High-level staff departures, persistent deficits, artists pulling their work from exhibitions, fundraising shortfalls, an entire floor sitting unfinished and unused, and what many see as an excessive reliance on outside rental income – it’s messy down there …
Tag: 06.05.12
Moscow Metro’s Mosaics Star In Performance Art Piece
In a 2am show at the Mayakovskaya station – comissioned by Stalin and opened in 1938 – “[the] stars of the evening were the mosaics in the soaring domes of the platform – a series of ovals of Soviet landmarks and heroes from the Kremlin and air force bombers to athletes and workers – the work of Alexander Deineka, one of the masters of Soviet modernism.”
Book Publishing In Greek Returns To Once-Multicultural Istanbul
“It is fitting that the official opening of the first Greek publishing house in Istanbul for 50 years, takes place in a former Greek school that has not delivered primary education since 1984 because there were no longer enough pupils in the neighbourhood. The Istos publishing house, founded by a group of seven Greeks and Turks, will publish bilingual books about Istanbul’s Greek Orthodox community, their cultural heritage and impact on the city.”
How Smart Are Plants? Can They Think?
Botanist Daniel Chamovitz argues that a plant “can see, smell and feel. It can mount a defense when under siege, and warn its neighbors of trouble on the way. A plant can even be said to have a memory. But does this mean that plants think – or that one can speak of a ‘neuroscience’ of the flower?”
Concerns Over Mali Cultural Sites
“Concern for the cultural heritage of Mali is growing after militant Islamic fundamentalists desecrated a 15th-century tomb of a Muslim saint in Timbuktu in May, and threatened to destroy other tombs as well as anything else they perceive as being idolatrous or contrary to their version of Islam.”
Report: Broadway Contributed $11 Billion To NYC Economy In 2011
“The $11.2 billion included $8.95 billion in purchases by tourists from outside New York City who said that Broadway was a “very important reason” for their visit; $2.2 billion in expenses to mount and run Broadway shows; and $22.3 million in spending to renovate or refurbish some of the 40 Broadway theaters. Based on those figures Broadway helped generate $550 million in taxes to New York City during the 2010-11 season and support 86,000 jobs.”
Study: Music Helps Stroke Victims Recover
“Frequent exposure to favorite melodies is a painless and ‘inexpensive way to help stroke patients cope with the adverse emotional and psychological impacts of stroke, as well as to support their cognitive recovery, especially in the early post-stroke stage,’ write the University of Helsinki’s Teppo Särkämö and David Soto of Imperial College London.”
Why Daydreaming Makes Us More Creative
“It turns out that whenever we are slightly bored–when reality isn’t quite enough for us–we begin exploring our own associations, contemplating counterfactuals and fictive scenarios that only exist within the head.”
World’s Top Stradivarius Dealer Arraigned On Multiple Fraud Charges
Dietmar Machold, 62, “whose company Machold Rare Violins had been in the family for five generations since it was founded in 1861, was charged with embezzlement, bankruptcy fraud and grand commercial fraud.” He’s alleged to have passed off as Strads two ordinary violins which he gave a German bank as security for a multi-million-euro loan.
Next In The Wave Of Ballet Documentaries, National Ballet Of Canada
Moze Mossanen’s Romeos and Juliets, an hour-long film to be broadcast on CBC, “follows the National Ballet of Canada as it prepared last fall for one of the biggest undertakings in its 60-year history, a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy of star-crossed lovers, choreographed by an acclaimed master of his craft, Russian-born Alexei Ratmansky.”