Just discovered that National Gallery has bought a Peder Balke painting.
Enjoy photo of the painting and get more info on this Norwegian artist via link here:
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/peder-balke-the-tempest
Balke was an artist able to capture the special light and magic of coastal areas of Northern Norway.
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Live Opera in cinema / Boris Godunov
LIVE OPERA IN CINEMA. Interestingly, live operas from some of the top opera houses such as The Metropolitan (the Met) are now sometimes available in a cinema theatre "near you", here in Oslo. The Met, established in 1883, now regularly transmits a number of their performances to other regions via a HD service thanks to certain sponsors. The calendar is available on the link here..
The Met's BORIS GODUNOV. Yesterday (23.10.10), I saw an excellent performance of Modest Musorgskij's opera Boris Godunov . It was broadcasted from the Met in New York to Oslo cinemas Ringen and Gimle. With a reputation for such cultural events, Gimle was sold out but Ringen could take more people. (In fact, all opera performances scheduled currently at Gimle seem easily sold out, at least it was when I booked my tickets for Boris Godunov on 25 September (for 300 NOK per ticket), whereas Ringen, a larger theatre East in Oslo still had vacant seats). Anyway, quite a large group of people still came to see and listen to this particular live opera performance also at Ringen, as did many people in other local theatres elsewhere, I presume. It was a great experience, because the singing and music by great artists and excellent performers were also dramatized with unifying aesthetic and ethical content, form and deeper meaning.
Here is a video from the initial work by Peter Stein (who later left but the work was continued by Stephen Wadsworth, see cast and production details below).
BORIS GODUNOV is a Russian epic opera - partly realistic in its drawing on Russian history and partly drawing on classical/experimental as well as folk music sources. Both music and libretto was written by Modest Musorgskij, or in English Mussorgsky (1839-1881). It is worth noting that he was inspired by Aleksandr Pusjkin's novel with the same name Boris Godunov (from 1830, though not allowed shown before 1870). Also much of Musorgskij's music were met with skepticism. It was not before his friend Rimskij-Korsakov rearranged the opera into a shorter piece and it later became performed with the brilliant singer Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin it became an international success. Later, the full complexities of Musorgskij's Boris have been rediscovered, one might say. The new Met version was, to our luck, performed with a mix of the first and second version of Musorgskij's original opera.
THE STORY in brief is zooming in on the ascendance of a new zar (tsar) and his relationship with the people or Russia at large. Boris Godunov, a bojar - who may have come to power by plotting or ordering the killing of Dimitri, the son of the former zar - has increasing doubts about his own role. Musorgskij shows us what this possibly criminal background does to the zar (he becomes haunted by a strange foreboding) and it influences his ethical relationship with the Russian people. He delivers out bread in the hope that people will forget the rumours. The people is however no unified heroic entity but rather expressed in nuanced and subtle ways by the choir as well as some noteworthy figures, for example, a couple of wandering monks (a new kind of character not common in operas at the time). In addition, the opera has a symbolic character, a fool, that tells the truth to the emperor.
THE PLOT. The opera shows the increasing self-doubts of the tsar on an enlarged background of hunger, mistrust, continued oppression of the people by the rich bojars (members of the highest ranks of the aristocracies), and political rivalry and plotting in and around Russia. This includes the false Dimitri, the Pretender, who is actually Grigorij, a former monk novice who hears about the previous political/criminal plot from his teacher, a chronicle writing old monk, Pimen. However, the young Grigorij - of the same age as would be the former tsar's son Dimitri - no more wants to become a humble monk continuing the chronicle writing. Very effectively, the book lies open on the stage floor throughout the opera and in some passages the key actors are literally in or playing on the book pages. Gregorij who reads the chronicle about the child killing, becomes filled with thoughts that he is the same age as Dimitri. Rather than justice or chronicle-writing, he wants to seize the throne for himself. When rumours begin to build up about this renegade "Dimitri", he escapes over the border to Lithunia. Later, pretending to be the next tsar, he engages in a loving relationship with Marina, a princess of Poland, who has her own ambitions for the Russian zarina throne and also is under influence of a Jesuit priest with ambitions for Russia - on behalf of the Roman-Catholic church.
