“There can’t be many new DVD releases of short film anthologies which are unstintingly riveting all the way through. But here’s one. For the past couple of days, I have been glued to the BFI’s incredible collection The Joy of Sex Education, which is a compendium of sex education films from 1917 to 1973. They have a weird similarity to old-fashioned stag films, not merely because of explicit content, but because they are designed to be watched in a semi-clandestine world….”
Tag: 02.11.09
Spike-Shedding Bang Sculpture To Be Dismantled
“One of the UK’s biggest pieces of public art is to be taken down after being blighted by safety concerns and a legal row. The £1.4m B of the Bang, outside the City of Manchester Stadium, has had problems since it was erected in 2005. One of its 180 steel spikes was dislodged within two weeks, and 22 have now been removed from the sculpture.”
LA Museum Collections Kept Growing In 2008
“Cash donations for acquisitions can be expected to plummet, but gifts of art are less predictable. In good times and bad, artworks come to museums in various ways — from friends and complete strangers. And despite the gloom that descended last fall, 2008 turned out to be a surprisingly good year for local collection growing.”
Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger Unsettles Indie Promoters
“Ticketmaster and Live Nation — the biggest ticket seller and the largest live-event promoter — announced a $2.5 billion merger yesterday, creating a vertically integrated entertainment behemoth that has competitors nervous and federal regulators watching. What’s in it for ticket buyers is far from clear. The era of the dreaded ‘convenience charge’ might be ending — but there’s no guarantee of lower ticket prices.”
Hirst Opens Second Art Shop, Talks Up Affordability
“Damien Hirst has defied the slump in U.K. consumer spending by opening a second shop in London. Other Criteria, the U.K. artist’s publishing and merchandising company, started the store this week at 14 Hinde Street in the Marylebone district. It sells works including some by Hirst himself ranging from his keyrings at 3.50 pounds ($5) to prints showing pills on mirror glass shelves, from an edition of 125, at 4,000 pounds ($5,800) each.”
The Children Of Britain Are Abandoning Auntie
“Children’s BBC is in crisis, according to a report from the corporation itself this week. A review of the BBC’s kids’ offerings found audience numbers are now at all-time lows – especially for the jewel in its crown Blue Peter, viewers for which are more than 50 per cent down on the average during 2007.”
M.I.A. – Superstar Rapper Or Terrorist Sympathizer?
The pop celeb, née Maya Arulpragasam and an ethnic Tamil raised in Sri Lanka, is accused by some observers of using her music and videos to glorify the Tamil Tigers, which for 25 years has waged a grisly war against the Sri Lankan government. About the conflict, she has said publicly, “There’s a genocide going on.”
When The Avant-Garde Fights Over Real Estate
“Last month the Film-Makers’ Cooperative received an eviction notice that would force it out of its office and archive in a building in TriBeCa, space that is controlled by the P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, another bulwark of [New York City’s] avant-garde artistic establishment.”
Sirius XM Prepares Bankruptcy Filing
The satellite radio giant “has hired advisers to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing, people involved in the process said… Service is unlikely to be interrupted, but the company might have to terminate contracts with high-priced talent like [Howard] Stern or Martha Stewart.”
Diane Keaton Writes About Her Mother’s Struggle With Alzheimer’s
“Ms. Keaton’s mother, Dorothy Keaton Hall, kept some 90 notebooks during her life, chronicling the upbringing of her children and her frustrating marriage. Ms. Keaton read those journals back to her mother during her final years, and began writing [the] memoir soon after her mother’s death in 2008.”