“Art dealers are typically cautious not to offend their clientele by taking strong positions on controversial topics. This year, however, the rules have changed. Dealers and artists in New York have become visibly politicised and have been actively raising funds and campaigning for Democratic candidate John Kerry in the run up to the US presidential election on 2 November.”
Tag: 09.05.04
A Dallas Concert Hall Turns 15
Dallas’ primary concert hall turns 15. “After a decade and a half, the Meyerson definitely doesn’t squeak like a mouse. Acoustically, it is the best hall of its generation, with a sound as sumptuous as warm brandy and a silk jacket. Architecturally, it remains a mixed bag, a good example of Mr. Pei’s elegant classical modernism but also aloof and somewhat intimidating, a piece of sculpture meant to be admired rather than embraced. Promises of hefty economic benefits – the association predicted that the new hall would generate at least $25 million in new tax revenue and 500 housing units – proved delusional.”
Culture Wars Revisited
Fourteen years after landing at the center of the American culture wars, the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati mounts a show of controversial art from the 1980s. “Cincinnati remains a conservative redoubt in a battleground state. But the selection of paintings, sculptures, videos and photographs in this show — on view through Nov. 21 in Zaha Hadid’s acclaimed new building — feels like a brave attempt by a rejuvenated institution to confront its local audience, and perhaps at the same time begin to repair the city’s reputation for cultural provincialism.”
Cantrell: A Fabulous Hall
It takes a pretty good hall to impress a critic over many years, but Scott Cantrell likes Dallas’ Meyerson: “Fifteen years on, and with the experience of a lot of concert halls around the world, the Meyerson is still my favorite modern symphony hall and one of my favorites of any period. It’s not a perfect hall – there’s no such thing – but it’s a fabulous one.”
The Pain Of The Dance
In the dance industry, where careers can be made or broken before the performers finish high school, and in which a freak injury or simple old age (defined as “older than 30”) can doom even the most talented individual, the competition to be “discovered” is intense and sometimes psychologicaly damaging. Sylviane Gold spent the summer following one 14-year-old hopeful through physical agony, teenage mind games, and ultimately, the triumph of a dancer’s spirit.
New York Reclaiming Its Skyline
Contrary to popular opinion since 9/11, the New York skyline consists of far more than the Twin Towers and whatever replaces them. In fact, the look of the insanely crowded Manhattan cityscape is currently being transformed by “a growing list of stunning residential towers designed by celebrated talents like Richard Meier, Santiago Calatrava, Christian Portzamparc and Enrique Norten.” But if these residential skyscrapers represent the best of the new New York look, the worst is always just around the corner, represented by a new wave of monolithic office towers. Still, the changes are exciting, particularly following an era in which New York seemed to have lost its architectural bearing.
Pulling The Bard’s Strings
“This autumn, for the first time in its history, the Royal Shakespeare Company is to collaborate with one of the country’s leading puppet theatres to present a marionette masque version of Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare’s great, sensual poem… Over the past three months the puppets have been crafted in secret by experts from the Czech Republic, Germany and South Africa inside the Islington workshops of the puppet theatre. The miniature costumes are still being sewn together in the wardrobe department at Stratford-upon-Avon.”
How To Spend $100 Million
The Chicago-based Poetry Foundation has finally announced a plan for how it will spend the $100 million bequest which was dropped in its lap two years ago by pharmaceutical heiress Ruth Lilly. The foundation’s new initiatives will include a national study to determine current public attitudes towards poetry, an “online, electronic anthology of poetry, available to the public at no cost,” and the creation of two new annual cash prizes recognizing overlooked poets and humor in verse.
Going Back To The Drawing Board
Mark Hanson took over as president of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in January 2004, and it didn’t take him long to decide that what the financially strapped organization needed was a completely new way of doing business. Whereas previous administrations tried to patch deficits by dipping into the endowment, and sought to downplay the importance of dramatically slumping ticket sales, Hanson is apparently seeking to face the MSO’s problems head on, and in public. Still, that means more deficit spending for the next couple of seasons, and an uphill battle to convince local donors that the symphony is worth their investment.
A Tough Year For A Local Legend
Seattle Symphony music director Gerard Schwarz has always been a master of public relations, and his two decades in the Pacific Northwest can attest to his staying power. But this has been a year in which Schwarz’s abilities as a conductor and leader have come under fire: he was all but dismissed from the directorship of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic last month, and at least one prominent critic has suggested that his recently-ended 17-year tenure at the helm of New York’s Mostly Mozart festival was tired and unimaginative. Still, Schwarz remains the face of classical music in Seattle, and so far, says Melinda Bargreen, he has weathered every storm with aplomb.