It can be noted that this politically embedded love affair and Polish part of the opera was not in Musorgskij's imagination originally, it was actually inscribed into the opera by suggestion from Musorgskij's friend Rimskij-Korsakov. This latter composer also later made other, shorter versions of Musorgskij's Boris Godunov.
TOP TALENTS. Many top talents are listed in the Met's new compelling long version of Boris Godunov, among these are many excellent Russian singers such as Ekaterina Semenchuk and the German Rene Pape. The opera is sung in Russian, which is a challenge for non-Russians, of course. Rene Pape told the audience in an interview during one of the two breaks that he was "adopted" by all the Russian singers who each and all helped him express the words rightly. The conductor of this new performance is not to forget the highly creative Valery Gergiev from Maryinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, home to the Kirov Opera and Ballet. Gergiev is also connected creatively to the Met as this opera shows.
CAST
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Marina: Ekaterina Semenchuk
Dimitri: Aleksandrs Antonenko
Shuisky: Oleg Balashov
Rangoni: Evgeny Nikitin
Boris Godunov: René Pape
Pimen: Mikhail Petrenko
Varlaam: Vladimir Ognovenko
THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Production: Stephen Wadsworth
Set Designer: Ferdinand Wögerbauer
Costume Designer: Moidele Bickel
Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler
Choreographer: Apostolia Tsolaki
OWN BRIEF REFLECTIONS ON PARTS OF THE MET PERFORMANCE. There is much to reflect upon in this magic opera. The music and epic story are accumulating into a unifying experience in its deeper-ethical layers and original complex music style as Mussorgsky had it composed. The scene shifts are however done swiftly, without much disturbance in this "new" Boris Godunov, and the costumes are traditionally rich, even against a background on a relatively stripped down modern stage design, which may help us focus on the main drama rather than exotic detailing. We still sense the fundamental consequences of human actions and the evolving gaps between the power elites and the people. Although a relatively clean or simple, stripped down stage can help focus on the inner tensions and outer troubling times, I am not sure whether we actually hear the bells or clocks of the cathedral in the death scene. A few destiny-ringing bells or some other suggestive sounds might perhaps have helped our imagination regarding the sounds of ghosts that Boris seems to hear. But the personal drama of Boris in Rene Pape's physical gestalting comes forward clear enough any way - whether the bells actually toll or not.
If I shall dare to point to something more suffusing that could be improved, it is one aspect that comes to my mind. In Yesterday's performance, I found the Dimitri character perhaps the most "weak" one ("weak" in relative terms because they are all high-performers in terms of singing!). Nonetheless, the dramatic acting of this and a few other key roles (also prince Shuisky) could be somewhat improved, e.g., the novice monk part by the Dimitri character was not so credible. For example, he did not seem to have been spending his time in a cell as a novice with the old monk Pimen, nor did he act particularly well as a thirsty wannabe ruler. He was more credible as a man longing for love though. As to the Polish acts, however, I really enjoyed the highly seductive song and tight interplay of Marina and the Jesuit priest Rangoni, both ridden by power ambitions and sexual undertones in a credible and memorable way.
Most moving for me was, nonetheless, the whole complex of music going on and on including the expressive singing and excellent acting of the self-doubting Boris (performed by Rene Pape), such as his dying act with his children present and also the various symbolic scenes with the fool.
The last Kromy scene in the woods - when people take violently revenge over bojars and their soldiers and a woman in vain try to stop the mob's cruelties and is slaughtered while finally the fool expresses all the sorrows - shows that this scene was not meant as a simplified "revolutionary" or heroic tale of the people, it rather shows a mob seduced - in-between rival oppressors.
MORE ON THE MUSIC BACKGROUND. How could Musorgskij at a relatively young age come up with this moving, complex music? His opera Boris Godunov was first allowed to be performed in 1874 (and Musorgskij died already in 1881, at age 42). The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece.
Some enabling aspects may be his own dedicated creating and his particular teacher in a creative milieu with a handful of composing friends. As far as I have read, Musorgskij did not travel much but devoted himself to music composition (and alcohol), perhaps not surprising because his family went bankrupt and he also met much skepticism among his music contemporaries. See for example, Andras Batta (2001) Opera, p. 404.
