“Displacement pretty much excludes what my parents and many Sarajevans call ‘normal life,’ which is in many ways a nostalgic concept. … I do have a sense of displacement as constant instability – the uninterrupted existence of everything that I love and care about is not guaranteed at all. I wait for catastrophes.”
Tag: 03.20.13
Anthony Trollope And The Way We Live Now (In 2013)
“Greed is eternal, but when the money flows as plentifully upward as in London circa 1873 or New York circa 2013, and is as unequally distributed, it becomes a moral toxin, saturates the world of culture, makes relationships more competitive, turns desire into the pursuit of status … And, as in Trollope’s London, money and its pursuit can have a democratizing effect.”
Does Bach Need “Rescuing”?
“Limiting Bach performances to period instruments would be relegating his legacy to antique/museum status. When his music was performed in his day, it was on contemporary instruments of that time.”
Art, Performance Art, Or Social Justice? (Or What?)
“As the commercial art world in America rides a boom unlike any it has ever experienced, another kind of art world growing rapidly in its shadows is beginning to assert itself.”
David Hockney’s Assistant Dies Suddenly
“A post mortem found ‘no obvious natural causes’ for the death of British artist David Hockney’s assistant” – 23-year-old Dominic Elliott – “who died after falling ill at the painter’s home … in Bridlington in northeast England early on Sunday.”
Russia’s Favorite Crime Writer, Boris Akunin, Turns Historian
“Grigory Chkhartishvili, the best-selling Russian writer known for his detective novels set in imperial Russia (written under the name Boris Akunin), and for his foray into opposition politics directed against Vladimir V. Putin announced that from now on he would devote himself to writing a multivolume history of Russia.”
Ai Weiwei’s Next Big Artwork: 1,000 Tents
“Aus der Aufklärung (Out of enlightenment) will consist of 1,000 tents, installed along the Emscher river” in Germany’s Ruhr Valley region. Each tent – hand-crafted, unique, and big enough for two to three people – will be available for rent by the night for what the Emscherkunst Triennial’s curator calls “a low, symbolic price”.
Lebbeus Woods, Architecture’s Great Fantasist
“[He] devoted most of his life to creating … the T-square equivalent of science fiction.” For instance, living spaces straddling the Berlin Wall, an “Aerial Paris” suspended above the actual French capital by static electricity, and an Albert Einstein memorial projected into outer space on a beam of light.
David Cronenberg Proposes All-Canadian Movie Channel
“Robert Lantos, along with filmmakers David Cronenberg and Paul Gross, are proposing an all-Canadian film TV channel for mandatory carriage. Do Canadians want to watch Canadian films?”
Cat Fired From Broadway Breakfast At Tiffany’s
“The main cat understudy, Montie, a black-and-white male, has been fired for being, well, difficult. He didn’t follow stage directions. … Meanwhile the star cat, Vito Vincent, is now negotiating – through his owner – for a nightly car and driver.”