Can’t see Elvis or the Beatles or the Eagles or ABBA in person? How about their soundalikes? “Overlooked for years in rock-music circles and most often dismissed by critics as schlocky Las Vegas lounge acts, tribute bands are increasingly becoming headliners at nightclubs, concert halls and state fairs, all of which see them as lucrative draws. They span the musical alphabet, from Abba to ZZ Top. There are dozens of Beatles tribute bands alone.”
Tag: 09.30.03
Rhizome/New Museum Merge
Manhattan’s New Museum has taken in the Rhizome.org digital artist internet site. The museum world still doesn’t really know what it’s relationship with digital art is, so this is an interesting partnership. “When digital artists began to create online artworks in the mid-1990’s, much of the art form’s energy was derived from the notion that the works did not need museums or galleries to reach an audience. Spawned by that sensibility in 1996, Rhizome quickly became one of the most popular Internet sites devoted to the digital arts. It is an online-only meeting place where members can announce new artworks, request technical assistance or argue over obscure aesthetic issues.”
Understanding Kazan
“Kazan will probably be remembered primarily for ‘On the Waterfront,’ which brings up the awkward issue of his politics. The film is regarded by some as his rationalization for testifying as a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee, confessing his own past Communist Party membership and naming other members. Some people never forgave him for that – they thought he was selling out to save his career.”
Bringing Weather To Tate Modern
Artist Olafur Eliasson has “constructed a reversed waterfall in which the water shoots up rather than down; a massive disc which loomed low over the city of Malmo in Sweden, lit at night by yellow light so that it resembled a night-time sun; and a long, snaking slick of green dye in the waterways of Stockholm.” Now he’s taken on creating something for the giant turbine room at Tate Modern, which he hopes to tunr into a “microclimate.”
US Congress Considers Tax Break For Donated Artwork
A change in the American tax law would allow artists to get tax deductions for the full value of artwork they donate to museums. “Now, for example, if a collector gives his Jasper Johns paintings to a museum, he can deduct their full market value. But if Jasper Johns gives the paintings he made himself, he can deduct only the cost of the materials used to make them. Ironically, when their creators die, these same items suddenly gain conventional market value for estate-tax purposes. Definitely out of whack!”