“Most of the ancient artwork carved and painted into the rock walls and boulders of America’s West survived for thousands of years in quiet obscurity. But technology has changed that. These days, art that once took years for a person to stumble upon can be quickly pinpointed with a GPS, and discoverers can post the coordinates on the Internet. That leaves the ancient, priceless art vulnerable to what the Bureau of Land Management calls ‘digital vandalism.’ A quick peek at the Internet auction site eBay confirms the sites are being plundered and sold piecemeal.”
Tag: 05.05.03
Leonardo On TV – We Hardly Knew Ye
A BBC series on Leonardo da Vinci was a lot of sizzle without giving away much about who Leonardo really was. “Ever since the 15th century, it sometimes seems, programme-makers have been trying to fit art on to the small screen. Art is not natural television, as nature is. Few of us are ever likely to see the worlds revealed by the Blue Planet in any other way. We all, however, can go to an art gallery. As for seeing the Mona Lisa, we can hardly avoid it. So a programme about art needs a lot of insight and originality.”
Americans Say Only 38 Artifacts Stolen From Iraq Museum, Not 170,000
American investigators who compiled an inventory over the weekend of the ransacked galleries have concluded that 38 pieces of art are missing from Iraq’s National Museum, not the 170,000 that had been reported stolen or broken. “The inventory, compiled by a military and civilian team headed by Marine Col. Matthew Bogdanos, rejects reports that Iraq’s renowned treasures of civilization – up to 170,000 artifacts – had been lost during the U.S.-led war against Iraq. It also raises questions about why any of the artifacts were reported missing.”
NPR Offers New Classical Music Service
National Public Radio has teamed up with KUSC in Los Angeles and CPRN in Colorado to begin offering a new classical music service. “NPR will offer the service to its 732 member stations, 472 of which already carry classical music. “We’re giving them more to work with. The service’s economy of scale will enable even small outlets to have high-quality announcing and programming.” The music service will compete with existing networks produced by Minnesota Public Radio and Chicago’s Beethoven Network.
Politically Incorrect – What’s It Take To Sell Political Theatre?
Political plays don’t have to be serious and hard to sit through. “Most great political plays aren’t about politics. It’s obvious to say they are about people, but some of the best are about people who are as far away from the political process as you can get. As in politics, the answer in the theatre seems to be: make plays appear cool, which only alienates people even more. It’s now extremely difficult to get a play produced unless it stars her out of EastEnders or him out of The Bill.”
Tiny Almeida Reopens After Makeover
The Almeida, “one of the most creative and fashionable theatres in London,” reopens this week after a £7.6m makeover. “Now Michael Attenborough takes over with a strong programme pretty much guaranteed to fill the revamped theatre’s 321 seats. And he has to fill them – this is a very small number of seats and the economics of the Almeida have always been of the wing-and-prayer variety.”
Are comic Books Dying?
“Distributors used to deliver a bunch of comics to every newsagent every week, and many kids who had trouble with books got into reading that way. Now newsagents have to place a special order to get a comic, and most of them don’t bother. Even if they see a comic like The Simpsons or Archie, a lot of parents think $6 is too expensive. Result: kids are playing video games instead of discovering the pleasure of print. The few hundred comics that sell in Australia each week are mostly bought by collectors over the age of 16.”
As The Barnes Turns
The drama over the Barnes Foundation’s future is about to get publicly nasty again. “A potentially explosive internal investigative audit of the Barnes’s finances in the 1990’s, long withheld by the foundation, was turned over late Friday to a judge, who may decide to make it public. And a new book, “Art Held Hostage,” published today by W. W. Norton, casts an unflattering light on machinations at the Barnes and its estranged partner, Lincoln University, that are drawing comparisons to the litigious mire of Dickens’s ‘Bleak House’.”