Category: issues

“We’ve become warier, more ironic about praise in general. No one wants to seem like a smarmy suck-up. No one wants to appear too earnest. The language of superlatives has become worn out and phony. If Mike Ovitz is a visionary, what does that make Charles Darwin? If Donald Trump is charismatic, what does that make Martin Luther King? If every flavor-of-the-month actress is brilliant, what do you tell your seven-year-old daughter when she comes home with an 88 on her spelling test?” – Time Europe

In recent years numerous museums and exhibitions commemorating the Holocaust have sprung up. But some argue that attempts to represent the Holocaust falsify it, making it an aesthetic rather than a history. “On the other hand, however uncomfortable academics may be with some of the popular representations of the Holocaust, few would question that films such as ‘Schindler’s List’ and ‘Life is Beautiful’ have done more to raise public awareness of the Holocaust than a thousand scholarly tomes.” – New Statesman

The word “diversity” is repeated as a mantra by mainstream arts groups looking to expand their audiences. A new report in Chicago has some words of advice for arts groups trying diversify. – Chicago Tribune

In the 1960s a group of artists took over an abandoned ruined hill town in Italy and over the next 40 years made it into something of an artists colony/tourist attraction. Now the Italian wants to evict the artists and restore the town to a ruin. – The Independent (UK)

Canadian news and documentary crews say that for the past two years American immigration officers have made it difficult for them to get into the US. Many crews have been denied entry. “Officials in the U.S. say they are enforcing a policy which allows them to bar foreign film crews who want to shoot ‘commercial entertainment’ in the US But Canadians say the policy is being widely used to delay film crews working on ‘information programs.’ ” – CBC

“In his new book, ‘The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Physics’, Julian Barbour asserts that time simply doesn’t exist. This by itself is not so shocking. My friend Artie, for example, has always insisted that there’s only change, not time. Things move around; time may just be a way of noting that. But Barbour goes further. He says there’s no such thing as motion either. Instead, Barbour sees a universe filled with static instants – instants that contain “records” that fool any conscious beings who happen to find themselves encased in one into believing that things have moved and time has passed.” – Feed

Berlin is rebuilding, and signs of change are everywhere – physical and cultural. “In Germany, where government funding had never been an issue before, it seemed odd to hear people complaining about how excessive subsidies were creating an atmosphere of dependency and waste among their artistic institutions.” – The New Republic

“Think of the impact a handful of newly minted multimillionaires could have on the local arts scene if they pooled just a bit of their dough. I’d like to propose a new kind of Rockefeller institution: A dot-com coalition of rich citizens dedicated to giving money back to the arts community that they are (unintentionally) helping evict.” – Salon

Dozens of San Francisco arts organizations and hundreds of artists have lost their leases as the city’s landlords go after dot-com tenants. By one count, half the city’s remaining arts organizations’ leases are up for renewal this year. – San Francisco Bay Guardian  

A new survey paints the picture. The study, which covered 1991-99, shows that each Victorian household spends about $25 a week on cultural pursuits and indicates what culture Aussies prefer to consume. – The Age (Melbourne)