Art Rx
This week, there's a rare (and bootleg) Guy Debord film release, Balthus overload, performance Thursdays in Bushwick, Dumbo's art festival, one-minute films, and much much more. The key this week is to do everything — no excuses.
This week, there’s a rare (and bootleg) Guy Debord film release, a show comparing two 20th century art giants, Balthus overload, performance Thursdays in Bushwick, Dumbo’s art festival, one-minute films, and much much more. The key this week is to do everything — no excuses.
Guy Debord Redux
When: Tuesday, September 24, 7:30pm ($7)
Where: Light Industry (155 Freeman Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
Grey Room has devoted their current issue to a re-examination of Guy Debord’s cinematic legacy. The founding member of the Situational International (among other things) created seven films over the course of four decades and the special treat for this event is that they will be screening “a newly-produced (and completely unofficial) English-language version of Debord’s film Society of the Spectacle (1973), with a voiceover by Paul Chan.” Art geeks rejoice!
Noguchi and Qi Baishi
When: Opens, Wednesday, September 25
Where: The Noguchi Museum (9-01 33rd Road, at Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens)
It’s always notable when two titans of art meet, particularly when it is unexpected or largely unknown, like when American sculptor Isamu Noguchi and Chinese seal maker and ink painter Qi Baishi met in 1930 during the American’s trip to Beijing. This exhibition marks the first pairing of Noguchi’s scrolls (roughly 100) with those by Qi Baishi from the same period. This exhibition explores the lasting significance of Noguchi’s study of traditional ink brush technique with Qi Baishi.
Balthus Week
Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations
When: Opens Wednesday, September 25
Where: Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan)
The Last Studies
When: Opens Thursday, September 26
Where: Gagosian Gallery (976 Madison Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan)
With two shows opening up this week — one at the Met, another at the Gagosian Gallery — the reclusive Balthus will soon be getting a lot of posthumous attention from the New York art world. Famous for his interior world populated with cats and young, thoughtful girls, Balthus seems to have almost foreseen two of the internet age and anime’s prime obsessions, albeit in a far more equivocal and troubling manner. My suggestion is to pair the Met’s exhibition of the artist’s painting with Gagosian’s show of Balthus’ photographic studies. From one to the other it’s a sub-ten minute walk. —JP
Bushwick Performance Thursdays
When: Thursday, September 26, 8pm ($10 donation)
Where: Ange Noir (247 Varet Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn)
We covered Super Coda in July during the Brooklyn International Performance Art Festival and what we discovered was that it was a lot of fun in a chill atmosphere with an “anything can happen” vibe. Well, Super Coda is back in Bushwick and every non-holiday Thursday night it is taking over Bushwick cafe/event space Ange Noir to bring you one sound artist, one performance artist, and one songwriter who will all be doing their thing.
This week, performance artists Melissa Tolve and Zach Gates, violinist/sound artist Jonathan Chen, and neo-classical/cabaret songmaster Jonathan Wood Vincent are in the spotlight.
Dumbo’s Big Art Bash
When: Friday, September 27 to Sunday, September 29
Where: All over the Brooklyn neighborhood of Dumbo
This festival is roughly two decades old and it attracts 200,000 visitors over three days to this formerly industrial, once artsy and now dot-com-y neighborhood under Manhattan Bridge. The event attracts more family fun rather than edgy art nowadays, but my suggestions is go and enjoy Dumbo, wander into buildings you don’t normally get to see, and then head over to Photoville (10–15 minute walk) in Brooklyn Bridge Park and check that out too. This is an ideal weekend plan IMO.
John Zorn Day Long Met Museum performance
When: Saturday, September 28, 10am-8pm
Where: Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Ave, Upper East Side, Manhattan)
Lately, it seems John Zorn has been everywhere to celebrate his 60th birthday. This Saturday, Zorn and Co. are taking the Zorn@60 show to the Met for a roving music set. Scheduled performances are planned at a number of locations through the day, including the The Temple of Dendur, Medieval Sculpture Hall , British Eighteenth-Century Painting Gallery 629, and the Arms and Armor Court. It’s not often you get a full day concert and a museum ticket for the price of one. —JP
Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926–1938
When: Opens Saturday, September 28
Where: Museum of Modern Art (11 West 53rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan)
Relive your angsty, brainy teenage days with a stop at the MoMA’s sure to be popular Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary. The exhibition, featuring the artist’s iconic eyes, mirrors, trains, and inversions of all sorts, gathers together over 80 painting, collages, and photos by the Belgian surrealist. Consider bringing your copy of Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams when your visit. —JP
Massive Attack V Adam Curtis
When: Opens Saturday, September 28, 8pm (Show runs through October 4)
Where: Park Avenue Armory (643 Park Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan)
Whether they succeed or not, the commodious shows at the Park Ave Armory are always fascinating for their level of scale and potential for full collapse. Melding music, film, and politics into an immense amalga of “provocative entertainment,” Massive Attack V Adam Curtis is the newest show to take on the Upper East side’s grand crucible. Joining the two, accordingly to the the show’s trailer will be “Nicolai and Elena Ceausescu, Jane Fonda and Ted Turner, everyone in Goldman Sachs who made a killing in 2008” and many others. No risk, no reward. —JP
One-Minute Flicks
When: Monday, September 30, 7pm ($12/adults, $8/students)
Where: The Museum of Modern Art Theater 2 (11 West 53 Street, Midtown, Manhattan)
From 2003–2012, in a “barn cinema” in upstate New York, artist/curators Jason Simon and Moyra Davey hosted The One Minute Film Festival. The duo invited artists, musicians, writers, and moviemakers of all kinds to contribute a short film to this ambitious annual project that would take place on the first Saturday after the Fourth of July. The artists represented in this screening include such notable bold-faced names as Peggy Ahwesh, Mark Dion, Chris Marker, and Josiah McElheny. For someone with any type of attention deficiency disorder, this film festival sounds pretty on target.
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With listings by Jeremy Polacek
