New York governor Eliot Spitzer has signalled he will take an active role in planning a new performing arts center at the site of the World Trade Center. “Many of those involved in planning Lower Manhattan now wonder whether the center, to be designed by Frank Gehry, will become the focus of a long tug of war.”
Tag: 04.23.07
Will Ashkenazy Make Sydney A Major Orchestra?
“In his first interview since the announcement of his appointment to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the world-renowned conductor told The Australian his plans for the orchestra included major tours of Europe and Asia and one of the most extensive recording programs of any orchestra in the world over the next five years.”
Two Cities On Opposite Ends Of The World Reinvent
“Both Manchester and Melbourne are busy reinventing themselves. At heart, both are great Victorian cities that, following economic slumps, have been rapidly modernising. They are centres of sport and culture, their populations comprise a rainbow of backgrounds, and they boast impressive tram networks (trams make city centres special). Yet both cities have been what you might call just a little bit provincial in their commissioning of new architecture over the past 20 years. Now, though, they are clearly benefiting from importing design talent from one side of the world to the other.”
Granta Names 21 Best Young US Writers
“It is Granta’s second go at the US landscape, the last being in 1996 when it impressively plucked out such names as Jonathan Franzen and David Guterson, who have gone on to great things.”
UK Artists Rally To Protest Olympics Funding Plan
“There is a spectacular lack of logic in using money earmarked for the arts to plug the holes in the Olympics bills. The money raided from the lottery will largely affect small, innovative, experimental organisations and individuals who are the lifeblood of creativity in the UK. Pulling the carpet out from under them and nobbling their money is undermining the future of our major arts institutions.”
Market “Allergy” Results In Very Bad Show
A new show at New York’s is made up of “only art that can’t be bought. Thus, the exhibition is composed of work that artists either kept or, in a couple of weird cases, sold then bought back. By this curatorial criterion, nearly every artist on earth could be included. Curator Alanna Heiss compounds the problem by haughtily stating that the show evinces her ‘unfortunate allergy’ to the marketplace. But for the director or curator of an institution that relies on the largesse of artists and dealers–who in turn depend on commerce–to claim an ‘allergy’ to the marketplace is not only smug, it’s deluded and hypocritical.”