Simon Starling’s Turner-winning shed is all about the backstory (of course). “His work was in its way the least satisfying installation in the show, mostly because his art is less about the things in the gallery than about how these objects came to be there in the first place.”
Tag: 12.06.05
Buddy Guy – Greatest Bluesman Standing?
“The major blues album is a vanishing artifact. Along with Robert Cray and Corey Harris, Buddy Guy himself is one of the few living humans with more than one.”
London’s Affirmative Action Plan For Curators
Less than 6% of London curators are from ethnic minorities, compared with 29% of the city’s population. So a new initiative plans on placing five minority trainees at the city’s major museums.
Is Print-On-Demand The Salvation Of University Presses?
“The new digital technology eliminates the need for printing plates, which are so costly to create that many copies of a book need to be produced to justify the expense. Now publishers can go more directly from a computer file to the printed page — a technological process not so different from using a high-quality copy machine. The data can also be stored digitally indefinitely, allowing for quick reprints down the road. The same systems, however, allow anyone to publish, using so-called vanity presses that have sprung up to print books with little or no editorial review, a trend that worries some academic publishers.”
Book Club To The World
Iranian-born writer and English professor Azar Nafisi dreams of an international book club, enabled by the internet. “Just imagine, she muses, the potential for global enlightenment if millions of people came together as a community of readers to discuss the words and ideas of international authors, both living and dead, who can provoke the shock and recognition that how alike we are is far more than our differences.”
Basel Miami By The Numbers
Art Basel Miami was a hit. This year’s show features a record 195 exhibiting galleries, and drew about 36,000 visitors…
San Francisco Symphony $2 Million In The Red
The San Francisco Symphony posts a $2.25 million for its 2004-05 fiscal year on an operating budget of $56.1 million. The orchestra had projected a $2.4 million shortfall.
Carnegie Hall, City Center Team Up
New York’s Carnegie Hall and City Center are forming a partnership “that will lead to a $150 million fund-raising effort to renovate City Center, and give Carnegie Hall’s increasingly ambitious programmers access to a dance and theater space.”
Sophie’s Choice To Debut In DC
“Washington National Opera will present the North American premiere of Nicholas Maw’s “Sophie’s Choice,” based on the best-selling novel by William Styron, as part of the company’s 2006-07 season.”
Sites Weighed For African American Museum
Four sites in Washington DC are being considered for the Museum of African American History and Culture. “Many supporters of the museum and President Bush have said the museum should be on the Mall. The new museum would be part of the Smithsonian; officials there have estimated it would cost $300 million to $500 million. The study says costs could range from $356 million to $1.4 billion in 2006 dollars. The building is expected to be 350,000 square feet — roughly the size of the National Museum of the American Indian.”