Red enameled alligator encases three
cloth sacks of unified survival. Beneath zipper
#1 waits five nickels, bottle of glittered nail
polish, miniature journal, handful of pens, only
one still wearing cap. Skip #2, it is stuck
shut and whatever is in there has been labeled
unnecessary and forgotten. #3 never closes,
most-used, most-important, must remain
accessible, always. Checkbook teeters
against tightly-capped Crazy
Glue, shades sunglasses from potential scuffs
from engraved silver cardholder, coupon folder, ring
of 37 keys, only 3 having known locks or ignitions
to turn. Ringing requires perimeter check. Pockets
bulge, aspirin and birth control semi-hidden
in tightly-snapped front pocket, portable
hard drive and note cards on Roman Architecture
threaten to spill out of left side pouch. Right
must be the never-ending musical bleeping,
incessant blipping of latest high-tech, supposedly
miniaturized, iPhone, trying to pass itself
off as both computer and lifeline when it is really
more crutch and anvil. Last stop, strap with photo
keyring dangling attachment. Favorite snapshot
of herself smiling at the world, makes everyone wonder
who or what was making her laugh that hard.
A.J. Huffman is a poet and freelance writer in Daytona Beach, Florida. She has previously published six collections of poetry all available on Amazon.com. She has also published her work in numerous national and international literary journals. She has is the editor for six online poetry journals for Kind of a Hurricane Press . Find more about A.J. Huffman, including additional information and links to her work at
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000191382454 and
https://twitter.com/#!/poetess222 .
MF Gallery, fine purveyors of the eccentric and bizarre, are proud to present the collected works of one of their own. “Living In Interesting Times” is an exhibition of the drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures of Drew Maillard. There is an ancient Chinese curse that goes “May you live in interesting times.” Drew Maillard was born and raised in America in the last quarter of the 20th century… A fascinating era to be sure. He is a product of his environment. Nature and nurture; habitat and conditioning combined. Drew’s adolescence was divided between comic books, horror and sci-fi films, and fantasizing about girls he didn’t talk to. Also there was Punk Rock and L.S.D.. After spending some time in the army and leaving his hometown in upstate NY, he received his Bachelor Of Fine Arts degree from SVA in 2000. His life experiences and travel, as well as an interest in scuba diving and ju-jitzu is what informs Drew’s crazy crazy artwork.
Our ongoing Blogger/Author Pairings series features conversations between authors and bloggers who share territories, passions, and preoccupations. New York City-based author Ben Marcus discusses his new novel, The Flame Alphabet, with blogger Ryan Britt, a teacher at The Gotham Writers’ Workshop and staff writer for the popular science fiction and fantasy blog, Tor.com and Tor’s series “Genre in the Mainstream.” In The Flame Alphabet, the most maniacally gifted writer of our generation delivers a work of heartbreak and horror, a novel about how far we will go, and the sorrows we will endure, in order to protect our families. Both morally engaged and wickedly entertaining, a gripping page-turner as strange as it is moving, this intellectual horror story ensures Ben Marcus’s position in the first rank of American novelists. The event is hosted by series curator Ron Hogan, creator of the seminal literary blog Beatrice.com.
Dan Deacon (pictured) returns to the Ecstatic Music Festival after last year’s sold-out show, this time writing a series of new works for acclaimed chamber groups NOW Ensemble (“a deft young group gaining attention,” New Yorker) and the Calder Quartet (“outstanding,” New York Times), both for the individual ensembles and for the two together in a mini-chamber orchestra.
OPERA ON TAP. Opera is fun. Most people don’t seem to realize how much fun it really is. In order to prove it, Opera on Tap has taken its act to barrooms where they found out that beer on tap enhances the operatic experience. The company is made up of young singers and instrumentalists who relish the direct contact with audiences not inhibited in their reactions by the looming menace of giant chandeliers.
With its cautionary title, Triumph skewers the hubris and folly of human ambition. This cavalcade of epic works references mythology, the occult, and organized religion, and uses age-old techniques of visual storytelling to voice personal angst. Depicting grand themes with extravagant embellishments, Kuksi’s assemblages of small, mass-produced materials are intrinsically narrative. Like gilt Baroque altarpieces, their stunning excess of detail is the ideal vehicle for the artist’s critique of power and piety. And like those early works of public art, they appeal to the viewer to transcend the strife and striving associated with greed.
Holi is the Hindu festival of colors. It celebrates the coming of spring, fruitful harvests, unity, joy, and a tale from the Bhagavad Gita. In addition to the throwing of colored powder (Holi Gulal) it is traditional to light bonfires in celebration of the miraculous escape that young devotee of the god Vishnu. A demon tried to throw him into a fire, but he escaped without any injuries due to his unshakable devotion. In most areas, Holi lasts about two days. One of Holi’s biggest customs is the loosening strictness of social structures, which normally include age, sex, status, and caste. Holi closes the wide gaps between social classes and brings Hindus together. Together, the rich and poor, women and men, enjoy each other’s presence on this joyous day. Additionally, Holi lowers the strictness of social norms. No one expects the decorum of normal life; as a result, the atmosphere is filled with excitement and joy.
HAZMAT MODINE draws from the rich soil of American music of the 20′s and 30′s through to the 50′s and early 60′s, blending elements of early Blues, Hokum Jugband, Swing, Klezmer, New Orleans R & B, and Jamaican Rocksteady. The band is fronted by two harmonicas which use call and response, harmony, melody, and syncopated interweaving rhythms. The band includes tuba, guitar, and percussion, claviola and Hawaiian steel guitar. The band’s sound reflects musical influences ranging from Avant-garde Jazz to Rockabilly and Western Swing to Middle-Eastern, African, and Hawaiian musical styles.
