“How, in a commercial theatre culture that is increasingly reliant on musicals, do you get your adaptation into the West End and convince your target audiences that Shaftesbury Avenue – a thoroughfare that often, theatrically speaking, could be called the Street of Shame – is now the coolest of drags where it’s worth braving the civic squalor for bold experimentation?”
Tag: 09.15.08
Food As The First Art Form
Food and eating is probably the oldest aspect of human culture. Food was the first sculpture. It would certainly be strange if artists did not turn their attention to this most basic and profound aspect of life. How far can you go?
Damien Hirst Auction Rakes In The Dough
“Sotheby’s in London sold £70.5 million ($127 million) worth of his pickled animals and polka-dotted canvases. The evening sale, which surpassed its £62.3 million ($112 million) high estimate, underscored the resilience of the art market despite woes in the broader financial markets.”
Aussie Tax Man Investigating Art Collectors
“The Australian Taxation Office is targeting collectors who could be claiming deductions for artworks they keep for themselves, one of several potential rorts identified in an internal report. It also warns about private collectors using the resources of public galleries to enhance the reputation of artists in their own collection.”
What Defines A Chunky Move Dancer
“There is a sense that they are revealing something about themselves on stage. They don’t play themselves, they are essentially just being themselves. I know that sounds very simple, but a lot of people find it very hard to be like that on stage. They feel they have to have a kind of persona. That’s distracting.”
Smithsonian’s New Boss Has A Charge: Reinvent
Wayne Clough is “charged with nothing less than transforming a 162-year-old bear of an institution — with 19 museums and galleries, a zoo, 9 research centers, and an operating budget of $1 billion — into an ethical, tightly run organization.”
The Scene Before Damien Hirst’s Auction
“Sotheby’s has devoted every inch of its London gallery space to “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever.” Some 30 guards have been employed to watch over the installation during the 11-day free public viewing, which was open until midnight Saturday and was seen by nearly 9,000 people by Sunday night.”