Art Rx
This week, the start of summer group shows, trespassing/transgressive placemaking, an electronic art festival, and hip-hop in the age of YouTube.
To those who survived Bushwick Open Studios this past weekend: congratulations! To those who did other things, the doctor hopes you were able to handle (or avoid) the heat. Those 90-degree temps are a good sign that summer’s on its way — as are group shows in galleries all around town. This week, the doctor’s got four of those for you, and she’s sure there will be many more to come in the months ahead.
Also on the prescription list are a talk on trespassing — ahem, transgressive placemaking, an electronic art festival, and hip-hop in the age of YouTube. It’s another wonderful week to be in New York, and the doctor says get out, get on a Citibike, and make the best of it.
The Wanderlust School of Transgressive Placemaking
When: Tuesday, June 4, 8 pm ($12)
Where: 63 North 3rd Street (Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
For those who’ve never heard of Wanderlust before, its name implies its purpose: to creatively explore and reimagine spaces that are often abandoned or forgotten — or, in their words, “transgressive placemaking through adventure, intimacy, and exploration.” At Atlas Obscura, they’re launching a four-part School of Transgressive Placemaking. The first talk, tonight, is enticingly titled “Broken Legs, Surveillance Cameras and Black Mold: Safety & Security Off the Grid.” If you’ve been toying with the idea of urban exploring and want to learn more, this is your chance. (Note: advance tickets only.)
Emerging Photographers
When: Opens Wednesday, June 5, 6–8 pm
Where: Lesley Heller Workspace (54 Orchard Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan)
This group show of five emerging photographers looks promising. It includes Jang Soon Im, who puts himself and/or contemporary pop stars into digital re-creations of ancient Korean battle scenes that look like they’ve been pulled straight from a wacky video game; Yoko Haraoka, who uses herself as a model to shoot fake mug shots for all sorts of characters; and Shamus Clisset, whose work we enjoyed at Bushwick Open Studios.
Artistic Distortion
When: Opens Thursday, June 6, 6–8 pm
Where: Team Gallery (47 Wooster Street, Soho, Manhattan)
This exhibition borrows its title, Old Black, from Neil Young’s most used guitar, and its press release begins with a quote from Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. That should give you some idea of the impetus, but in case that’s not enough, here’s a little more, also from the press release: “Old Black is an ensemble of works by artists whose shared tactic is the abuse, distortion and misuse of standardized methods of making.” That gets our blood flowing, and we’re looking forward to sculptures by Banks Violette and folded photographs by Jack Pierson, among others.
On-Looking
When: Opens Thursday, June 6, 6 pm–midnight
Where: Kunsthalle Galapagos (16 Main Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn)
The artists in this exhibition all take up the act of looking as their subject — and along with it, the hidden meanings, burdens, desires, and dangers we carry when we look. This subject seems as relevant as ever in New York in the 21st century, when looking and being seen are also increasingly bound up in, and made fraught by, social media. We recognize some of the names on the list of 15 artists, but are excited to see many new ones.
Art and Acid
When: Opens Friday, June 7, 7–9 pm
Where: Calico (67 West Street, #206, Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
Of all the subjects for an art exhibition, this is among the funnier ones: dropping acid. Well, sort of. Here’s the premise: “Films about dropping acid are being shown with art not intended as ‘drug art’ for one central point – that the chemically induced experience isn’t that different from the attentive practices and explorations that happen in the artist’s studio.” Uh … okay. Good thing making art is legal, we guess.
New Performers
When: Friday, June 7 & Saturday, June 8, 7:30 pm ($10)
Where: Center for Performance Research (361 Manhattan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
Speaking of new names, it’s the Center for Performance Research’s New Voices in Live Performance series! This two-night installment is curated by choreographer Jen McGinn and will feature dance and performance work from four different artists, as well as a multi-artist video installation. For all there is to do in New York, sometimes the best nights are the ones where you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Fingers crossed that this is one of those.
Electronic Art Festival
When: Saturday, June 8, 7 pm
Where: Harvestworks (596 Broadway, #602, Nolita, Manhattan)
You might have missed the opening because of Bushwick Open Studios, but the New York Electronic Art Festival kicked off last Saturday. Don’t worry, though: it runs through September, so there’s tons of time to check things out. This week we’re intrigued by an evening split between artists Drew Krause and Shelley Hirsch of their works for 8-channel playback. Krause uses computer-generated sounds, and Hirsch is presenting a “choral” piece (their quotes; not ours) that was originally created in surround sound.
Hip-Hop in the YouTube Age
When: Sunday, June 9, 5 pm
Where: Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria, Queens)
The Museum of the Moving Image is hosting a panel that we didn’t even know we wanted but are now extremely excited about: “Hip-Hop in the YouTube Age: How the Medium Is Changing the Message.” The talk will be presented by writer and “hip-hop activist” Harry Allen, and he’ll argue that the internet, specifically videos, are significantly affecting hip-hop. There will be video clips! Fans of Hennessy Youngman, this is probably a good one for you.