This exhibition showcases Biddle’s continuing interest in mixed media, with a twist of humor found in much of her work. Old wires, light bulbs, screws and other found objects protrude from holes in ceramic objects, while creature-like robots – strange, disturbing and endearing – appear in collages and drawings. Liberty is a contemplation of the present in the wake of 9/11. The Statue of Liberty itself simultaneously represents an overused icon and a diminishing concept. These works offer a means of viewing such images and enable reflection of our world, our nation, our politics, our person, our perspective, and our relationship to all. Mann’s large paintings in Root, created by combining chance stains with highly rendered decorative elements on oversized, un-stretched paper, function as human-sized portholes into a landscape alive with minute details, patterns and interlocking systems.
PERFORMA 11 (ONGOING) Performa 11, the fourth edition of the internationally acclaimed biennial of new visual art performance presented by Performa, will be held in New York City from November 1–21, 2011. The three-week biennial will showcase new work by more than 100 of the most exciting artists working today, in an innovative program breaking down the boundaries between visual art, music, dance, poetry, fashion, architecture, graphic design, and the culinary arts. Presented in collaboration with a consortium of more than 50 arts institutions and over 50 curators, as well as a network of public spaces and private venues across the city, Performa 11 will ignite New York City with energy and ideas, acting as a vital “think tank” linking minds across the five boroughs and bringing audiences together for brilliant new performances in all disciplines.
Ben Gerstein (Jerome Foundation Commission) – FREEDOM CHOIR! A congregation for cathartic improvisational service On November 1st, All Saints’ Day, The Day of the Dead — ancient holidays in honor of the saints, known or unknown; deceased friends and family — Ben Gerstein brings together for the first time a unique ensemble of enormous acoustic, experiential intensity to celebrate the powers of improvisation on this earth. FREEDOM CHOIR! A congregation for cathartic improvisational service. Inspired by the micro and macrocosms of nature, ecstatic spiritual and athletic experiences, dream, destiny, ritual, prayer, ancestry, and visions throughout Art and beyond… Dance floor, prairie, pow-wow, synagogue, church, mountain top, ocean, forest, desert, track and field, fighting ring, mosh pit … Ferocious love! A historic event for expansive sound and emotion; unnamable sound, unnamable emotion. We are the world! Communion between us all…
69°S. (Part of the 2011 Next Wave Festival)
“When I look back at those days, I have no doubt that divine providence guided us… it seemed to me often that we were not alone.” —Sir Ernest Henry ShackletonSixty-nine degrees south latitude, threshold of Antarctica, foreboding and cold. In an attempt to cross the continent, explorer Ernest Shackleton and crew have been shipwrecked, and now—through the work of Phantom Limb marionette maker and composer Erik Sanko and set designer Jessica Grindstaff (both at BAM with More Than Four, 2007 Next Wave)—they emerge before us in the snow.
CHAMBER MUSIC at INCUBATOR ARTS PROJECT
Robert Ashley’s music has long been recognized as some of the most radical, forward-thinking work produced today. The Incubator Arts Project’s MUSIC series, curated by Travis Just, focuses on his chamber and instrumental music, in addition to re-thinking one of his best-known vocal epics: Automatic Writing. A new generation of experimental composers and artists is looking to Ashley’s work for inspiration; this week will show why.(ONGOING)
PHARMA The Herb Lubalin Study Center at The Cooper Union examines the influence and impact of graphic design on the pharmaceutical industry in PHARMA, a new exhibit featuring original and rarely seen works by luminaries including Andy Warhol, Lester Beall, Will Burtin and Herb Lubalin. PHARMA’s exploration begins with the avant-garde promotionals of the 1940′s, when a market need emerged to promote “miracle” drugs, such as Penicillin, to the medical industry. In a compelling and thought-provoking way, PHARMA presents the relationship graphic design has had with the pharmaceutical industry ranging from the federal government’s increased regulations to new marketing tactics where the everyday consumer, not the doctor, is considered the target audience. While the exhibition provides examples of past and present, the public is encouraged to reflect and question how graphic design is used to market drugs and design has transformed these commodities into objects of desire.
“HUNTING SOMETHING SPHERICAL AND PEELING” Nyugen E. Smith [NEW JERSEY]+Esther Neff [NYC]
Nyugen E. Smith (b.Jersey City, NJ, 1976) is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator currently examining particular behaviors, customs, coping strategies, and psychological effects unique to blacks in the West Indies and Africa under European Colonial rule. Esther’s oniono is a part of a series of performances conflating specific vegetables with emotional experiences solely blamed on “external societal pressures.” The subject hunts for something spherical and peeling, a tumor or something else that won’t peel down to nothing, something inside but not like itself. There is no reflection here. Its stench bonds to the molecules around the head. Nobody is like it, the empiric, objectified self is somewhere at one of the cores, ideal-ly the flesh can be pitted out, eaten as identity, which must be found, without it, we are told, we must remain in the ground/on the ground.
Mathilde Aubier, Paul Burgess, Cless, Virginia Echeverria, Fred Free, John Gall, James Gallagher, April Gertler, Ashkan Honarvar, Colin Jenkins, Gordon Magnin, Clarita Mata, Jeffery Meyer, Tom Moglu, Randy Mora, Julien Pacaud, Lilly Pereira, Dave Plunkert, Ciara Phelan, Eduardo Recife, Kareen Rizk, Javier Rodriguez, Valerie Roybal, Katherine Streeter, Leigh Wells, Charles Wilkin, Lionel Williams, Bill ZindelFrom its abstract roots in Cubism to the political and counter culture movements of Dada and Punk, collage has always been a product of its environment. With the rise of 24 hour media cycles, social networks and search engines, contemporary culture has effectively rendered print media obsolete, creating a virtual boom in discarded paper ephemera for collage artists to examine and reinvent. Through these discarded remnants collage artists have become the archivists and activists of this post modern age, paralleling the frenetic pace in which we live while exposing the voyeuristic and often disjointed nature of popular culture.INTERVIEW WITH THE 22.
