Steven Gagnon’s “Hope” and “Progress” diptych (Image via Front Room gallery)
Sandy can’t stop the election! If you haven’t voted yet, you still have a few hours left before the deadline hits (we also have this handy guide to the candidates’ views on art), and then it’ll be time for the next democratic sport — waiting for the results. Here are a few ways to experience the returns in an art-friendly way.
ACME Studio, Williamsburg
At 63 North 3rd Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, ACME studio space will be hosting a potluck and projecting the election results as they come in tonight starting at 8 pm. “There will be some surprises (but hopefully not that kind),” ACME’s Brain Colgan tells us.
Front Room
Celebrating their timely exhibition Ballot Show, Front Room gallery (147 Roebling Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn) will be hosting an election night screening from 8 pm to the decisive moment. The exhibition collects a group of artists responding to the American electoral system. Our favorite piece is Steven Gagnon’s “Hope” and “Progress” diptych (seen at top), which hopefully describes the festivities tonight as well.
The Empire State Building
Isn’t this basically an art installation? CNN is going to display the electoral results on top of the Empire State Building with a vertical LED meter on top of the building’s spire. The presentation takes advantage of the structure’s new LED panel technology, which allows it to change lighting in real time. This is basically America’s version of the Pope’s white smoke, so keep an eye out wherever you might be in the city.
Grace Exhibition Space
Jill McDermid and Eric Hokanson (via Grace Exhibition Space)
For those of us who just don’t think the election is insane enough on its own, Grace Exhibition space (840 Broadway, 2nd floor, in Bushwick, Brooklyn) is throwing a night of performance art and election watching at the same time. Featured artists include Anonymous Boh, Richard Kamerman, and Hilary Sand, among many others. Beer from Red State Blue State, just so you can handle it all.
Bruce High Quality Foundation
If you’re in Manhattan, the faux-anarcho-artist’s collective Bruce High Quality Foundation is throwing an election party in their BHQF University space at 225 West Broadway (Soho, Manhattan) starting at 8 pm. Guaranteed to be an education, plus there will probably be lots of PBR.
Vera List Center
At the New School’s Vera List Center, pioneering video artist Natalie Bookchin will present “Now He Is Out in Public, and Everyone Can See It,” an installation made up of video conversation in cyberspace exploring issues of race, demographic changes, and electoral politics. It runs 6:30 to 8 pm, so it’s perfect for a pre-returns intellectual exercise. (The New School, Kellen Auditorium, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, 66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street, ground floor, Greenwich Village, Manhattan)
If you can’t make it to any of these and don’t have a television, the New York Times also has a great elections returns page. May the odds always be in your (chosen candidate’s) favor!
