How big has the Basel Miami art fair become? “Miami’s fair may do around $110 million this year. New York’s Armory Show said it took in about $45 million in March. London’s Frieze Art Fair reported October sales of $57 million, up 27 percent. Art Cologne closed Nov. 1 after taking in about $85 million. Including New York’s November auctions, collectors of contemporary art this fall may have spent more than $600 million by the time Miami’s fair ends on Dec. 4, based on published figures and fair directors’ estimates.”
Tag: 11.28.05
Some LA Times Arts Writers Departing?
Unofficial names on the list taking buyouts include: movie reviewer Kevin Thomas, theater writer Don Shirley and Calendar writer Elaine Dutka…
Canadian Election Imperils Toronto Arts Funding
As the Canadian government falls, Toronto arts groups are wondering about a promised funding plan to complete high-profile arts building projects. “Representatives of the six arts groups involved have been working for months on the top-up proposal. The $96 million of extra funding ($48 million from each of the two governments) would raise the total investment of the two governments in these projects to $328 million.”
Longlist Released For Bad Sex Award
The prize honors the worst literary depictions of sex. Among the 11 contenders for the prize this year are some of the biggest names in literature, including John Updike, Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Paul Theroux. Of the four, Theroux’s offering, from Blinding Light, is arguably the most deserving of the prize…
Say Goodbye To CDs
“It’s clearly time to move on. Think about it: No more nails-on-chalkboard-style skipping. No more secret tracks that scare the stuffing out of you 15 minutes after you think an album has stopped playing. No more fumbling around with those impossible-to-unwrap jewel cases. It was fun while it lasted. The music industry has declared war on its customers. Now it’s time to fight back.”
When TV Gets Untethered
Our TV experiences are going to change radically in the next few years. “We won’t care if that show gets sent to us over a coaxial cable, a copper phone wire, or a satellite feed. With the cost of wireless coming down and the technology now vastly more powerful, it won’t be long before we will be able to obtain high-quality video without a pipe at all, directly to our next-gen video iPod or Internet phone or wi-fi-enabled home-entertainment server.”
UK Tax Changes To Discourage American Productions?
Leaders in the UK’s movie industry say proposed changes in the tax law will discourage American producers from filming in Britain. In proposals set out earlier this year, a film would need to be “culturally British” to be eligible for tax relief.
Billy Elliot Wins
The stage version of Billy Elliot won Best Musical at this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards for London’s West End. Brian Friel’s The Home Place was named best play, while Michael Grandage took the best director title for Don Carlos.
Will The Hermitage Refuse To Loan Art?
The director of the Hermitage warns “there is a real possibility that no Russian museum will lend works to UK or other European venues unless it receives ‘concrete guarantees’ from host governments that its collections will not be impounded, as a result of a long-running dispute between a Swiss businessman and the Russian government.”
Dubai – The World’s Great Architectural Experiment
Dubai, the second largest of the United Arab Emirates, is “the most spectacular and outlandish architectural experiment on the planet. The country is relentlessly, almost obsessively, building itself into significance. Under the auspices of the crown prince Sheikh Mohammed and the rest of the ruling Maktoum family, Dubai is being transformed from a blank canvas into an Islamic fusion of Singapore and Vegas.”