Tag: 08.25.00

NATIONAL GALLERY CANCELS SHOWS

The National Gallery of Canada has canceled two big shows planned for next year. The reason? Money. “The deficit for the 1998-99 fiscal year was $5.4 million, almost half of which can be attributed to a drop in funds from Parliament. Gallery officials earlier this year had predicted the 1999-2000 fiscal year deficit would be lower, but the figures have yet to be made public.” And to make it worse, the current “blockbuster” impressionist show only brought in 74 percent of expected attendance. – Ottawa Citizen

ART SCHOOL TO SUE VENICE BIENNALE

China’s Sichuan Academy of Fine Art – one of China’s three major art schools – says it intends to sue the Venice Biennale, curator Harald Szeeman, and artist Cai Guo Qiang, who won the Biennale’s 1999 International Prize, for violation of copyright. “Behind the suit are a group of elderly propaganda artists enraged at Cai’s appropriation of their work” in Cai Guo Qiang’s “Venice Rent Collector’s Courtyard.” – The Art Newspaper

MY RICH UNCLE IN MANHATTAN

British cultural institutions are increasingly looking to donors in the US for funding. “London’s Royal Academy was the first to break ground in the US in 1983. Since then they have received close to $32 million in donations. The Tate has followed, formally opening an office in Manhattan last September. The fact that their parent bodies are 3,000 miles away seems no impediment to raising millions of dollars in record time.” – The Art Newspaper

FINDING THE NEXT STARS

Who are the next YBA’s? That is to say – who are the next British art phenomena? “This year, the biggest buzz was at the Royal College of Art’s fine art MA show. Several of the painting students have since received studio visits from White Cube representatives, with many other galleries – from Beaux Arts to Percy Miller and Nylon – expressing interest in taking on certain artists.” – The Independent (UK)

ROOM FOR EXPRESSION

The director of Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art defends contemporary art: “It seems to have escaped the attention of many media commentators in Australia that contemporary art is in fact a very wide discipline. There is no longer one school or type of art that prevails. Contemporary artists continue to make interesting work with traditional media while at the same time embracing new forms of artistic expression.” – Sydney Morning Herald

AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

“On Dec. 31, American troops will evacuate Saigon this way for the last time on the stage of the Broadway Theater, bringing to a close the musical ‘Miss Saigon,’ the sixth-longest-running show in Broadway history. After nearly 10 years, the production, loosely based on Puccini’s ‘Madama Butterfly,’ will have played 4,063 performances and gone through 1,218,900 pounds of dry ice, 89,386 scene changes and 812,600 light cues.” – New York Times

NUDE, NAKED, STARKERS

“Nudity isn’t new to Broadway, but it’s hard to recall a time when five musicals and plays, four based on films, have featured nudity or toyed with presenting various states of undress. And some of these five play nudity for laughs – intentionally (The Full Monty) and otherwise (The Graduate).” – Inside.com

STAND AND DELIVER

Conductor Leonard Slatkin took his lumps from female musicians after making sexist comments about the proper concert attire for women. – The Guardian

Slatkin’s remarks “prove is that in the orchestra pit, as in every other walk of life, it is always open season on women. Men, by contrast, tend to be mutually protective of one another. We will know we have achieved true equality when they congregate anxiously at social events, sucking in their stomachs and asking: ‘Does my belly look big in this?’ – The Guardian