Arts news

• Guardian Australia culture podcast - the year in review episode

  23-12-2014 23:40
  
  Eamon Flack and Brigid Delaney join the Guardian Australia culture team to look back at a year of controversy, delight and some surprising Australian cultural highlights for 2014 Continue reading...
  
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• London’s Guildhall reveals hidden gems among collection of 4,000 paintings

  23-12-2014 21:33
  
  Collection forgotten for 50 years after building bombed in Blitz reopens to the public in January after refurbishmentThe portraits of stern-faced City worthies in robes, wigs and chains of office in London’s Guildhall collection have now mostly been banished to the stores. Instead, the walls are full of women and children, paintings including Grecian nymphs, serene Victorian ladies arranging flowers on a sunny window seat, a little girl painted by John Everett Millais yawning through a long se
  
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• Security Experts Disagree About Whether North Korea Is Behind The Sony Hack

  23-12-2014 20:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Skeptics criticized the evidence saying it was inconclusive and failed to make the FBI’s case. The agency, however, maintains that it has other evidence it can’t disclose, raising questions about whether signals intelligence collected by NSA surveillance might have been used.”
  
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• Sony Backs Down And Will Screen “The Interview”

  23-12-2014 20:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Following the announcement that Sony Pictures was cancelling the movie’s planned Christmas Day release amidst threats from hackers of attacks on establishments showing the film, the studio is reportedly allowing some theaters to screen it.”
  
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• The Recently-Fired Ari Roth Talks About The Role Of Theatre And Politics

  23-12-2014 20:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Civil society has a role to play in bringing political actors together. It is all intertwined. The work that theater people do and the work that journalists do and people to people initiatives outside of the political sphere have in moving society forward toward reconciliation, or any type of coexistence is critical.”
  
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• One Man’s Journey To Reinvent The Piano For A Digital Age

  23-12-2014 18:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  “I started thinking about taking the next step of actually converting a player piano into a full MIDI instrument, with the ability to read key presses and accept MIDI input.”
  
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• A Dance Critic Looks At The Physicality Of Wrestling

  23-12-2014 17:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The intensity of wrestling is so airless and complete—body on body, the skeleton being pulled and twisted more than it seems possible to withstand, every muscle driving for that inch, or a fraction of an inch, that allows one set of shoulders to be pinned or another to resist. Wrestlers are so crushingly close they […]
  
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• The Challenge Of A Classical Music Christmas Album

  23-12-2014 17:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The classical-music holiday album is, on a scale of Santa to Scrooge, everything from a sincere embrace of the season to an evergreen marketing opportunity. It also brings different challenges and conventions than recording Bach or Beethoven.”
  
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• Tate galleries forced to disclose the extent of controversial BP sponsorship deal

  23-12-2014 17:20
  
  The Tate has been ordered to reveal how much sponsorship it receives from oil giant BP after a landmark victory by environmental campaigners.
  
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• Is There Really Such A Thing As The “Craft” Of Writing?

  23-12-2014 17:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  “For those able to plot their fictions at the start, craft is a kind of carpentry skill at erecting a literary structure. For those who feel out the story as they go, it’s more a handyman’s way with words.”
  
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• China Struggles To Grow Arts Audiences

  23-12-2014 17:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  “A lack of suitable venues, with the West Kowloon Cultural District still being developed, left the cultural sector struggling to expand, despite government funding of HK$3.5 billion per year.”
  
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• How To Thwart Art Thieves? A Security Expert’s How-To

  23-12-2014 17:07 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The key is to make objects slow or complicated to physically remove, while at the same time making it difficult to ascertain the way objects on display are secured, for those engaged in hostile surveillance.”
  
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• On Fame: Why Would Anyone Care If They’re Remembered After They’re Dead?

  23-12-2014 17:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The idea that fame is a kind of immortality is an ancient one that shows no sign of losing its attraction. But why? What good does it do the dead to be famous?”
  
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• Google Accuses Hollywood Of Trying To Censor The Internet

  23-12-2014 16:58 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Google on Thursday attacked Hollywood and a state attorney general for attempting to achieve the goals of years-old Internet censorship law.”
  
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• The Ten Most Expensive Artworks Sold At Auction This Year

  23-12-2014 16:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  The trends to spot are trends that have been going on for a few years now.
  
