Category Archives: Newspapers

September 2, 2007

IT was a cool spring day at the foot of La Rambla, Barcelona’s famous — and famously overrun — main promenade. I had been strolling under the freshly leafed plane trees, but now the sky threatened rain, and the crowds were growing wearisome. It was the perfect time to duck into the darkness of the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica. Inside the museum, a former convent, the bustle of the city falls away.

On the dim, vaulted main floor I found seven large screens that divided the space irregularly. Upon each was projected the video image of a luminous white wall and a barred doorway, through which I glimpsed a walkway and summer foliage.

Entitled “Lugar de Silencios,” the piece was a collaboration between the Barcelona artist Montserrat Soto and the poet Dionisio Cañas. Portly in a sweater and long gray hair — a portrait of the artist of a certain age — Mr. Cañas appeared in the video doorways from time to time, deep in thought amid crunching footfalls. Breaking the silence, he proffered snippets of poetry: “No time, no time, no time./No time for coffee,/no time for donuts,/no time for The New York Times.”

Read it on the NYT site…

May 31, 2007

LAURA ALLEN’S modest gray house in the Oakland flatlands would give a building inspector nightmares. Jerry-built pipes protrude at odd angles from the back and sides of the nearly century-old house, running into a cascading series of bathtubs filled with gravel and cattails. White PVC pipe, buckets, milk crates and hoses are strewn about the lot. Inside, there is mysterious – and illegal – plumbing in every room. (more…)

May 13, 2007

SINCE 1637, when the irrationally exuberant Dutch tulip bulb market collapsed, it has been a cliché to say that the satiny, ephemeral blossom is the only thing that can drive the sensible Dutch to heights of fancy. “We went mad,” confirms Karin Hoogland, a manager at the Keukenhof, the giant spring garden near Lisse. “People really lost everything they had.”

But even a 10,000-florin bulb produced a flower — more than can be said for an interest-only mortgage. It’s this quality that has given the tulip staying power in Dutch culture. “We have these very dark, wet winters,” says Ms. Hoogland, “so when the tulips start blooming, it’s emotional.”

Read it on the NYT site…