Is Academia liberal? Is there a liberal bias in higher education? “The state of the job market these days makes things especially hard to pin down. Ayn Randian, liberal, Marxist, conservative: In most fields, there aren’t jobs for anyone.”
Tag: 10.12.03
Museums As Art, Or Buildings, Or Social Agents… Or Whatever…
A show in Miami brings together designs for 25 museums built in the past decade. “It’s a confounding mandate. Museums can no longer be temples-on-the hill, built by and for a tiny elite, but they must serve a larger and more diverse public without compromising artistic standards. The architecture must not be inaccessible, and yet it must be exceptional, enough to draw public interest and attract crowds with architecture that is both part of and apart from the city. All these are fodder for thought, and the 25 projects on view certainly can lift the level of dialogue.”
The Underground World Of Art-Assisting
You know, of course, that many artists don’t literally “make” all of their work. Enter the assistant. “Being an artist’s assistant is an underground thing. I didn’t know how it worked at all, that most artists have them. I couldn’t do what I’m doing without full-time assistants. Nor could I do it without a computer. But even without, I’d still be an artist and I’d still make things. That’s my nature – just like a fish that grows to the size of the tank, assistants allow us to grow our work yet remain the same’.”
The 100 Most Loved Books (In English) Of All Time?
The BBC is about to name a list of the 100 most-loved books of all time. But the Observer has come up with its own list. “First of all, our list is fundamentally English and inevitably reflects the age, sex and education of its Observer contributors. We started with an intra-office email, inviting nominations for a top 10. The matrix of replies produced a surprising unanimity. Top of the list were the universal favourites: Austen and Dickens, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. When a vociferous and influential minority, led by the editor, argued for Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales, we had to introduce a few basic rules.”
The ‘David’ Beneath The Dirt
“Slowly but surely, despite concern in the international art world over whether anyone should be touching one of the world’s most admired statues at all, Cinzia Parnigoni has stripped 130 years of grime from the statue’s perfectly proportioned left elbow, providing a glimpse of what is to come. By spring next year, in time for his 500th birthday, she aims to have cleaned every nook and cranny of this famous but filthy marble man.”
At The Gramophones: Bartoli Named Most Popular
Cecilia Bartoli has been named the world’s most popular classical music artist at this year’s Gramophone Awards. “The mezzo soprano beat Sir Simon Rattle and Nigel Kennedy to the Classic FM listener’s choice prize, voted for by fans of the radio station.”