“There are people in the world – otherwise sensible people – who continue to think that the purpose of public art is to make people happy. … [Yet] the purest pleasure excited by a newly announced work of public art is invariably to be found in the breast of the person who cannot stand it. Take Sydney, which has been yelling at itself all week over … plans to install a 50-metre-high undulating arch of stainless steel fettucine right over the road outside Town Hall.”
Tag: 08.03.14
Osipova And Vasiliev: Ballet’s Golden Ballet Couple Goes Contemporary
“Ever since Osipova and Vasiliev left the Bolshoi in 2011 they’ve been on a quest for new dance experiences, and while each has found a wider classical repertory in other companies (Osipova recently joining the Royal Ballet), they’ve been hungry to experiment with contemporary dance.”
What Would Krishna Do? Or Shiva? Or Vishnu?
Philosophers Gary Gutting and Jonardon Ganeri explore how Hinduism’s polytheism – from the point of view of us Abrahamic religion types – changes just about everything about its approaches to ethics as well as spirituality.
Sacramento Philharmonic And Opera Cancel Fall Season
“The decision follows months of financial uncertainty for the Sacramento Region Performing Arts Alliance, the organization formed last year when the philharmonic merged with the Sacramento Opera. … It remains unclear whether its musicians will return to the stage in the spring of 2015.”
Let’s Just Be Blunt About Theatre’s Massive Class Divide
“This play, this theatre, this audience will never make it into a national study about ‘diversity in theatre.’ Their productions, audience, playwrights, existence are not considered important enough to include because of the size of their budget. Their work, like the work of indie theatres all over the country, is invisible. But those audiences are having an intense, emotional, moving, unique, life-changing theatre experience. It’s not happening in New York, and it’s not happening in a 20 million dollar a year LORT, but it IS happening.”
Spike Jonze Makes Amazing Movies – In The Editing Bay
“He said 2013’s Her — which tells the story of a man (Joaquin Phoenix) who forms a relationship with his OS, Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) — gave him and co-editor Jeff Buchanan plenty of opportunity to ‘rewrite’ in the cutting room since the audience never sees Samantha. ‘It was like getting to re-shoot a character in a movie as many times as you’d like,’ he said.”
Why Can’t You See That Famous Painting? Your Museum Rented It
“The practice has seen such MFA masterpieces as Monet’s ‘Grainstack,’ Van Gogh’s ‘Postman Joseph Roulin,’ and Degas’s ‘Edmondo and Therese Morbilli’ sent to fee-paying museums in Japan, to the Bellagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas, and to shows in northern Italy organized by Linea d’Ombra, a profit-making company that organizes blockbuster exhibitions.”
What’s The Hold-up With The Eisenhower Memorial, Congress Wants To Know
“The congressional salvo is only the latest hurdle for a project that has been plagued by delays, even as the servicemen and women who served under Eisenhower during World War II are rapidly dying.”
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony
“Beethoven really liberated the cello. In most classical symphonies the cellos are just sawing along with the basses, and Beethoven, more and more, gave them independent parts.”
That Time Werner Herzog Got Punk’d By Mel Brooks
“If you gaze into Werner Herzog talking about Werner Herzog for long enough, does Werner Herzog gaze back into you?”