“Getty officials have been eager to put the antiquities scandal behind them and find a mutually agreeable solution with Italian authorities, but the magnitude of the case continues to grow. Since negotiations over the 52 objects started in January, Italian authorities say they have identified 15 additional items in the Getty’s collection that they believe were looted and should be returned. Efforts to reach an agreement have also been complicated by the continuing criminal trial of the Getty’s former antiquities curator, Marion True, on charges that she conspired to purchase looted art for the museum.”
Tag: 06.18.06
Looking For American Opera
“The still slightly unformed nature of American opera is reflected in the startling diversity of opinions surrounding it. Experts cannot even agree on exactly how to define the field.”
Beautiful Fences Make Good Neighbors?
So some Americans are determined to build a fence between Mexico and the US. But what should that fence look like? “Maybe some form of backyard diplomacy is in order — Mexico is no enemy — and there are obvious suspects for the job: professional designers, whose duty it is to come up with welcome solutions that defy ugly problems; to create appeal where there might be none.”
In New York – Artists Are Playing The Gallery Field
“Defections seem to be contagious in Chelsea these days. Long-settled artists are suddenly playing the field, ditching their dealers in favor of galleries with bigger spaces, better locations, stronger connections to museums and collectors and — perhaps most important — a star-studded roster of artists. The difference today, many dealers say, is that it’s the successful artists — whose work commands dizzying sums— who are defecting.”
A Building Ramshackle As The Commonwealth
There’s an attempt to tear down London’s Commonwealth Institute. “The fate of the Commonwealth Institute is one of those turning points in the history of taste… When it was new, this was as modern as official London got: a slightly shocking intrusion to the skyline against the backdrop of a Royal Park, with an interior that had something of the flavour of an expo. Of course, that fragile-looking roof leaked almost from the beginning and, as coup followed coup, the dioramas couldn’t keep up with changing political and economic realities. The building’s present ramshackle state, betraying brave hopes gone sour, is a pretty accurate reflection of the Commonwealth itself.”
Are We Too Clean For Our Own Good?
“Studies give more weight to a 17-year-old theory that the sanitized Western world may be partly to blame for soaring rates of human allergy and asthma cases and some autoimmune diseases, such as Type I diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. The theory, called the hygiene hypothesis, figures that people’s immune systems aren’t being challenged by disease and dirt early in life, so the body’s natural defenses overreact to small irritants such as pollen.”
A Purge Of Film Critics
They’re dropping off the pages of American newspapers. “All around the country, experienced critics are being kicked out in favor of glorified interns…who seem excited merely to have been invited to an early screening of `M:I:3′ and who can be counted on to file frothingly appreciative, advertiser-friendly copy.”
The Blurbing-The-Critics Game
“The art of selective quoting is one of the oldest games in the hype business, and readers are generally wise to it. Ellipses are not a good sign, and if an advertisement features quotes from critics pruned to just one word (“Brilliant!” — Joe Schmo; “Powerful!” — Betty Burns), chances are good the foliage surrounding them is less fragrant with affection.”
The New Guthrie
A week from today, Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theater will inaugurate its massive new home on the Mississippi riverfront. It’s a big deal for the theater, of course, but the opening will also be a watershed moment for a city that has spent the last decade transforming a moribund downtown into one of the most vibrant urban areas in the country. “At 285,000 square feet, the new building is more than three times larger than the old Guthrie. Its bends, bows and cantilevered, 12-story-high ‘Endless Bridge’ render the architecture of Frenchman Jean Nouvel unmistakable along the riverfront. Three theaters within will draw thousands of people to the area, but the Guthrie also will be open day and night.”
Adjusting The Thrust
The new Guthrie complex sports no fewer than three performance spaces within its huge blue shell, each with its own theatrical mission. But the legacy of this company has always been predicated on its use of the “thrust” stage, which can make an audience feel like it’s in the middle of the action, but can also limit a director’s choices. In designing the new stages (one of which is a thrust,) the Guthrie’s artistic team is hoping to preserve most of what Twin Cities audiences are used to seeing, but open up a wider range of options for the future.