ArtRx NYC
It's the middle of January and you're definitely not going to enough art stuff, so we have your guide to fill the void.
It’s the middle of January and you’re definitely not going to enough art stuff (admit it, we can tell), so we have a great guide to the must-do, including talking about artist debt, killing the creative class, how to write about contemporary art, artist neighborhoods, and more.
How to Write About Contemporary Art
When: Tuesday, January 20, 7pm (Free)
Where: 192 Books (192 Tenth Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan)
Gilda Williams’s new book provides advice on the challenges of art writing, including how to avoid jargon. The book sounds fine (a little conservative, if you ask me), but the real reason I’m recommending this talk is Kenneth Goldsmith, who’s leading the conversation with the author. Goldsmith is normally insightful, and I can’t imagine he won’t be the same here.
The Age of the Crisis of Man
When: Wednesday, January 21, 7pm (Free)
Where: Housing Works (126 Crosby Street, Nolita, Manhattan)
Author Mark Greif joins New York Times film critic AO Scott for a discussion on “the American novel and public intellect.” Greif’s latest work, The Age of the Crisis of Man: Thought and Fiction in America, 1933–1973, examines the shifting perceptions of humanity in the wake of World War II. Greif’s study starts from Hitler’s ascension to power in 1933 and closely examines the impact of such events as the atomic bombings of Japan and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The book also looks at key postwar texts such as Lewis Mumford’s The Condition of Man (1944) and Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition (1958).
Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class
When: Wednesday, January 21, 8pm (Free)
Where: McNally Jackson (52 Prince Street, Nolita, Manhattan)
Tomorrow evening, journalist Scott Timberg joins lawyer and author Elizabeth Wurtzel for a discussion of his debut work, Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class. The talk will be moderated by Salon editor Dave Daley. Culture Crash examines the impact of inequality and technological changes on the creative class. Wurtzel, who is perhaps best known for her memoir Prozac Nation (1994), has recently authored Creatocracy: How the Constitution Invented Hollywood — a study largely derived from Wurtzel’s thesis on intellectual property law.
African Americans in 1960s Hollywood: A Raisin in the Sun
When: Wednesday, January 21, 7–9pm (Free)
Where: Central Library (10 Grand Army Plaza, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn)
As part of a broader series entitled African Americans in ’60s Hollywood, the Brooklyn Public Library is hosting a screening of A Raisin in the Sun (1961), an adaption of Lorraine Hansberry’s play of the same name — the first play written by a black woman to ever be produced on Broadway. The story follows an embattled Chicago family divided over how to spend an insurance check of $10,000. The film, which was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, stars Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, and Diana Sands.
Pioneers! O’ Pioneers! A History of Artist Neighborhoods
When: Wednesday, January 21, 7–9pm (Free)
Where: BRIC House (647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn)
The history of art could be written through its neighborhoods. In New York, the flow of creativity is closely aligned with the geography of affordable spaces. This discussion brings together art historian Irving Sandler, a witness to the 10th Street scene in the 1950s; artist Joyce Kozloff and art critic/historian Max Kozloff, pioneers of the Soho art scene in the 1970s; Walter Robinson, a painter and critic who documented the art scene in the Lower East Side in the 1980s; and Joe Amrhein, artist and founder of Williamsburg gallery Pierogi, who will discuss the Williamsburg scene in the 1990s. The discussion will be moderated by Art F City founder Paddy Johnson.
Boogie Nights
When: Friday, January 23, 7pm (Tickets incl. with museum admission / First come, first served)
Where: Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria, Queens)
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights (1997) is a fictionalized take on the Golden Age of Porn (popularly cited as the release of Deep Throat in 1972, up to the VHS revolution in the early 1980s). The film centers on Eddie Adams, a nightclub dishwasher who reinvents himself as porn star Dirk Diggler. What ensues is an empathetic, tragic, and deftly satirical take on the porn industry. Anderson’s sweeping, frantic, and confident direction spotlights magnificent performances from Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Don Cheadle, and William H. Macy. A must-see on the big screen.
Can You Move It All Up One Inch: The Art Handlers of the Whitney Museum
When: Friday, January 23, 6–9pm
Where: ArtHelix (299 Meserole Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn)
So many art handlers are also artists, so come and show some love for these talented people who rarely get the appreciation they deserve.
The Artist as Debtor
When: Friday, January 23, 1–9pm (Free)
Where: Cooper Union (7 East 7th Street, Noho, Manhattan)
Some of the biggest dilemmas faced by artists nowadays are the mounting price of art education, the implications of working in the speculative capitalist system, and the reliance on unpaid work by many arts-related businesses (Hyperallergic is proud to say we’re not one of them). This daylong event will explore many important questions, including: What are the connections between big money in the art world and the big debts taken on by so many young artists? Are artists encouraged to believe that extreme economic disparity is just part of the way the art world works? Do romantic ideas about merit and talent mask a system of indenture? Speakers include Noah Fischer, Coco Fusco, Julieta Aranda, William Powhida, Martha Rosler, Gregory Sholette, Brian Kuan Wood, Andrew Ross, and others.