Musorgskij's TEACHER. Although taking piano lessons from his early boyhood, Musorgskij had no full classical education. However, he was regarded as an eminent pianist, and eventually (from 1857), he started to study composition with his friend Mily Balakhirev (or Balakirev), who is regarded as the founder of the Five, a handful of composers, and its new Russian music school.
According to a Wikipedia article, I found this passage (courtesy to Wikipedia, link here):
In conjunction with critic and fellow nationalist Vladimir Stasov, in the late-1850s and early 1860s Balakirev brought together the composers now known as The Five—the others were Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. For several years, Balakirev was the only professional musician of the group; the others were amateurs limited in musical education but possessing enormous potential. He imparted to them his musical beliefs, which continued to underlie their thinking long after he left the group in 1871, and encouraged their compositional efforts. While his methods could be dictatorial, the results of his influence were several works which established these composers' reputations individually and as a group. He performed a similar function for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky at two points in the latter's career—in 1868-9 with the fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet and in 1882-5 with the Manfred Symphony.
As a composer, Balakirev finished major works many years after he had started them; he began his First Symphony in 1864 but completed it in 1897. The exception to this was his oriental fantasy Islamey for solo piano, which he composed quickly and remains popular among virtuosos. Often, the musical ideas normally associated with Rimsky-Korsakov or Borodin originated in Balakirev's compositions, which Balakirev played at informal gatherings of The Five. However, his slowness in completing works for the public robbed him of credit for his inventiveness, and pieces that would have enjoyed success had they been completed in the 1860s and 70s made a much smaller impact.
COMPLEX CREATIONS. According to several sources, Boris Godunov, among major operas, shares with Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos (1867) the distinction of having a complex creative history and the greatest wealth of alternative material. The composer created two versions—the Original Version of 1869, which was rejected for production by the Imperial Theatres, and the Revised Version of 1872, which received its first performance in 1874 in Saint Petersburg, according to Wikipedia. These versions constitute two distinct conceptions, not two variations of a single plan. It is noteworthy that the Met version seeks back to much of the original version while also including scenes from the second one. Thus, it became an approximately 4,5 hours opera but I really enjoyed also the length - of a magic evening. Many seems to agree with this rich experience of "original Boris".
The Met's BORIS GODUNOV. Yesterday (23.10.10), I saw an excellent performance of Modest Musorgskij's opera Boris Godunov . It was broadcasted from the Met in New York to Oslo cinemas Ringen and Gimle. With a reputation for such cultural events, Gimle was sold out but Ringen could take more people. (In fact, all opera performances scheduled currently at Gimle seem easily sold out, at least it was when I booked my tickets for Boris Godunov on 25 September (for 300 NOK per ticket), whereas Ringen, a larger theatre East in Oslo still had vacant seats). Anyway, quite a large group of people still came to see and listen to this particular live opera performance also at Ringen, as did many people in other local theatres elsewhere, I presume. It was a great experience, because the singing and music by great artists and excellent performers were also dramatized with unifying aesthetic and ethical content, form and deeper meaning.
Here is a video from the initial work by Peter Stein (who later left but the work was continued by Stephen Wadsworth, see cast and production details below).
BORIS GODUNOV is a Russian epic opera - partly realistic in its drawing on Russian history and partly drawing on classical/experimental as well as folk music sources. Both music and libretto was written by Modest Musorgskij, or in English Mussorgsky (1839-1881). It is worth noting that he was inspired by Aleksandr Pusjkin's novel with the same name Boris Godunov (from 1830, though not allowed shown before 1870). Also much of Musorgskij's music were met with skepticism. It was not before his friend Rimskij-Korsakov rearranged the opera into a shorter piece and it later became performed with the brilliant singer Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin it became an international success. Later, the full complexities of Musorgskij's Boris have been rediscovered, one might say. The new Met version was, to our luck, performed with a mix of the first and second version of Musorgskij's original opera.
