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
– settles contract with its musicians only hours before the orchestra was to go on strike. – CBC
The new chairman of the British government’s new Museums, Libraries and Archives Commission has got the UK’s museum world in an uproar. He’s under attack for describing British museums as regressive, isolationist, afraid of change, and ignorant of technical advances. His critics contend he has only the vaguest idea of what museums are for, how they function, and what is actually happening in them today. “For someone who will be responsible for advising the government on the running of our regional museums, such ignorance gives cause for concern.” – The Telegraph (UK)
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
— names new chairman – a provocative New York rabbi and a founder of the museum. – Washington Post
– to go ahead with planned concerts in Austria. – CBC
— is the largest in the Arab world. But the impressive size doesn’t necessarily mean it reflects the state of Arab-world publishing. – Al-Ahram (Egypt)
— choose best books of 1999. – Salon
PBS series “The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization” successfully brings antiquity to life. “History is sometimes best told by ignoring contemporary academic disputes, and concentrating instead on the dramatic events of the past. Scholars who study the Classical period can have their enthusiasm unbottled when relieved of responsibility for ideological and political rectification by a skillful team of professional story-tellers.” – The Idler 02/16/00
At the Berlinale, a rush to add subtitles to every film is a time-consuming and often last-minute art. – Die Welt (Germany) 02/16/00
