Los Angeles’ mayor wants to make the city wireless. Proponents of the idea envision an interactive playground. “The plan’s most intriguing aspects have to do with the way we think about the various borders that define the city and its limits. Even as wireless access could make architectural boundaries less important — since networks will no longer have to be contained, as most are now, within the space of four walls — it promises to draw civic ones more indelibly.”
Tag: 03.11.07
The Matthew Bourne Effect
“Bourne is likely the most successful choreographer alive. His ‘Swan Lake’ is touring Australia more than 10 years after it opened; the new ‘Mary Poppins,’ which he helped direct and contributed choreography to, is on Broadway; ‘Edward Scissorhands,’ which opens Wednesday at the BAM Opera House, is midway through a United States tour that will last until May.”
Has Norman Mailer Over-reached?
“The Castle in the Forest is Mailer’s first novel for a decade, and the work of a writer in his eighties. Traces of competitiveness have been observed in his personality from time to time, and it seems likely he is determined to outdo Saul Bellow’s late-career triumph, Ravelstein, in length and ambition – perhaps also to cram in more compacted information about beekeeping than Philip Roth managed when writing about glove-making in American Pastoral. The book is highly impressive for long stretches, but its flaws are perverse and even preposterous.”
Abu Dhabi And Dubai Vie For “Art Commerce”
“This week Dubai – best known for its golf courses, its opulent hotels and its lack of taxes – acquired an art fair, which, a little presumptuously, is intended to establish this sand-blown outpost as ‘the most important centre in Asia, likely to rival London and New York within a decade’.”
The Face Of Theatre In The 1760s
A theatre in Williamsburg is excavated and examined. Among the discoveries “was a large iron rod, now believed to have been part of a spiked fence near the stage used to keep audiences from rioting. Further archival research revealed no lobby to speak of. And at 270 seats, space was at a premium. You had no more than 9 to 10 inches of seat space, compared to 40 inches today.”
10,000 Chinese Artists For The Web
Charles Saatchi has opened a Chinese version of his website, tapping into what he believes is a huge market. “Having compiled a considerable amount of data, the team estimates that 20 to 30 art schools operate in China; that about 10,000 students will graduate from such schools this year; and that some 14,000 artists in China are represented by galleries. That leaves roughly 10,000 unrepresented artists.”
At Home Experimenting
Richard Foreman is New York’s king of experimental theatre. His arsenal includes: “nonlinear tableaus about the unconscious mind, deliriously decorated sets, actors dressed like commandos from Dr. Seuss’s special forces. Voices (often Mr. Foreman’s own) and, lately, projected films add to the sensory overload.”
A One-Man Nexus Of Media Convergence
“As the music, film and publishing industries struggle to adapt to the challenge of content proliferating on the Internet, Gilberto Gil has emerged as a central player in the global search for more flexible forms of distributing artistic works. In the process his twin roles have sometimes generated competing priorities that he has sought to harmonize.”
Opera Rumble At Lincoln Center
New York’s opera scene hasn’t been so lively in years. The Met is quickly reinventing under a series of initiatives by Peter Gelb. And New York City Opera has thrown down the gauntlet with the hiring of the provocative Gerard Mortier. “Clearly City Opera, which has long been literally overshadowed at Lincoln Center Plaza by the Met, is taking on its behemoth neighbor.”
Horrors! Stephen King Takes On The Comics
Stephen Kind is so prolific, he even wrote under a pseudonym when his own name gltted the market. Now he’s channeling some of that creativeenergy into writing comic books. “I’m a big fan of the medium. A different way to tell stories is always exciting. It’s like being a kid with a chemistry set.”