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01-10-07
safeguarding art with sonic fingerprints
Italian geophysicist Pietro Cosentino has discovered that most art bears a "sonic fingerprint" that sets it apart from all other art. The discovery is expected to assist in knowing what is real and what is fake in art. A report is found in Wired.
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01-10-07
major questions over copyrighting choreography
Like so much else in American dance, it all began with Martha Graham. When the mother of modern dance died in 1991 at the age of 96, she bequeathed control of her work to her friend Ronald Protas. But in a bitter and very public legal battle, the Martha Graham Center claimed that it, and not Ms. Graham, owned the rights to her dances and that they were not hers to give away.
A case like this had never been litigated. Everyone assumed that choreographers owned their dances. But in 2002 the courts ruled that Ms. Graham had either assigned the center the rights to virtually all her dances or choreographed them as “works for hire.” The Martha Graham Center is a respectful steward of her legacy. But to choreographers across the country, the battle and its outcome were a startling alarm. More in The New York Times.
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01-10-07
italian film producer carlo ponti dies
Italian film producer Carlo Ponti, the husband of actress Sophia Loren, has died in Geneva at the age of 94.
He produced a number of classic films including Federico Fellini's La Strada, David Lean's Dr Zhivago and Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup.
Ponti was admitted to hospital about 10 days ago for pulmonary complications, the family said in a statement.
Ponti married Loren in 1957 when she was just 22 but the marriage was later annulled. They remarried in 1966.
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01-10-07
100 years later, the state of modern art
It's exactly a century since Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Jonathan Jones reveals why this explosion of sex, anarchy and violence gave birth to the whole of modern art It's in article from The Guardian.
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01-10-07
a 5,000 year old ruin is allowed to look its age
"The last and largest of [ancient Egypt's] cult centers -- the only major one still standing in clearly recognizable form -- was erected for King Khasekhemwy, who ruled in the second dynasty around 2780 B.C... Now, in an ambitious effort to preserve this ruin, archaeologists, engineers and teams of artisans and laborers are shoring up the walls and gates of Shunet el-Zebib, ravaged by time and the elements and in danger of imminent collapse." More in The New York Times.
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01-08-07
artists ask how they "own" a performance
Time was when the 'authorship' of a work of art was usually (if not always) a clear-cut matter. Nobody wonders who wrote 'David Copperfield' or painted 'Guernica.' Even in the performing arts, it's long been taken for granted that the mere act of performance creates no enforceable property right on the part of the performer... Here's the problem: Where do you draw the line separating creative performance from actual authorship?" More in the Wall Street Journal.
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01-08-07
classical recordings booming online
U.S. CD sales fell in 2006, but downloads were way up. No surprise there, but did you know that classical music was the fastest growing genre among all music sales? Chris Anderson, author of a book on niche marketing, thinks he knows why. "Classical is so badly served in traditional bricks-and-mortar music stores [that fans are forced to turn to downloading.] The fact that it's one of the largest categories on iTunes, despite the demographic mismatch with the typical iTunes customer, is evidence that consumers are flocking online for choice." See The Long Tail for the original story.
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01-08-07
why can't hollywood kick the habit?
Smoking is on the rise in Hollywood films, and public health advocates are appealing to the industry to cut it out. "60 per cent of [films released in 2006] depicted smoking, with more than 15 cigarette-related scenes an hour. This compares with only 10 scenes an hour for films of the 1950s." See The Independent for more on this story.
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01-08-07
how to be happy
There's a "distinction between feeling good, which according to positive psychologists only creates a hunger for more pleasure -- they call this syndrome the hedonic treadmill -- and doing good, which can lead to lasting happiness." Maybe they ought to teach this in college? For more on this story click here.
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01-05-07
the brazilian orchestra and $1 tickets at carnegie hall
Joao Carlos Martins was a quirky brilliant and accident-prone pianist. Now he's turned to conductying. "In Brazil, we only have orchestras sponsored by the federal and state governments. So when I took my first conducting lesson three years ago, I wanted to show that I could create a private orchestra that could support itself on private sponsorship and box-office receipts. Nobody believed me. But during 2006, we gave 50 concerts in Brazil." Reports Bloomberg
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01-05-07
is free will just an illusion?
"A bevy of experiments in recent years suggest that the conscious mind is like a monkey riding a tiger of subconscious decisions and actions in progress, frantically making up stories about being in control. As a result, physicists, neuroscientists and computer scientists have joined the heirs of Plato and Aristotle in arguing about what free will is, whether we have it, and if not, why we ever thought we did in the first place" reports the NY Times
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01-04-07
breaking a taboo: a german comedy about hitler
Images that would have been beyond the pale in Germany a few years ago are about to be beamed onto cinema screens across the country. Mein Führer: The Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler is the first German comedy to broach the taboo-ridden territory of the Third Reich.
Jewish director Dani Levy plays the role of taboo-buster with vigour. Hitler is reduced to a pathetic figure, an impotent bed-wetter who takes drugs and wears an unflattering brown tracksuit for personal coaching from a concentration camp inmate. "I don't want to give this cynical, psychological wreck of a person the honour of a realistic portrayal," Levy said of the film, which goes on general release in Germany on January 11.
