Are there limits to what it is possible for us to know? “The last century brought the first hints of fundamental, inherent limits on the knowable. Kurt Godel discovered, to everyone’s shock, that some statements in mathematics can be neither proved nor disproved. And physicists showed that the laws of quantum mechanics prevent us from knowing simultaneously both the position and the momentum of a subatomic particle. Will the world continue to yield to man’s curiosity, or will we encounter evermore Godelian limits?”
Tag: 05.30.03
Chapmans: We Don’t Welcome Casual Attention
Now that the Chapman Brothers have been shortlisted for this year’s Turner Prize, a wider audience is sure to be examining their work. The inevitable casual examinations of their work isn’t exactly a good thing, they say. “The reason I say that is not because I intend to offend people who have a casual encounter with art because casual encounters can be very rewarding and interesting. But I’m obsessed with countering the idea that it’s necessary to those people’s lives and the necessity is brought to bear by people who have an institutional interest in art.”
Just Who Are The Chapmans?
“The Chapman brothers are the best-known of the shortlisted artists, and recently hit the headlines for adding comical and grotesque faces to Goya etchings. Their work is often restricted to adult viewings because of its content, and they took part in 1997’s Sensation exhibition with dolls with penises instead of noses.”
Faith And Yann Martel
Booker Prize winner Yann Martel has become famous, and “now has a life which includes arguing his way through forums such as the Hong Kong Literary Festival, because of his novel about a 450 pound tiger in a lifeboat with an Indian teenager, Pi Patel. Pi embraces Hinduism, Christianity and Islam and debunks agnosticism and an excessive reliance on reason, which the novel describes as ‘fool’s gold for the bright’.”
Free Radio, Free Spectrum?
Should radio frequencies be auctioned off as property? Or, since technology has improved and “smart” radios can pick up stations more efficiently, should the whole licensing approach be rethought? “Technology may thus help to create markets; but it also makes some of them obsolete. In this case it has turned land into sea, metaphorically speaking. To draw a historical parallel: the development of better ships did not lead to parcelling up the world’s oceans but to something called free trade.”
US To Rejoin UNESCO – A Move To Try To Dominate Cultural Policy?
Surprising just about everyone last fall, the Bush administration decided the US should rejoin UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency. “The American contribution will be the first since 1984, when the US withdrew in protest against mismanagement, corruption, and Third World bias.” How to interpret the move? “A careful analysis of statements made by administration officials and other politicians reveals that far from being a move towards multilateral collaboration, the decision to rejoin the organisation is seen by the Bush administration as simply another weapon in the US war on terror.”
Montana Transfers Arts Money To Fund Emergency Medical Communications System
Just as the Montana state legislature was closing its session, it passed an amendment that canceled $100,000 from the Montana Arts Council budget and transfered it to fund an emergency medical communications system.
Classical Music: Reports Of My Death…Are WRONG!
Stories abound about how classical music is sinking into obscurity – death, even. But “in the things that matter most, classical music is actually healthier than for decades.” The evidence, writes one critic, is compelling. “For a start, London is more than ever the uncontested classical capital of the world, with some 20 professional orchestras and five music colleges. Many of the world’s great soloists choose to make their home there, as do home-grown musicians in great quantity and quality. In 1985, for example, the Association of British Orchestras had just 12 members; now it has 50. Up to half of this growth has come from new orchestras.”
Next Stop For Louisville May Be Bankruptcy
The musicians of the Louisville Orchestra have rejected a management proposal which included wage cuts and a shorter season, and the orchestra says it may file for bankruptcy as early as next week. “The orchestra has approximately $1.3 million in bank debt, with $800,000 of that past due and the balance due early next week,” according to its board chairman, who also points out that the ensemble’s staff and conductors have taken a 10% pay cut, which is larger than that being asked of the musicians. The musicians claim that they have made many concessions over the last decade in an effort to help the organization financially.
Salam Pax Gets A Print Gig
The blogger known as Salam Pax, who writes a wildly popular weblog from his home in a suburb of Baghdad, has been given a biweekly column by The Guardian, a London-based daily newspaper. “Salam Pax became a cyber celebrity after his pointed and often humorous accounts of everyday life in Baghdad began circulating on the Internet. His diary mocked both Saddam Hussein’s repressive regime — he called the Iraqi leaders ‘freaks’ — and the U.S. claims of ‘liberating’ Iraq.”