The three-week-old labor dispute at the CBC has thrown Canada’s television production industry into a state of uncertainty, as everyone waits and wonders whether programs slated for the fall schedule will be allowed to air. “Some in the industry describe a great deal of confusion, with contradictory signals coming from CBC management itself, as it tries to continue with its fall programming as best as it can. It’s a far cry from the usual publicity cycle. The buildup for new shows, fall specials and miniseries normally lasts six to eight weeks, as promos are created and aired, press interviews are arranged and print adds are plastered on billboards.”
Tag: 08.31.05
Attention-Getter
A new exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts has ostensibly been put together to show off the impressive collections of William I. Koch. But as it turns out, the collector himself is the real star of the show, his outsized personality dominating the art he has amassed over a lifetime of collecting. “Over the years, Koch has skippered an America’s Cup winner, built a billion-dollar energy company, sued his family members, engaged in a high-profile court battle with his onetime mistress, and been arrested for allegedly beating his then-wife. (The charges were later dropped.) He’s also built an art collection that has attracted the attention of countless museums.”
China’s Shining Star of the Avant-Garde
Zhang Xiaogang is China’s hottest painter, and as the country continues to walk the fine line between totalitarian regime and capitalist republic, his life has become increasingly complicated – and busy. “For years, his works – like those of other avant-garde artists of his generation – could not be exhibited in China, often because they were deemed too modern or politically questionable. But now his paintings are not only collected by wealthy Westerners and leading foreign museums, but they are also increasingly fashionable among well-to-do Chinese… few artists are as celebrated as Mr. Zhang, whose paintings can now fetch as much as $200,000 each.” In fact, Zhang has been having trouble keeping up with the demand for his work.
The Getty’s Barry Munitz On Why He Travels First Class:
“You have to understand life in L.A. People find it embarrassing to travel commercial class.”
BYOH: The Latest In Personalizing The Concert Experience
The strangest new trend in live concertgoing is all about pretending that you’re actually alone. Rather than piling up walls of speakers to pump sound into a room, several music festivals have begun providing a bank of headphone jacks for people to plug in their personal ear gear, and the whole room rocks in what sounds to a non-participant like silence. “The idea of a live show experienced solely through headphones originated eight years ago in France when a Paris musician named Erik Minkkinen streamed a concert from his closet. As the story goes, three people in Japan tuned in. Despite the tiny audience, the idea evolved into a decentralized organization under the name le placard, or the closet, a kind of open-source music festival where anyone can establish a streaming and/or listening room.”
Picasso’s Pottery
A collection of more than 100 pieces of pottery by Pablo Picasso will be sold at auction in London this fall. Included in the sale will be a famous Picasso earthenware vase called “Tripode,” which is expected to fetch the highest price.
Boston Considers Public Art Plan
“Boston likes to call itself the Athens of America, with its world-renowned symphony and ballet, libraries, and intellectual might. But some officials in a city that has long claimed itself a cultural hotbed worry that Boston has fallen far behind other cities in its promotion of public art. Saying that dozens of other cities have set aside large funds for public art while Boston does little, City Councilor Michael Ross said he will propose today that the city require private developers to put 1 percent of their construction costs into a fund to finance public art around the city… [But] developers already face tough building restrictions and must set aside money for affordable housing and job training, [and] may not be eager to pay more.”
NJSO Negotiations Need More Time
Contract negotiations with the musicians of the cash-strapped New Jersey Symphony are set to go into overtime tonight, when the current collective bargaining agreement expires. Both sides say negotiations are proceeding amicably, and there is no risk of a strike or a lockout. The NJSO musicians accepted a temporary pay cut in 2003, and are hoping to maintain their current salary of $44,975 under the new deal, even as they accept a role in bringing the organization back to fiscal stability.
Hirst Buys Mansion For Museum
Damien Hirst has bought a rotting old gothic mansion and pland to turn it into a museum for his work. “Hirst fell in love with the grade one listed building as soon as he saw it and now regards it as a lifetime’s work to restore the mansion and grounds, which have fallen into serious disrepair. His ambition will not come cheap. He is believed to have spent about £3m to acquire the 124-acre estate and may need as much as £10m to refurbish it.”
The Rebirth Of A Mozart Festival
For years New York’s Mostly Mozart festival was a listless affair that many critics thought should be put out of its misery. But under the festival’s new music director French conductor Louis Langrée, the enterprise has been reborn. “Though Mr. Langrée can be credited with the rejuvenation, he has had a crucial ally in Jane S. Moss, the vice president for programming at Lincoln Center. Back in the dreary days when Gerard Schwarz was the festival’s music director, the playing of the orchestra was listless and, even worse, pointless. The musicians would run through a performance of a staple like Mozart’s Symphony in G minor, and you’d wonder why they were bothering.”