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01-02-07
listening to music: what goes on in the brain
Daniel Levitin is the rare music scientist to have worked in the music business. “Pop musicians compose with timbre,” he said. “Pitch and harmony are becoming less important. There's a fascinating article about Levitin's work in The New York Times.
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01-02-07
2.5 million books on $50,000 machine
A machine that electronically stores 2.5 million books that can then be printed and bound in less than seven minutes is to be launched early next year. It prints in any language and has an upper limit of 550 pages. The 'Espresso' will be launched first in several US libraries. The company behind the project - On Demand Books - predicts that, within five years, it will be able to reproduce every book ever published. More in the Guardian.
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01-02-07
hermitage spouse to be tried for theft of art
The husband of a curator who supervised five million dollars in art at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, is to stand trial on charges that he and his wife stole work from its collection. The defendant, Nikolai Zavadsky, is accused of the theft of seventy-seven objects from the museum's department of Russian cultural history. In August Zavadsky's lawyer quoted him as saying that he had stolen the artifacts because he needed money to buy insulin for his wife, Larisa Zavadskaya, a diabetic who died suddenly at the start of an inventory that revealed that five million dollars in objects in her charge were missing. No date was given for the start of the trial.
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01-02-07
u.s. pop music seems tired of war and politics
Pop’s political consciousness rises in every election year in the USA, and much as it became clear in November that voters are tired of war, music in 2006 also reflected battle fatigue. A report in the The New York Times.
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12-29-06
french art world awaits 100 million euro fund
Artists in France are anxiously awaiting a government promise to support contemporary art with 100 million Euros. The plan was first announced at the end of October. France seeks to stimulate the contemporary market after being humbled when the luxury goods tycoon and art collector François Pinault pulled the plug on a new contemporary art museum designed by architect Tadao Ando. “[This loss] was interpreted as a sign of French impotence and I regret Mr Pinault’s decision, but of course we are very happy Mr Arnault has decided to build a museum in the capital,” said Mr Donnedieu, referring to the recent announcement by LVMH owner Bernard Arnault to show his art collection in a new museum in the west of Paris (The Art Newspaper, November 2006, pp22-23). Showing the state’s strong support for the project, Mr Donnedieu was present at the press conference along with the mayor of Paris and the mayor for the 16th arrondissement (in the Bois de Boulogne), where the museum will be sited.
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12-29-06
publishing and fashion: are they both sweat shops?
Publishing has something in common with the fashion business. They both perpetuate sweat shops. "In both industries -- fashion and publishing -- the focus of gossip has always been on who was the original model for the book's despotic boss. But anyone who has dealt extensively with either industry can tell you that, as nice as an individual boss may be, the system itself is designed as (and perpetuates itself as) a kind of ruthless (mostly) 'female boot camp'." More in Book Daddy.
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12-29-06
mixed reactions to new p.s.1 exhibitions
Critics have given very mixed reactions to the latest exhibitions at the P.S.1 Museum of contemporary art. "The rationales behind “Defamation of Character,” “The Gold Standard,” “Altered, Stitched and Gathered” and “Music Is a Better Noise” are disparate, if not antagonistic, and run the gamut from formal to formless. But combined, they present new and recent work by more than 130 artists, forming an inadvertent, four-part biennial that reaches back to the 1970s, when P.S. 1 was founded." More in The New York Times.
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12-28-06
more weakness at u.s. independent bookshops
According to the most recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, retail sales at bookstores -- independent and chain stores -- were below 2005 levels in October for the fourth month in a row. At the end of October retail sales were down 1.8 percent for the year.
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12-28-06
Opera Simulcast debut
A new era is dawning for the Metropolitan Opera as they are about to begin simulcasting their productions, in other words showing Opera on the big screen, live. Beginning this January Opera buffs will be able to enjoy the live production whilst eating popcorn and being admitted with a ticket under $20. For more on this story see The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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12-28-06
High Definition - Warts and all
TV and cinema have till now concealed certain undesirable features being noticed, yet the introduction of HD video has given rise to new challenges. For those appearing on the screen a flawless complection is now much more difficult to achieve given the absence of the grain structure of traditional film. The LA Times has more.
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12-27-06
recalling the internet (historically speaking)
"The average life of a Web page is 100 days. If we don't aggressively go and archive these materials that we're depending on, not just for scholarship but for cultural fun and trivial pursuits, they will be gone forever." A full article is in the Denver Post.
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12-23-06
'Scream' turns up wet and damaged
Following the recovery of "The Scream" by Edvard Munch stolen in 2004 it appears that upon inspection it has suffered a certain degree of damage.
"Water has been absorbed by one corner of the paper board, and there is abrasion damage on the lower part of the painting, We have a large swath that is very visible." reports the LA Times
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12-22-06
fbi releases more john lennon documents
The very idea that America's FBI spent years investigating singer-songwriter John Lennon is repulsive to many. Now, the agency has released more documents - it says all are now public - showing that Lennon was anything but a threat to the US. A report from the BBC News tells the story.