Doomsday Film Festival
The 2011 Doomsday Film Festival explores our collective obsession with the Apocalypse in film, art, and culture.From raptures, plagues, meteorites, nuclear holocausts, aliens, zombie attacks, ecological catastrophe, and cybernetic revolt to the 2012 doomsday predictions, the Festival will touch upon all possible permutations of our collective demise. We’ll be screening films from across the board, with works ranging from premieres to established classics to rediscovered gems. On the schedule for the 2011 Festival are nuclear fallout cartoons, early ’60s atomic parables, ’80s zombie punk, award-winning independent shorts, and much more.The event will incorporate a panel-based symposium featuring authors, artists, and all manner of experts on the End of Days. We plan to tackle the Apocalypse in all its forms, and hope you’ll join us for the ride!
MoMA Premiere: Through the Weeping Glass: An Evening with the Quay Brothers September 24, 2011 As part of a limited three-city tour that includes premieres in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, MoMA presents the Quay Brothers’Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum), a new work by the American-born, British-based independent filmmakers. In the tradition of their prior museum documentaries—The Phantom Museum (2003), on London’s Sir Henry Wellcome Collection, and Inventorium of Traces (2009), on Poland’s Lancut Castle—the Quays return to the city where they began their education as graphic designers to explore the medical collections of the Mütter Museum, part of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Examining obscure archives, antique volumes, and artifacts, Through the Weeping Glass investigates marvels of pathology and anatomical oddities, finding poetry in the ill-fated, true-life stories of the “ossified man” Harry Eastlack and famed Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker. The documentary Behind the Scenes with the Quay Brothers, shot during production ofThrough the Weeping Glass, also premieres. Directors Stephen and Timothy Quay will be present to discuss the film with writer David Spolum and moderator Barbara London.
Three legends of the New York Underground combine forces for an evening of extreme improvised music. “The most important multimedia artist of our time,”(LA Times), Laurie Anderson is best known for her multimedia presentations and musical recordings that have challenged and delighted audiences around the world for more than 30 years. Tonight Anderson teams up with husband Lou Reed – arguably one of the most influential musicians in rock history whose band, the Velvet Underground, redefined the music of the late ’60s. Also joining them tonight is maverick composer/performer and godfather of the Downtown New York scene, John Zorn.
Processional Arts Workshop joins with local volunteers to transform Socrates Sculpture Park into a kinetic installation that explores the history of New York’s forgotten islands through the lense of Homeric myth. Integrating performing objects, micro-parades, and cyclical performances. Odysseus at Hell Gate pairs texts from the Odyssey with historic accounts of North Brother Island, Hart Island, Mill Rock, and other forgotten places in the city’s maritime shadowlands. Park visitors will assume the role of the homeward-bound hero, using fragmentary charts and haphazard guidance to navigate the capricious currents of New York’s complex island history, from potter’s grounds to pleasure parks to penitentiaries. There is no order or sequence, as characters appear and disappear throughout the park, leaving lost mariners free to wander through a shifting immersive narrative. Odysseus at Hell Gate runs continuously throughout the Park, from 5 to 8 PM.
Fowler Arts Collective is pleased to be participating in this summer’s Northside Open Studios event which will be taking place in the Williamsburg/ Greenpoint neighborhoods of Brooklyn from Friday, June 17 to Sunday, June 19. NOS coincides with the L Magazine’s Northside Festival of music, art, film, and ideas.
Please join us for a reception celebrating the launch of Northside Open Studios on Friday, June 17 from 7-11pm. We will also be open during the day Sat. + Sun.,June 18 + 19 from 12-6pm for Northside Open Studios.
Fowler Arts Collective, 67 West Street, #216, Brooklyn, NY 11222
Fowler has a nice lounge area to rest your tired feet during the weekend, and we will have maps and information about the participating NOS studios and corresponding events.
Fowler’s 18 artist studios will be open for visitors the entire weekend, and our exhibition, Paint It Now, continues to rock the Fowler gallery.
Fowler studio artists include: Elana Alder, Melissa Dyanne Bartlett, Catherine Behan, Cameron Bishop, C.M. Butzer, Scott Chasse, Jennifer Galatioto, Daniel St. George, Andrew Gordon, Paul Hoppe, Heidi Howard, Aya Kakeda, Deanna Lee, Michael Aaron Lee, Chris Mottalini, Kate Nielsen, Cecelia Post, Krista Quick, Tory Sica, Kim Sielbeck, Hannah Lamar Simmons, Ramon Urenia, James Vanderberg, Jing Wei, and Fletcher Williams.For more information on our current exhibition, Paint It Now, go here:
http://www.fowlerartsbrooklyn.org/paintitnow2011.html
SUMI INK CLUB @ RAWSON PROJECTS.Meeting: Saturday, June 18, 12 – 6 pmThe gallery will be conducting a collaborative drawing event as a part of The L Magazine’s Northside Festival. The event is free + all ages.sumi ink club is a Los Angeles-based drawing collective founded in 2005 by Sarah Rara and Luke Fischbeck. The group holds regular, open-to-the-public meetings to execute topsy-turvy, detailed, collaborative drawings using ink on various surfaces. In each of its permutations, sumi ink club uses group drawing as a means to open and fortify social interactions that bleed into everyday life. sumi ink club is non-hierarchical: all ages, all humans, all styles.
http://sumiinkclub.com
Honesty Box @ THE END. Date(s): 18 Jun 2011 Time: 6:00 PM – 11:00 PM Where: The End, Brooklyn Event Details: “Honesty Box” is a live amalgam of the old Facebook app “Honesty Box”and the Catholic confessional. A white person-sized box with a light blue banner, replicating the Facebook aesthetic, is built to confessional proportions, so that participants can step in, and speak with honesty and confidentiality to the performance artist. The performance artist offers witnessing, listening, infinite patience and guidance, as she and the participant meet in the space between the communal intimacy of the old-school confessional and the flirtatious anonymity of the Facebook application. Most of us crave a safe and honest conference, and have lost faith in both religious models and cheap apps. What does it mean to unburden and receive comfort? Find out!
