“Michael Darling arrived at SAM last July from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, where he was associate curator. He came just in time for a mad scramble to get the Olympic Sculpture Park open, quickly followed by his next mad scramble: the reopening of the museum downtown on May 5 and -6, with contemporary art gaining triple its former space and dominating the opening exhibit of gifts honoring SAM’s 75th birthday.”
Tag: 03.14.07
Jean Baudrillard, 77
“Like a French Ann Coulter with stumpy legs and nicotine-ruined lungs, but sans Coulter’s gift for punchy images, Baudrillard stalked fame by making outrageous declarations he knew to be false. Authors of the Baudrillard obituaries, like the writers of encyclopedia articles on him, found it easier to list subjects he’d written about or the usual-suspects list of influences (Nietzsche, Mauss, Debord, Bataille) than to articulate what he claimed about them.”
Better Radio? Don’t Hold Your Breath
Music fans rejoiced last week when the FCC announced that, in order to settle allegations of rampant payola, radio stations and the corporate conglomerates which own them had agreed to devote 4,200 hours of free airtime to local, independent artists. That sounds like a lot, but in reality, most big-city stations won’t have to change their playlist much at all. In fact, a Clear Channel station with a single one-hour local music program per week already meets the quota.
Acosta + Bolshoi =
When Carlos Acosta dances with the Bolshoi this summer it will bring together the most feted male star of British ballet and the most celebrated dance company in the world.
Waterstone’s Path To Profits – Low-Brow Books?
UK books and music chain “HMV is planning to close up to 30 of its Waterstone’s book shops, give more space to higher margin items and reduce the number of high brow books, as part of an overhaul to restore the fortunes of the struggling business.”
Public Universities Fall Behind
“As top private institutions grow richer, public universities have found themselves unable to compete on the resource front, and so the competitive edge enjoyed by private institutions has ultimately spilled into research and all that results (journal articles, grants and books).”
Real And Virtual Actors Perform Together
In a first, “actors working in real time from remote locations recently were beamed onto a stage where they performed with live, in the flesh actors for an audience that experienced one seamless, three-dimensional show.”
Free Love For New Music
“Of all the ways musicians have devised to draw an audience to new music, doing away with the price tag ranks among the most immediately appealing. There’s no financial risk for the potential listener, the organizers feel empowered to program whatever music they want since they don’t have to try and gauge how much people will be willing to shell out to hear Composer X’s latest masterwork.”
SF Asian Art Museum Director To Retire
“Emily Sano, director of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, has announced her intention to retire. She has set the end of 2007 as a departure date but has pledged to continue her duties until a replacement can be found. Named museum director in 1995, Sano joined the museum in 1993 as chief curator and deputy director.”
A Denver Challenge To Humana?
“Kent Thompson said he wanted his annual Colorado New Play Summit one day to rival the nation’s premiere festival, and his 2007-08 season is one huge step in that direction. The Denver Center Theatre Company will cluster three world premiere stagings, all to be showcased around the artistic director’s third new-play summit next February.”