“The economic downturn is reshaping American museum expansions. Recently, two well-known museums have cancelled plans by internationally known firms and commissioned more modest projects by local firms, while a third high-profile addition remains on hold.”
Tag: 04.06.10
Speaking Of Imelda, She’s Now A Concept Album
“Operatic in its ambitions, retro disco in its inclinations, Here Lies Love is an exhaustive, exhausting examination of the life of Imelda Marcos assembled by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim.”
Does The Pompidou’s New Outpost Live Up To Its Heritage?
“Just as the original Pompidou was designed to reinvent a large area of central Paris, so the Pompidou-Metz forms the centrepiece of … a district formerly given over to industry. It is, by any standards, an important building: much cultural pride rides on its curving shoulders, locally and nationally.”
Ownership Dispute Hobbles Eames Auction
Photos and a photo backdrop have been withdrawn from an auction of items that once belonged to Charles and Ray Eames after Charles Eames’ daughter, Lucia, “filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to remove two of 134 lots … being put up for auction by Marilyn and John Neuhart, who worked with the famous designers and became caretakers of some of their work.”
Reviving Long-Dead Native American Languages
“As far as the records show, no one has spoken Shinnecock or Unkechaug, languages of Long Island’s Indian tribes, for nearly 200 years. Now Stony Brook University and two of the Indian nations are initiating a joint project to revive these extinct tongues, using old documents like a vocabulary list that Thomas Jefferson wrote during a visit in 1791.”
Why Are People Fascinated By Dance Reality TV?
Kal Angus: “I realize that as a television reporter, I’m supposed to have my finger on the pulse of the community, but I have to admit something vaguely shameful: I still don’t understand why people watch reality dancing competitions.” For instance, “I can’t tell what separates the best dancer from the tenth best dancer.”
Transforming Sacred Music Into A Secular Art
To accompany an exhibit of Spanish Renaissance art at the National Gallery in DC, Stephen Hough took portions of Victoria’s Requiem “and transcribed, translated, transformed them for a string sextet. Stripping the piece of its texts, and thus of its specifically religious context, was a thoughtful echo of the secularizing process of displaying religious art works in a museum show: their aesthetic value, rather than their religious value, being in this context of primary importance to most of the show’s viewers.”
Terrence McNally Gets Married In D.C.
The playwright wed his civil partner Tuesday “on the banks of the Potomac near the Kennedy Center, which is running a series of McNally’s plays.”
Canada’s Griffin Poetry Prize Doubles Payout To $200,000
“The added money means that the respective Canadian and international winners will each receive $75,000, while the two Canadian and three international runners-up will all get cheques for $10,000.”
Chicago’s Drury Lane Theatre Becomes B’way Playhouse
“Broadway in Chicago, the new leaseholder for the intimate 549-seat theater…, says the theater will be renamed the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, with plans already in place to fill the venue with a mix of programming that should keep this stage in the heart of the Magnificent Mile lit up on a far more regular basis.”