Crest Hardware Art Show
Since opening Crest Hardware in 1962, Manny Franquinha has become an icon in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn through his dedication to customer service and focus on community improvement. Crest Hardware is an exemplary family business that has strengthened and transformed with their community’s ever-evolving needs and passions. As current owner of Crest Hardware and curator of the art show, Manny’s son Joe Franquinha creates a unique non-traditional atmosphere to showcase the hardware inspired artwork of over 120 artists; representing areas within and beyond the borders of the five boroughs, including places as close as Massachusetts and as far as Munich, Germany.The Crest Hardware Art Showis a unique experience appealing to a broad range of patrons while exhibiting numerous artistic mediums. The ideas and concepts in the art show are rendered on multiple creative levels, allowing for an accessible experience and journey throughout the 10,000+ square feet of indoor and outdoor retail space. Crest Hardware is retooled into a recognized art gallery from June 18th to July 30th, 2011 & showcases over 150 pieces. This year will proudly mark the 10th anniversary of the art show.(READ MORE.)
Once again the Urban Meadow will be hosting the Red Hook Jazz Festival in June 2011. This is the fourth year of a homegrown jazz festival featuring an amazing line-up of mostly local talent. When we say local we mean they often live and work in NYC but these musicians regularly play all over the country and the world – and we love that they also play in their own backyard. The RHJF is known for great music, a laid back vibe, an outdoor setting, and it’s family friendly good times. Adults pay $5 and kids are free.
Saturday, June 18 – 1PM – 6 PM
RENKU
michael atias (sax), john hébert (bass), satoshi takeishi (percussion) STEPHANE WREMBEL’S DJANGO EXPERIMENT
stephane wrembel (guitar), koran hasanagic (guitar), richard lee (percussions), ari folman cohen (bass) JEFF DAVIS BAND
oscar noriega (alto sax/clarinet/bass clarinet), kirk knuffke (cornet), jon goldberger (guitar), matt pavolka (bass), jeff davis (drums/compositions) JOSH SINTON’S HOLUS-BOLUS
josh sinton (sax), jon irabagon (sax), jonathan goldberger (guitar), peter bitenc (bass), mike pride (drums) INGRID LAUBROCK group w/Ben Gerstein, Mary Halvorson, Dan Peck & Tom Rainey
Sunday, June 12 1PM – 6 PM ON DAVIS’ FAMOUS ORIGINAL DJUKE MUSIC PLAYERS
pete barr (drums), nick gianni (baritone sax & flute), welf dorr (alto sax), cavassa (bass), ibrahiim muhamad (percussion) VINNIE SPERAZZA/MATT BLOSTEIN BAND
vinnie sperrazza (drums), matt blostein (sax), jacob garchik (trombone), geoff kraly (electric bass) MARCO CAPELLI PROJECT THE WEE TRIO
james westfall (vibraphonist), dan loomis (bassist), jared schonig (drummer) ANDREA WOLPER TRIO
andrea wolper (vocals), ken filiano (bass), michael howell (guitar), michael T.A. thompson (drums) JEFF NEWLETT’S NEW TRAD
jeff newell (sax), isrea butler (trombone), dan peck (tuba), brian woodruff (drums)
“Old fashioned radio is making a comeback in Greenwich Village!” - WCBS NewsRadio
“On occasion, you stumble upon something special and unique. This happened to me this past Saturday. I attendedRadioHappy Hour.” -Music Taster’s Choice
“I’m so hungover.” – author, Geoff Herbach
“Scallywags, the lot of ye.” -author, Arthur Phillips
“weird” – Norah Jones RadioHappy Hour, a live variety show featuring a made-for-radio murder mystery sitcom, is kicking off the summer season with their first ever live taping at City Winery. The episode will feature two musical guests with both Sun Airway and rising indie-darlings Hank & Cupcakes. There will be murder. There will be music. And everyone will go home regretting something they’ve done. These bands, and another guest yet to be announced, will join Radio Happy Hour host Sam Osterhout, RHH regulars Robin Reed and Matt Skibiak, as well as RHH’s own Jim Ed Poole, Rich Bologna.
With the start of a new season it’s a perfect time to catch up on (or discover) past episodes of Radio Happy Hour through their podcast, such as the most recent episode, “The Tax Murderer,” featuring musical guest Franz Nicolay and comedian Arden Myrin. Or maybe it’s a good time to realize that you should never miss a show because you never know what’s going to happen. Cloud Cult could show up as a surprise guest in the middle of an episode featuring Norah Jones and comedian Gabe Liedman. Or 2009 Air Guitar World Champion William Ocean might leap on stage in the middle of a performance by The Postelles to wail on his air guitar. You just never know. And that is why you should never miss a live taping of Radio Happy Hour. (READ MORE.)
Join Jad for a night of electrifying music and fascinating conversation on June 18th at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York. Jad will present three musical acts during a live taping for an upcoming short podcast. Glenn Kotche, Buke and Gass, and a surprise special guest will all perform live. Tickets are on sale now, and you get $5 off with the code “radiolab.”
Each act has a distinct, one-of-a-kind sound, but all three share a spirit of exploration and musical adventure. The evening will showcase riveting live performances, and delve into the process each artist engages when creating these musical experiences. (READ MORE.)
Performance Space 122′s longest running series kicks it up a notch and presents a demolition derby of theatre, dance, music, and video installation.
Hosted by: Murray Hill & Uncle Jimmy
Confirmed performers include: Koosil-Ja, M Lamar, John Kelly, Edgar Oliver, Urban Bush Women, Tigger, Lisa Kron, Janet Clancy, Peggy Pettitt, Karen Therese and many more TBA. (READ MORE.)
