Tag: 02.14.06

Domingo Backs Out Of Paris Walküre

Placido Domingo has pulled out a Robert Wilson production of Wagner’s “Die Walküre” in Paris. “Unfortunately, my timetable does not allow me to be fully devoted to such intensive work. Rather than performing an approximation of (Wilson’s) conception, it is my duty … to withdraw so that another singer, who will have more rehearsal time, can make that conception his own.”

Seattle’s New Sculpture Al Fresco

Seattle’s new $85 million sculpture park is being built on the city’s downtown waterfront. “Seattle’s park will be free, fenceless and in the heart of the city. Officials hope the easy access will encourage a greater appreciation of the arts from people cycling, jogging or just strolling through the area. The collection will mix seminal works from sculptors Alexander Calder, Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Serra and Mark Di Suvero with with newly commissioned sculpture from Louise Bourgeois and Mark Dion, among others.”

Report: US Museums Are Minor Players In Antiquities Trade

A report by the Association of Art Museum Directors seeks to put American museums’ antiquities collecting in perspective. “The report states that 53 member institutions actively collect antiquities and altogether spent an average of $7 million per year purchasing antiquities over the last five years. This total is less than 10% of the global annual trade in antiquities, the report states, basing that figure on published reports that estimate the global trade anywhere from $100 million to $4 billion.” The point is that the collecting activities of American museums are not driving the international antiquities trade.

Gehry: Toronto Missed Its Chance For Architectural Greatness

Frank Gehry says his hometown Toronto has missed out on being a great architecture center, even though several prominent projects are now underway. ” ‘It’s like every other community. There’s very little social planning; it seems to be more a world of opportunism and entertainment. … It doesn’t feel right, but I think I am just fuddy duddy because of my age,’ said Gehry, who is 77.”

Handwriting As A Disappearing Art

“Rather than sinuous penmanship, our identities are increasingly confirmed by numbered sequences that have been imposed on us. And, if signatures are becoming increasingly irrelevant, what then is the future for handwriting in a world when one in three children has a computer in the bedroom, many more are accustomed to writing on them at home and school and, if I had a penny for every time I have heard or read parents and teachers bemoaning the poor state of pupil’s handwriting, I would have enough for a £335 Mont Blanc Meisterstück fountain pen in precious resin with a gold-plated finish?”