New Zealand requires that 10 percent of the music played on the country’s radio stations be homegrown. Now a proposal to increase the percentage to 20 percent. But that would be very difficult say radio execs. “Increasing local content on classic hits-type stations would be the hardest because of a lack of Kiwi music from the 1960s and ’70s.” Maybe Australian could be considered homegrown? – New Zealand Herald 04/05/00
Tag: 04.05.00
BAD OSCAR
“The Catholic Church in Mexico has attacked last week’s Academy Award ceremony in Hollywood for promoting homosexuality, promiscuity and abortion.” – BBC 04/05/00
THERE HE GOES AGAIN
Hans Haacke, fresh off his Whitney imbroglio, is into another, this time in Germany where his proposed project for the new Reichstag – a wooden flower trough, 23 feet wide and 70 feet long – has also sparked controversy. “The trough is to be filled with dirt brought by each of the 669 legislators from their hometowns – something that many lawmakers across party lines say draws an awkward allusion to the mythical veneration of German “blood and soil” practiced by the Nazis.”- Fox News
GOTCHA!
Two men believed to be responsible for the rash of recent art heists around Montreal have been arrested. Police have seized several statues, but say artwork worth millions of dollars may be unrecoverable. – CBC
A DEEP LOVE OF ART?
“Up to 16 times since the beginning of autumn, some of Canada’s toniest residences on the island of Montreal were hit by art thieves who absconded with millions of dollars worth of works by famous masters, including 10 by the prolific 19th-century painter Cornelius Krieghoff and six by James Wilson Morrice, the first Canadian-born painter to achieve an international reputation.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
TECHNOLOGY TAKES MANHATTAN
This spring New York’s museums are full of technology. “These artists were just working with what surrounds them, and technology is so dominant, TV, computer and Internet-wise, that artists have to confront these technologies.” – Wired
WE DIDN’T INVENT NEW, YOU KNOW
In the 1890s, newspapers and magazines were full of articles celebrating the new woman, the new journalism, the new fiction, the new sculpture and, above all, the new art – l’art nouveau.” A new exhibit London’s Victoria & Albert Museum highlights the currents of change in design and aesthetics that swept through Europe from 1890-1914. – The Telegraph (UK)
OR WAS IT “GAUDY”?: “infectious dominance” and bizarrely extravagant ornamentation. – The Times (UK)
OR MAYBE “SEXY”?: “The most startling among 400 objects in the largest exhibition of art nouveau ever mounted has been lent on condition that no salacious comments are made about it.” – The Guardian
PERIPHERAL VISION
Somehow Picasso paying restaurant bills by sketching on menus seems a lot more palatable than the current craze for artists’ “peripheral works” – like the inky faxed pages of David Hockney’s works that sold for $17,000 last year. Now snapshots from a roll of film taken by Hockney are going on sale next week and they’re “being hyped as a potential investment.” – The Age (Melbourne)
ALL SHIT?
Last month Pinchas Zukerman was quoted as saying that the period music movement is “disgusting” and “complete rubbish.” The director of Tafelmusik, Canada’s Baroque Orchestra, took offense. “I am very in favor of dialogue. I am not in favor of people just… saying things like, ‘you know, it’s all shit. They’re all rubbish, the people who play it [Tafelmusik.]’ I don’t think that’s very constructive. I don’t think it’s very intelligent and I don’t think it’s very musical.” – CBC
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
The British government has to make it easier for consumers to buy music over the internet, a new report warns. The study suggests that otherwise people will buy from pirate sites and foreign competitors if they cannot get quicker and easier online access to music. Global online sales are expected to account for 8% of the total music market by 2004. – BBC