“… The risqué Floating Kabarette show at Galapagos Art Space will put an end to your weekend woes for good.” - DailyCandy
“If you want your low necklines with a highbrow gloss, head for Galapagos to catch the Floating Kabarette.”— Brooklyn Paper
“Some of New York City’s best performers.“
— The New York Times
Floating Kabarette is a unique weekly variety show featuring the very best of New York City’s cabaret, burlesque, music, circus, skill & feats, aerial/trapeze, and performance art communities. Its polished, well-produced show fills up the space with alluring narratives of society and culture. Check our events page for a detailed description of performers for each night.
Floating Kabarette
“… The risqué Floating Kabarette show at Galapagos Art Space will put an end to your weekend woes for good.” – DailyCandy
“If you want your low necklines with a highbrow gloss, head for Galapagos to catch the Floating Kabarette.”— Brooklyn Paper
“Some of New York City’s best performers.“
— The New York Times
Floating Kabarette is a unique weekly variety show featuring the very best of New York City’s cabaret, burlesque, music, circus, skill & feats, aerial/trapeze, and performance art communities. Its polished, well-produced show fills up the space with alluring narratives of society and culture. Check our events page for a detailed description of performers for each night. (READ MORE.)
MERMAID PARADE! SATURDAY JUNE 18, 2PM
A completely original creation of Coney Island USA, the MermaidParade is the nation’s largest art parade and one of New York City’s greatest summer events!
Announcing this year’s King Neptune and Queen Mermaid of The 2011 Mermaid Parade! Please welcome Brooklyn native Adam Richman from the Travel Channel’s Man V. Food and Cat Greenleaffrom the New York Emmy Award winning television show, Talk Stoop with Cat Greenleaf! (READ MORE.)
THE SECRET CITY
Sunday, June 19th
11:30 a.m.Dixon Place
161A Chrystie St
Suggested Donation: $10
And remember, FREE CHILDCARE!!
“People are as free as they want to be.” — James Baldwin
THE SECRET CITY is an Obie Award winning organization serving the spiritual, social and human needs of artists. We do this by creating and providing live, interactive programs that engage a growing community in restoring the sacred roots of art-making. Our primary program is our monthly service. http://www.thesecretcity.org
Arts For Art, Inc. presents the 16th annual Vision Festival, New York City’s premier multidisciplinary celebration of innovative jazz music, dance, poetry, and art, held for its third year at the Abrons. Critics have described it as “arguably the most important free-jazz fest in the U.S.” (Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader), and stated that “avant-garde jazz culture has no better colloquy in this country than the Vision Festival” (Nate Chinen, The New York Times).
Each year, the Vision Festival honors the achievements of one living artist who has greatly influenced the world around them and paved the way for other innovators to move forward. On Wednesday, June 8, Arts For Art and The Vision Festival will celebrate a Lifetime of Achievement by Peter Brotzmann. This great improviser was one of the first practitioners of the Free Jazz movement in Europe. Brotzmann has programmed his own evening in such a way that it would reflect his ongoing pursuit of musical innovation. This 70-year-old artist is not interested in looking back — only in looking forward and being as creative as possible in the present.
Ryan Feeney’s ‘Obscene Sunsets’ series of photographs explore the power and authority that image cultures have over our sense of reality while Ryan Macdonald’s ‘Pale in Compairison’ body of work explores how the phenomenology of nostalgia and narrative can disrupt our sense of stability in a normal world.
Opening Reception 6-9PM Friday June 3 Featuring demonstrations and a live performance by exhibiting artists.
Why does a minor chord sound sad? Is there a formula for the perfect hit? Whistling, dancing, finger-snapping, and toe-tapping—what makes us do it? Find out when music and science join forces in an interactive bazaar of beats, sounds, and rhythm in the exhibition BIORHYTHM, created by the Science Gallery and presented at Eyebeam as part of the World Science Festival. Learn what drives sound manipulation and discover how different types of music evoke different emotions. Trace the power of an impactful pop hook in a song, measuring the way our brains and bodies react, down to the responses in our fingertips.
Included works: Binaural Head; Sonic Bed; Klangkapsel; Something for the Girl Who Has Everything; Optofonica Capsule; Theremin Inspector V2; Music, Emotion, Empathy; Heart ‘N’ Beat; Reactable; Contacts; Hear, Hear; Traffic; Instrumen; Body Snatcher; Chains of Emotion. (READ MORE.)
June 4 – August 5th, 2011
Clifton Benevento is proud to present the New York solo debut of Los Angeles based visual and performance artist Wu Tsang, featuring video, collage and site-specific installation.
Central to the exhibition is DAMELO TODO (Give Me Everything), 2010, a hybrid narrative-documentary installation incorporating elements of Tsang’s lived experience organizing WILDNESS, a party/performance night for two years at the Los Angeles bar Silver Platter. The film depicts a fictional protagonist, Teódulo Mejía, a 15 year-old Salvadorian civil war refugee arriving to Los Angeles in 1985, who discovers community support among trans women at the bar. Based on a short story written by Raquel Gutierrez, and adapted to screen by Tsang, DAMELO TODO fictionalizes a larger narrative about the collaboration and tenuous coalition between the Silver Platter and the young artists of WILDNESS. (READ MORE.)
Featured artists: Delaney DelPonti, Bianca Dorsey, Jae Y Lee, Rebecca (Marks) Leopold, Steven Ketchum, Graham McNamara, Bridget Parris, Boris Rasin and Judy Richardson
Blood, Sweat, and Tears: the Work of Art and Tragedy endeavors to examine 21st century tragedy, disaster and renewal. The exhibition is an attempt to connect with contemporary artists who are also passionate about this theme. Nine artists were selected whose work explores a particular contemporary disaster, personal tragedy, or the rigor of cultivating new beginnings. As young adults who have come of age in the burgeoning 21st century, the curators of this exhibition are themselves well-versed in tragedy, disaster and renewal firsthand (as New York City dwellers) and from a distance. (READ MORE.)
