“It is no great leap to see our shopping malls as the successors to Paris’s arcades. Covered, privatised spaces of artifice and consumption, the mall is perhaps the symbol of our civilisation. Everything we now build, from airports to motorway service stations, museums to cities of culture draws inspiration from those visions of limitless consumption.”
Tag: 05.31.08
Babylon Ruins Threatened By Coalition Forces
As American troops invaded Iraq in 2003, one of the places they chose to erect a military base was within the ancient city of Babylon, and archaeologists say that significant damage has been done to the 5,000-year-old ruins in the five years since. “Leading archaeologists… have launched efforts to protect the site from further damage and resume archaeological research.”
Prophets Of Doom
“End-time thinking – the belief in a world purified by catastrophe – could once be dismissed as a harmless remnant of a more superstitious age. But with the rise of religious fundamentalism, prophets of apocalypse have become a new and very real danger, argues Ian McEwan.”
The Kid
“At 15, he went to Harvard. At 19, he had a degree in government and politics. At 29, Ryan Leslie is a budding hip-hop mogul,” and a model for a new era in the music business.
The Reluctant Poet
Toronto’s David McFadden is one of three Canadian poets shortlisted for the Griffin Prize, a $50,000 award to be handed out this week. But even making the shortlist apparently sent McFadden into an extended anxiety attack. “So great was McFadden’s torment he privately began to fantasize the winning cheque would end up in the hands of one of this year’s other two Canadian nominees.”
A Smokey Conundrum
“Ever since 2003 when New York City banned smoking in enclosed public spaces, theater directors have been walking a thin line between artistic freedom and legal necessity. Under a special exemption for the arts, theaters are allowed to use tobacco-free cigarettes… [But] theater staff admit that some audience members see it as an intrusion from a less socially aware time.”
Major Upgrades And Ambitious Plans For Seattle Museum
Seattle’s Wing Luke Asian Museum is reopening this weekend in its impressive new home. “The move of this 42-year-old museum around the corner… the size of that new home (60,000 square feet or eight times the size of the old), its expanded ambitions (projecting 60,000 annual visitors instead of 15,000) — all this is a considerable achievement for an institution that used to be housed in an old garage and that now hopes to be an anchor for revitalizing Seattle’s Chinatown.”
Maybe You Get A Free Bookmark With It?
“The gala presentation of “Michelangelo: La Dotta Mano” (“Michelangelo: The Wise Hand”), a volume of photographs of this Renaissance master’s sculptures, may well have been the most lavish book debut in history… But then, this is no ordinary book, starting with its retail price of 100,000 euros.”
Finally, A New York Gehry
After several aborted attempts to bring a Frank Gehry-designed building to Manhattan, the starchitect’s 76-story Beekman Tower is rising near Ground Zero. “It will join an imposing cluster of landmarks around City Hall… Draped over a classical shell, the tower’s crinkled steel skin is proof that the skyscraper has yet to exhaust itself as an urban art form.”
NYC Opera Preps A Different Kind Of Season
“While its home is closed for renovations, New York City Opera will shrink its main dramatic offerings next season to one lonely opera, [for] two performances. Unstaged… The truncated 2008-9 season is even more reduced than expected.”