“U.S. officials this week turned over a nearly 500-year-old Italian painting that had been stolen during World War II to the descendants of its Jewish owner. The painting, titled Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged By A Rascal, was created by Italian artist Girolamo Romani around 1538.”
Tag: 04.19.12
What Do You Get When You Cross The AIDS Quilt With The Arab Spring And A Turkish Performance Artist?
“The artist Kutlug Ataman’s themes of identity, freedom and oppression are being literally stitched together into a performance for an Istanbul theater festival next month, inspired by a road trip that unraveled because of the Arab Spring. With the help of his audience, he is creating his version of a Bayeux Tapestry, in the hopes that one day it will help to decipher today’s Turkey.”
London Book Fair’s Special Guests This Year: Censors
“The special guest of this year’s fair was the Chinese Communist Party’s censorship bureau. Assisted by the government-funded, but independent, British Council, the fair’s organizers invited the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP)–the Communist Party’s designated body for ensuring that all publications, from poems to textbooks, are certified fit for the public at home and abroad to read.”
Canada’s National Gallery Attendance Up (Just Not Enough)
“The gallery, which received a parliamentary appropriation of more than $45-million last year, recorded 346,890 visitors for the 2011-12 fiscal year ending March 31. While representing a 10 per cent increase in attendance from the last fiscal year, it’s known the NGC was anticipating a higher total, in the expectation that its summer show, Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome, would do well during its exclusive-to-Canada three-month run.”
Why Don’t People Watch BBC Arts Programming? Lack Of Marketing
The commissioning editor for music and events said there are 350 hours of arts programming on the BBC each year, but audiences “don’t know it’s there” because the Corporation does “not spend a lot of money on marketing”.
Artist Whose Painting Was Burned By Museum As Protest: It Was Painful To See
“Seeing my work go up in flames was extremely painful and I am in mourning. But in some way it did not belong to me any more. I never thought of its commercial value and it is a political act to destroy it. It is something quite beyond me.”
Cannes Film Lineup Revealed, And There Are No… Women?
“Last year, a record total of four women had films in competition; this year that number has reverted to Le Grand Zero.”
A Call To Close Second-Rate German Cultural Institutions (To Save Money)
“A call by a group of academics and cultural commentators to close every second state-subsidised cultural institution–in particular art museums and theatres–in response to the economic downturn has provoked a robust response from German artists, filmmakers and writers.”
Nielsen Data: People Record Dramas More Than Other Programming
“Hourlong dramas accounted for 58% of time-shifted viewing, according to Nielsen’s Advertising & Audiences Report released Thursday. Comedies made up 16%, reality shows accounted for 14%, sports represented 8% and news, 4%.”
Pulitzer Fiction Prize Juror: I’m Angry
“Our directive was to nominate ‘distinguished’ works of fiction, published in book form in 2011 that, ideally, spoke to American themes. And 2011 saw a bounty of good novels. We unanimously agreed on our three nominees. In our collective judgment, these very different novels are three very distinguished works of fiction.”