Arts news

• Chris Burden: an artist's final flight shows his sense of exploration endures

  21-05-2015 23:43
  
  The artist, who was once crucified on a car, died of melanoma on 10 May. His last work Ode to Santos Dumont will be on display until 21 June in in Los AngelesTwo months before aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont made his 1901 flight around the Eiffel Tower in a homemade dirigible, his balloon lost hydrogen and crash landed, leaving the Brazilian-born aviator dangling from the side of the Trocadero Hotel. It’s a scene artist Chris Burden might have emulated in one of his “danger pieces” of the 19
  
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• Welcome, Home: Manchester's £25m arts centre finally opens its doors

  21-05-2015 23:27
  
  Lancashire-born film-maker Danny Boyle introduces official opening of largest arts complex outside London, which will house film, theatre and visual art showsDanny Boyle opened Manchester’s new £25m arts complex, Home, with the admission that he had been anticipating Heathrow Terminal 5-type chaos at the site that has been five years in the making. “I was preparing to say ‘there’ll be teething troubles ... give them a chance!’” he said at the centre’s official opening on Thur
  
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• Here Is the Line-Up for MoMA PS1’s Warm-Up Parties

  21-05-2015 23:05 via artnews.com
  MoMA PS1, the Queens outpost of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, has announced the line-up for its 2015 Warm-Up concerts, held in the institution’s courtyard throughout the summer. The concerts run on Saturdays, from 3:00 to 9:00 … Read More
  
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• The Impressionists and the Man Who Made Them review – the smart art man

  21-05-2015 22:45
  
  Paul Grabsky’s old-school documentary brings the story of art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel to the fore, and the paintings still look amazingThe latest in the Exhibition on Screen series – playing on 26 May – finds documentarist Phil Grabsky applying his defiantly old-school house style (talking heads, diary readings, steady rostrum camera in the tradition of Kens Burns and Morse) to the acclaimed Inventing Impressionism show now installed at London’s National Gallery. Interviewees acknowledge
  
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• ‘You get more out of art that doesn’t allow you to do something': Elmgreen & Dragset On ‘Past Tomorrow’ at Galerie Perrotin

  21-05-2015 22:26 via artnews.com
  In 2014, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset transformed the Victoria and Albert Museum’s former Textile Galleries into a life-size diorama—suddenly, museum visitors would find themselves in the stately, quaint, neoclassical Old-World apartment of one Mr. Norman Swann, a “fictional, elderly, … Read More
  
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• Protests Over Tony Awards’ Intent Not To Televise Some Awards

  21-05-2015 21:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Creative Arts Awards, including Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical and others such as Scenic Design, Lighting Design, Orchestrations and more, are typically handed out off the air. Clips from winners’ acceptance speeches are then shown during a commercial break, and videos later surface on the Tony Awards YouTube channel.”
  
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• How Hollywood Has Failed The Great Comic Books

  21-05-2015 21:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  “To love American cinema is to love comic-book movies, and to want better comic-book movies in the future. What made the first round of actual comic book movies from Superman (1978) to Batman (1989) so disheartening was that they were distinctly bad. They were bad for a number of reasons.”
  
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• Why Translating Literature Is Torture

  21-05-2015 21:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  Breaking the Bulgarian structure out of the sentences and turning it into an equally strong and evocative phrase in English is a lot like doing 50 pushups. It’s painful and exalting. And one day, you get better. But sometimes you cry and swear, becoming haunted by Nabokov’s seminal, merciless essay, “The Art of Translation.”
  
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• Why We Need Poetry Now More Than Ever

  21-05-2015 21:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Conventional public discourse is boring, too familiar and brittle: the spray-on-tan blather of pundits on CNN, the coo of commerce, the drained, template-like rhetoric of political speech. That’s where poetry, that oft-forgotten form, comes in, a specific kind of verse called “civic poetry.” Civic poetry is public poetry. It is political poetry. It is about […]
  
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• ‘Candida Höfer: From Düsseldorf’ at Sean Kelly

  21-05-2015 19:44 via artnews.com
  Pictures at an Exhibition presents images of one notable show every weekday.Today’s show: “Candida Höfer: From Düsseldorf” is on view at Sean Kelly until June 20, and is the photographer’s first show at the gallery. The images from this exhibition were all taken … Read More
  
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• French teacher demands €20,000 payout after Facebook bans post of Gustave Courbet painting for breaching nudity policy

  21-05-2015 19:02
  
  Frédéric Durand-Baïssas says Gustave Courbet’s oil on canvas of a woman’s genitalia deserves to be shared. But Facebook disagrees and has removed his profile for breaching the social network’s nudity ban.
  
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• Turn left ... for love: Clet Abraham's hacked street signs – in pictures

  21-05-2015 17:51
  
  Armed with a pack of removable vinyl stickers, the French painter and sculptor prowls city streets at night looking for road signs to modify. Some local governments love him and collaborated with him for International Women’s Day signs. But his girlfriend has been in an Osaka prison for four monthsClet Abraham: Forbidden Games is at Artistik Rezo, Paris, until 10 JulyContinue reading...
  
