Tag: 05.23.04

Will Hollywood Junk Science Help Or Hurt The Real Thing?

This summer’s big Hollywood disaster flick is The Day After Tomorrow, in which all the dire predictions scientists have been making about the consequences of global warming come true – over the course of about three days. Environmental groups have been latching on to the film in the hope that the sight of New York City encased permanently in ice will spark the public’s interest in the real-life issue of climate change, but some observers point out that a film clearly based on junk science is more likely to spark a backlash against the global warming alarmists than to cause the public to rally to their side.

The Return of the Protest Song?

“Is folk music getting its political hackles up? It has often been the soundtrack of American protest, from the labor movement of the early 20th century through the civil rights and antiwar movements of the ’50s and ’60s. Now, in the midst of our longest and most controversial war since Vietnam, is history repeating itself? There are definite signs that this summer’s folk-festival crowds may hear more political songs than they have in many years.”

Whatever Happened To Funding The Arts Just Because We Should?

Economic impact studies are becoming the preferred method of convincing the citizenry to support public subsidies for arts and culture. But not everyone is buying the message: “The arts folks are trying to sell their idea… by using the vehicle the public seems eager to buy these days: It will help the economy. The arts’ pitch is smaller but not dissimilar to the pitch made by the biotech people. We can not only cure diseases, we were told, we can cure downturns in the business cycle… When we make these arguments long enough, other economists will come up with research that shows these are not such good investments. This will lead to more resistance to funding projects we probably ought to fund for the civic good.”

Reinventing the Wheel in St. Paul

One year ago, the musicians of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra agreed to a new contract which would fundamentally change the way the ensemble operates. The position of music director will soon be eliminated in favor of a network of “artistic partners” who the SPCO hopes will bring star power and musical expertise to the organization. “Perhaps even more significantly, decision-making, formerly the responsibility of top management and the music director, would now be the work of two committees, each composed of three musicians and two management personnel, a ratio that puts musicians in the driver’s seat.” The rest of the American orchestra industry is watching St. Paul closely, if skeptically.

Fahrenheit 9/11 Wins Palme d’Or

Michael Moore’s incendiary documentary trashing the politics and policy of the Bush administration has captured the top prize at Cannes. It was the first documentary to be awarded the Palme d’Or since Jacques Cousteau’s The Silent World took the prize nearly 50 years ago. Moore was the darling of Cannes this year, though some observers noted that, if his film won, it would be more an expression of European outrage with current American foreign policy than a true reflection of the quality of the picture. Still, in a year when no one film blew away the competition, Fahrenheit 9/11 stood out from the pack.

Who Is This Guy, Anyway?

Michael Moore has crafted a well-constructed image as a man of the people, a spokesman for the downtrodden, and a lone voice howling against the American corporate, political, and economic elite. But those who have worked with Moore tell a different story, of a money-obsessed power broker who exaggerates his supposedly working-class roots and hides his own excesses behind his populist bluster.

Are NZers Ready To Support Museum?

Are New Zealanders ready to pony up serious money for its museum? “Make no mistake, Aucklanders admire their art gallery. They may not go inside too often, but they like the idea that the grand old building survives, up the hill from Queen St, nestled against Albert Park. But $75 million, largely from the public purse, to restore this storehouse of (mainly) old paintings? In a city fixated on solving its traffic problems, it could be viewed as the art scam of the century.”

Losing Art In Words

Blake Gopnik argues that the addition of words almost never helps a piece of art or architecture. “In my work as an art critic, I often come across this imbalance between word and image. It’s almost never put there by the artists themselves, when they’re any good; it almost always comes when someone doesn’t believe that art can work without the help of text. When museums don’t really believe in the communicative power of a piece of art, however great and famous, they throw up words that are supposed to make it speak. The strange thing about the World War II memorial, I’d say, is that even the designers of this work of art don’t trust it to communicate alone.”