“If the first current idea informing much cultural planning is a version of technological determinism, then the second is a belief in the increasing convergence of commerce and culture. In this version of futurology, shops are becoming more like museums – places for visual and aesthetic display – while museums are becoming more like shops.” – The Telegraph (UK)
Tag: 12.16.00
NEW VANCOUVER ART GALLERY DIRECTOR
The Vancouver Art Gallery appoints Kathleen Bartels, currently assistant director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, as its new director. – National Post (Canada)
NATIONAL GALLERY LISTS DOUBTS
The National Gallery of Canada added two Spanish paintings to a list of suspected Nazi art booty. The two paintings are some of of the museum’s most important post-war acquisitions, but they might have been looted by Soviet agents during the Spanish Civil War. – National Post (Canada)
JAZZ DIRECTOR RESIGNS
The director of Jazz at Lincoln Center abruptly resigns, sparking all sorts of questions. – New York Times
WHAT’S IT TAKE TO BE NO. 1?
Kylie Minogue’s new recording was listed as a No. 1 seller on the HMV charts even before the store had sold its first copy. Why? Not because consumers had bought her record;but because “HMV thinks consumers probably will buy the record, and wants to give its sales a nudge along.” – The Age (Melbourne)
NARROWLY DEFINING POETRY
The editor of The Spectator recently announced he would start publishing poetry in the magazine again.”But then he named his terms: the poems should rhyme and scan. No modern poetry is ‘any bloody good’, he said, and wagered that none of the verse rattling around our heads was written in the past 30 years.” – The Telegraph (UK)
INSIDE THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET
It appears from the outside that the Australian Ballet is in trouble. “Yet, as dancers leave the company in what look like droves, the board and management react, as they usually do at times of looming crisis, by appearing not to notice that something is wrong.” So maybe it isn’t. – The Age (Melbourne)
WHAT DOES EUROPE KNOW ABOUT ART?
“Cultural protectionism is in vogue throughout Europe, evidence of a growing fear that the continent’s old national cultures are under threat. The EU’s role is significant. Although it claims to act benignly, serving as a mere facilitator of culture, its policies display somewhat different, culturally integrationist aims. It believes in the propagation of an official European culture.” – The Telegraph (UK) 12/16/00