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• Buyer of the $179.4 Million Picasso Revealed

  21-05-2015 17:33 via artnews.com
  Unnamed art world sources have told the New York Post that the mystery buyer of Pablo Picasso’s Les Femme d’Algers (Version “O”) is the former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. Al Thani bought the piece for $179.4 million on May 11 in … Read More
  
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• Buyer of $179.4 Million Picasso Revealed? [UPDATED]

  21-05-2015 17:33 via artnews.com
  Unnamed art world sources have told the New York Post that the mystery buyer of Pablo Picasso’s Les Femme d’Algers (Version “O”) at Christie’s last week is the former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. The piece sold for $179.4 million on May … Read More
  
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• UNESCO Warns That Antiquities In Palmyra World Heritage Site Are Threatened By ISIS

  21-05-2015 16:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Palmyra is home to a UNESCO world heritage site and is famous for its 2,000-year-old ruins, including a Roman aqueduct and necropolises. Syria’s antiquities chief said on Saturday that the militants would destroy the ancient ruins if they took control of the city.”
  
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• herman de vries: 'Other artists work with mechanical things. I work with nature'

  21-05-2015 16:00
  
  When I go to visit herman de vries (he stylises his name in lower case on his artwork "to avoid hierarchy") in his house and studio in the Black Forest of Germany I don't know what to expect. Upon Googling him pictures emerge of a naked man who resembles a scrawny Santa Claus, so I am reassured when he opens the door fully clothed.
  
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• Why Do Cities Still Build Over-Sized Performing Arts Theatres?

  21-05-2015 15:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  “For large-capacity halls that are only in the business of presenting touring commercial entertainment (including Broadway shows), the more seats the better. But in reality, many large-capacity halls were originally conceived and funded to present touring cultural programs — classical music, dance, opera — and to support local arts organizations by being available for rent. […]
  
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• Las Vegas – Where The City’s Orchestra Is Growing Like Crazy

  21-05-2015 15:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The orchestra has increased the number of performances next season from 11 to 19, presenting some programs over two days rather than one evening (including Sunday matinees).”
  
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• What Orchestras Can Learn From The Failed “Concert Companion” About Innovating

  21-05-2015 15:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  They must “build innovation into the core product so that eventually innovation becomes part of your incremental track. It’s a 10-year window and requires a real investment in innovation.”
  
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• Study: Experiencing Awe Builds Compassion, Humility

  21-05-2015 15:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Reminding participants of a time when they experienced awe … increased their tendencies to endorse ethical decisions across a variety of scenarios.”
  
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• Morning Links: Marina Abramovic Institute Apologizes Edition

  21-05-2015 14:59 via artnews.com
  “Marina Abramovic Institute Apologizes to Jay-Z, and to Abramovic.” [The New York Times]Palmyra, Syria’s most important archeological site, has been taken over by Islamic State militia. [The Art Newspaper]Emory University’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library now owns the institutional papers … Read More
  
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• Was Picasso a misogynist?

  21-05-2015 14:42
  
  The greatest artist of the 20th century has been characterised as a bully, a narcissist and a man who feared as well as desired women. But are the stories really true? Jonathan Jones tackles the six million euro question
  It is the six million euro question – or much more, if you are Picasso’s granddaughter enjoying reverse retail therapy by selling inherited art and property. What were the great modern artist’s relationships with women really like?Picasso has been characterised by many as
  
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• The art world sucks! Billionaire bothering with the Guerrilla Girls – exclusive video

  21-05-2015 14:36
  
  Billionaires have hijacked art! Feminist provocateurs the Guerrilla Girls talk about their latest protest – Dear Art Collector – targeting New York galleries with mile-high messages denouncing the luxury takeover of the art market. Join them on their secret mission to make walls talk, stickerbomb the masses and win living wages for the 99%• The Guerrilla Girls: 30 years of punking art world sexism Continue reading...
  
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• Utah Symphony And Opera Musicians Sign New Contract, Get Raise

  21-05-2015 14:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The deal includes an average 3.5 percent increase in base salary in each of the next three seasons for the musicians, who endured $3.8 million in salary cuts over the past seven years as the orchestra weathered a nationwide economic downturn and its aftermath.”
  
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• Why The New Shakespeare “Portrait” Is So Not Him

  21-05-2015 13:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  By the time we get to Shakespeare, a lot of logic has been sidestepped. And now we really do enter Dan Brown territory. Starting from the heraldic tradition of the “sign of 4”, he embarks on a series of elaborate moves involving Latin and coats of arms to produce the name “Shakespeare.”
  
