Arts People

David Hare, writing in this week's Spectator magazine, urges a boycott of the "hideous Barbican". He does acknowledge that this would mean missing the ravishing concerts of the LSO. But it strikes me - though he does not mention it - that it would also mean missing the excellent Royal Shakespeare Company, not least Adrian Noble's magical production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Mr Hare is an associate director of the National Theatre, and it is, I suspect, unprecedented for such a senior figure at one theatre to advocate a boycott of another arts centre. I shall continue to go there to enjoy the RSC and urge Mr Hare to do likewise.

At the Barbican meanwhile, John Tusa, the managing director, and Graham Sheffield, artistic director, are planning what to do with the main theatre when the RSC vacates it for six months of the year. Links and with the Vienna Festival are on the cards, but the theatre could be opened on Sundays for more matinees.

David Bowie's next appearance is not with a rock band but at the international visual arts gathering of the Florence Biennale next week. His central exhibit is "Where Do They Come From? Where Do They Go ?" Nearly 18ft high, two optical boxes hang in the air. Between them a human form is suspended. "Time vacillating through eternity like a spinning coin," is Bowie's view.