Tag: 10.08.05

Do We Still Need Copyright?

“A world without copyright is easy to imagine. The level playing field of cultural production – a market accessible for everyone – would once again be restored. A world without copyright would offer the guarantee of a good income to many artists, and would protect the public domain of knowledge and creativity. And members of the public would get what they are entitled to: a surprisingly rich and varied menu of artistic alternatives.”

Chuck Close On Painting:

‘Painting for me is like putting rocks in your shoes before you go out on a journey. It’s about making things a little more difficult for yourself so that you know where you are going, but you never really know how you’re going to get there. They used to say that Pollock didn’t know what his next painting was going to look like, but he did know what he was going to do in the studio that day. Me, I know what my next painting is going to look like, but I don’t know what I’m going to do in the studio to get there. I’m just trying to inch nearer all the time.”

Turkish Writer Speaks Out

“Last February, Turkey’s most celebrated writer, Orhan Pamuk, told a Swiss newspaper that ‘thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and almost no one dares talk about it. Therefore, I do.’ This caused a furor within Turkey, with liberals defending Pamuk’s right to free speech and/or the critical importance of speaking out about this particular matter, and reactionaries branding Pamuk a traitor, burning his books, and issuing the anonymous death threats that have forced the writer to flee his country.”

Is Toronto Living Beyond Its Artistic Means?

Toronto has gone on a tear of arts building in recent years. “After they have congratulated themselves on the arts building boom, Torontonians should start to wonder about who’s going to pay the price in the years ahead. Most of us would rather forget it, but the truth is that Canadian arts institutions are seriously underfunded and have been for at least 10 or 15 years.”

Milwaukee Symphony Players Take Pay Cut

The Milwaukee Symphony has signed a new contract with its musicians. It’s not good news for the players. The deal includes “a minimum salary of $53,625 (down from $59,125) for 39 weeks of work (down from 43). The four-year contract gives the orchestra ‘breathing room’ – time to improve marketing, reverse a long-term audience slide, balance the operating budget, establish fiscal transparency and restore donors’ faith in the institution.”

The Problem With Opera

Why Aren’t youg people going to the opera? “The truth is they are intimidated by the institution, by the ticket prices, by the posh frocks and bow ties, by the champagne intervals, the old operas sung in foreign languages that may have universal themes but by their very nature don’t address contemporary issues. Young people have little reason to make it to Glyndebourne, the ENO or London’s Covent Garden. Glyndebourne, which celebrated its 70th anniversary last year, sees opera in crisis and is trying to address the fact that, in order to survive, the genre has to progress.”

Is The Next Bilbao An Opera House?

“Valencia’s new 4,000-seat opera house, which opens tonight after nine years in construction, is meant to be more than just another surrealist design by architect Santiago Calatrava. It is the centrepiece of what local politicians hope will be a cultural renaissance for this resort region, better known for its beaches than for its love of Verdi.”

The Charlotte Church Phenomenon

Child stars are supposed to burn out, right? It’s wired into their genetic code. So how do you explain Charlotte Church? “Since leaving her Voice Of An Angel days behind, and turning into the party girl and pop star of her late teens, Charlotte has endeared herself to the British public by dint of being more Viz than Vogue.”