Kiki Smith is an art-world fixture. “The hardest thing is to get past your taste — past your own formulaic way of doing things. Otherwise you’re stopped by what you know, which is limited. Chance is what a lot of artists use. In my case, I’ll arrange ways for things to be unpredictable.”
Tag: 11.05.06
The New Improved Hybrid Artist
A new study suggests that artists are increasingly creating hybrid careers. “Her findings indicate artists are increasingly dividing their time between their art–painting, sculpture, writing–and contributing their artistic talents to for-profit projects, such as advertising and graphic design.”
So Orchestras Are Going About Survival All Wrong?
“If a new report is indeed correct, much of the accepted wisdom about saving America’s orchestras–which rests on the idea that if people can just be lured into the concert hall, they’ll buy tickets and come back–is wrong. And that explains why, decades after the alarums were first rung, the knell still sounds and the debate within the classical-music set remains much the same.”
Are French Lit Prizes Corrupt?
It’s literary prize season. But “last week saw a revolution in France’s traditionally somewhat stuffy literary world in the form of a barrage of vicious open attacks on the critics and judges themselves. The 60-odd life members of the juries of the major prizes find themselves accused of back-scratching, favouritism, self-seeking commercialism and downright corruption.”
Wanted: A Toronto To Write About
Toronto is a compelling big city. Yet it doesn’t show up in great fiction. “Is there something about the Toronto landscape, or the Toronto soul, or lack of soul, that discourages writers from fully engaging this city in their fiction?”
Listening For A Clear Channel Scenario
Lost of speculation about what a sale of media behemoth Clear Channel might mean. “Clear Channel is often painted with a broad stroke by critics who decry the entertainment behemoth’s lack of programing diversity. If the sale does go through, will its programing become more interesting? It depends on who you ask.”
Taking A Look At Tony Kushner
“Kushner is a world-class mensch. He’s also one of the most ambitious contemporary playwrights around. But great theater isn’t synonymous with great causes, and none of his other plays has come close to eliciting the resounding critical acclaim of ‘Angels.’ What’s more, there are obvious costs to his public availability, exploited by journalists in need of a sound bite as much as by dogged documentary filmmakers. Simply put, if you’re constantly holding forth on what you do as a writer, how can you protect the imaginative insularity needed to do it?”
A Shift In Basic TV Consumption
More people are watching TV online. “A growing number of people, particularly males ages 18 to 24, have turned to their personal computer for television shows. Last week, the Conference Board, a research company that tracks consumer Internet habits, reported that 1 in 10 online users now watches television on a computer. With YouTube in the mainstream, and major networks offering shows online free, the subtle shift from the television to the PC is under way, analysts say.”
A Samuel Beckett Birthday (So What!)
“After the myriad tomes assuring us of his preeminence among postwar writers, it’s not exactly clear how the strangely muttering voices filling the voids of his blasted landscapes speak to us today. What was once so radical — tramps on an apocalyptic heath, characters popping out of trash cans, an isolated mouth foaming verbal ooze — has become instantly recognizable, even familiar.”
Colorado Stage Smoking Ban Is Dramatically Odd
Last week a Colorado judge ruled that smoking onstage was not an “artistic expression.” “Must it really be argued that smoking can reveal character or propel a plotline? Can you imagine a ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff’ without Martha blowing smoke in George’s face?”