Gilbert and George are no longer young. They still think of themselves as outsiders, even as they represent the UK at this summer’s Venice Biennale. “They claim to have sold only two pieces to British collectors in the past 15 years. Saatchi wasn’t having any. They complain that the Tate won’t hang the little they’ve got. But in Venice, one of the most important Italian collectors will be hosting a dinner in honour of the duo.”
Tag: 06.01.05
Gadafi Opera Delayed
A new opera about Libyan dictator Moammar Gadafi, a co-production between English National Opera and Asian Dub Foundation, has been delayed. It will now open ENO’s 2006/07 season. “The most important thing is to absolutely get this right the first time it goes out. If we continued with the current timetable, we could make the deadlines, but we’ve given ourselves no space to step back and revisit sections.”
Taking Tap Back To The Streets
Tap is big again, but it’s not the tap we remember from Fred Astaire movies. It’s rougher street dance. “In its early years, tap boasted the same macho profile as early hip-hop, with dancers holding regular “battles” on street corners. Dancing on makeshift wooden platforms to amplify the sound of their feet, they competed to produce the sharpest, most original rhythms, with the judges sitting under the platform so they could listen without being distracted (or threatened).”
A groundbreaking British Play
The first-ever play by a British-born black playwright has hit London’s West End. “That the play should be a groundbreaking event in London may strike Americans as odd, given the longer tradition of African-American playwrights dramatizing the black experience. But subjects like the lives of West Indians, former colonials, in Britain have rarely been given such a platform here, not to mention plays that examine the pressures on young black Londoners today to live outside the law.”
Opera – Age Of The Director
“It’s a fact that today opera is increasingly emphasizing theatrical values rather than musical ones. This may or may not be a good thing, but it’s the way it is. And until conductors begin mentoring singers again, until opera houses work harder to understand voice types rather than mounting productions like “Turandot” and “Norma,” according to what the audience wants to see, directors will continue to play a significant role in the art form.”
Chicago Art Institute Pushes Out
The Chicago Art Institute unveils a major addition designed by Renzo Piano. “The Art Institute will present the design in conjunction with the formal groundbreaking for the new $258 million building, which is to rise in the northeast quadrant of the museum’s site, at the corner of Monroe Street and Columbus Drive. The addition will increase the institute’s size by one third and is to be completed in the spring of 2009.”