“America fell out of love with super-tall skyscrapers years ago. Now it faces a commercial-property meltdown that’s more about delusional debt than the building frenzy seen in Shenzhen and Dubai.”
Tag: 03.02.10
Frederick Ashton For Dummies
From another of The Guardian‘s ‘Step-by-Step Guides’ to dancemakers: “Inspired by the dancing of Pavlova and Fonteyn, Ashton’s lyrical, restrained choreography created a very English kind of ballet.”
Earliest Examples Of Writing Found On Eggshells
“Don’t laugh – researchers say a cache of ostrich eggshells engraved with geometric designs demonstrates the existence of a symbolic communication system around 60,000 years ago among African hunter-gatherers.”
Libraries Become ‘Urban Mediaspaces’ And Engines Of Urban Renewal
“A mixed-use, multimedia complex that is meant to foster social interaction and creative ferment as much as reading and research, the library of the future is also intended as an engine of city-center rejuvenation. Examples have gone up in dozens of places around the world” – Salt Lake City, Seattle, Vancouver, Chongqing, Tenerife, Brisbane, Cardiff …
Legendary Reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski Accused Of ‘Fiction-Writing’
“He has been voted the greatest journalist of the 20th century. In an unparalleled career, Ryszard Kapuscinski transformed the humble job of reporting into a literary art, chronicling the wars, coups and bloody revolutions that shook Africa and Latin America in the 1960s and 70s. But a new book claims that … [he] repeatedly crossed the boundary between reportage and fiction-writing – or, to put it less politely, made stuff up.”
Staff Rebellion At London’s ICA
“In a blow to the Institute of Contemporary Arts, which has just received an emergency Arts Council bailout of £1.2m, Mark Sladen, its director of exhibitions, has told bosses he would consider a new role in the organisation only if its director, Ekow Eshun, resigned. … The staff have also taken a vote of no confidence in Eshun.”
Is Human Culture A Buffer Against Natural Selection Or An Engine Of It?
“Biologists have seen [culture] as a shield that protects people from the full force of other selective pressures, since clothes and shelter dull the bite of cold and farming helps build surpluses to ride out famine. … Many biologists are now seeing the role of culture in a quite different light. Although it does shield people from other forces, culture itself seems to be a powerful force of natural selection.”
For Chopin’s 200th, A Museum Of His Very Own
“Located in Warsaw’s revamped 17th century Ostrogski Palace, perched on a hill near the Vistula River, the museum is designed to plunge visitors into Chopin’s universe via cutting-edge audiovisual and interactive technologies.”
Reflecting Its City, Detroit Institute Opens Islamic Gallery
“Sunday’s opening [at the Detroit Institute of Arts] comes as several museums worldwide are broadening their collections. … In Detroit, the gallery of about 170 works of art from the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, Central Asia and India was several years in the making.”
Website Of London’s National Theatre Is Hacked
“A spokeswoman for the theatre said there had been a ‘security incident’ which meant an ‘unauthorised user’ accessed customers’ online accounts. But financial details of customers were not compromised as that information is encrypted, the spokeswoman said.”