“Art is not standard front page news, so astronomical prices, along with the death of the artist and, in Britain, a Turner Prize win, are one of the few ways that an artist can really hit the headlines. While the media increasingly confuse fame and notoriety with innovation and art historical importance, so many neophyte collectors seem to be happy ‘buying the price’, i.e. they conflate monetary worth with aesthetic and cultural value.”
Tag: 05.01.08
Iraqi Proposes International Ban On Sale Of Iraqi Antiquities
“A ban on trading in any Iraqi artefacts would strip them of their commercial value, he said, and mean there was no longer any financial incentive to dig them out of the ground.”
New York Passes New Libel Protections for Writers
“The Libel Terrorism Protection Act prohibits the enforcement of a foreign libel judgment unless a New York court determines that it satisfies the free speech and free press protections guaranteed by the First Amendment and the New York State Constitution.”
Rome’s New Mayor Wants To Tear Down City’s Newest Museum
“Designed by U.S. architect Richard Meier, the museum has had its share of critics since it opened in 2006. The modernist glass, marble and steel structure was dismissed by critics as an eyesore and compared to a giant gas station or a pizzeria. It is the first modern building to rise in Rome’s historic centre since the days of Benito Mussolini. It cost $24 million and took 10 years to build.”
When Writers Use Their Private Lives For Their Writing
“Annie Proulx, Uzodinma Iweala, and Michael Ondaatje — talk about the role of privacy in the public world of literature and the media. Is it ever right to tell private stories for the public good?”
Venerable Gramophone Magazine Plans Big Online Expansion
“The plans are part of a broad expansion of Gramophone’s online presence. In the first phase, expected by the end of the summer, it will make its entire archive, including some 100,000 recording reviews and articles, available free.”
Why The BBC Young Musician Contest Thrills
“An eight-year-old playwright or philosopher is inconceivable; an eight-year-old pianist able to play a Mozart concerto in public is a miracle that can actually happen. The focus on youth is one thing that makes the BBC competition special.”
Maybe It’s Time For Performers To Take The Lead?
“Musical scores came to be written as if dogma, down to the last pedantic detail; performers, even brilliant ones, became mere instruments to the composer’s vision.” But this doesn’t necessaril lead to the best music. Maybe performers should have more power…
Copyright? That’s So Yesterday. How About User-Right?
“We’re seeing the move from the sort of static idea of a copy that gets paid a certain rate to a revenue share and to a usage right which means that I am authorizing agents to give the license for the use of the music, like I always have in the past, for example with radio. I just want to collect a piece of the revenues that the other party is making rather than preventing any kind of copy.”
Scottish Arts Council Cuts £100,000 From Lit Funding
Gavin Wallace, head of literature at SAC, today explained that the organisation had been forced to identify “efficiency savings” following a revised settlement from the Scottish government.