Chris Burden, “All the Submarines of the United States of America” (1987) (photo by Benjamin Sutton for Hyperallergic)
This week, Puerto Rican self-determination, Chris Burden, and artist’s resale rights are on our mind, but so are the poetics of politics, the ruins of Philip Johnson, and much, much more.
Chris Burden Tribute
When: Tuesday, July 21, 11:30am–7:30pm (Free)
Where: Electronic Arts Intermix (535 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, Manhattan)
When Chris Burden died in May he left behind a body of work that includes recent, large-scale sculptures and installations, and more visceral videos and documentation of early performance art pieces. The latter will be the focus of this eight-hour screening of Burden’s moving image oeuvre, where you’ll get to see him being shot, sleeping in a gallery for 21 days, and crawling across broken glass.—Benjamin Sutton
Máximo Colón, Partido Young Lords (c. 1970), gelatin silver print (image courtesy of the artist via El Museo)
The Young Lords in New York
When: Opens Wednesday, July 22
Where: El Museo del Barrio (1230 Fifth Avenue, Spanish Harlem, Manhattan)
A complement to the Young Lords exhibition at the Bronx Museum and another show opening at Loisaida later this week, Presente! The Young Lords in New York at El Museo explores the legacy of the Young Lords in East Harlem, the Bronx, and the Lower East Side (hence the three locations). For El Museo’s part, the curators will draw from the museum’s own collection including copies of the Young Lords weekly newspaper, Palante. It also explores the group’s legacy of art and activism.
Founded in Chicago in September 1968, the Young Lords Organization later developed a chapter in New York City in July 1969 when various groups came together in the interest of neighborhood improvement and Puerto Rican self-determination.
Is Reality Beautiful?
When: Wednesday, July 22, 7pm (Free)
Where: Pioneer Works (159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn)
In light of Nobel Laureate and theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek’s new book A Beautiful Question, Pioneer Works is hosting a discussion on the science of beauty for its Scientific Controversies series. In his book, Wilczek sees order and logic in beauty, while viewing the world as a work of art in itself. Together with astrophysicist Glennys Farrar, Wilczek will answer the rather daunting question: Is reality beautiful? By looking at how, for instance, in contemporary art “beauty has faded,” the panelists will debate what we find aesthetically pleasing and why.—Elisa Wouk Almino
An illustration of Robert Rauschenberg and collector Robert Scull by Lauren Purje (An Illustrated Guide to Artist Resale Royalties (aka ‘Droit de Suite’))
The Artist’s Resale Right
When: Wednesday, July 22, 7pm ($5 donated)
Where: Artist’s Space Books & Talks (55 Walker Street, Tribeca, Manhattan)
The Artists’ Resale Rights Working Group (a newly formed division of W.A.G.E/ Working Artists and the Greater Economy) have organized what is set to be a fantastic panel discussion on the issue of Artist Resale Royalties (for a comprehensive primer on the subject, check out our Illustrated Guide). Congress is currently considering the ART (American Royalties Too) Act, which if passed, would require auction houses to pay a royalty to artists on any artwork sold for over $5,000. Wednesday’s panel discussion will end with an open floor debate on resale royalties and the specific merits of the bill. Panelists include Dr. Theodore Feder and Janet Hicks of the Artists Rights Society (ARS has been lobbying in favor of the bill), artists Hans Haacke and R.H. Quaytman, art dealer Maxwell Graham, art historian Lauren van Haaften-Schick, and Justice Barbara Jaffe of the New York Supreme Court, New York County.—Tiernan Morgan
Sounds, Images and Data
When: Thursday, July 23–Saturday, July 25 (Check site for schedule)
Where: New York University (various locations)
This three-day conference addresses curating and artistic practices in response to the prevalence of big data in the 21st century, drawing together a range of participants including curators, sound engineers, scholars, and experts in data visualization. Performances that touch on sound, image, and data are scattered throughout the program, but it is largely centered on presentations of papers, whose topics range from “Curating and Performing Liveness in Laptop Music“ to “How to Write Silence to “Remixing the Sublime: [Heart-Brain] Mind-Beats.“—Claire Voon
CripFest
When: Saturday, July 25, 1:30–11pm (Free, RSVP required)
Where: BAM Fisher (321 Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn)
(via bam.org)
Bradley Cooper’s contorting Elephant Man performance got a Tony nomination, and CripFest is not subtle with its rallying to reclaim identities “away from the inaccurate performances of disability on Broadway.” The free day-long festival marking the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act starts with a panel on getting disabled performers cast in popular media, a discussion featuring performer Mat Fraser who curated CripFest, and got major visibility on American Horror Story. The panel is followed by an agitating lineup of American and British artists and performers, including dance from Bill Shannon (aka Crutchmaster), and cabaret hosted by Fraser and Liz Carr of the British comedy group Abnormally Funny People.—Allison Meier
Modern Ruin
When: Sunday, July 26, 2:30–4:30pm ($10)
Where: Queens Historical Society (143-35 37th Avenue, Flushing, Queens)
How does a huge structure by one of the great 20th-century architects deteriorate from neglect in New York City? The screening of the new Modern Ruin documentary this Sunday at the Queens Historical Society housed in the 18th-century Kingsland Homestead chronicles the strange rise and long fall of Philip Johnson’s New York State Pavilion, a gargantuan modernist circus tent of a building constructed for the 1964 World’s Fair. The film was written and directed by Matthew Silva, himself a cofounder of the People for the Pavilion advocacy group, making this film a labor of preservation love.—AM
Poetry & Politics
When: Monday, July 27th, 7pm (Free)
Where: The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (110–112 West 27th Street, Midtown South, Manhattan)
AAWW is hosting the first of two installations of its Poetry & Politics series, bringing together writers, activists, and artists to read from their work and talk about stories of struggle and resilience. The inaugural event will feature American Book Award winner Wing Tek Lum, talking about his poetry on the Nanjing Massacre in China, as well as Vikas Menon, discussing his comic book that highlights and empowers sexual assault survivors in India. Poet Sarah Gambito will be on hand to MC for what should be a powerful night of literary unrest.—Arnav Adhikari
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With contributions by Arnav Adhikari, Elisa Wouk Almino, Allison Meier, Tiernan Morgan, Benjamin Sutton, and Claire Voon.
