“Classical and traditional architects are furious that there is not a doric column or a Tuscan pediment to be seen in the RIBA’s list of 92 buildings, which instead celebrates the lords of the hi-tech movement, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster, and a school of designers who followed in their pioneering modernist footsteps.”
Tag: 05.29.07
Music With Your Nose (A Tool For Disabled?)
“A computerized instrument that allows people to play music with the tip of their nose could give those who suffer from physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, the chance to experience music’s positive effects.”
The Guthrie’s Theatre Effect
Minneapolis’ new Guthrie Theatre is almost a year old. It will have attracted 500,000 theatre-goers by the end of the season, and has changed the overall Twin Cities theatre scene. “I think what’s really been good for the rest of the theater community is — this new Guthrie shows up with its new programming and new facility, that the rest of us need to put on our best face for the audiences and for the press to come and see the work we’re doing.”
The Economics Of A Hit West End Play
“Equus”, its producers maintain, is “the most expensive production of a straight play yet to hit the West End, costing £700,000 to bring to the Gielgud – twice the capitalisation cost of The Play What I Wrote. A lot of factors piled on the pounds: the cast size (there are 14 in the company), a six-week rehearsal period, the high-spec onstage seating for the audience, and also the need to cement the pre-opening publicity with a fresh advertising campaign capitalising on the glowing reviews for Radcliffe in the starring role opposite Richard Griffiths as psychiatrist Dysart.”
The Real Frank Gehry?
“Critics of Gehry say he keeps rehashing his best ideas, to the point of self-parody. Others, such as the artist Richard Serra, accuse him of plagiarising and cannibalising higher art forms, such as sculpture. At the age of 78, Gehry still seems impatient to prove everyone wrong – and becomes supercharged with enthusiasm when finally coaxed into talking about his work.”
Picking Britain’s Greatest Thespians
“Who is, or was, the greatest British actor? As party-game questions go, that’s particularly slippery since personal preferences vary, public taste changes. But it’s the right time to ask the question, because two other actors are posthumously clamouring for supremacy. Last week was the centenary of Laurence Olivier’s birth.”
Music To Get High By
“Can a CD actually make you high? This is the bold claim of the people at I-Doser.com, whose Recreational Simulations CDs are said to ‘synchronise your brainwaves to achieve a simulated state of mind’. Each track contains ‘advanced binaural beats’ mixed with a ‘carrier tone of white noise and ambient soundscapes’, producing in the listener a range of altered states including ‘mood lift, euphoria, sedation and hallucination’.”
Director’s Call: British Museum A Citizen Of The World
British Museum director Neil MacGregor believes that “the museum was, from the start, an enlightenment institution. It was a practical affirmation of Addison’s vision of Londoners as citizens of the world. It set out to show that other peoples were like us. It was an embodiment of Lockeian toleration. And that’s how it ought to be today. For that reason, says MacGregor, there is no unique or coherent narrative within the museum.”
Broadway Producers, Musicians Sign New Contract
“Broadway musicians, who staged a four-day strike in 2003 that cost New York City’s economy about $10 million, agreed to a three-year contract with producers, both sides announced today in a release.”
Plan: Virtual Tour Might Save Chinese Cave Art
To save the art in China’s Dunhuang caves from mobs of tourists, conservators are scanning the caves ad creating digital images. “Officials will scan 45,000 square meters (54,000 square yards) of frescoes, or about the area of 10 football fields, and 3,390 Buddhist statues. The images will form a virtual-reality tour for visitors to see before they enter the grottoes. The project, a collaboration with the Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh, may take five years to record the first 20 of 492 caves.”