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It never gets old. The Sanremo Music Festival, in black and white (1951-1976)
TURIN.- Intesa Sanpaolo is now showing It never gets old. The Sanremo Music Festival, in black and white (1951-1976), an exhibition curated by Aldo Grasso and which is now on view at Gallerie dItalia, Turin since 1 February until 12 May 2024. Realised under the patronage of the Piedmont Region and the City of Turin, the exhibition presents 85 photographs from the Intesa Sanpaolo Publifoto Archive which document the history of Sanremo Music Festival, the most iconic and famous Italian festival, providing a powerful lens into the countrys popular culture and the history of its National television channel, RAI. Showcasing only a few images of the artists' performances on stage, the exhibition highlights photographs of the "off-stage" moments of the famous Italian Music Festival: the singers rehearsals, the artists' catwalks around the small Ligurian town of Sanremo, the prestigious attendees autographs, as well ... More

'Pia Camil: Fuego Amigo' opening at Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City
MEXICO CITY.- Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil is presenting Fuego amigo (Friendly fire), Pia Camil's first survey exhibition at a Mexican institution. Fuego amigo presents work from 2001 to the present, and showcases over 48 works in various media from drawing and sculpture to installation and performance. As curator Mauricio Marcin states: "Fuego amigo proposes a circular revision without a beginning. The main structure is held together by the remains of her studio's fire emulating the alchemic practice of lead transforming into gold. Prior to installation, the museum gallery was being renovated and the 'bare' plywood walls appeared behind the white walls. It was then decided to stop the remodeling and reveal what lies beneath, exposing the process of transformation. The work therefore is showcased on bare walls and self-standing modules made from repurposed and burnt wood. ... More

Announcing new artist representation: Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Keka Enriquez, and Catalina Africa
NEW YORK, NY.- Silverlens proudly announces its representation of artists Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Keka Enriquez, and Catalina Africa. Committed to showcasing Southeast Asian artists, Silverlens remains steadfast in its mission to enhance global awareness and facilitate access to the narratives and histories of these pivotal artists and the region overall. In 2024, Endaya will unveil a solo exhibition at Silverlens Manila and debut at Art Basel Hong Kong. Both Africa and Enriquez will participate in Silverlens Art Fair Philippines presentation, while Enriquez will also showcase an accompanying exhibition at Silverlens New York. As the gallery turns 20 years old in Manila, we continue to represent who we feel are excellent visual voices from the Philippines and her diaspora. We have had deep respect for Imelda Cajipe Endayas work for decades and are excited that we can bring her work to new audiences. said Silverlens ... More

Review: In 'Russian Troll Farm,' you can't stop the memes
NEW YORK, NY.- No one misses the early days and dark theaters of the COVID pandemic, but the emergency workaround of streaming content was good for a few things anyway. People who formerly could not afford admission suddenly could, since much of it was free, and artists from anywhere could now be seen everywhere, with just a Wi-Fi connection. Thats how I first encountered Russian Troll Farm, a play by Sarah Gancher intended for the stage but that had its debut, in 2020, as an online co-production of three far-flung institutions: TheaterWorks Hartford, TheaterSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the Brooklyn-based Civilians. At the time, I found its subject and form beautifully realized and ideally matched the subject being online interference in the 2016 presidential election by a Russian internet agency. This is digitally native theater, I wrote, not just a play plopped into a Zoom box. Now the box has been ripped open, and a fully staged live work ... More

Dick Waterman, promoter and photographer of the blues, dies at 88
NEW YORK, NY.- Dick Waterman, a beacon in the world of blues who as a promoter, talent manager and photographer helped revive the careers of a generation of storied purveyors of that bedrock American art form while lyrically documenting their journeys with his camera, died Jan. 26 in Oxford, Mississippi. He was 88. His niece Theodora Saal said the cause was heart failure. A native of Massachusetts, he had lived in Oxford for nearly four decades. Through his company, Avalon Productions, which was considered the first management and booking agency devoted primarily to Black blues artists, Waterman provided overdue exposure and income to early blues luminaries like Mississippi John Hurt, Son House and Skip James. He also shepherded the careers of a younger blues cohort, including Buddy Guy and Otis Rush, as well as one young white artist, singer-songwriter and future Grammy Award winner Bonnie Raitt. Dick Waterman just may be the mos ... More