THE STORY in brief is zooming in on the ascendance of a new zar (tsar) and his relationship with the people or Russia at large. Boris Godunov, a bojar - who may have come to power by plotting or ordering the killing of Dimitri, the son of the former zar - has increasing doubts about his own role. Musorgskij shows us what this possibly criminal background does to the zar (he becomes haunted by a strange foreboding) and it influences his ethical relationship with the Russian people. He delivers out bread in the hope that people will forget the rumours. The people is however no unified heroic entity but rather expressed in nuanced and subtle ways by the choir as well as some noteworthy figures, for example, a couple of wandering monks (a new kind of character not common in operas at the time). In addition, the opera has a symbolic character, a fool, that tells the truth to the emperor.
THE PLOT. The opera shows the increasing self-doubts of the tsar on an enlarged background of hunger, mistrust, continued oppression of the people by the rich bojars (members of the highest ranks of the aristocracies), and political rivalry and plotting in and around Russia. This includes the false Dimitri, the Pretender, who is actually Grigorij, a former monk novice who hears about the previous political/criminal plot from his teacher, a chronicle writing old monk, Pimen. However, the young Grigorij - of the same age as would be the former tsar's son Dimitri - no more wants to become a humble monk continuing the chronicle writing. Very effectively, the book lies open on the stage floor throughout the opera and in some passages the key actors are literally in or playing on the book pages. Gregorij who reads the chronicle about the child killing, becomes filled with thoughts that he is the same age as Dimitri. Rather than justice or chronicle-writing, he wants to seize the throne for himself. When rumours begin to build up about this renegade "Dimitri", he escapes over the border to Lithunia. Later, pretending to be the next tsar, he engages in a loving relationship with Marina, a princess of Poland, who has her own ambitions for the Russian zarina throne and also is under influence of a Jesuit priest with ambitions for Russia - on behalf of the Roman-Catholic church.
It can be noted that this politically embedded love affair and Polish part of the opera was not in Musorgskij's imagination originally, it was actually inscribed into the opera by suggestion from Musorgskij's friend Rimskij-Korsakov. This latter composer also later made other, shorter versions of Musorgskij's Boris Godunov.
TOP TALENTS. Many top talents are listed in the Met's new compelling long version of Boris Godunov, among these are many excellent Russian singers such as Ekaterina Semenchuk and the German Rene Pape. The opera is sung in Russian, which is a challenge for non-Russians, of course. Rene Pape told the audience in an interview during one of the two breaks that he was "adopted" by all the Russian singers who each and all helped him express the words rightly. The conductor of this new performance is not to forget the highly creative Valery Gergiev from Maryinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, home to the Kirov Opera and Ballet. Gergiev is also connected creatively to the Met as this opera shows.
CAST
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Marina: Ekaterina Semenchuk
Dimitri: Aleksandrs Antonenko
Shuisky: Oleg Balashov
Rangoni: Evgeny Nikitin
Boris Godunov: René Pape
Pimen: Mikhail Petrenko
Varlaam: Vladimir Ognovenko
THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Production: Stephen Wadsworth
Set Designer: Ferdinand Wögerbauer
Costume Designer: Moidele Bickel
Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler
Choreographer: Apostolia Tsolaki
OWN BRIEF REFLECTIONS ON PARTS OF THE MET PERFORMANCE. There is much to reflect upon in this magic opera. The music and epic story are accumulating into a unifying experience in its deeper-ethical layers and original complex music style as Mussorgsky had it composed. The scene shifts are however done swiftly, without much disturbance in this "new" Boris Godunov, and the costumes are traditionally rich, even against a background on a relatively stripped down modern stage design, which may help us focus on the main drama rather than exotic detailing. We still sense the fundamental consequences of human actions and the evolving gaps between the power elites and the people. Although a relatively clean or simple, stripped down stage can help focus on the inner tensions and outer troubling times, I am not sure whether we actually hear the bells or clocks of the cathedral in the death scene. A few destiny-ringing bells or some other suggestive sounds might perhaps have helped our imagination regarding the sounds of ghosts that Boris seems to hear. But the personal drama of Boris in Rene Pape's physical gestalting comes forward clear enough any way - whether the bells actually toll or not.
