Some NY Events You Should Know About

Here are some events you may want to check out this weekend or in the coming week.

The LUMEN festival will take place today (June 25) on the northern, industrial, Staten Island waterfront site of the Lighthouse Museum, which is two minutes from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

I know soooo little about the art scene in Staten Island, but this festival of video art and projection festival started advertising on Nectar Ads I thought it sounded like a great opportunity to start learning. Featuring emerging Staten Island artists and more established artists from across NYC and elsewhere, this appears to be an interesting way to explore the borough that needs more love from the art world. The festival includes site-specific video installations, 3D-video technology, sound-based performances, and art interventions and you can get there by ferry! You can also check out what others are saying about LUMEN here. — HV

The Unfinished Film at the Gladstone Gallery (515 W 24 St, Chelsea, Manhattan) began on June 24 and continues until July 29.

The massive procrastinator inside me is drawn to the new exhibit at the Gladstone Gallery, called The Unfinished Film. The title kind of says it all, with the gallery exhibiting unfinished movies from artists such as Hollis Frampton and Andy Warhol. Essays from luminaries such as Goddard and Pasolini will also be on display. The whole thing sounds ridiculously pretentious, but what film event isn’t? I would recommend this to nerds who got every Buñuel reference in Midnight in Paris. — JS

Carolee Schneemann: A Solo Reading at St. Mark’s Bookstore (31 Third Avenue, East Village, Manhattan) on Tuesday, June 28, 7pm.

In celebration of her recently released collection of letters, Correspondence Course: An Epistolary History of Carolee Schneemann and Her Circle, Schneemann will be reading from the text at St. Mark’s Bookshop. Along with co-editor Kristine Stiles, Schneemann created a history of correspondence that illustrates the progress of her work in tandem with other avant-garde art movements, including happenings, Fluxus, performance, and conceptual art. — KW

The Emerging Artist Residency Spring Series at Dance New Amsterdam (280 Broadway, 2nd Floor, entrance on Chambers, Downtown Manhattan) will begin at 7:30 on Thursday, June 30.

After three months of performance workshops at The Field’s FAR Space, emerging choreographers of The Field’s and Dance New Amsterdam’s residency program will share their works in progress. The performance will showcase works by choreographers like Philadelphia-native, Iquail Shaheed, who fuses together Alvin Ailey’s aesthetic of contractions and athletic leaps with the classical movements of Western ballet. Artists include Einy Åm / EyeKnee Production, Carlye Eckert, Rebecca Lloyd-Jones, MariMeade Dance Collective, Maja Rajenovich, Iquail Shaheed/DANCEIQUAIL!, and Sister Sylvester. — AE

The Tiger and the Sunflower: Decorative Traditions and Contemporary Voices in Japanese Art at Shroeder Romero & Shredder (531 W 26th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan) opens Thursday, June 30 (6-8 pm) and continues until July 29, 2011.

I enjoy this gallery mainly for its mission: to show two exhibitions simultaneously, one contemporary and one historical, encouraging a dialogue between the two. This opening is different; ONE show, exhibiting different ends of the timeline of Japanese art.

Of the works on display, there will be masterworks of Japanese ceramics (including Ko-Kutani, Imari, Nabeshima, Satsuma, and Arita wares), a 17th century samurai sword, an 18th century horsehair court hat, Edo and Meiji period paintings, clerical robes, a large Edo period tamba jar,lacquer wares, metalwork, cloisonné, ceremonial tea bowls and Kokeshi dolls exhibited alongside contemporary Japanese pieces by Noriko Ambe, Yoko Inoue, Izima Kaoru, Ken Matsubara, Yoshiyuki Miura, Yoshitomo Nara, Masami Teraoka and Momoyo Torimitsu. — RH

Contributions by Ayano Elson, Rachel Hagopian, Jocelyn Silver and Katherine Wadkins.