Review: Vikingur Olafsson's 'Goldbergs' mesmerize Carnegie Hall
NEW YORK, NY.- On Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, pianist Vikingur Olafssons performance of Johann Sebastian Bachs Goldberg Variations had everyone in a trance including him. Playing from memory in his debut on Carnegies main stage, he swayed in a gentle reverie and hunched over the piano so intently that he almost touched his forehead to the keys. After the final movement, audience members applauded robustly as they got up to stand shoulder to shoulder. But hardly anyone moved to leave. The Goldbergs, which Bach prepared for the souls delight of music lovers according to the scores title page, employ a circular logic. A graceful aria in the style of a sarabande goes through 30 variations. Each movement has two sections, and each section repeats once. Every third variation is a canon itself a looping form and the whole, massive work closes with the same aria that started it. The variations, all but three in the s ... More

Si Spiegel, war hero who modernized Christmas trees, dies at 99
NEW YORK, NY.- Before he became known as the father of artificial Christmas trees, Si Spiegel was a valiant Army aviator. In the closing days of World War II, he was piloting his B-17 Flying Fortress in an armada of 1,500 Allied bombers that pummeled Berlin. Struck by anti-aircraft flak, two of the planes four engines lost power as Spiegel reversed course to return to England. Rather than bail out over Germany and risk being captured as a prisoner of war especially given that he was Jewish Spiegel managed to crash-land in Soviet-occupied Poland. After being stuck there for weeks, he improvised a daring escape, using parts of his own plane to jury-rig another B-17 that had crashed nearby, then flying to a U.S. base in Italy. Spiegel, who died at 99 on Jan. 21 at his home in Manhattan, was among the last surviving American B-17 pilots of World War II, his granddaughter Maya Ono said. But Spiegel, a machinist by training, has another legacy: He was considered a pioneer of the mass-pr ... More

'Bark of Millions' review: Children of the revolution
NEW YORK, NY.- Somewhere close to the four-hour mark in Bark of Millions, the polychromatic cavalcade of splendor that is Taylor Mac and Matt Rays new rock opera, I finally realized why the woman in front of me had been reading on her phone throughout the performance. And why she had looked at me like I was way out of line when I couldnt bear the glowing screen any longer, leaned forward and implored her to stop. The words on her phone were excerpts from the shows lyrics, a free digital version of the printed fan deck on sale at concessions. More than 50 songs in, she was grasping at that text in an attempt to follow along. Because the great frustration of Bark of Millions, which continues through Saturday at the Brooklyn Academy of Musics Harvey Theater, is that there are far too many songs in which the music drowns out the lyrics, making the meaning a bafflement. (Sound design is by Brendan Aanes.) In those moments, time decelerates. If Bark of ... More

Gold, silver and ... iron? Olympic Medals Will Have Piece of Eiffel Tower.
PARIS.- Athletes who win medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Paris wont win just gold, silver or bronze. Their medals will also include a piece of iron wrought-iron, to be exact, from the Eiffel Tower. Organizers of the Games said Thursday that each of the 5,084 medals created for the Paris events will be decorated on one side with a hexagon-shaped piece of iron recovered from the French capitals iconic landmark. This exceptional object had to meet another very strong symbol of our country and our capital, Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, said at an event to unveil the medals design in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris where several Olympic events will be held. Estanguet said the iron used in the medals will be recycled fragments from the Eiffel Towers original 1889 construction that had been sitting unused in a warehouse after renovation work. Stripped of their brown paint and polish ... More

Finding fresh talent for fancy watches
NEW YORK, NY.- Watches make up only a small fraction of sales for LVMH, the biggest luxury goods empire in the world. The group is far better known for Louis Vuitton leather handbags and MoÃ«t Champagne. But lately, with Swiss watch exports reaching record highs and growing interest in fancy timepieces from a new generation of wealthy global consumers, LVMH is showing heightened focus on its fine watchmaking business, which includes TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith. Last week, Miami hosted LVMH Watch Week. On Tuesday, a glittering new prize was unveiled at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the soaring glass museum designed by Frank Gehry to house the art collection of Bernard Arnault, the LVMH chief who is also the richest person in the world (this week anyway). The bash Tuesday night was a celebration to announce the winner of the first edition of the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives. Five finalists were vying for a 150,000-euro prize and a yearlong mentorship from the luxury house, rewards ... More