Culture Canvas

_A roundup of the week's art headlines._   "We Need to Talk About Kevin" won best film at the "BFI London Film Festival":http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/ this week, via "The Guardian":http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/oct/26/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-bfi. * "The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation":http://www.ddcf.org/ has committed $50 million over 10 years to a performing arts initiative that will award grants to 100 artists and support residencies at theater and dance companies. The initiative is the biggest artist grant program in the country, via "The Los Angeles Times":http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/10/artist-grants-jazz-dance-theater-.html. Look for Jeffrey Brown's conversation with Ben Cameron, the foundation's program director for the arts, next week. * The Abu Dhabi firm building Dubai's Guggenheim museum has dropped plans to award a construction contract, via "The Associated Press":http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141632179. * "The Whiting Writers' Awards":http://www.whitingfoundation.org/programs/whiting_writers_awards/ were awarded to 10 writers this week, via "The New York Times":http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/whiting-foundation-names-winners-of-writers-awards/. * The Beijing Independent Film Festival concluded its program without the intrusion of government censorship, via "ARTINFO":http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/38954/the-beijing-independent-film-festival-evades-censors-helped-by-creativity-and-a-healthy-supply-of-booze/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+artinfo-all+%28All+Content+|+ARTINFO%29. This week the Chinese government proposed new limits on media and Internet freedoms, restricting broadcast of entertainment shows on satellite television and regulating microblogging sites, via "The New York Times":http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/world/asia/china-imposes-new-limits-on-entertainment-and-bloggers.html. * Two stolen works by Picasso were found in Belgrade, via "The Associated Press":http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2-stolen-picasso-paintings-worth-millions-are-found-in-serbia/2011/10/26/gIQAnHgOIM_story.html. * "The Van Gogh Museum":http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?lang=nl in Amsterdam says there's no evidence to suggest that Vincent Van Gogh's death was not a suicide, via "ARTINFO":http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/38903/van-gogh-museum-says-theres-not-enough-evidence-that-the-artists-death-was-anything-but-suicide/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+artinfo-all+%28All+Content+|+ARTINFO%29. "A new biography":http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jpRr9GNMpaNP25X00tAIpnhuH17g?docId=CNG.9c21252ab1b3ed62f1d6aa69fd8db7b6.3f1 of the artist alleges that he was shot. * Romanian-born artist Mircea Cantor won the 2011 "Marcel Duchamp Prize":http://www.adiaf.com/english/index.htm, via "AFP":http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=romanian-born-artist-wins-top-french-prize-2011-10-24. * In another performance inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests, a South Korean artist is launching a series of political performances with his troupe. The actions aim to raise questions about how people protest, via "ARTINFO":http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/38946/inspired-by-occupy-wall-street-a-south-korean-artist-starts-a-one-man-protest-on-demand-movement/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+artinfo-all+%28All+Content+|+ARTINFO%29. * The head of the Iowa Writer's Workshop defends creative writing MFA programs at "Salon":http://entertainment.salon.com/2011/10/22/why_critics_of_mfa_programs_have_it_wrong/. Jeff Brown addressed the question of teaching writing when he "profiled the famous writing program":http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2011/04/iowa-writers-workshop-turns-75.html this year. * "The Telegraph":http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/8846565/Sylvia-Plath-drawings-at-The-Mayor-Gallery.html has a slideshow of illustrations by a young "Sylvia Plath":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUpZQMeHumw&feature=related. She went on to write some of the most important and well-loved poems of the 20th century. * Charles Hamm, who wrote two seminal books about American popular music history, died of pneumonia this week at 86, via "The New York Times":http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/books/charles-hamm-author-on-american-popular-music-dies-at-86.html. * Rock 'n' roll photographer Barry Feinstein, who shot iconic pictures of Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, is dead at 80, via "Rolling Stone":http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/rock-photographer-barry-feinstein-dead-at-age-80-20111020.