Category: issues

“Culture” is an overused misunderstood word. A new book examines what “culture” means in the US.  ” ‘Faded Mosaic’ is no mere exercise in semantic hairsplitting but an argument – to me a most persuasive one – that in these United States at this point in their history, ‘culture,’ in the hard anthropological sense, no longer exists except inside a few fringe groups such as the Amish. – Washington Post

The latest in everlasting bliss: the Final Curtain cemetery theme park, where you can have a dance floor installed over your gravesite, or a video camera in your coffin to show time-lapse display of your corporeal decay. Too strange to be true?  Not to 39 newspapers, 19 radio stations, six TV stations, 10 magazines and 20 Web sites who fell for the story. Performance artist and media scammer Joey Skaggs strikes again. – Salon

Ten years ago during the height of the culture wars, the Contemporary Arts Center and Dennis Barrie, its director, were indicted for exhibiting a show of Robert Mapplethorpe paintings. The CAC (and Barrie) were later acquitted. But “the disheartening implication of the Cincinnati case is that even when you stand up to the bullies, you can’t win. Barrie and the CAC made their stand, and the First Amendment saw them through. But this is how the current—and real-life—leader of Cincinnati’s Citizens for Community Values evaluates the impact of that trial today: “The community at large learned that not everything is protected by the First Amendment.” – Village Voice

Australia’s new tax laws have hit artists hard. Artists who don’t actually turn a profit on their art now can’t claim art-related deductions. Since only a small percentage of artists are able to support themselves working full-time on their art, the vast majority rely on income from other salaried work, and most will feel the squeeze come tax time. – The Age (Melbourne)

Britain’s Year of the Artist – aiming to raise the profile of living artists throughout the UK – kicked off on Tuesday. More than 1,000 artists have been invited to being their art out of the studio and into public venues. – BBC

Sam Clemens (Mark Twain) spent some time in Carson City, Nevada developing his writing. And the city wants to advertise the fact in its tourist promotions. Trouble is, Clemens’ estate still holds control of the famous name and the Mark Twain Foundation Trust has warned the city to stop or its lawyers will come a’ callin’. – Washington Post

Performers line up to audition for permits to play in the New York subway system. – The Age (Melbourne) (AP)

After a two-year closure, Glasgow’s revitalized Tramway (a vast old tram shed and site of some of the UK’s most ground-breaking multidisciplinary performances of the ‘90s) reopens this week. New York’s Wooster Group will reopen the “post-industrial, dressed-down chic” space with its first UK performances in eight years. – The Guardian

A few years back the town of North Adams, Massachusetts was so destitute, a developer suggested flooding the place and starting over. But an unlikely art project has revitalized the area. “In the year since it opened last Memorial Day weekend, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, known as Mass MOCA, has been hailed as a wild success, drawing more than 105,000 visitors to its galleries, 25,000 more to performing arts events, and garnering architectural and preservation awards. – New York Times