“It takes a lot to make English National Ballet principal dancer Elena Glurdjidze look awkward, but designer Karl Lagerfeld managed it last week. … Despite superficial points in common, the fashion designer is not the ballerina’s natural ally.”
Tag: 06.21.09
Dubai’s ‘Cut-And-Paste Urbanism’
Christopher Hawthorne: “Like many first-time visitors, I expected to find in Dubai a messy, vital hybrid of architectural and urban strategies, reflecting the city’s history as a regional crossroads and trading center. I could hardly have been more wrong. …
It is, instead, carved into a series of separate, perfectly ordered miniature cities, each performing a remarkably persuasive imitation of the place that inspired it.”
Is There Room On NY Stages For Plays By Conservatives?
“There’s no shortage of shows about cultural and political issues in New York these days. … But wouldn’t it be novel if, every once in a while, a show did more than reaffirm what theater people know to be the absolute truth? Well, hold on to your WNYC tote bags. In the works are two plays written by — eek! — conservatives, although whether the Obama-mad New York theater establishment will ever produce them remains to be seen.”
Off-B’way Second Stage Theatre Losing Executive Director
“The current exec director of Off Broadway’s Second Stage Theater, Ellen Richard, will depart her post at the end of the month. No reason was given for the move, and a replacement has not been named. Richard, who has been at Second Stage for three years, leaves as the org has quietly embarked on a capital campaign to fund the $35 million purchase of Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theater.”
Iranian Films Foreshadowed Cultural Revolution
The flowering of Iranian cinema in the 1990s was itself evidence of a cultural and political thaw, a tentative premonition of the current demand for change.
The Man Who Saved English Opera
“Nobody is yet calling 34-year-old Edward Gardner ‘great’, but, after his naming as Conductor of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) in 2008, critics now pay respectful attention to his sound. In addition, Gardner has come to stand for more than just musical excellence: some see him as the symbol of the most brilliant operatic turnaround in recent history; others credit him with bringing that recovery about.”
Ray Bradbury Fights For Local Library
Ventura, California’s library is under threat of closure for lack of funds. “Fiscal threats to libraries deeply unnerve Mr. Bradbury, who spends as much time as he can talking to children in libraries and encouraging them to read.”
This Year’s ArtBasel: Satisfatory To Very Good
“Art Basel this year attracted 61,000 collectors, curators and art afficionados–more than ever before. Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the five-day fair which closed on June 14th, drew over 300 galleries from 29 countries, showing works by more than 2,500 artists. To many it must have seemed as if the economic recession was happening elsewhere.”
40 Years Since We Went To The Moon – An End Rather Than A Beginning
“The landing marked the end, not the beginning, of our dreams of space exploration. The prospects of creating permanent lunar bases, sending manned missions to Mars and blasting astronauts round the solar system died the moment Armstrong set foot on the moon. America had got there before the Russians and the nation could now forget the place.”
New Generation Of Architects Puts Aside The Old Issues
For the younger generation of architects, the row between Prince Charles and Richard Rogers is a complete turn-off. It seems beside the point.