Rem Koolhaas’s design for the theatre that will anchor Dallas’s grand new Performing Arts Center has undergone its first round of retooling, and the results are impressive, says David Dillon. “The Wyly looks like nothing in the Arts District, or anywhere else for that matter, which is just fine with the adamantly acontextual Mr. Koolhaas. He likes buildings that are mysterious and hard to place, that might be anything and anywhere.”
Tag: 03.28.05
Matthew Bourne – The Debate Revived
“This is ridiculous. Theatrical dance, throughout its history, has swung back and forth between storytelling and abstraction. For every Marius Petipa there was a Michel Fokine, for every Balanchine an Agnes de Mille, insisting that movement had to “mean” something. In the end, it never mattered. Narrative or abstract, some dance shows were good, and some weren’t. But Matthew Bourne, for his own reasons, has revived this weary debate. He comes, as he has put it, from “Cockney East London,” so he presumably has some feelings about social class. Furthermore, he didn’t see his first ballet until he was nineteen, and didn’t take his first dance lesson till he was twenty-two, so he may, in the past, have had misgivings about his credentials.”
Foetry: Exposed In Public
“Foetry.com launched on April 1st of 2004 to expose the status quo in American poetry publication: many books published are winners of contests that are often large–scale fraud operations. Judges select their friends, students, and lovers from pools of manuscripts numbering in the hundreds or thousands, accompanied by an entry fee, usually around $20–$25. Some of the competitions are sponsored by university presses. As soon as Foetry.com was launched, the defenses began.”
Peter Maxwell Davies On Demand
Composer Peter Maxwell Davies has started his own recording company. But not just any company. “The solution was radical. Rather than simply reissue set-packaged discs, the decision was made to offer a much more flexible product through the medium of the internet. The formula they came up with does just that, and at remarkably low prices. There are two ways of obtaining your personalised disc. One is simply to download the required pieces, together with an “owner’s booklet”, which will contain the required sleeve notes (including a libretto in the case of an opera), to your hard disc, then pay the appropriate money. The other is to choose your tracks, pay for them, and place a request for the disc to be compiled and posted out to you.”
Broadcast “Indecency” Wars Are Just Heating Up
“Leading lawmakers and the new leader of the F.C.C. have proposed a broad expansion of indecency rules, which were significantly toughened just last year. They are also looking for significant increases in the size of fines and new procedures that could jeopardize the licenses of stations that repeatedly violate the rules.”
Why Are There Now Ads On “Public” TV?
“To raise money for noncommercial programming, producers and distributors increasingly allow their corporate underwriters to turn their credits into something resembling regular commercials. Since the mid-1990’s, the underwriter announcements that precede and follow many public television programs (and usually conclude with the narrator thanking “viewers like you”) have gradually adopted many trappings of regular advertising, despite appearing on “commercial-free” television.”
Art Direct To Your Cell Phone
“This month, a New York-based Web site that celebrates graffiti and other street art began testing a system” that would allow “art lovers to download images created by emerging artists onto the video screens of their cellphones. Calling it a “curated online art gallery for your mobile phone,” the founders of the Web site, woostercollective.com, are hoping it will provide a new way for struggling young artists to make money, in much the same way that a songwriter can earn money from radio play or an actor from reruns.”
The Poet Of Melbourne
“The idea of being a career poet is an odd one to most of us – writing poetry doesn’t pay, for a start – but it implies someone who is out there seeking publication and renown, and respect from one’s peers. Kris Hemensley doesn’t seek such things. And yet he’s been writing seriously and steadily for 40 years, his work is held in very high regard, and he has arguably done more for poetry than anyone else in Melbourne.”
Who Will Control Phone Entertainment?
“The rush is on to deliver music and video to mobile phones, with wireless providers and device makers jockeying for position to grab their share of the payday, all parties mindful of the surprising billions being spent on musical ringtones. At the same time, the media companies who produce the entertainment, which also includes video games, are approaching cautiously, determined to avert any Napster-like, file-sharing bonanza among cell phone users.”
A Supreme Court Case That Could Change The Course Of Technology
The US Supreme Court hears arguments in a case this week that could determine the future development of technology. “The highly anticipated case, MGM Studios v. Grokster, pits all the major movie studios and record labels against Grokster and StreamCast Networks, two operators of file-sharing services.” The case is an appeal of a decision that “file-sharing companies are not liable for their users’ copyright infringement. The decision upheld a lower-court ruling from April 2003.”