Architect Daniel Libeskind has accepted a commission to design a new museum in Prague dedicated to the work of Salvador Dali. “The museum, estimated to cost $15.7 million, is to display between 1,000 and 1,500 of Dali’s works on loan from collections in Spain, France and Germany. The museum also will include a contemporary art exhibition hall, a restaurant, apartments for visiting artists and a theater.”
Tag: 02.16.04
Where Music Is Just Music – Isn’t It?
Alex Ross ponders the attractions and liabilities of encounters with classical music. “The strange thing about the music in America today is that large numbers of people seem aware of it, curious about it, even mildly knowledgeable about it, but they do not go to concerts. The people who try to market orchestras have a name for these annoying phantoms: they are ‘culturally aware non-attenders,’ to quote a recent article in the magazine Symphony. I know the type; most of my friends are case studies.”
Pakistani City Sees Its First Ballet
Lahore, Pakistan saw its first Western classical ballet ever this weekend, as members of the Bolshoi Ballet performed. “The skilled grace of the ballerinas and the expansive power of two highly honoured singers were of a quality rarely seen at Al-Hamra.”
Did Boston MFA Sell Out In Vegas?
The venerable Boston Museum of Fine Arts, has lent 21 Monets to a gallery at Vegas’ Bellagio Hotel. Now the museum is “accused of having sold out to commercialism and flouted national curatorial guidelines in the name of profit. In the words of one critic, the Monets have not been loaned, they have been rented out. Under the terms of the arrangement, the museum should make at least $1 million from the expected 1,000 visitors a day during the run of seven and a half months. Admission is $15.”
Criminals Bargain With Police Over Stolen Art
In the UK “stolen art masterpieces are being used by crime gangs as ‘get out of jail free cards’ to trade for more lenient sentences. The criminals stash paintings and other works of art and use them in plea bargaining for other offences, the head of the Metropolitan Police’s arts and antiques unit has revealed.”
Trying To Discern The Australian Mind Through Magazines
“Australians, the most enthusiastic magazine buyers in the world, have perhaps become so discriminating that it is difficult to generalise about their tastes.” So what to make of “the mood of Australia when we discover that the fastest growing magazines by readership over the past year dealt with movies, pop singers and property, while the biggest declines were in gardening, shares, home repairs, and naked women?”