Art crime is on the rise, “easily outpacing efforts to police it,” Wittman writes. “The $6 billion a year figure is probably low because it includes statistics supplied by only a third of the 192 member countries of the United Nations. Art and antiquities theft ranks fourth in transnational crime, after drugs, money laundering, and illegal arms shipments.”
Tag: 07.10
The Political Conversion Of David Mamet
Mamet dismisses state subsidy for the theatrical arts as no more than a means of propping up incompetent “champions of right thinking” whose work would otherwise be incapable of attracting an audience.
The Acceleration of Addiction (It’s All Around Us)
“Most if not all the things we describe as addictive are.” (Opium. Tobacco. The Internet.) “And the scary thing is, the process that created them is accelerating … which means increasing numbers of things we like will be transformed into things we like too much.”
Is Now The Golden Age Of Classical Music?
“In many respects, we live in a golden age of classical music. Such an observation defies received wisdom, which seizes on every symphony budget deficit to herald classical music’s imminent demise. But this declinist perspective ignores the more significant reality of our time: never before has so much great music been available to so many people, performed at levels of artistry that would have astounded Berlioz and his peers.”
Google Maps As Cultural Force
“Just five years since the release of Google Maps and Google Earth, the corporation may well be the world’s most important mapmaker. More than 600 million people around the world have downloaded Google Earth. As a testament to ambition, that number alone would be remarkable. But Google is also intent on upending our very notion of what a map is. Rather than produce one definitive map of the world, Google offers multiple interpretations of the earth’s geography.”
Why Is NYCity Ballet So White?
“It’s 2010 and though it bears the moniker of one of the most diverse cities on the planet, New York City Ballet still looks like an episode of Friends in tights and tutus. There’s something racially hinky about it, but I can’t prove it.”
Is It Really Okay To Perpetuate Those Ugly Racial Ballet Stereotypes?
“Ballet has often tackled the good-versus-evil theme (e.g., Odette vs. Odile, the Lilac Fairy vs. Carabosse), but is it really tasteful for us to keep reviving characters who resemble Muslim terrorists?”