“I am very proud that we have held out against the tide, because I am with David Hare on this one: star systems demean the role of reviewers, and they devalue the art forms reviewed.”
Tag: 01.22.04
Remaking The Young Vic – With Care
So the West End’s Young Vic Theatre is about to get a £12.5 million makeover. And does it ever need it. But hold on – much of the theatre building of the past ten years has had problems, and no one really wants to disturb the feel of the place. So how to go about it?
Cuno Named To Head Art Institute Of Chicago
James Cuno, currently director of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, has been named director of the Art Institute of Chicago. “For nearly 12 years Mr. Cuno was director of the Harvard University Art Museums, a complex that under his leadership doubled the size of its staff and budget and emerged as one of the best smaller museums in the United States. At Harvard in the 1990’s he directed a $37 million capital campaign that ended up raising $55 million.”
Bychkov – The Hot Young Thing…20 Years Later
Semyon Bychkov is making his Metropolitan Opera debut this week, 20 years after he seemed like the next hot conductor. What happened? “Bychkov’s career illustrates, among other things, the growing pains that take place in the trajectory from wunderkind to established maestro. At 51, with a mop of curly black hair, he’s still young in conductor years. But for conductors and musicians of his generation, those growing pains were exacerbated by the decline of the recording industry, meaning that big cushy recording contracts with major labels were not renewed. Meanwhile his newness wore off. Always a conductor with a certain amount of brio and showmanship, a crackling energy that gets the audience going, he is sometimes branded heavy-handed.”
Stockholm – All In The Interpretation
Everyone likes a controversy story, and that’s why the Israeli ambassador’s vandalism of artwork in Stockholm gets attention. But this is a silly story. “It’s horrible, it’s sick, but I can’t for one moment accept that it is an apology for a suicide bomber. Everyone interprets art differently. That’s what makes it art. If this were a propaganda work, the museum would have a case to answer – maybe. But it’s not. It’s in very poor taste, if you like, but is there a tasteful way to talk about terrorism? About people disintegrating into bits of flesh? Which is what, to me, that chunky pool suggests.”
Sadler’s Wells Director Leaves To Run Paris’ Chatelet
The director of Sadler’s Wells Theatre is leaving to run Paris’ Chatelet Theatre. Jean-Luc Choplin’s “no-nonsense management style was honed in his years working for the Disney Corporation, and instantly ruffled feathers at the more sedate Sadler’s Wells. There was a string of well-publicised clashes culminating in a threat of legal action by four women managers over allegations of sex discrimination and constructive dismissal.”
BritArt (Carefully Chosen) Goes To Iran
A show of contemporary British art is being shown in Iran. The art has been carefully chosen in hopes of not offending Iranians. “The exhibition is being held at the invitation of Hamid Reza Sami-Azar, the director of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, established by the Shah before the founding of the Islamic republic. Among his collection are some works, including a Francis Bacon, which have never been exhibited. In the more relaxed atmosphere that followed the election of the reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, in 1997, the museum has become a popular meeting place for young artists and students.”
On The Moral Justification For Attacking Art
Roger Kimball sympathizes with the Israeli ambassador to Sweden who attacked a piece of art in Stockholm last weekend. But was he justified in attacking it? “I think not. His outrage at “Snow White” was understandable, even exemplary, but he should not have destroyed or defaced the exhibition. There were many steps open to him short of violence. To vandalize an art work–even a bad art work, even a morally reprehensible art work–is to adopt the tactics of the enemies of culture.”