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• “Legit” Theatre Versus Religion (The Great Divide)

  23-12-2014 16:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Art and religion share the psychological state of transportation—being transported. We all love being taken out of ourselves, temporarily. So why in fields that are both devoted to awe and transport, does the norm seem to be an unspoken separation between church and stage?”
  
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• Dodge Foundation Announces Grants for Newark, Zimmerli, and Other New Jersey Art Museums

  23-12-2014 16:43 via artnews.com
  The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, which funds an array of nonprofit groups in New Jersey, has announced its final round of grants for the year, which includes $132,500 in arts funding, bringing its total arts funding for 2014 to $3.4 million, … Read More
  
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• 60 American Theatre Directors Protest Firing Of Theater J Artistic Director For “Political Reasons”

  23-12-2014 16:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  Saying in an open letter that they were “outraged” by the dismissal, the directors called on the JCC’s governing board to renounce the decision and the nationwide theater community to protest “in all possible ways.”
  
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• Amazing Stonehenge Discovery Has Historians Buzzing

  23-12-2014 16:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  Experts say the discovery could re-write history in prehistoric Britain.
  
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• Anish Kapoor given solo show at Versailles next year

  23-12-2014 16:00
  
  British-based artist follows in the footsteps of Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami
  
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• The Top 10 Auction Lots of 2014

  23-12-2014 15:51 via artnews.com
  This past year was yet another strong one for the auctions, so we’ve complied a list of the top 10 most expensive lots to remind you of the top earners. The trends to spot are trends that have been going on for … Read More
  
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• Retrospective: The Best Art of 1939, The Year MoMA Acquired Picasso’s Demoiselles

  23-12-2014 13:52 via artnews.com
  As part of our 2014: Year in Review features, we look back to a year-ending column that ARTnews editor Alfred M. Frankfurter penned 75 years ago, in 1939, as war swept Europe. Among Frankfurter’s highlights are two MoMA acquisitions: Picasso’s landmark Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) and Wilhelm … Read More
  
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• Retrospective: The Best Art of 1939

  23-12-2014 13:52 via artnews.com
  As part of our 2014: Year in Review features, we look back to a year-ending column that ARTnews editor Alfred M. Frankfurter penned 75 years ago, in 1939, as war swept Europe. Among Frankfurter’s highlights are two MoMA acquisitions: Picasso’s landmark Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) and Wilhelm … Read More
  
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• Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, St John's Smith Square, review: No praise too high

  23-12-2014 13:37
  
  Bach’s Mass in B Minor is a mystery and a miracle, and had to wait a century for its premiere; as the summation of all Bach’s vocal ideas it demands exceptional performers. And that’s what it got in this lovely Baroque auditorium, with four fine soloists, the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Stephen Layton’s direction.
  
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• Morning Links: Chagall Collateral Edition

  23-12-2014 13:30 via artnews.com
  “Italy’s top tourist attractions including the Colossuem could soon be in foreign hands as the country seeks new directors from around the world to make its museums more profitable, prime minister Matteo Renzi has announced.” The nation will run advertisements … Read More
  
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• Tate ordered to reveal BP sponsorship details in case by environment activists

  23-12-2014 11:44
  
  Galleries group has 35 days to lay open sums paid by corporation amid campaign against oil funding for the artsTate has been ordered to give details of its BP sponsorship between 1990-2006, in a case brought by environmental campaigners.An information tribunal has ruled against the art institution, which was refusing to give details claiming the information could intensify protests and harm its ability to raise money from other companies. Continue reading...
  
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• Moody’s Lowers Metropolitan Opera’s Credit Rating

  23-12-2014 10:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The Metropolitan Opera’s decision to once again use its monumental Chagall murals as collateral for loans was one of the factors Moody’s Investors Service cited on Monday when it downgraded the company’s credit rating, noting the company’s ‘weakened financial profile’.”
  
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• It’s Official: Renée Fleming Is Headed To Broadway

  23-12-2014 10:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  The soprano superstar will reprise her role as an opera diva in playwright Joe DiPietro’s Living on Love, in which she performed this past summer at the Williamstown Theater Festival.
  
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• Board Fires CEO Of Queens Library System In NYC

  23-12-2014 10:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The library’s Board of Trustees axed Galante on Wednesday after reviewing his expense accounts, which included charging more than $40,000 to his library credit card for food, alcohol and entertainment. Galante is still facing federal and city probes into how he managed library funds.”
  
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• British Theatre Unions Working On New Agreements For Non-West End Houses

  23-12-2014 10:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Industry body UK Theatre is working with unions Equity, BECTU and the Musicians’ Union on a joint initiative to overhaul its existing collective agreements for performers, backstage staff and musicians working outside the West End.”
  
