George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a biting critique of Communism. China is a Communist country with a highly-developed censorious streak. “This is subversive stuff. China’s media, including its theatre and films, are still heavily censored, so how on earth did Animal Farm get past them and onto the stage?”
Tag: 12.12.02
Movin’ On Up
This summer when it opened in Chicago for tryouts, “Movin Out”, the Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel collaboration got packets of bad reviews. Now it’s a star on Broadway. What happened? “It had been a long time since a show considered doomed on the road was able to turn itself around so quickly and completely. Faced with similar crises, countless producers have summoned teams of show doctors, ordered emergency set changes, delayed their Broadway openings and ruthlessly dismissed choreographers, directors, and even stars. But in this case the rescue job rested with one person, Twyla Tharp.”
Koko The Musical Gorilla
Koko, the 31-year-old talking gorilla, knows 1000 words in sign language. Koko’s also got musical taste, say her friends, and they’ve recorded a 9-song cd based on her language. “Koko’s opinion was weighed in the final selection of reggae, rap, blues, rock and Celtic tunes…”
Why Can’t We Just ask If Art Is Good? (Rather Than If It’s Art In The First Place)
How tiresome – another Turner Prize, another controversy – and why?. “We just can’t get past it. For some reason it seems far more pressing to ask whether something can actually be called art than to ask whether it’s good or bad. This barrier is more important and more damaging to art itself than it may sound. A lot of people – teachers, curators, critics, funding bodies – have to agree something is art before it can get nominated for an award such as the Turner Prize. Unless all these people are conspiring to make fools of us, that’s a pretty convincing consensus.”
All About The Art
Over the past 10 years there has been a succession of new museum buildings that seem to want to compete with the art inside – as if the permanence of the structure trumps the objects that can be rearranged inside. Tadao Ando’s new Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is different – it “assumes that art remains a vital part of our existence. As an architect, his aim is to allow us to understand that relationship more clearly, to bring us into closer contact with both the art and ourselves. It is architecture for art’s sake, without condescension.”