Category: issues

“For perhaps the first time since the liberal revolutions of 1848, a political opposition is growing out of Austria’s intellectual salons. Can a man like Herr Haider be toppled by the roar of literary lions? Common sense dictates otherwise, but the vocabulary of Austria’s rebel artists is strikingly similar to that used by white South Africans who opposed apartheid or the dissidents of Eastern Europe.” – The Times (UK)

Court rules that a St. Louis public radio station doesn’t have to accept underwriting funding by the Ku Klux Klan of “All Things Considered” broadcast. – St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The British government is setting up a panel to resolve disputes about artwork looted by the Nazis and now housed in British museums. – Washington Post

Britain agrees to go along with EU plan to grant artists resale rights on their work. Under the plan, artists would get a maximum of four per cent on the resale of their work on art worth up to £30,000, and smaller percentages for higher-valued work. British Art Federation chairman Anthony Browne says the damage to London’s galleries would be “colossal”. – London Evening Standard

• Plan could wipe out 5,000 jobs. – The Guardian

A Valentine’s ode to art’s inspirations. “Idyllic as it may sound, the relationship between artist and muse is not all sonnets and elegantly reclining nudes. A muse is as likely to be seduced, harangued and assaulted as courted, praised and revered. One moment she is an all-powerful goddess, the next a put-upon working girl.” – The Times (UK)

The Nazis stole 600,000 pieces of art in Germany and the countries they occupied during Hitler’s 12 years in power, says the U.S. government’s top expert in stolen art from that era. – The Oregonian (AP)

Two weeks ago, San Francisco Chronicle film reviewer Mike LaSalle wrote that it was time to do something about violence in movies. He suggested that any time a film showed a gun being fired, it should receive an NC-17 rating. Letters to the newspaper came flooding in, so the Chronicle is changing its reviewing policy. – San Francisco Chronicle

• Some of the letters. – San Francisco Chronicle

In Zimbabwe, writing about the arts – like anywhere – is a fight for space in the newspaper. Last week, Zimbabwean arts writers formed their own association to try to win some respect. “What is so special with sports that it is accorded full desks within the newsrooms?” – Zimbabwe Mirror

— is broken. The system defies all that rewards success and punishes failure. Here’s how to fix it. – The Age (Melbourne)

A number of artists – led by Salzburg Festival director Gerard Mortier – have resigned cultural positions in Austria or say they will boycott in protest over Haider’s rise. Should artists boycott or quit to protest politics? Norman Lebrecht thinks not. – The Telegraph (UK)