The foundations of some of the world’s great museum collections generally come from private collectors. But what do collectors get out of giving or loaning their artwork? Quite a bit, actually. “If a gallery is seen not to respect the legal wishes of its donors, that may well undermine other peoples’ confidence in making gifts and bequests. And, in the present climate, where galleries have relatively little financial power in art markets, they are increasingly reliant on the kindness of strangers.”
Tag: 11.21.02
The Death of Higher Literacy?
Scholar and cultural critic George Steiner is worried about us. Specifically, he worries that while nearly all of us know how to read a computer manual, very few of us have read The Iliad or Ulysses. Is the modernity of Western life destroying our cultural history? “Every generation loses a little bit of the past, as new poems and novels jostle for attention. But Steiner (like Baudrillard, Sontag and Paglia) believes that the catastrophic forgetfulness that has overtaken the West since the Second World War is a sign that the print culture that sustained us for six centuries is actually dying.”
Music Giant Gets Into The Download Business
Music giant Universal Music Group, the world’s “largest music company and a unit of French-based Vivendi Universal,” says it will make 43,000 songs it owns available for downloading over the internet. Individual songs will be “available for downloading and recording to a CD for US99 cents, and albums for $US9.99. The company said it was the first major label ‘to offer music fans such a broad catalogue of music tracks for preview and purchase’.”
Smithsonian Flying High
“Smithsonian officials yesterday showed off their next museum, a facility so big it could swallow the Titanic, with space left over. The new building is part of the National Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles International Airport that will give the public a close-up view of more than 200 historic aircraft — from sleek spy planes to World War I biplanes. [The exhibition space is] a cavernous structure 10 stories high and covering the equivalent of three football fields.”
This is Getting Ridiculous
If you want to get a sense of the plot of the next Harry Potter book, it’ll only cost you $9500 or so. The latest installment of the wildly popular series by J.K. Rowling still has no official publication date, but Rowling has announced that she has prepared an index card with 93 ‘random words’ on it which hint at the plot, and that card will be auctioned next month at Sotheby’s in London. Seriously, an index card. Will be auctioned. At Sotheby’s.
Save the Canadian Drama!
The head of Telefilm Canada is urging the government to spend more on Canadian drama for domestic consumption. Canada already spends $1.4 billion every year to produce original television programs and films, and yet studies have shown that not a single Canadian program ranks in the top ten list of most popular programs. Is it that the American production juggernaut is just too powerful, or are Canadian-made dramas just generally not up to snuff?
The Death of Higher Literacy?
Scholar and cultural critic George Steiner is worried about us. Specifically, he worries that while nearly all of us know how to read a computer manual, very few of us have read The Iliad or Ulysses. Is the modernity of Western life destroying our cultural history? “Every generation loses a little bit of the past, as new poems and novels jostle for attention. But Steiner (like Baudrillard, Sontag and Paglia) believes that the catastrophic forgetfulness that has overtaken the West since the Second World War is a sign that the print culture that sustained us for six centuries is actually dying.”
Outsider Art – Phenomenal or Fraudulent?
“Outsider art — or, to be reductive, folk art made by the unschooled (and frequently unskilled) — is the hottest art phenomenon to sweep galleries and academies since the identity art craze of the eighties and nineties. The poor, alienated, ignorant and mentally marginal are the new ‘ethnics’; their otherness as remote and alluring to privileged art buyers as any African mask… But how innocent can art be when it is so smartly packaged?”
Bridging the St. Louis Gap
Visitors to St. Louis are often surprised to discover that the famous Arch, which defines the city’s downtown skyline, really isn’t all that accessible, at least on foot. Now, the city is considering several plans to establish a downtown connection to the Arch for pedestrians and tourists. Standing in the way are an interstate highway and a major city boulevard. The plans are all architecturally pleasing, and the final decision will likely come down to cost vs. convenience.
Berlin Smells Something Rotten at Staatsoper
Daniel Barenboim’s Berlin Staatsoper, the group that has supported the controversial conductor through his recent forays into Middle East politics, is facing a firestorm of its own in the wake of a bizarre and over-the-top production of Shostakovich’s opera The Nose. “In an obvious bid to be daring and provocative, the nose was represented as a phallus, a main character was a transvestite… the orchestra was togged out in gold jumpsuits and helmets like massed C-3POdrones from Star Wars… and half the chorus were depicted as Islamic terrorists led by a high-heeled, gun-toting Bin Laden.” Critics and audiences alike were unamused.