If I shall dare to point to something more suffusing that could be improved, it is one aspect that comes to my mind. In Yesterday's performance, I found the Dimitri character perhaps the most "weak" one ("weak" in relative terms because they are all high-performers in terms of singing!). Nonetheless, the dramatic acting of this and a few other key roles (also prince Shuisky) could be somewhat improved, e.g., the novice monk part by the Dimitri character was not so credible. For example, he did not seem to have been spending his time in a cell as a novice with the old monk Pimen, nor did he act particularly well as a thirsty wannabe ruler. He was more credible as a man longing for love though. As to the Polish acts, however, I really enjoyed the highly seductive song and tight interplay of Marina and the Jesuit priest Rangoni, both ridden by power ambitions and sexual undertones in a credible and memorable way.
Most moving for me was, nonetheless, the whole complex of music going on and on including the expressive singing and excellent acting of the self-doubting Boris (performed by Rene Pape), such as his dying act with his children present and also the various symbolic scenes with the fool.
The last Kromy scene in the woods - when people take violently revenge over bojars and their soldiers and a woman in vain try to stop the mob's cruelties and is slaughtered while finally the fool expresses all the sorrows - shows that this scene was not meant as a simplified "revolutionary" or heroic tale of the people, it rather shows a mob seduced - in-between rival oppressors.
MORE ON THE MUSIC BACKGROUND. How could Musorgskij at a relatively young age come up with this moving, complex music? His opera Boris Godunov was first allowed to be performed in 1874 (and Musorgskij died already in 1881, at age 42). The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece.
Some enabling aspects may be his own dedicated creating and his particular teacher in a creative milieu with a handful of composing friends. As far as I have read, Musorgskij did not travel much but devoted himself to music composition (and alcohol), perhaps not surprising because his family went bankrupt and he also met much skepticism among his music contemporaries. See for example, Andras Batta (2001) Opera, p. 404.
Musorgskij's TEACHER. Although taking piano lessons from his early boyhood, Musorgskij had no full classical education. However, he was regarded as an eminent pianist, and eventually (from 1857), he started to study composition with his friend Mily Balakhirev (or Balakirev), who is regarded as the founder of the Five, a handful of composers, and its new Russian music school.
According to a Wikipedia article, I found this passage (courtesy to Wikipedia, link here):
In conjunction with critic and fellow nationalist Vladimir Stasov, in the late-1850s and early 1860s Balakirev brought together the composers now known as The Five—the others were Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. For several years, Balakirev was the only professional musician of the group; the others were amateurs limited in musical education but possessing enormous potential. He imparted to them his musical beliefs, which continued to underlie their thinking long after he left the group in 1871, and encouraged their compositional efforts. While his methods could be dictatorial, the results of his influence were several works which established these composers' reputations individually and as a group. He performed a similar function for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky at two points in the latter's career—in 1868-9 with the fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet and in 1882-5 with the Manfred Symphony.
As a composer, Balakirev finished major works many years after he had started them; he began his First Symphony in 1864 but completed it in 1897. The exception to this was his oriental fantasy Islamey for solo piano, which he composed quickly and remains popular among virtuosos. Often, the musical ideas normally associated with Rimsky-Korsakov or Borodin originated in Balakirev's compositions, which Balakirev played at informal gatherings of The Five. However, his slowness in completing works for the public robbed him of credit for his inventiveness, and pieces that would have enjoyed success had they been completed in the 1860s and 70s made a much smaller impact.
COMPLEX CREATIONS. According to several sources, Boris Godunov, among major operas, shares with Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos (1867) the distinction of having a complex creative history and the greatest wealth of alternative material. The composer created two versions—the Original Version of 1869, which was rejected for production by the Imperial Theatres, and the Revised Version of 1872, which received its first performance in 1874 in Saint Petersburg, according to Wikipedia. These versions constitute two distinct conceptions, not two variations of a single plan. It is noteworthy that the Met version seeks back to much of the original version while also including scenes from the second one. Thus, it became an approximately 4,5 hours opera but I really enjoyed also the length - of a magic evening. Many seems to agree with this rich experience of "original Boris".
