Terry Teachout offers a response to the short list for Cultural venues announced for the WTC site. His main point is that the selected finalists are relatively small potatoes. Given the short list, this isn’t the hardest charge to level. Working with available materials, he observes that the decision is somewhat a slap in the face of the City Opera. Given its relative stature, this is true, though I don’t agree that it replacing one of the finalists would then elevate the process to “making the boldest possible declaration of faith in the power and glory of Western culture.” It would at best cement the notion that collective expressions of arts are at the behest of whatever passes as aristocracy in a given cultural moment. Much better would have been a library. Given the small footprint of the site, it would not have to supplant the main branch, and could host any number of specific collections that could celebrate the development of democracy, promote religious tolerance, or study the interrelationships between western and non-western culture and history. And it could do so by trying to embrace what a library looks like as we evolve information systems that are as comprehensive as they are delicate. There’s no doubt that what is now proposed is disappointing, but adding regular performances of Wagner isn’t going to rectify the error.
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At least everyone has passed on the fat lady jokes.
Terry Teachout offers a response to the short list for Cultural venues announced for the WTC site. His main point is that the selected finalists are relatively small potatoes. Given the short list, this isn’t the hardest charge to level. Working with available materials, he observes that the decision is somewhat a slap in the face of the City Opera. Given its relative stature, this is true, though I don’t agree that it replacing one of the finalists would then elevate the process to “making the boldest possible declaration of faith in the power and glory of Western culture.” It would at best cement the notion that collective expressions of arts are at the behest of whatever passes as aristocracy in a given cultural moment. Much better would have been a library. Given the small footprint of the site, it would not have to supplant the main branch, and could host any number of specific collections that could celebrate the development of democracy, promote religious tolerance, or study the interrelationships between western and non-western culture and history. And it could do so by trying to embrace what a library looks like as we evolve information systems that are as comprehensive as they are delicate. There’s no doubt that what is now proposed is disappointing, but adding regular performances of Wagner isn’t going to rectify the error.