“Proponents say it will generate $121 million in economic activity and draw 400,000 visitors. Some locals fume, referring to the silvery canopies as rags and citing concerns about traffic delays on narrow U.S. 50 for the nearly two years of construction required by the project. The Bureau of Land Management received more than 4,500 public comments in the past three years as it analyzed Christo’s proposal.”
Tag: 11.07.11
New York City Opera Unions Offer To Work For Free
“New York City Opera choristers and orchestra members have offered to perform for free this season in exchange for health care and power over future venues, in a bid to stop the opera from eliminating their guaranteed employment.”
The Devil Really Is In The Details Of This Giotto
“Art restorers have discovered the figure of a devil hidden in the clouds of one of the most famous frescos by Giotto in the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, church officials said on Saturday.”
On The Web, China’s Authors Push Back Against Censors’ Limits
When author Murong Xuecun received his first literary award, he was forbidden to deliver his (quite provocative) speech. “On stage, Mr. Murong made a zipping motion across his mouth and left without a word. He then did with the speech what he had done with three of his best-selling novels … He posted the unexpurgated text on the Internet. Fans flocked to it.”
Saul Bass, The Designer Who Made Title Sequences Into Art
“It is very rare for a designer to be as revered in his field as Bass is in film graphics. The titles he devised for directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Otto Preminger, Martin Scorsese, Billy Wilder and [Alfred] Hitchcock transformed what were once cursory lists of the cast and crew into thrilling complements to the movies.”
Question Time For Dance: Eminent Panelists Debate British Dance’s Future
“What lies ahead for dance as arts spending cuts bite? Can it survive the withdrawal of public funds that support dancers’ training, choreographers’ creativity, employment costs and health care? Is protest necessary? A panel of the British dance world’s leading figures was brought together by theartsdesk for a major debate last Friday in central London.”
Pakistani Pop Band Mocks Islamist Conservatives, Becomes YouTube Sensation
“A satirical song that takes a tongue-in-cheek swipe at religious extremism, militancy and contradictions in Pakistani society has become an instant hit here, drawing widespread attention as a rare voice of the country’s embattled liberals.” The band’s name: Beygairat Brigade (Punjabi for Dishonor Brigade).
Slate Picks The Millennium’s New Classics
“The new millennium is only 11 years old, but we at Slate became curious – as a thought experiment – about which cultural artifacts since 2000 will speak to future eras. What are the timeless expressions being forged in our noisy moment? … To that end, we asked Slate contributors to name the new classics in the fields they know best.” Let the arguments begin!
Cleveland Orchestra Placing Its Bets On European Audiences
“Between an increasingly active panel of supporters in Europe and the growing likelihood of a residency at a new venue under construction in Paris, the orchestra appears to be staking ever larger portions of its future on touring and moving toward becoming a global institution.”
Adam Gopnik On The New Yorker House Style (Yes, There Really Is One)
“I do think there’s a house style, or a collective house choir-voicing … Name its parts? First, a faith in the particular, in the facticity of things – this thing here rather than that thing, a tendency to love ideas but bend them back towards objects … Next, an almost excessive value placed on humor, a belief that … funny sentences can never be bad ones.”