Artists:
Peter Acheson, Hector Arce-Espasas, Maria Barbo, Genesis Belanger, Chris Bertholf, Erik den Breejen, Maria Calandra, Joy Curtis, Karen Dana, N. Dash, Carol Diamond,Ryan Franklin, Tamara Gonzales, Erica Greenwald, Xico Greenwald, EJ Hauser, Michael Hilsman, Rolf Jacobsen, Michael Kenney, Osamu Kobayashi, Jonah Koppel, Ben La Rocco, Elisa Lendvay, JJ Manford, Sarah Louden, Mike Olin, Craig Olson, Linnea Paskow, Alta Price, Nathlie Provosty, Christopher Rivera, Aaron Sinift, Elisa Soliven, Kol Solthon, Thomas Spoerndle, Deirdre Swords, Katherine Young
The art world experienced a caesura in the 1960s when the paradigm of the artist, working in solitary fashion, was taken apart by the advent of collaborative art. Through collaboration, the definition of what art was, and how it could be produced, shifted. No longer was the cult of the artist, producing a singular vision understood to be the only viable artistic model. Instead, this now re-evaluated model began to generate questions about authenticity, authorship,audience and methodology. Such collaborative projects as those executed by Gilbert and George, Martin Kippenberger and Albert Oehlen, Jeanne Claude and Christo, and Marina Abramovic and Ulay were instrumental in the development of such major evolutions in conceptual art as Body Art, Systems Art, Earth Art, and Performance Art.
The artists in Temporary Antumbra Zone have come together, collaborating through the lenses of painting, photography, video, and mixed media sculpture to promote collaboration as an invaluable mode of artistic production.
If you haven’t heard, this Weekend is Bushwick Open Studios. Bushwick waxes full of openings, events, and public art.
http://www.artsinbushwick.org/
The Super Coda makes no exception:
Friday, 6/3. 7-10: Gabrielle Muller, Cafe Orwell’s new Art Director, will be presenting her first show, “Brooklyn Loves Philly”, featuring artists and musicians from both cities. Including:
Joanna Quigley, Kat Moran, Ryann Casey, Amelia Runyan, Paul DeMuro, Mary Price, Bobby Heinemann, Bobby Gonzales, Liz Thamm, Brendon Stuart, Gabrielle Muller, Austin Saylor Jackson, Hilary Price, Matt DeFillipo, Crystal Stokowski. Plus an outdoor installation by Oliver Warden, “Untitled Box”
The Art will be on display at the Cafe through July.
Saturday, 6/4. 9-midnight. The Super Coda presents Jazz that is all over the place and from all over the place. Featuring:
Kirk Knuffke –
http://www.kirkknuffke.com/
The Booklyn Art Gallery is pleased to present MASTER OF REALITY, a group exhibition featuring works by Milano Chow, Cynthia Daignault, Gary Kachadourian, and STO.
MASTER OF REALITY includes drawings, paintings, sculpture and prints that alter our perceptions of commonplace scenery, find fodder in the mundane, and draw our attention to the handling rather than the objects themselves. The featured artists create an alternate dimension of familiar objects, carefully mimicking reality so that it is recognizable, yet altering it enough to uniquely capture their own way of seeing. (READ MORE.)
We’re creating an open and inclusive event that benefits the neighborhood by sharing artistic projects and encouraging community interaction and dialogue. BOS brings the neighborhood’s thousands of artists and performers out into the streets and in view of each other, other community residents, and the general public. (READ MORE AND SEE FULL SCHEDULE.)
The influence of comics on our culture continues to grow. From the pop fantasias of Hollywood blockbusters to the rawness and refinement of intimate memoirs—and everything in between—it’s impossible to deny the wide appeal of comics’ words and images. The theater, of course, is no less immune to its spell. This summer, The Brick will invite one of history’s newest art forms to meet one of its oldest—and, through collaborations between visual and dramatic artists, the form and content of comics will collide with the content and form of theater to create strange new hybrids across both media. (READ MORE.)
Although not officially open until Fall 2011, ROULETTE BROOKLYN will open its doors this June for a two day John Cage MUSICIRCUS as part of the Atlantic Avenue Art Walk!
A carnival of all things experimental, the Roulette Brooklyn MUSICIRCUS brings a cornucopia of musicians, dancers, video artists, and performance artists from all corners of New York City’s artistic community together for a celebration of chaos and and the harmonies of simultaneity. (READ MORE.)
(TOP video, Song: The Surface of the Ocean
Matt Lavelle: composition and alto clarinet
Jason Kao Hwang: viola
Lola Danza: vocals
Francois Grillot: bass
Recorded,mixed,and mastered by Francois Grillot
http://www.myspace.com/mattlavelle
Friday May 27th, 8pm: François Grillot Contraband
Catherine Sikora – reeds
Roy Campbell – trumpet
Anders Nilsson – guitar
Daniel Levin – cello
François Grillot – bass and compositions
Jay Rosen – drums
Rhythm in the Kitchen Music Festival @ The Church of All Nations 410 West 57th Street, $10
The ever-changing arena of contemporary art presents endless challenges for those who find themselves caught in its currents. From white cube gallery exhibits to brick wall paste-ups and graffiti, the push and pull of what is important, relevant, or dismissible can be both distracting and empowering. (READ MORE.)
SUPERCODA PRESENTS:
Show 1 (Friday, 5/27. 9-midnight) : Mamie Minch, Eliza Rickman (LA), Anomylos @CAFE ORWELL.
http://www.myspace.com/mamieminch -
As devilishly funny, irrepressible and irreverent as the former Roulette Sisters frontwoman is live, a lot of this album is rivetingly dark. Minch’s solo debut is a sparse, terse collection of both original and classic acoustic blues songs, several of them imbued with Minch’s signature wit, but it also shows off an altogether different side of her writing. As any good blueswoman knows, the blues can pack a mighty emotional wallop, and Minch sings with an unflinching honesty, even anguish in places. Minch’s soulful, passionate alto voice resounds over old-school instrumentation.
