“A midwest architectural firm that has designed dozens of professional sports arenas could bump Frank Gehry and his glitzy arena vision from the Atlantic Yards project. Ellerbe Becket, a Missouri-based firm, was tapped last fall to reevaluate the extravagant arena design Gehry conceived for developer Forest City Ratner to lure the NBA’s New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn.”
Tag: 05.27.09
Art Book Publishing – In Trouble With The Rest Of Us
Art-book publishers also love art. Currently, they tend to be suffering not from arrogance but from amnesia about their trump card. In any other business, this amnesia would be called “lack of confidence in the product”.
Trompe L’Oeil Vermeer
“Was [he] a collaborator or an artist? Or both? And if he was a genius, what was his genius? His ability to trick people? Or was he able to trick people because he was an artist of genius?” Errol Morris begins a seven-part investigation of Han van Meegeren, the WWII-era painter who forged Old Dutch Master canvases.
SOS Racisme Goes After Sarkozy Over Museum Admission
“A French anti-racism group has filed a legal complaint against the Louvre museum, arguing that a policy [introduced by President Nicolas Sarkozy] to allow free admission to European young people is discriminatory.”
Tracey Emin Says She Is So Over Sex
“‘It always was about sex, not money,’ she said. ‘Sex was what held me in bed and got me out of it again in the morning. But now it’s fading fast. I don’t have the same craziness about sex that I had – I’m more interested in ideas.’ The artist was haloed by a pink glow emanating from a neon piece in the next room. Its inscription read: ‘Oh Christ I just wanted you to f*** me and then I became greedy, I wanted you to love me.'”
For Makers Of Waco, No Film Incentives From Texas
Texas’ film commissioner has denied “as much as 17% in film incentives” to the makers of a movie about the Branch Davidian compound standoff, basing “his veto on a little-known provision in Texas’ film-incentive legislation known as the content clause, which states that anything that portrays the state in a negative or embarrassing light can be denied a government grant.” The filmmakers say the rejection “amounts to censorship and a snuffing of artistic freedom.”
Love Means Sometimes Having To Say, ‘I Hate It’
“Loving music, to a critic, cannot simply mean bestowing praise. In fact, I think one of the biggest problems in the classical music field is that there’s too much praise. There’s an idea that our field is so small and beleaguered that we have to band together and all like everything all the time. … I happen to think that tough love is especially important now.”
Collector Gets Go-Ahead On Suit Vs. Warhol Foundation
“A New York judge ordered that a collector of Andy Warhol artworks be allowed to pursue claims of fraud and unjust enrichment against a foundation that authenticates the artist’s paintings and prints. Joe Simon-Whelan, owner of a Warhol self-portrait, sued the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in federal court in New York in 2007, asking to represent other buyers of the pop artist’s works that were judged to be fakes.”
Sydney Theatre Company Sees 9.9% Ticket-Sales Drop
“Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton’s first year managing the Sydney Theater Company has been marred by a significant erosion of the company’s financial position. The result does not reflect the co-artistic directors’ programming, which began in earnest only at the start of calendar year 2009, but will impact their plans to expand the activities of Australia’s preeminent not-for-profit.”
Broadway League Changes Method Of Reporting Box Office
“The Broadway League will consolidate the reporting of Main Stem box office figures, with members of the org filing weekly receipts directly to the league, which will then distribute the information. Sales figures will represent ‘gross gross’ sales as opposed to net gross, which subtracts credit card transaction fees from the total. Attendance will be reported as total attendance rather than paid attendance, which does not count comped ducats.”