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• Why do we want this to be Shakespeare’s ‘true portrait’ so much? | Charlotte Higgins

  21-05-2015 11:15
  
  For centuries we have been infatuated with the idea of finding a lifetime drawing of William Shakespeare. Country Life’s latest claim just feeds that needWhat’s in a face? It was claimed this week that a portrait of Shakespeare made during his lifetime has been discovered hiding in plain sight, on the frontispiece of John Gerard’s book The Herball. The magazine that published the claims, Country Life, has heralded the identification of the engraving of a bearded chap holding a fritillary b
  
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• The Island: London Mapped by Stephen Walter review – a playful take on London’s independence

  21-05-2015 07:30
  
  Should London cast off from the UK? A rewarding book riffs on the idea with hand-drawn maps that are by turns funny, sinister and rich in historical detailYou probably already know the shape. A rough hexagon with smooth shorelines in the north, a craggy eastern seaboard and a southern coast of bays and headlands. A peninsula juts out into the south-west: Kingston.No, not Jamaica – London. If you look at them in the right way, the 32 boroughs (plus the City, which sits apart in the administrati
  
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• Remember When The Tech Revolution Was Supposed To Be For The Masses? Now Not So Much

  21-05-2015 06:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  “We are once again living in a go-go time for tech, but there are few signs that the most consequential fruits of the boom have reached the masses. Instead, the boom is characterized by a rise in so-called on-demand services aimed at the wealthy and the young.”
  
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• Jerry Saltz: How Kim Kardashian Is Achieving Art World Cred

  21-05-2015 05:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  “I think that we may be turning a corner away from what I think of as takedown culture. It all comes from cynicism, the feeling that the system is corrupt and that everything is rigged and nothing is what it seems. We all love a good critical catfight, but somehow, with these catfights and cynical […]
  
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• These Are The Songs That Were Cut Out Of The Original “My Fair Lady”

  21-05-2015 05:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  “The five songs that were cut before rehearsals include a tune called “Lady Liza,” sung by Higgins and his buddy Colonel Hugh Pickering; “Please Don’t Marry Me,” a lament for Higgins; and “Shy,” in which Eliza confesses she has feelings for her professor. The composers decided that wasn’t true to George Bernard Shaw’s original play, […]
  
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• Study Says Typical Kids’ Dance Classes Don’t Provide Enough Physical Activity

  21-05-2015 04:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Only 8% of children and 6% of adolescents achieved the 30-minute recommendation for after-school moderate-to-vigorous exercise. In children, the type of dance really mattered. Hip-hop was the most active kind of dance, with 57% of class time being devoted to moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Jazz took second place, followed by partnered class, tap, salsa and finally […]
  
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• Maria Abramovic Complains Jay Z Took Advantage Of Her. But Who Took Advantage Of Whom?

  21-05-2015 04:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  Maria Abramović has crossed a line that even Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst are wary of. Someone was bound to do it eventually. She has not just taken art out of the gallery but into a realm of rock concert hysteria and teen adulation. To put it kindly, you can say her fans resemble the […]
  
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• Handicapping This Year’s Tony Nominees For Best Actor

  21-05-2015 03:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  While 20 have been nominated, only four will win. “Here, a look at who’s ahead, who can upset and who should just be happy to be there.”
  
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• Heel-gate Ends: Cannes Film Festival Apologizes

  21-05-2015 03:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  “We apologise. There was perhaps a small moment of over-zealousness,” Cannes Festival director Thierry Fremaux said, apparently referring to the security guards who prohibited women without heels from walking the festival red carpet.
  
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• Eccentric Frank Gehry Guesthouse Once Valued At $4.5M Sells At Auction For $750K

  21-05-2015 03:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  “Once valued at $4.5 million, the house had been estimated to sell for up to $1.5 million. But after less than five minutes of lackluster bidding, auctioneer Richard Wright declared it “Sold” to a telephone bidder for $750,000, plus auction house fees.”
  
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• Rant: Time To Stop Being Snobbish About Book Genres

  21-05-2015 02:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  “I’m tired of cultural pompousness passing as a form of intelligence and moral superiority, whether we’re talking about television, book, movie or music preferences. I record “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” while my boyfriend records “Nova”—does that make him a better person? Is that really what we want to pass down to the next generation—a […]
  
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• Bruce Lundvall, 79, Influential Jazz Recording Exec

  21-05-2015 02:43 via feedproxy.google.com
  Mr. Lundvall’s career in the recording industry encompassed more than half a century, with success across multiple genres. Blue Note had been an important jazz label for decades but had been dormant for years when he revived it under the umbrella of EMI Records in 1984, intent on celebrating its legacy while moving forward.
  
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• PEN Warns That China Censors Foreign Translations Without Authors’ Knowledge

  21-05-2015 01:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  “A report Wednesday from the PEN American Center says translated versions of foreign books may be excised because of political sensitivities, like Taiwan, Tibet and the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on democracy protesters. But references to sexually explicit material and gay and lesbian issues are also frowned upon.”
  
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• San Luis Obispo Symphony Members Threaten To Quit Over Firing Of Longtime Music Director

  21-05-2015 00:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  Michael Nowak had led the orchestra for 31 years when the orchestra’s board fired him. “We asked for a reason, and we were told that no reason was required according to the terms of the contract, and we would not have a reason.”
  
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