Thursday, September 16, 2010
a photographer's constant creation - Anton Corbijn
"i think i live in a dreamlike state and the only way to function is to create something"
">
Courtesy Anton Corbijn, You Tube etc.
">
Courtesy Anton Corbijn, You Tube etc.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Odd Nerdrum online
ODD NERDRUM'S AMAZING PAINTINGS. I'd like to look more in his books, too... But this entry is about Odd Nerdrum works online. He is both on Facebook with interesting photo albums (also of other painters) and he expresses in multiple media via several webpages. Discovered this today, so now I will visit him online, a good opportunity to enjoy his highly moving paintings. For example this new one.
You see we are blind, 2010 CREDIT PHOTO & PAINTING ODD NERDRUM
Interestingly, he is now using FB to interact and communicate.
For example, suggestions for a painting's title (See above: You see we are blind).
In March, he added this invitation on FB: Unfinished painting.Can you help me with the title?
First proposal is: "You se we are blind " - Thor Kristiansen
the picture: (260x188)
Here is more on Nerdrum's works: http://www.nerdruminstitute.com/main.php
Sunday, March 14, 2010
New Tannhäuser in Bjørvika, Oslo
(courtesy for photos Den Norske Opera og Ballett)Brilliant way of recreating Wagner's grand opera placing it in a Salvation army context. This is actualizing the opera from the old themes of whore and madonna, pleasure and sin, to also questions of being seduced and staged - even by the heavenly forces.. Salvation army leaders and followers - singing for the good for others - become seduced by own fundamentalism, rituals, and double morality. Doubt about what is the right way remains a recurrent theme throughout this opera. The intricate play of seduction is helped by comedian elements.
Stefan Herheim and his team give us highly scenic and fun qualities showing glimpses of opera history in the opening scenes and of heavenly forces in the final ones.
Brief interview with Stefan Herheim, the director here:
http://www.nrk.no/nett-tv/indeks/203381/
Stefan Herheim and his team give us highly scenic and fun qualities showing glimpses of opera history in the opening scenes and of heavenly forces in the final ones.
Brief interview with Stefan Herheim, the director here:
http://www.nrk.no/nett-tv/indeks/203381/
Key info (in Norwegian):
Opera av Richard Wagner, premiere Den Norske Opera og Ballett 6. mars.
Regi: Stefan Herheim,
scenografi/kostymedesign: Heike Scheele,
dramaturgi Alexander Meier-Dörzenbach
Roller premiere: Tannhäuser: Gary Lehman, Elisabeth: Elisabet Strid, Venus: Judit Németh, Hermann, landgreve av Thüringen: Magne Fremmerlid , Wolfram von Eschenbach: Geert Smits
***
I want to add that I really enjoyed the eminent Swedish singer Elisabet Strid as Elisabet!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Cocreator of Central Park's Gates passed away
Jeanne-Claude, creator of the "The Gates," the 2005 art installation in Central Park, has passed away. http://tr.im/FiLq
Jeanne-Claude, with Christo and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg February, 2005
Courtesy for photo: Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times
According to the New York Times, 19. November 2009:
- The artist Jeanne-Claude has died. She was 74. The Associated Press is reporting that the artist, who, with her husband, Christo, created “The Gates,” the 2005 art installation in Central Park, among many other works, died Wednesday night at a New York hospital from complications of a brain aneurysm.
Comment: I did not see The Gates, but my very good friend Louise Birkeland, Bergen, did. And she was thrilled by actually walking through the Gates in Central Park. Here is a part of an appraisal by Michael Kippelman.
AN APPRAISAL
In a Saffron Ribbon, a Billowy Gift to the City
By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN
Published: February 13, 2005
It is a long, billowy saffron ribbon meandering through Central Park -- not a neat bow, but something that's very much a gift package to New York City. "The Gates," by Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, was officially unveiled yesterday.
Thousands of swaths of pleated nylon were unfurled to bob and billow in the breeze. In the winter light, the bright fabric seemed to warm the fields, flickering like a flame against the barren trees. Even at first blush, it was clear that "The Gates" is a work of pure joy, a vast populist spectacle of good will and simple eloquence, the first great public art event of the 21st century. It remains on view for just 16 days. Consider yourself forewarned. Time is fleeting.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
On garbage fleet into Venice
great idea!
