“Martin Rynja, the British publisher whose house was attacked over the weekend, is going ahead with plans to publish ‘The Jewel of Medina,’ a novel about the early life of A’isha, a wife of the Prophet Muhammad.”
Tag: 09.30.08
In A Scrambled Economy, Going Beyond Business As Usual
Attracting audiences and donors is an even tougher proposition with the economy in dire straits, but it hasn’t been easy since 2001. “The bottom line is that worries never left, experts say, so arts decision-makers didn’t need the current financial crisis to snap them to attention. There has been an ongoing urgency to face the new music and dance — not the old-fashioned waltz but steps unimagined before Necessity called.”
It’s Turner Prize Time Again – What Are They Up To Now?
Yes, the Young British Artists are at it again. This year’s four finalists include abandoned supermarket checkouts with leftover food and a mannequin on a toilet (Cathy Wilkes), a lecture on such modern icons as Wile E. Coyote and Homer Simpson (Mark Leckey), a collage made up of two other artists’ work (Goshka Macuga) and video of a woman smashing crockery (Runa Islam).
Dancing Aborigines in Paris
The Australian Ballet and the indigenous company Bangarra Dance Theatre have traveled to France with their joint project, Rites, a new take on The Rite of Spring that pays tribute to 30,000 years of Aboriginal culture. What do the French make of it? Critic Rosita Boisseau, looking “somewhat shell-shocked,” said, “It’s very strange. It left me a bit confused. All the dancers suddenly appearing covered head to toe in mud… It’s a completely different approach, and we have to be very curious and open-minded towards this kind of composition.”