“Not a lot of people actually suffer from a debilitating phobia of clowns; a lot more people, however, just don’t like them” – including young children. And this has been true, to a greater or lesser extent, for centuries.
Tag: 08.01.13
Has ‘Sound Art’ Hit The Mainstream?
“Perched in an office high above MoMA’s garden, where her exhibition will insert stealthy recordings of bells, Ms. London explained that artists are more than ever drawn to sound art, maybe because it sits on the exciting double cusp, as she said, of both music and gallery art.”
Nashville Symphony Faces Difficult Labor Talks
“For the past two months, the players’ union and orchestra managers have been attempting to negotiate the terms of a new musicians’ contract. Those talks couldn’t have come at a worse time for the players, whose most recent collective bargaining agreement expired Wednesday.”
Museum Of Modern Art Loses Its Gifted Architecture Curator
“With an activist’s sense of urgency and an academic’s insistence on rigor, Barry Bergdoll prodded the architectural profession to confront difficult issues, reaching out to young designers and extending over them MoMA’s canopy of prestige.”
US Congress Considers Cutting NEA Funding In Half. Here’s What Would Happen:
“If this budget is enacted, we project that one out of every two grants across the country would be terminated, the NEA would have to cut in half the grant support it provides through state partnerships, and major staff changes would take place at NEA and at arts agencies around the country.”
Bolshoi Ballet’s Wounded Director Hopes To Return To Work This Fall
“The Bolshoi ballet’s artistic director Sergei Filin said Thursday he hopes to return to work in Moscow in September even though his eyesight is still extremely limited after an attacker splashed acid in his face.”
After 10-Year Battle, London’s Hackney Empire Gets Insurers To Pay Up
The high court awarded the theatre “a payout of more than £1.1m from its insurers a decade after its building contractor went bust during refurbishments. The victory … means the arts venue will be able to clear its debts, not least to Hackney-born entrepreneur Alan Sugar, … who provided an interest-free loan that allowed the Empire to complete renovations.”
Simon Russell Beale Says Director-Led Seasons Are The Future Of West End Drama
The actor “has roundly endorsed the director-curated seasons currently being staged in the West End by Michael Grandage and Jamie Lloyd. … ‘It seems that a group of plays performed together under one umbrella might be the best way to put demanding drama on in the West End.'”
Nigerian Movie Industry Slowly Begins Acknowledging That Gay People Exist
The portrayals aren’t exactly flattering, though; Nollywood’s a long way from its own Brokeback Mountain.
In Ramadan Ratings Battle, Pakistani Talk-Show Host Gives Away Babies On Live TV
“Aamir Liaquat Hussain, a bespectacled 41-year-old with a neatly trimmed beard, gave away two abandoned infant girls to childless families last month and plans to give away a baby boy this week. ‘If we didn’t find this baby, a cat or a dog would have eaten it,’ Hussain proclaimed during one broadcast.”