Nike Wagner, Wieland’s daughter, pretty much knew that she’d never lead the Bayreuth Festival once her uncle Wolfgang took over. (The job went to his daughters, Eva and Katharina; Eva is now retiring.) So she’s made her own way as a writer (including a predictably dirt-filled family tell-all) and dramaturg, and now she’s directing the world’s top Beethoven festival.
Tag: 08.15.14
Madrid’s Reina Sofía Museum To Expand (Again)
“[The capital’s] main Modern and contemporary art museum will expand its permanent exhibition space by a total of 3,000 sq. m by the end of 2015. … The project will ‘finally’ join the Francisco Sabatini-designed building, which fully opened as an art museum in 1992, with the extension by Jean Nouvel, completed in 2005.”
In Praise Of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midwestern Immoderation
Justin Davidson, who recently completed a Wright tour through Pennsylvania and Wisconsin: “This processional of midwestern masterpieces reminds us that great architecture is not always the most sensible solution, or the most frugal, or the sturdiest. Sometimes it’s brilliantly insane.”
Does Creative Ability Really Run In Families?
People have been arguing about this for a long time. Researchers have been studying it for almost as long. Maria Konnikova takes a brief look at the history.
And The All-Time Leader For Pirated Downloads Is …
“At their peak, episodes of the HBO series [Game of Thrones] accounted for more than half of all TV shows pirated on file-sharing networks, and more than all music downloads combined.”
Venue Backs Down On Kicking Out UK Jewish Film Fest
The Tricycle Theatre “which refused to host the UK Jewish Film Festival while it is sponsored by the Israeli embassy, amid the Gaza crisis, has now dropped its objection … but is too late for this year’s festival as alternative venues have been arranged.”
Some Of The Country’s Best Dance Takes Place On The Subway
“This choreography of grit and grace perseveres, despite an increase of arrests by the New York Police Department, as a delicate wonder, glued together by exacting precision and indelible stamina. Plus, there’s the joy of watching a dance where dancing is not allowed: It’s a subversive performance. It’s also a surprise.”
You Can Hate-watch The Oxford Dictionaries As They Add Amazeballs, YOLO, And More
“Someone live-tweeting Wagner’s ‘Ring’ cycle might preface a description of earlier episodes with ICYMI (in case you missed it). And if the production turns out to be a hot mess, SMH (shaking my head in disapproval) will unquestionably come in handy.”
What We Fear Now
“During the Cold War, the conflicts that powered the thriller were rooted in ideology: Le Carre’s Berlin and Greene’s Havana were mainly backdrops against which the clash of the superpowers was played out. The new thrillers were not focused on ideology but on place; it was the peeling away of layers of culture and history that gave these novels their impetus.”
Salman Rushdie Explains Why Kazuo Ishigoro’s ‘Remains Of The Day’ Is Such A Perfect Novel
“What then is our true relationship to power? Are we its servants or its possessors? It is the rare achievement of Ishiguro’s novel to pose Big Questions – What is Englishness? What is greatness? What is dignity? – with a delicacy and humour that do not obscure the tough-mindedness beneath.”