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12-20-06
The art of pricing art
In the past weeks we have included reference to the heights of recent outlandish art sales, yet The Art Newspaper recently asks "how reliable are these 'reported' or 'undisclosed' prices? None of the interested parties is prepared to talk, so the information is based on rumour and reports published in other newspapers. The truth is we don't really know."
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12-20-06
Broadway popularity highest in 20 years
The Stage reports that "Last season, Broadway shows collectively sold 12,003,148 tickets, while the theatregoers were predominately white, rich and more often than not, female." going on to report that this is the highest number of sales in 20 years.
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12-19-06
police were ready for possible opera riot, but reaction was tepid
Police were on high alert for Monday's performance a controversial production of Mozart's Idomeneo in Berlin. "It's a case of art meeting religious sensibility -- and a decision that the show must go on, despite concerns that the production, featuring the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad, could prompt violence." A complete report is in The New York Times.
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12-19-06
a millenia of art, but has there been much progress?
Has there really been much progress in art over the millennia? "To understand cave art, we must first radically adjust how exactly we define 'primitive' and then throw conventional notions of artistic progress out the window." Read the dispatch in The Washington Post.
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12-15-06
Respect your artistic elders
Despite the fact that artistic society leans predominantly toward the celebration of youth and the young prodigy, Hollywood is discovering that many of today's directors held in high esteem are well beyond their 70s, reports The Guardian.
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12-15-06
Dance yourself healthy
Although the health benefits of dancing have been known for quite some time, a recent rise in the number of dance studios opening in India relates directly to the number of professionals, particularly in the IT industry, that are discovering the benefits following a work life that sees the workers typically inert behind a desk all day. Rediff News has more.
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12-14-06
Miami Basel sales are beyond hype
Want to be part of a booming business with sales in the millions - maybe billions? Become an artist or an art dealer and get rich quick! That may be the motto after Miami Basel claimed sales of up to $400 million. The figures are unofficial, of course, and the hype that accompanies the numbers may be beyond excess. Here's a report from Bloomberg.
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12-13-06
Mozart Fans download overload
The Vienna based 'International Mozart Foundation' launched a new site with free Mozart score downloads earlier this week to mark the musicians 250th birthday anniversary. Within 12 hours of the launch the site experienced problems with their server following almost half a million hits. The site is well worth checking out for fans of Mozart since they offer a system whereby visitors can search the musical database for rare and specific "symphonies, arias or even single lines of text from Mozart's music." More about this story can be found at CBC
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12-13-06
Want to be creative? Stay up late.
A recent study conducted in Italy concluded that those among us who stay up late are more likely to be creative than early sleepers. After questioning 120 participants the conductors of the study admit that although the complete reason for this peak in creativity is unclear it may relate to "living outside the norm". For more visit discovery.com
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12-12-06
sao paolo stops outdoor advertising mess
"Imagine a modern metropolis with no outdoor advertising: no billboards, no flashing neon signs, no electronic panels with messages crawling along the bottom. Come the new year, this city of 11 million, overwhelmed by what the authorities call visual pollution, plans to press the “delete all” button and offer its residents an unimpeded view of their surroundings." It's happening in Sao Paolo, and there's a full report in The New York Times.
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12-11-06
World's oldest record store to close?
"Spillers Records in the centre of Cardiff is officially acknowledged as the world's oldest music store by Guinness World Records. Now its future is uncertain - and some of the world's biggest stars are being asked to back a campaign to keep it open." Reports The Independent
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12-11-06
Nijinsky Dance Awards
"The fourth biennial Nijinsky Awards, considered the Oscars of the dance world, were presented Thursday on a stage where, nearly a century ago, legendary dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky often choreographed, rehearsed and performed: the recently restored Monte Carlo Opera House." Reports The L.A Times
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12-09-06
Art as International Healer
"For the past three years, Kaiser, who volunteers as a cultural ambassador with the U.S. State Department, has helped arts organizations in other countries improve their planning, marketing and fundraising, and he has brought artists from Iraq, China and elsewhere to the U.S... He and the Kennedy Center have focused their training efforts in countries that are 'in transition and in trouble' -- including Pakistan and Iraq -- because that's where art can have the greatest impact." Reports bloomberg.com
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12-09-06
LA Operas in financial difficulties
Two small L.A. opera companies have been forced to cancel productions this week. El Dorado Opera and Lyric Opera of Los Angeles are both facing financial difficulties, and not having the resources of larger companies, they've begun scrapping shows in the middle of the holiday concert season. Reports the LA Times
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12-08-06
Art Sale Frenzy
"Art is making more money than ever before. This year, a new world record was set for the most expensive painting of all time - and broken a few months later. There is a frenzy in the market that encompasses everything from contemporary art to looted Greek and Roman antiquities. Unexpected discoveries fuel the fantasy that you or I can participate in this greedy sport, that valuable masterpieces lie in attics or cupboards, waiting to be recognised... There are only two questions about art we all recognise. But is it art? And if it is, what's it worth?" Reports The Guardian
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