A new “Faust” in London is an interactive experience for he audience. “Call it a performance piece, call it an installation, call it promenade theater as the British do, but whatever the label, it’s likely to leave a profound impression. It’s theater for the interactive age. But instead of moving a cursor, you simply move yourself, choosing whatever character you want to follow, whatever sound intrigues you, whichever enticing corridor you are drawn to explore.”
Tag: 12.17.06
Early Oscar Ballots = Holiday Hell
This year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences declared that awards ballots would go out on Dec. 26, the earliest date yet, with a return deadline of Jan. 13. “Those tweaks have turned what once was the film industry’s holiday hiatus into a kind of cinematic hell week for the academy’s approximately 5,800 ballot-casting members and the operatives who want their votes.”
Richard Move, Maverick Freak? (Affectionately)
“He emerged from the debris of downtown: from the disco life, the artists, from that dark underside of the city. And he very much gives you the impression of New York in the ’80s: the nightclub world, with its kind of simple but open, tender sexuality.”
Chicago’s Year In Tall Buildings
“The global face of architecture became more real than ever in 2006 as star architects from Europe, Asia and the nation’s coasts deposited dazzling buildings in New York and throughout the Midwest. Yet even as globalism grew, local design events in Chicago commanded international attention while the city’s rising design stars made their presence felt far beyond Chicago’s borders.”
What Will Be South Bank?
London’s South Bank is suffering a creative crisis. “The building and the complex surrounding it is still supposed to be the heart of London’s cultural life and a key element in creative plans for the 2012 Olympic Games, but a shortfall in the money needed to complete a £110m refurbishment is not the only obstacle it faces.”
The Most Important Orchestra In America?
When Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä took the reins of the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003, he said quite publicly that he wanted his new ensemble to become the top orchestra in the U.S. inside of five years. Measuring such a thing is nearly impossible, of course, but James Oestreich says that even if Minnesota isn’t the best yet, it may well be the most important American orchestra working today.
Failing Belfast Museum Scores Big Money
“Five days after being criticised for poor management, the Ulster Museum in Belfast has received its largest ever grant from the [UK’s] Heritage Lottery Fund. Last week the Public Accounts Committee at Westminster accused the museum’s officials of ‘profound deficiencies in custodianship’ and found 90 per cent of the museum’s collection was stored out of public view. But yesterday £4,527,000 was handed over to rejuvenate one of Northern Ireland’s best-known landmarks.”
Crossing Over (And Beating The Odds)
When Alexandra Ansanelli left New York City Ballet for the uncertain stages of Europe this year, the challenge facing her was daunting: to go from being celebrated as one of the ballet world’s premiere “Balanchine-style” dancers to becoming a master of the classic ballet form. Many supposed that the transition would prove impossible. But early reviews (including some from the notoriously tough London press) indicate that Ansanelli may be more versatile than anyone knew.
Art As Urban Reinvention
Houston’s Third Ward, a decrepit and impoverished neighborhood, “may be [the site of] the most impressive and visionary public art project in the country — a project that is miles away, geographically and philosophically, from Chelsea and Art Basel and the whole money-besotted paper-thin art scene.” The man behind the Third Ward’s budding reinvention is Rick Lowe, and his vision is wrapped up in the idea that “art can be the way people live.”