- The Brooklyn artist Swoon and her merry band of anarchists from deepest Bushwick are invading the Venice Biennale this week—on boats built from garbage. New York City garbage.
By Vanessa Grigoriadis Published Jun 7, 2009
- The Brooklyn artist Swoon and her merry band of anarchists from deepest Bushwick are invading the Venice Biennale this week—on boats built from garbage. New York City garbage.
By Vanessa Grigoriadis Published Jun 7, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Becoming Munch Exhibition Art Center Chicago Feb 2009
the best way to explain a piece of art is with another one, according to a critique of the new exhibition Becoming Edvard Munch. http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/exhibitions/Munch/index
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Twist theatre festival in Oslo opened yesterday
FULL HOUSE ON OPENING NIGHT. I entered "Riksteatret" Yesterday (31. Oct 2008) around 7.30 p.m. The lobby was crowded with young people (and some oldies like us) enjoying meeting each other on a Friday night as well as the opening wine and a key speech by Fabian Stang, the major of Oslo (relevant here to mention that he is son of Wenche Foss, an excellent actress in Norway). Standing in the back near to the ticket counter we could only hear a few of his words but I guess he underlined the value of this brand new theatre festival. It is indeed an interesting joint effort and creative collaboration among three theatres: Riksteatret, Nordic Black Theatre, and Det Åpne Teater.
http://www.twist08.no/home/
"SIZWE BANZI IS DEAD" GUEST PLAY. After the opening, most of us entered the stage room to experience "Sizwe Banzi is Dead," by Fugard, Kani and Ntshona.
The play is problematizing many things including the absurdities of power relations and ways of expressing this in work and societal relations between black and white people. Especially, it explores the shift of and playing with - even stealing - identity and manners when two poor guys in a township of South-Africa finds a dead man's passport... and plays with it in a hostile South-African city setting: "A black man stay out of trouble? Impossible! Our skin is trouble!"
With: Habib Dembélé, Pitcho Womba Konga
EVALUATION: 6 points! The two black actors were amazingly good and communicated excellently even when speaking French to a Norwegian audience. Among the best performances I have ever seen - with only two actors and sparse resources. Just a few cues: the two guys were excelling in using their body language, voice and facial expression and playing with gestures (smile!), movement, and sound... exploring the audience's sense of humour as well as empathy by being uniquely present on stage "with us"... but using only a very few stage furnishing tools (In Norwegian: en krakk og noen papp-plater, et par stativer som fungerte som dører og vegger, en sko som repr. en død mann).
PETER BROOK-DIRECTING. A background to understand their way of acting and using the few sparse tools creatively is knowing about the approaches and thinking of Peter Brook, one of UK's greatest theatre directors (recently awarded the Norwegian Ibsen prize). He is known, for example, for his 'empty space' approach, daring to take away anything that can hinder the actor becoming present and preparing hard for the performance as a unique event to be born, to put it very briefly.
TWIST LEADERS. Before the play started, on stage, three leaders of the three collaborating Oslo theatres were greeting us shoulder-to-shoulder, a very symbolic and warm welcoming to this new festival. Instructive handy program folders available as well. Congratulations!
http://www.twist08.no/home/
"SIZWE BANZI IS DEAD" GUEST PLAY. After the opening, most of us entered the stage room to experience "Sizwe Banzi is Dead," by Fugard, Kani and Ntshona.
The play is problematizing many things including the absurdities of power relations and ways of expressing this in work and societal relations between black and white people. Especially, it explores the shift of and playing with - even stealing - identity and manners when two poor guys in a township of South-Africa finds a dead man's passport... and plays with it in a hostile South-African city setting: "A black man stay out of trouble? Impossible! Our skin is trouble!"