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• The Best Director On American Television?

  23-12-2014 09:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  Matt Zoller Seitz nominates Michelle MacLaren. “Her visual chops are undeniable, but the managerial skills she honed while toiling on the logistical side of showbiz are an equally important part of her success. TV is art made under pressure. … MacLaren approaches the job with a stoic unflappability leavened by nonchalant Canadian cheer.”
  
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• A Bad End To A Good Year At Belgium’s La Monnaie

  23-12-2014 09:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Two things, both unexpected and both potentially threatening, happened to the theater, which is one of Europe’s best run and most innovative opera companies.”
  
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• Dancer With Severe Autism Says Ballet Saved His Life

  23-12-2014 09:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The stage is the one place Philip Martin-Nelson feels right at home. But it wasn’t always that way. Diagnosed with the most severe form of autism, Philip was unable to speak, make eye contact, or even allow someone to touch him for the first three years of his life.” (includes video)
  
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• Yes, Virginia, We Can Resist Utilitarian Rationality: The Philosophical Case For Believing In Santa Claus

  23-12-2014 08:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  Why did Francis P. Church, in his famous editorial responding to young Virginia O’Hanlon, “argue for making the leap to Santa belief, rather than standing pat with Santa agnosticism?” Eric Kaplan writes that “it’s worth restating his point about the benefits of a belief in Santa in more modern, prosaic terms.”
  
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• Forget Santa – We Should Really Believe In La Befana

  23-12-2014 08:29 via feedproxy.google.com
  “There’s nothing wrong with Saint Nick, per se. But it’s all a bit much, and we can do better.” Betsy Woodruff suggests we all celebrate a witch who drinks wine and eats sausage instead of milk and cookies.
  
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• Are International Museum Franchises Really A Good Idea?

  23-12-2014 08:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The biggest question hovering over satellite museums is the most basic: why would sophisticated cities with their own rich cultural heritage and traditions feel the need to establish institutions that foreigners think they need?” A point-counterpoint forum between art journalist (and ArtsJournal blogger) Lee Rosenbaum and art historian and gallery director Maymanah Farhat.
  
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• Director Of Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum To Retire

  23-12-2014 08:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while,” said Susan L. Talbott, who will step down this fall. “I’m 65. I’ve had a great career and I really like the idea of leaving on a high note, when the [museum’s $33 million] renovation is complete.”
  
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• England’s Public Library System Needs Urgent Overhaul, Says Panel

  23-12-2014 08:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  “William Sieghart’s Independent Library Report for England, published today, urges ‘a reinvigoration of the library network’, calling on Westminster to provide funding so local authorities can roll out Wi-Fi to every public library in England as part of a new national digital resource.”
  
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• For Ushers’ Safety, La Scala Performances To Start Five Minutes Late

  23-12-2014 07:50 via feedproxy.google.com
  It was said to be the only reliably punctual thing in all of Italy: performances at Milan’s opera house start precisely at the scheduled curtain time, with no latecomers admitted until the first interval. That has now changed, and La Scala’s superintendent says it’s to protect his staff from physical harm.
  
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• Catalan Caca At Christmastime (It’s Traditional)

  23-12-2014 07:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  Yes, it’s true: Since the 1700s, creches in Catalonia have included, amidst the Virgin Mother, the Holy Child in the manger, and the shepherds, the caganer, a figure discreetly answering nature’s call. It’s a good luck charm, and over the years the traditional peasant farmer caganer has been joined by figurines of everyone from Napoleon […]
  
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• Top Posts From AJBlogs 12.22.14

  23-12-2014 07:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  Another Director’s Job Opens Up AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2014-12-21 My Apollo Magazine Debate on Satellite Museums; Plus: Latest Abu Dhabi Workers’ Rights Report AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2014-12-22 Da Vinci’s Notebooks: Seeing Him in His Drawings AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2014-12-22
  
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• Bach’s Mass in B Minor review: Mystery and miracle from Choir of Trinity College Cambridge/OAE/Layton

  23-12-2014 01:13
  
  Bach’s Mass in B Minor is a mystery and a miracle, and had to wait a century for its premiere; as the summation of all Bach’s vocal ideas it demands exceptional performers. And that’s what it got in this lovely Baroque auditorium, with four fine soloists, the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Stephen Layton’s direction.
  
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