Stephen and Timothy Quay became filmmakers entirely by accident. As Stephen recounted during the remarks that concluded the press preview for the artists’ retrospective, which opens tomorrow at the Museum of Modern Art, they were on their way to Amsterdam to take jobs as illustrators when fate intervened in the form of a schoolmate, Keith Griffiths.
Art
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The Dirty Scene of Downtown New York
From artist David Wojnarowicz’s glasses to advertisements for the Pyramid Club in the zine the East Village Eye, signs from Bronx nonprofit Fashion Moda to flyers advertising performances by punk and No Wave legends Richard Hell, Lydia Lunch and Patti Smith, the Fales Library and Special Collections at New York University is no ordinary library. Fales holds the Downtown Collection, an archive of art, books, photographs, videos, objects, journals and other materials from the New York City downtown scene’s iconic figures and art spaces.
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A View from the Easel
Studio porn from California, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.
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Art Rx
The doctor is in, and this week she’s got you traversing the city — from Ridgewood to Red Hook, the Lower East Side to Harlem. Uptown there’s a new show of work by Harlem artists; down in Dumbo, two street stencil artists share a gallery. Closing parties are also the thing, at Recess and Parallel Art Space — and one even include bagels.
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Why Weren’t You in Wassaic This Weekend?
It was in 2008 that the first Wassaic Project Summer Festival was staged in the old mill by the railroad tracks in the hamlet of Wassaic, New York. Since that debut, each year has attracted more and more visitors for the three-day event, as well as increased engagement with the local community that has seen this once condemned but historic structure transform into a contemporary arts magnet.
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Olafur Eliasson’s Wow Opera House in Reykjavik
REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Olafur Eliasson’s stunning collaboration with Henning Larsen Architects on the Harpa Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Iceland.
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Noticeable, Easy, Fun, Affirming and Relational
All art is interactive — at least, in a sense. When you observe, consider, even dismiss a work, you have engaged with it on some level. Interactive art, however, is different — a notion made all the more evident by food coloring–stained hands, a bowl full of used shaving cream and a homemade contraption comprised of connected PVC pipes that looks like it belongs more at a high school science fair than in an art gallery. Enter Ben McKelahan.
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Occupy Barclays Street Art
Anonymous anti-Barclays street art appears at the newly coined Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center subway stop in Brooklyn.
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These Art Critics Want Their Mommies
I’m not normally one for audio tours, but this afternoon the Museum of Modern Art posted about a brand new museum tour highlighting 31 wide-ranging works in its collection. The tour, titled MoMA Unadulterated, features sharp and incisive commentary on pieces by Marisol, Joseph Beuys, Alberto Giacometti and more — from children aged 3 through 10.
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Creating Communal Space in Moscow
How much is one minute of your time worth? Two rubles (6 US cents), perhaps? That’s what the founders of Tsiferblat think. Tsiferblat, or “clockface” in English, refers to a set of open-to-the-public, almost-free spaces that have recently popped up all over Eastern Europe. The concept is quite simple: you receive access to a communal space for a fee of 2 rubles per minute, all while carrying around a vintage-style clock. There’s free tea and coffee, comfortable chairs and wi-fi. There’s even a kitchen.
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Everyday Awards Honor the People Leading Significant Lives
Here at Hyperallergic, we’ve been thinking a lot about public art recently. Turns out we’re not the only ones. Last week artist Zefrey Throwell launched a project in Water Valley, Mississippi, which takes the classic idea about public artworks — that they should honor famous people who’ve accomplished very big things — and turns it on its head.
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The Spectator Is Present
I’m ashamed to admit that I am a reflection hog. On the subway or walking past big storefront windows, I constantly check my reflection. Even at a gallery or museum, I find myself looking at my reflection before I look at the art. I never really gave this a second thought; it wasn’t until I visited the Whitney Museum’s current retrospective of Yayoi Kusama that I was disturbed by my inability to focus on the art behind the glass.
