Tag: 08.23.06

The Neuroscience Of Talent (There Isn’t Any)

“I think we’ve debunked the myth of talent. It doesn’t appear that there’s anything like a music gene or center in the brain that Stevie Wonder has that nobody else has. There’s no evidence that (talented people) have a different brain structure or different wiring than the rest of us initially, although we do know that becoming an expert in anything — like chess or race-car driving or journalism — does change the brain and creates circuitry that’s more efficient at doing what you’re an expert at.”

Getty Sends Two Artifacts To Greece

The Getty Museum agrees to return two disputed artifacts to Greece. “Under the deal signed Sunday, the Getty is returning a Boetian stele that dates to the 4th century BC and a Thasian relief that is about 100 years older. The Getty bought the stele through a New York dealer in 1993, museum director Michael Brand said, and the relief was bought by J. Paul Getty himself in 1955.”

Toledo Museum – Minimal Glass

The Toledo Museum of Art has a “remarkable new Glass Pavilion, the first American project by architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa and their Tokyo firm, SANAA… Whenever the design veers in the direction of severity or humorlessness, it’s saved by its interest in shifting, shimmering visual effects — in exploring the full architectural spectrum from a transparent wall to one that’s fully opaque. When you stand outside the pavilion and spot trees or people on the other side, you are looking through more than a dozen layers of glass, each of them reflecting the sunlight or the interior of the building or the trees in a different way.”

Broad Donates Money To Save Yiddish Theatre Collection

Eli Broad is donating $186,000 to pay for cleaning, restoration, archiving and a permanent display of a collection of Yiddish theatre artifacts. “The cache includes programs, photographs, plays, costumes, mus of a trove of ic manuscripts, props and other material. The items were moldering in a dilapidated building at 31 East Seventh Street that housed the Hebrew Actors Union, now defunct. Champions of Yiddish theater had been trying to save the collection, and eventually placed it with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in Manhattan.”

Art Thief Caught After Pub Boast

A thief who had stolen art from a museum was caught when he was heard boadting about it in a pub. “He took the canvas, called Brighton, when it was in storage in 1999 during redevelopment of the Castle Museum and Art Gallery in Norwich. But he was heard in a Norwich pub discussing how he could get rid of the piece and the eavesdropper reported him to police.”