“In terms of public sculpture, we live in strange times. We no longer know what such statues ought to represent, having largely abandoned the old idea that they ought to be images in stone or metal of well-known public figures. Nor are we sure any more where to put the stuff.”
Tag: 04.10.11
What Has Happened To British Sculpture?
“Anyone walking through central London, where outstanding examples from the last three centuries abound, could be forgiven for thinking we’re world leaders in the field. Yet in recent years, we seem to have lost the manual. How else can you explain the rogues’ gallery of spavined mannequins that litters our streets and squares?”
The TV Sitcom Is Dead? Not Hardly
Under our unsuspecting noses, there are loads of good sitcoms, all fighting for a spot in the Elite Eleven.
Life Of The Mind Outside Accademia
“Thinking of one’s life in terms of a career used to make a lot of sense, but it no longer does. The main reason is that the economy has changed course dramatically with the result that the concept of a career is applicable to fewer and fewer cases.”
St. Petersburg Makes A Move On Contemporary Art
“In the last year, two privately sponsored modern art museums have opened here, both on Vasilyevsky Island about a 20-minute walk from each other. That may not be close enough for the kind of buzz that rises from the densely packed gallery districts of New York, London or Moscow, but it is helping to turn Russia’s second-largest city and former imperial capital into a contemporary art contender.”
Today’s Composers – When No Genre Is The New Genre
“Like other composers of his generation, Avner Dorman, who turns 36 on Thursday, can make outlandish musical combinations work because he is comfortable with an enormous range of styles, assimilated during a musically omnivorous childhood and adolescence.”
Have We Lost Something Essential If We Watch Movies Alone?
“While many of us still go to movie theaters, the 24-hour movie now also comes to us, though sometimes us may be just one person sitting alone at a desk or on a train and staring at a glowing box. This new portable movie is convenient, and certainly wired-up companies like the new ways they can pump images to your devices. But it isn’t moviegoing as we have understood it for most of history.”
Spoiler Alert – When You Can Wreck The Surprise Of Any Movie
“Today ‘someone’ has become a blogosphere, where information is currency, and any aspect of any movie is usually available online as soon as the closing credits of the first screening have rolled. Maybe sooner.”
In The Digital Age, Literary Journals Are Thriving
“Literary journals — a long-tail publishing phenomenon before the Internet made other niche offerings accessible — are thriving.”
Conductor Julian Kuerti: If Music Is The Only Thing You Can Do
” ‘When I was growing up in Toronto my parents dissuaded me from music. They said don’t be a musician unless it’s the only thing you can do.’ Heeding this advice, he completed a degree in engineering science. But music was always part of his life. “I had scores to Beethoven symphonies open on top of my physics textbook, when I was supposed to be studying for my exams.”