Come celebrate the end of another season at the Poetry Project! The Poets’ Potluck is an opportunity for New York City’s poetry community(ies) to come together for an evening of readings, performances, and delicious food. An array of writers from the Poetry Project series as well as other local reading series will read/perform their work. Any one interested in bringing a dish for the potluck will contribute to an amazing feast. If you’re interested in bringing food, please email Brett Price at fridaynightseriesp@gmail.com.
VIDEOROVER: Season II Curated by: Rachel Steinberg
May 27 – Dec 17, 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, May 27, 7-9 PM
Screening begins at 8 PM
910 Grand St Brooklyn, NY
NURTUREart Non-Profit is pleased to present VIDEOROVER: Season II, the second installment of its semi-annual video series. VIDEOROVER: Season II is curated by Rachel Steinberg and features artists: Fatima Al Qadiri and Lyndsy Welgos, Cecilia Bonilla, Juan Pablo Echeverri, Derek Larson, Dana Levy, Pernille With Madsen, Colin Snapp, and JULIACKS.
VIDEOROVER seeks to present a wide range of works from artists locally and internationally who are all working to expand the perceptual limitations of video. This season’s selection aims to disorient viewers by removing an essential reality context, only to redeposit them into seemingly familiar settings.
Dana Levy, Fatima Al Qadiri and Lyndsy Welgos explore the pluralism of eastern and western conventions by looking at traditions through a contemporary perspective. Cecilia Bonilla examines our relationships to the seductive nature of commercial images of women through minimal manipulation, while Juan Pablo Echeverri shows us a self-projected fantasy of mass-produced femininity. Colin Snapp acts as a ‘journalist’ of sorts, documenting moments of real-time, but relieving the viewer of imposed intentions. Pernille With Madsen dizzies and disorients us with a vision of how to imagine architectural surroundings. Derek Larson’s playful experimentations extend through other worldly humor while JULIACKS’ narrative pulls back and forth between a character’s inner psyche and external world. (READ MORE.)
See “Knitting is for Pus****” for the last time (in NYC) and like never before… with a **SPECIAL BLACK LIGHT PRESENTATION!**
On Friday May 27th, 2011 Christopher Henry Gallery NYC will host a Closing Party for Celebrity Artist OLEK. Olek’s acclaimed installation “Knitting is for Pus****” has created a total sensation since it 1st opened back in September 2010. It traveled to SCOPE MIAMI, and was extended repeatedly due to pop…ular demand and endless press requests… next it will be highlighted in a traveling museum show called “40 Under 40″ opening at The SMITHSONIAN Museum in 2012!
Two terrific improvisers are on tour and will be performing one night in NYC , Joe Burgio and Andrew Eisenberg, two of Boston’s most creative and strongest performers.
Carol Liebowitz (pno)
Adam Caine (gtr)
Claire DeBrunner (bsn)
Ratzo Harris (bs)
Joe Burgio (movement/dance)
Andrew Eisenberg (percussion/found objects)
Chris Welcome (gtr)
Shayna Dulberger (b)
Elliot Levin (sx)
Tom Zlabinger (b)
John Wagner (dr)
Take the 61 bus to Ryerson from jay street the AC and F trains transfer at jay street. The 54 bus is also a good option. You would take it to the bus stop b/t ryerson and grand. the subways that transfer are the 2 and 3 at Hoyt St as Well as the BMQR at Dekalb ave. Also the L train takes you to the 61 bus at N 6 and Driggs. You Could also take the G Train to Classon.
Join Marguerite Dabaie and tons of rad zinesters at Pete’s Candy Store for the upcoming Mini Zine Fest!
Saturday, May 28th
3PM – 7PM More info
Pub(l)ic Identities: Reading Medical Representations of Sex
An illustrated lecture with medical artist Shelley Wall Date: Saturday, May 28th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
“It’s a girl!” “It’s a boy!”… The genitals, those body parts conventionally expected to remain most hidden, are also the first and most powerful shapers of our public identity. In this illustrated talk, medical artist Shelley Wall considers how sexual anatomy, gendered bodies, and dimorphic sex have been represented in the visual discourse of medicine. From early anatomical atlases through to present-day clinical illustrations and the Visible Human datasets, medical imagery has influenced ideas about sexual identity and what it means to be “normal”.
540 W. 26th Street, Chelsea
In Nocturnes, Bickerton’s third solo exhibition at Lehmann Maupin, the artist revisits mankind’s antithetical attraction and repulsion to the grotesque, exotic, and sexual. Whereas previous works depicted abundant worlds of health, happiness, family, and cohesion, Bickerton has become disillusioned with the brilliance and wholesomeness that colored these preceding works, now drawing inspiration from the phrase ‘twisting and flapping in the neon wilderness’. For more information and to view images from the the exhibition,Click here
Show 2 (Saturday, May 28th 9-midnight): Nick Lyons Trio, Yoni Kretzmer Double Bass Quartet (Yoni Kretzmer/Ruben Radding/Sean Conly/Mike Pride), Jessie Nelson Trio (Jessie Nelson/Todd Martino/Conner Martinez)
Works by: Chris Astley, Carlton DeWoody, Ethan Long, Steven and William, Suzanne Sattler, Chris Dunbar, Antonia Wright, Ruben Millares, Wayne Adams, Paul Bloodgood, Sally French, Allyn Bromley, Stephen Freedman, Deborah Nehmad, Evan Ryer, Michael Joaquin Grey, Project Lab @ PS58, Aaron Padilla, John Silvis, Anne Pearce, Andrew Zuckerman, Jennifer Mills, Robin Kang, Ian Trask. Artists Bios here
Through a variety of processes connected to the act of weaving, Through The Warp presents seven different approaches to the same overarching structure—material building upon material via linear repetition and overlap. From woven fibers and pigments to language and pixels, artistsJoell Baxter, Karl Erickson, John Houck, Beryl Korot, Jamisen Ogg, Mike Paré and Lawrence Weiner engage with this ancient framework in ways that warp prior perceptions of familiar structures, or even put forth a new language altogether. (READ MORE.)
