“[W]hile the huge viral success of [Korean pop group] Psy’s hit has created a whole genre of jockey-based dance moves” – from dissident artist Ai Weiwei to London mayor Boris Johnson – “Gangnam is a place, too. It’s the Mayfair of Seoul, the high-rise district of the city just south of the river. Although it does feature one large and rather beautiful temple, Bongeun, for the most part, Gangnam is an upmarket shopping area.”
Tag: 10.25.12
How Do We Know How Words Were Pronounced Pre-Recording Era?
“Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have restored an 1878 recording of a political reporter reciting ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ and ‘Old Mother Hubbard.’ It is the oldest recording of an American voice. The discovery has one Explainer reader wondering: How do we know how people pronounced words before the recording age?”
A Picasso Palimpsest
“For years conservators and art historians have known that hidden beneath the surface of Woman Ironing, long considered an example of his Blue Period, is the upside-down ghost of another painting – a three-quarter-length portrait of a man with a mustache that was first seen in images taken with an infrared camera in 1989.” Newer technology and conservation techniques have revealed far more about the painting than anyone expected.
It Worked, Damn It: Houston Picasso Vandal Lands Solo Gallery Show, Thanks To All The Attention
“A Houston, Texas, art gallery has raised the ire of the local art community by staging a show of works by a 22-year-old who’s been on the lam since being charged with spray-painting a Pablo Picasso painting. Despite the uproar, Cueto James Art Gallery owner James Perez expects a full house for Friday’s opening of 12 works by Uriel Landeros.”
A Ballet About Genocide
“The abstract scene with its single spotlight could represent a church in Rwanda, a labor camp in Cambodia or a gas chamber in Europe. Choreographer Stephen Mills said his ballet, entitled Light/The Holocaust and Humanity Project, is about all of those places – and any place – where intolerance turns into violence and genocide.”
Tearful Theatre Impressario Garth Drabinsky Granted Day Parole
“During the hearing, he described his anguish during his first month in the maximum-security Millhaven penitentiary before he was transferred to a minimum-security institution.”
Is China Building Too Many Museums?
“China’s rush to build flagship museums of contemporary art makes sense, at a time when the work of artists such as Ai Weiwei, Yue Minjun and Zhang Huan has a global reach. But the building boom – which also landed the world’s largest museum of any kind on Tiananmen Square last year – may be running ahead of China’s ability to run and make sense of such institutions.”
Libraries Join Fight For “Owners Rights” For Digital Books, Etc
“Our position is simple. If you bought it, you own it, and you can resell it, rent it, lend it or donate it.”
Artsicle – An Entry-Level Intro Into Collecting Art
“The galleries made it very clear that they were not very interested in a young buyer with a budget of $1,000. I encountered a lot of attitude everywhere I went. At the same time, I met a lot of young people interested in art. There seemed like a disconnect, an inefficiency in the market.”
NY Philharmonic Extends Alan Gilbert’s Contract
“Mr. Gilbert, 45, is now in the fourth year of a five-year contract, so he will have led the orchestra for at least eight seasons after the new contract ends. His predecessor, Lorin Maazel, was in the job for seven seasons. Before that Kurt Masur held the baton for 11 seasons.”