With: Habib Dembélé, Pitcho Womba Konga
Regi/director: Peter Brook
Light design: Philippe Vialatte
Scenografi: Abdou Ouologeum
Light design: Philippe Vialatte
Scenografi: Abdou Ouologeum
Production: C.I.C.T. / Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord
Translation to French: Marie-Hélène Estienne
BRIEF INTRO (in Norwegian): Handlingen foregår i en sørafrikansk township, bosetning, og er forfattet av en av landets mest kjente dramatikere, Athol Fugard, i samarbeid med de opprinnelige skuespillere. Urpremièren var i 1972. Men oppsetningen som nå besøker Norge, er fra 2006, og er satt opp av den engelske teaterlegenden Peter Brook og hans franske kompani Théâtre du Bouffes du Nord. - Kan føye til at noen husker kanskje oppsetningen i Bergen i 1972 med bl.a. Lothar Lindtner, også en teaterlegende!
Source: http://oslopuls.aftenposten.no/kunst_scene/article94807.ece
BRIEF INTRO (in Norwegian): Handlingen foregår i en sørafrikansk township, bosetning, og er forfattet av en av landets mest kjente dramatikere, Athol Fugard, i samarbeid med de opprinnelige skuespillere. Urpremièren var i 1972. Men oppsetningen som nå besøker Norge, er fra 2006, og er satt opp av den engelske teaterlegenden Peter Brook og hans franske kompani Théâtre du Bouffes du Nord. - Kan føye til at noen husker kanskje oppsetningen i Bergen i 1972 med bl.a. Lothar Lindtner, også en teaterlegende!
Source: http://oslopuls.aftenposten.no/kunst_scene/article94807.ece
EVALUATION: 6 points! The two black actors were amazingly good and communicated excellently even when speaking French to a Norwegian audience. Among the best performances I have ever seen - with only two actors and sparse resources. Just a few cues: the two guys were excelling in using their body language, voice and facial expression and playing with gestures (smile!), movement, and sound... exploring the audience's sense of humour as well as empathy by being uniquely present on stage "with us"... but using only a very few stage furnishing tools (In Norwegian: en krakk og noen papp-plater, et par stativer som fungerte som dører og vegger, en sko som repr. en død mann).
PETER BROOK-DIRECTING. A background to understand their way of acting and using the few sparse tools creatively is knowing about the approaches and thinking of Peter Brook, one of UK's greatest theatre directors (recently awarded the Norwegian Ibsen prize). He is known, for example, for his 'empty space' approach, daring to take away anything that can hinder the actor becoming present and preparing hard for the performance as a unique event to be born, to put it very briefly.
TWIST LEADERS. Before the play started, on stage, three leaders of the three collaborating Oslo theatres were greeting us shoulder-to-shoulder, a very symbolic and warm welcoming to this new festival. Instructive handy program folders available as well. Congratulations!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Dansens Hus, Oslo
14 October 2008: Visited the new Dansens Hus (house of Dance) in the Vulcan area in Oslo, situated close to Akerselva (*the river dividing Oslo in East and West. Nowadays a growing area for creative industries firms, educational and cultural institutions.)
Dansens Hus seemed very fit for its purpose, the main performance room could include around 350 people - seat rows were steeply built so that everyone should be able to see the dancers well.
The wooden stage floor appeared to be fit for its dancing purpose.
A long bar and nice mingling area is the first thing you meet when entering. It is also a flexible space for meetings and events.
We were also guided outside and updated on the plans for this Vulcan area. A food hall is planned in the old brick building, and near to the Maridalsveien a new hotel (Scandic) as well as new theatre stage are going to be built.
The visit was arranged by our Culture and Media group of Polytechnic Society.
100 years' celebration Geirr Tveitt
Jacob Culture Church in Oslo, 19 October 2008: We celebrated the birthday of the Norwegian composer who renamed himself Geirr Tveitt (from Nils Tveit).
A great evening orchestrated by Lars Klevstrand and his companions together with also Gyri Tveitt, Geirr's daughter.
Wonderful music ... incl. excerpts from Hardingatoner and well-known songs such as "Fløytelåt" and "Vi skal ikke sova bort sumarnatta."
Some "refound" pieces were also performed. (to be filled in..)
I appreciated in particular the highly sensitive piano-playing by Håvard Gimse.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
