The MGM sells off eleven of the paintings it inherited with its purchase of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, taking in $124 million. Three of the paintings were bought by Steve Wynn, former Bellagio owner. – DigitalCity
Tag: 06.06.00
MAKING THE ART-SITE DANCE
Thomas Hoving, art-world showman and former Met Museum director, has signed on to direct the considerable editorial content of Artnet.com. He calls himself “just another Internet hack trying to break some stories.” – BusinessWeek
FLASH OF INSPIRATION
Architect Norman Foster’s Millennium Bridge, linking Tate Modern with the north bank of the Thames, opens Saturday. The positive buzz about his design and its potential to transform London’s waterfront has been mounting. So what was Foster’s inspiration for the project? “The blade of light that used to shoot out across the canyon and so save Flash Gordon from his evil pursuers in the Saturday-morning cinema that was such a feature of his youth. For Foster, the Millennium Bridge is that blade of light, leaping across the Thames.” – The Telegraph (UK)
A BUSINESS DECISION, NOT A CURIOSITY
After five months in operation Sotheby’s online auction operation is doing about $1 million in sales a week. Now the company is selling a copy of the Declaration of Independence online without a “flesh-and-blood auctioneer drumming up excitement and coaxing bids from collectors.” – Los Angeles Times
WOMEN’S WORK
An unprecedented number of women artists, filmmakers, and writers in Korea have been creating work that directly confronts gender-identity issues and sexism. Three upcoming exhibits will feature the work of 489 women artists – the largest number to ever exhibit in Korea. – Korea Herald
NEENER NEENER – A LABEL BY ANY OTHER NAME
Deconstructing a new name for art on the internet. Does it fit? – Feed
CELLISTS UNITE
- More than 600 cellists from 45 countries, including Yo-Yo Ma and Janos Starker, got together last weekend in Maryland for the third annual World Cello Congress. The multiethnic, multigenerational festival stressed one message over others: that the cello is “the mating call of the orchestra.” – NPR [Real Audio file]
ON-THE-JOB TRAINING
Bobby McFerrin is a “deeply talented” artist. But can he conduct? Why not – This week he led the Baltimore Symphony in a performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. “In short, McFerrin is learning to conduct on the job. With curiosity and perseverance and many years of experience, he might well develop into an interesting conductor. Right now he’s granted access to major orchestras not for his musical insights but because he fills the seats.” – Washington Post
BRAHMS AND THE PLAYMATE
Classical music recording companies may be dumping the big established stars, but they have room for Linda Brava, a Playboy Playmate and moderately talented violinist. She’s being promoted by EMI Classics, no less. “Recording companies are no longer satisfied with a decent return on an investment that may take several years to realize. They want profits, they want them big, they want them now.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR ARTS FUNDING
As do most ex-chairpeople of the National Endowment for the Arts, Jane Alexander has written a book about her experience running the American public arts funder. “From her coy pose on the cover, to the last desperate Shakespeare quotation, Jane Alexander has…produced a stunning argument for saving trees. This account of her tenure as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 1993 to 1997, unfortunately reads like a high school student’s account of a summer abroad. – The Idler