‘There’s a reason you need a visa to come to Russia. Moscow has the best nightlife in the world. Leave etiquette and moderation to everyone else. Leave “the beauty of an hour” to the Russians, especially to those with money, those in their 30s, the last generation raised under the old regime, who can’t stop toasting their good fortune, all of it with the fine style you read about in those novels the size of bricks. They’ll crack your chest and massage your heart, and we’ll see if you can keep up.’
Tag: 07.06
Two Kinds Of Genius
Researchers have found that “genius – whether in art or architecture or even business – is not the sole province of 17-year-old Picassos and 22-year-old Andreessens. Instead, it comes in two very different forms, embodied by two very different types of people. ‘Conceptual innovators’ make bold, dramatic leaps in their disciplines. They do their breakthrough work when they are young. They make the rest of us feel like also-rans. Then there’s a second character type, someone who’s just as significant but trudging by comparison – ‘experimental innovators’.”
In Defense Of Contemporary Playwrighting
Randy Gener is tired of all the doom-saying about American theatre these days. And why are critics attacking our playwrights? “They [playwrights] are taking real risks and reinvigorating our repertory of contemporary drama with muscular ideas and imaginative fervor. The bitter irony is that these bringers of new works are treated as if they were glassy-eyed dreamers and beggars in a house of plenty.”
The Rise And Fall Of Clement Greenberg
“In real life Greenberg was quarrelsome, bullying, and cocksure to a fault. His arrogance made him both a powerful critic and a formidable adversary, but it also earned him enemies by the score, and he lived to see them win out over him and to become ascendant in the world of postmodern art. In falling from grace, Greenberg fell from a great height.”
Just Wondering – Where are The Video Game Critics?
Video games have become a big cultural force. So where are the great video game critics? “Many people write video-game reviews and that there are entire magazines and myriad Web sites devoted to this subject. But what these people are writing is not really criticism. Almost without exception, it’s consumer advice; it tells you what old game a new game resembles, and what the playing experience entails, and whether the game will be commercially successful. It’s expository information. As far as I can tell, there is no major critic who specializes in explaining what playing a given game feels like, nor is anyone analyzing what specific games mean in any context outside the game itself.”
Top Collectors
ArtNews is out with its annual list of the world’s top art collectors. “This year’s list contains 20 collectors who did not make it last year. The study showed that 61 percent, or 122 collectors, who made the list in 1996 were not on the 2006 list.”