Architect John Pawson, whose Calvin Klein store in Manhattan is the very model of luxurious austerity, has found an ideal medium in his “Novy Dvur Trappist Monastery in the Czech Republic, which manages to blend the solidity and timelessness of medieval Cistercian architecture with a stripped-down modernism.”
Tag: 09.18.10
Australian Aboriginal Art Dying With Old Masters
“New research into the sustainability of Aboriginal art claims the market for new works is already falling away, even for sought-after artists, because some indigenous works are still being treated as ethnographic objects.”
The Annihilation Of The Book Business, Some Reflection
“Since the millennium, the relationship between words and money has undergone almost total inversion. On the demand side, publishers recklessly drove up profit margins from a comfortable 3% to a suicidal 15%. As for supply, a privileged minority of “content providers” (AKA authors) reached audiences and made fortunes that started at six or seven figures.”
The Bookless Library (and The Point Is?)
“San Antonio says it now has the first actual bookless library. Students who stretch out in the library’s ample study spaces — which dominate the floor plan of the new building — and log on to its resource network using their laptops or the library’s 10 public computers will be able to access 425,000 e-books and 18,000 electronic journal articles. Librarians will have offices there and will be available for consultations.”
LA’s Center Theatre Group Managing Director Stepping Down
“As one of the top executives of L.A.’s largest theater company, Charles Dillingham has been responsible for overseeing CTG’s finances, marketing and administrative activities, presiding over periods of tremendous growth as well as economic contraction.”
Music (And Bands) That Inspire Hatred
“What interests me is the capacity of some musicians and bands to inspire a reaction of pure loathing. It mystifies me. What is it about these artists (not forgetting James Blunt, U2 and Bono in particular) that so polarises hate?”
London’s Newest Opera House Is In A Pub
“Britain is to get an unconventional new opera house – the first to open in London for 40 years – when the King’s Head, the capital’s first and most famous fringe venue, turns permanently to musical theatre next month under the guidance of illustrious patrons Jonathan Miller, Joanna Lumley, Alan Parker, Tom Stoppard and leading West End actress Janie Dee.”
Can Detroit Afford The Detroit Symphony? (And Does It Want To?)
“Can a once-great city that is now the size of Austin, Texas, afford a top-rank symphony orchestra with a 52-week season? Does it even want one? The DSO, after all, is not the only one of Detroit’s old-line high-culture institutions that is sweating bullets.”
How Toronto’s New City Hall “Rebranded” A City 45 Years Ago
“New City Hall was architecture that imagined something wide open and worldly for a collective consciousness. When it opened in 1965, the city was instantly rebranded.”
Susan Boyle Notches Three Guinness Records
“Her debut album I Dreamed A Dream was the fastest selling album by a UK female and also had the most successful first week’s sales of a UK debut album. Boyle, who shot to worldwide fame after appearing on a TV talent show, was also the oldest person to reach number one with a debut album.”