Tom Service: “There’s no better way to get inside a composer’s head than to hear their works in progress. What about putting the first and last versions of Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony next to one another? […] What about performing Beethoven’s original ideas for the end of the first movement of the Fifth Symphony (something Leonard Bernstein did in a famous recording)?”
Tag: 10.29.08
‘The Steinway Of Concert Cars’
Percussionist/composer/actor Christian von Richthofen tours Germany with a show called Auto! Auto!, in which he and a partner use a car as a giant percussion instrument, reducing the vehicle to rubble over 90 rhythmic minutes. (His favorite model – the “Steinway” – is the Opel Kadet E.)
After The Information Age? It’s The Arts Baby!
“We are witnessing the end of the Information Age, just as our forebears saw the close of the Industrial Age. The heralded knowledge workers of the late-20th century – computer programmers, CPAs, engineers and MBAs – rooted their success in linear, analytical reasoning, traditionally considered left-brain skills. With complex, technical jobs now shifting overseas by the tens of thousands – from financial analysis to software development – the outsourcing megatrend has moved beyond manufacturing into the white-collar arena with skilled workers abroad working for a fraction of U.S-level wages.”
Academic Conference on Heavy Metal In (Wait For It) Salzburg
The hometown of Mozart and Maria von Trapp “will be host to the world’s first scholarly conference on heavy metal, the brainchild of UK academic Dr Niall Scott. Headbangers from universities in Britain, Turkey, Canada and Indonesia will present research papers on heavy metal aesthetics, sub-cultures and politics.”
$5 Jackson Pollock On Sale (The Mark-Up Is Enormous)
“A Jackson Pollock painting, bought for $5 in a thrift store, is for sale at a Toronto gallery with an asking price of $50 million US. The painting, made famous by the 2006 PBS documentary, Who the #$%& is Jackson Pollock, is being exhibited for the first time at Gallery Delisle in east Toronto from Nov. 13-27.”
Coming Soon To Your Tivo: 12,000 Movies
“Four years in the making, the Tivo/Netflix streaming partnership is finally ready for prime time. Tivo begins software tests Thursday and expects to have the entire Netflix streaming collection available to subscribers of both services by early December.”
A Moving Rubik’s Cube Skyscraper
Architect David Fisher is designing a tower in which each floor rotates independently, giving the building different profiles throughout the day. Groundbreaking is set for a first version of the skyscraper in Dubai (of course); Fisher is working on a similar structure for Moscow and hopes to build one in Manhattan as well.
Lepage’s Latest Epic To Headline Luminato
Lipsynch, the most recent of Canadian director Robert Lepage’s signature nine-hour stage works, will be one of the major events at next June’s Luminato festival in Toronto. The piece was first seen in an abbreviated version in Newcastle, England in 2007; the full-length Lipsynch premiered in London in September.
The Economic Meltdown, Made Tangible
“On Wednesday, two artists installed a 1,500-pound ice sculpture carved to spell the word ‘Economy’ in Manhattan’s financial district. The ‘Main Street Meltdown’ will remain in Foley Square until it melts – about 24 hours.”
In Rome, A Museum About Madness
“Overturning preconceptions about mental illness is the leitmotif of the eight-year-old Mind’s Museum (museodellamente.it), which reopened this month after a high-tech overhaul by Studio Azzurro, a Milan-based art collective that works mostly with interactive and video environments.”