“A Vancouver artist who has drawn on Neil Young and the Beastie Boys for inspiration has been handed this year’s $50,000 Sobey Art Award… Using video, photography, sculpture and text, [winning artist Tim Lee] inserts himself into his work — referencing and recreating pop cultural and historical icons such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Steve Martin and Public Enemy.”
Tag: 10.02.08
Ontario To Make Culture Part Of Pan Am Games Bid
“Expressions of southern Ontario’s diverse culture and arts will be a major part of Toronto’s bid for the 2015 Pan American Games… [The chair of the organizing committee] hopes to involve universities, colleges and other existing arts and cultural institutions in hosting seminars, debates, exhibitions and performances, as well as issues such as the environment and hemispheric trade.”
Why Language Matters
Linguists tell us that languages are dying by the hundreds these days, and most of us couldn’t care less. After all, do we really need 7,000 languages in an increasingly global world? But, the producers of a new documentary would ask, what happens when you need a word for the act of bringing something from an inaccessible place with the help of a long stick?
D.C. Library Taps Prominent London Architect
“The D.C. Public Libraries have hired one of London’s busiest and most prominent young architects to design replacement buildings for two of the most distressed branches of its system… The choice of [David Adjaye], which came through a competitive process involving library officials and neighborhood representatives, is a remarkable statement of architectural ambition.”
SAG Urging A Strike Vote
“The governing board of the Screen Actors Guild is being urged to ballot its members over strike action. Contract talks between the actors’ union and Hollywood studios are at a deadlock, after the latest pay deal was rejected in July. Those negotiating on behalf of SAG’s 120,000 members are calling for a ballot. They want the board to back a strike, calling it ‘unavoidable’.”
UK Composer/Conductor Warns Against Discarding God
Scottish composer James MacMillan is warning that “atheist liberals” are driving religion out of everyday life and culture. “A true sense of difference, in which a genuine pluralism could thrive, is under threat of being reduced to a lowest common denominator of uniformity and conformity, where any non-secular contribution will automatically be regarded as socially divisive by definition.”
Does Multitasking = Half-Baked Work?
Think you’re good at multitasking? Think again. Scientists say that the trend towards doing several things at once usually means just flitting between tasks quickly, and doing none of them particularly well. “Studies show that we frequently overestimate our ability to handle multiple tasks.”
New Life For An Old DC Theater
The Eisenhower Theater at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center reopens this week after an $18m renovation. In addition to removing some of the more obviously dated decorative features, the renovation brings the theater into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and updates the in-house audio/visual system.
Hilary Hahn, v2.0
Violinist Hilary Hahn has been reinventing her career over the last couple of years, and to her surprise (she claims to be a tech neophyte,) she has emerged as the poster girl for online engagement with classical music, as well as a leading proponent of looking outside the classical genre for inspiration.
Musicians Strike In Madison
“Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra musicians have gone on strike just two days before the orchestra is set to open its 45th season.” At issue are the number of services contracted musicians must attend, and a “peer review” process for musicians.