SUNDAY: MAY 29th
Class: Mummification @OBSERVATORY
Date: Sunday, May 29th (sold out, but see newly added class info here)
Time: 1-4 PM
Admission: $60 *** Must RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com in order to attend this class; Class size limited to 15 people
In today’s class, learn the mummification process as described in the “Egyptian Book of the Dead” (Book of Coming Forth By Day). Instructor Sorceress Cagliastro will guide students in the use of the traditional materials–such as natron salts, canopic jars, oils and herbs, dried flowers and linen or gauze wraps–and traditional ritual–such as ritual of the opening of the mouth–in the creation of an authentic and perfectly respected animal mummy. Each student will leave class with an animal mummy of their own making. (READ MORE.)
Sunday, May 29th, from 6-1030, Papacookie Hosts a Special Super Coda Soundproofing Benefit Wonderful Show Time Vegetarian Potluck, Festively. Featuring:
Papacookie is a private residence apartment fantasy world atop the Upper West Side. Here’s the address:
201 W. 86th st. The Belnord
Apt. 806 (tell the doorman you are here to see Jonathan Vincent)
Non-flesh potluck at 6
Exquisite Music to begin at 7.
We will be asking everyone for donations. This show is a fundraiser to soundproof Cafe Orwell so the Super Coda may continue.
Here’s the Kickstarter campaign we’ve been running so you know what I am talking about -
Jim Sullivan at Nancy Hoffman Gallery
May 26-July 1, 2011
The next exhibition at Nancy Hoffman Gallery will be new graphite drawings of trees by Jim Sullivan, opening on May 26th and continuing through July 1st. This is the artist’s
first solo show in six years, and reveals a new vista onto nature. His last show included a series of horizontal landscapes, wide cinematic views into invented
detailed oriented oils. The artist delighted in painting myriad details. These were obsessive paintings,
and as the artist says: “The new drawings, the work of the past five years, present the same viewing issues
as the long landscapes, in that they have normal viewing distance but offer a close scrutinizing experience
(of infinite detail) on closer examination.”
Closing May 8th.
Brian DeGraw As The World Burns
Final Week at James Fuentes LLC, Gallery hours; Wed. – Sun., 11-6pm.
Special New York Gallery Week extended day, Sunday, May 8th, 12-8pm.
View exhibition images: here New York Gallery Week link: here MAP
James Fuentes LLC proudly presents, as part of The New Museum’s Festival of Ideas For The New City; Daniel Subkoff & Will Chancellor Past Fits and Future Pulls
Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center at 107 Suffolk St between Rivington and Delancey.
If you have trouble locating this project please text; (917) 509-2250
Saturday from 10am to midnight
Sunday from 2:30pm until 7pm Festival of Ideas: link
Subkoff & Chancellor are offering their artwork for free to everyone who joins them, and ultimately back to the earth itself. Having traded their cash for living native seeds, soil and local clay, they’ve constructed a 13 foot tall sculpture with this material that they invite the public to help disassemble. Visitors are welcome to grab a handful of the sculpture and recast it in a provided mold, walking away with a small sculpture of their own. If left in an appropriate place such as an abandoned lot, garden or any soft ground it should dissolve and yield a significant number of native wildflowers within a month. If taken home and treated as an art object, it will likely dry out, crack and expire worthless. The main small sculptural casting will be of a rendition of Tlaloc, the elemental Aztec god of water, rain and fertility whose name translates as “he who is made of earth”.
Susan Graham’s exhibition, New Gardens, features sculpture, photography and video that use strategies of pattern and decoration to poetically depict the eternal struggle between nature and technology. Central to the exhibition are Toile Landscape, a large scale installation of Graham’s delicate sugar sculptures, and the intimate porcelain Toile Floating Landscape sculptures. Mimicking the recurring patterns of complex pastoral scenes found on Toile de Jouy, these works depict clusters of invented flora interspersed with industrial structures such as transmission towers, satellite dishes, or even cell phone towers disguised as trees. Charming, delicate and foreboding, each small pastoral scene compresses nature and technology in a bittersweet attempt at reconciliation. Graham’s photographs and videos on view in New Gardens depict skies choked with flocks of airplanes, modern-day birds staking their claim on the atmosphere. These works showcase Graham’s deft touch and ability to evoke rich, multivalent narratives from a few simple, quiet gestures. New Gardens is Graham’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery.
Cletus Johnson: Collage 1968–2010 presents a selection of Johnson’s beguiling collages, including collaborative pieces made with famed Black Mountain poet Robert Creeley. Johnson’s works are composed of deceptively simple materials inviting private, almost meditative contemplation on subjects of longing, erotic love and primal lust. Their quietude evokes a Cagean musicality, while a minimal juxtaposition of images wrings endless narrative associations. Envelopes containing black and white photographs of a woman’s breast are intimate love letters being sent and received, revealing a desire to both contain and set free the object of affection. Amusement park ride tickets are coupled with cropped images of naked male youths, granting the viewer permission to experience desire. Portrayals of Antinous—Roman Emperor Hadrian’s lover—as Cyclops become homorobotic emblems of a carnal hunger for an idealized beauty. Johnson’s collages show him as a master of the simple, poetic intervention.
Wood Sculpture, 1957-1967 and Recent Photographs May 5-June 4, 2011 MAP
As always, Mary starts with observation and moves towards myth.
– Hayden Herrera
DC Moore’s new exhibition of Mary Frank’s work, Transformations: Wood Sculpture, 1957-1967 and Recent Photographs, features her dynamic wood sculptures, direct carvings from the 1950s and 60s that marked her emergence as one of the most innovative artists on the New York art scene. The exhibition also presents drawings from the same time, vibrant figures that both complement her sculpture and expand the range of her explorations of space, motion, and the rhythms of the human body. This is the first exhibition of these seminal works since they were originally shown over forty years ago. VIEW FULL PRESS RELEASE. (more…)