The UK’s poet laureate is a kindly gentleman named Andrew Motion, but the poet who best defines Brit culture today may just be a man who has refused all the trappings of the aristocracy, told the queen to “stick it,” and encouraged his countrymen to “stop going on about the empire. Let’s do something else.” The poetry of Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah is a fascinating blend of high culture and hip-hop, and he has become a legitimate star with the type of audience that most poets shy away from: the working class.
Tag: 10.11.04
Guggenheim Taiwan Looking Likely
Taiwan is a step closer to bringing a Guggenheim museum to the island nation after the legislature approved a first-year budget, and an economic council signed off on a plan to fund the $180 million project. The funding plan still needs to be approved by the legislature and the executive, but success appears likely by the end of the calendar year. The Guggenheim would be part of a larger cultural district in the city of Taichung, slated to include a new City Hall designed by Frank Gehry, and a Jean Nouvel opera house.
Louvre Prepares To Name A Franchise
France is preparing to announce the site of a new branch of the Louvre, to open in 2009. The outpost would display 500 pieces from the museum’s permanent collection on a rotating basis. “The project is part of a drive towards decentralisation that will bring culture and business to some of the country’s more impoverished provinces. Estimated to cost €105 million ($127 million), the new building will be 60% funded by regional government, with the remainder from the French State, European Union and municipal governments.” The short list of cities in contention for the new Louvre are all in the economically depressed northern part of the country.
British Museum In Another Artifact Dispute
A controversy is brewing over the ownership of eleven wooden tablets believed by the Orthodox Christian church of Ethiopia to be remnants of the Ark of the Covenant. The tablets are in the possession of the British Museum, which admits that it came by them under fairly shady ethical circustances and which, in deference to church beliefs that the artifacts can only be viewed by senior clergy, has locked them away in a basement. “It is, of course, somewhat pointless for a museum to hold objects that can never be seen by scholars, let alone by the general public. Delicate discussions are therefore underway for a long-term solution.”
New Goya Unearthed In Spain
A previously unknown painting by Francisco de Goya has been discovered by an art restorer in Managa, Spain. The painting, which is massive, shows a virgin resting on a cloud, and was previously thought to have been painted by a little-known contemporary of Goya. During a restoration, hidden figures that were Goya’s trademarks emerged in the work, and a lab analysis has confirmed the work’s authenticity.
It Always Happens So Fast
Boston has a thriving new alternative gallery scene in the city’s South End, with new galleries opening weekly and loft-style condos suddenly infesting a previously downscale neighborhood. “But while gallery owners wonder if the burgeoning South End neighborhood will mean business, residents wonder whether the neighborhood is going upscale too rapidly.”
Quietly, Competently, The Phil Gets A Deal Done
In a year when orchestra negotiations in many American cities have turned quite publicly ugly, the New York Philharmonic’s new deal was inked with a minimum of acrimony. The contract is also a departure from the recent trend of major cutbacks and artistic compromises that have plagued some ensembles, and though the NY Phil musicians will lose their place as the highest-paid ensemble in the country, they will take no wage or benefit cuts, and are hopeful that their deal will set a precedent for other groups.
Snarling At The Snipers
The “reader reviews” on Amazon.com have become a genre unto themselves, with some amateur critics posting thousands of the things. But authors tend to hate the self-styled literary judges, who think nothing of savaging an author’s character as well as her work, and this month, Anne Rice had had enough. The popular author has seen her two latest books trashed extensively on Amazon, and in response, has posted a 1,200-word defense of her latest effort, and given the critics a taste of their own medicine, accusing them of “[using] the site as if it were a public urinal to publish falsehood and lies.”