip District for its new headquarters, the Pittsburgh Opera today will announce plans to ‘green’ its new home enough that it be considered for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Operations and Maintenance Certification.”
Connecting With Community Is Museums’ New Priority
“The graying of the traditional museum patron, the shifting global demographic mix, and the new cultural consumption habits of a younger generation are forcing most museums to make fundamental and not always comfortable changes – refashioning themselves from bastions of remote culture into social centers and community hubs.”
Is Philly’s Museum Landscape About To Get Too Crowded?
“Museums eat money. They need operating revenue, development funds, an endowment. They crave donors. They compete for visitors, which makes them hunger for blockbuster shows to keep attendance high. There’s concern that with so many big museums charging admission in a withering economy, some organizations will suffer.” Is the addition of two more museums in Philadelphia a good thing?
Fans Convince Wim Wenders To Finish Pina Bausch Film
“Wim Wenders has decided to forge ahead with his 3D dance film about legendary choreographer Pina Bausch, who died last month. Pre-production had barely started on their long-gestating project, which was scheduled to begin shooting in September, when she died.”
Right To Read Erotic Literature Turns 50
“For many decades, the courts let the Post Office decide which books people could read; then, suddenly, they didn’t.” Fifty years ago today, the publisher of Grove Press won a lawsuit against the Post Office, which had confiscated copies of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.” The novel “had long been banned for its graphic sex scenes,” and the ruling set off “an explosion of free speech.”