Two Saatchi Gallery exhibitions were “the first and third most visited shows in the UK” last year. “Only the ‘Banksy effect’ stopped Saatchi securing a top one and two in the UK. The street artist/local boy made good drew almost 4,000 people a day to see his interventions, or ‘remix’, of Bristol’s City Museum and Art Gallery.”
Tag: 03.31.10
For 2012 Olympics, A Climbable Tower By Anish Kapoor
“Kapoor’s Orbit, a vast, snaking steel structure, will dominate the 2012 Olympic park. It is being hailed as London’s answer to the Eiffel tower and is part of an ambition to make the Olympics site a permanent visitor attraction.”
LA’s On-Location Filming Up 25% In First Quarter
“The upturn is welcome news to tens of thousands of workers who work behind the scenes on film sets and who’ve been hard hit by a production downturn over the last two years caused by labor unrest, recession and the migration of work outside of California.” Still, “on-location shoots remain well below the levels of 2007.”
Animating The Book Of Kells
“Using the scrollwork designs and microscopic detailing of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the Four Gospels likely dating to the early 8th century, ‘The Secret of Kells’ … evokes the feel of Celtic tradition and a culture long past.”
UK Theatre Titan To Start Transatlantic Transfer Network?
Howard Panter, co-founder of the Ambassador Theatre Group, the UK’s biggest theatre owner, “hopes to increase the number of shows that transfer among a larger number of cities within the United States and Britain. Traditionally, most theater productions have moved mainly between London and Broadway.”
There Goes Another Conversation Starter; Thanks, E-Books
“With a growing number of people turning to Kindles and other electronic readers, and with the Apple iPad arriving on Saturday, it is not always possible to see what others are reading or to project your own literary tastes. You can’t tell a book by its cover if it doesn’t have one.”
El Sistema: There’s More Talent Where Dudamel Came From
“With over 350,000 [student] instrumentalists and choristers scattered among 215 regional centers known as ‘núcleos,’ … you might think that Mr. Dudamel is not unique, and you would be right.” Under the tutelage of Claudio Abbado, two more gifted young Venezuelan conductors are making an impression at the Lucerne Easter Festival.
At The Met, Leonard Slatkin Doesn’t Know The Score
The conductor showed up for rehearsals of the Met’s current Traviata without knowing the music properly. He admitted as much on his own website, writing that “since everyone else in the house knew it, I would learn a great deal from the masters.” The result: “I have seldom heard such faulty coordination between a conductor and a cast at the Met,” says Anthony Tommasini.