Dumbo/NO – so much to do this weekend…

Many, many topics to catch up on, but for now, just two things I want to do this weekend:

sacrifice to the yearly ritual of Dumbo’s Open Studio – it is a sunny day after all, who knows, there might even be some good art beyond clichés, and speaking of cliché I want to stop by Holger Keifel’s book signing. Not that boxing is my thing, but his portraits are quite amazing. More about his work here and about the book here. (The signing takes place 10 AM to 6PM, appropriately enough at Gleason’s gym, 77 Front Street, 2nd Floor).

The other thing I want to do is see again Harry Shearer’s “The Big Uneasy”, a documentary about how New Orleans got flooded, and why it could happen again. More about that here already for those of you who read French (saw it on the 5th anniversary of Katrina in New Orleans).

More later…

The art of the quarantine

The theme at the Storefront for Art and Architecture was “Quarantine”. You can see how that worked: a crowd and isolation-tent-looking blobs outside, and a narrow (of course crowded) space inside. And the show? Well, in theory, interesting – for anyone who actually managed to read the art – I guess “projects” would be a better word -  on the walls. Another day, maybe?

Outside

Inside

The yearly check on the state of the art (market)

I broke my usual Saturday “farniente” rule for a (somewhat lazy) art marathon. Well, not half as lazy as the selection at “Pulse”, the art fair dedicated solely to contemporary art.  The cardboard stuff, the comic-strip inspired ironic stuff, the attempts to shock, the sociological narrative: it was all there, with an uninspired feeling of déjà-vu all over again.

After a bit of a walk to clear the mind (lovely day by the Hudson), I arrived at the Armory Show, where the general tone of the contemporary part of the fair was of efficient professionalism. The show offered no real surprises (except for wood cuts that immediately felt like a breath of freshness, the work of Louise Bourgeois), but, compared to Pulse, a somewhat less caricatural sample of what one sees in galleries currently, and evident signs of the  growing interest in photography and digital prints. The air was thick with quiet expectation and the strolling crowd paused only occasionally, when pulled apart between a crowing puppet above the hanging art and a flagellant’s video, or stopping to contemplate the vanity of Damien Hirst’s skull prints.

The obligatory graffiti

Stripes and staff at Pulse

Puppet and flagellant

Louise Bourgeois

If you missed the Vision Collaborations and Matthew Shipp

There is still time, but barely.

This Saturday is the last day of the Vision Collaborations Festival at the 14 Street Y (a once a year treat… you’ll have to wait till the Vision Festival in late June for a line-up coming close to this!). Check the program here.

Visual arts, dance and music explore an innovative dialogue in sound, space and sight. The collaborations and improvisations  are at the core of these unique performances, and this Friday night one of my favorite pianist, Matthew Shipp, engaged in this conversation in tone and movement, along with violinist Rosie Hertlein and drummer Whit Dickey, as Mario Zambrano, Emily Coates, Marie Blocker and Emily Clime danced.

Matthew Shipp (piano) and Rosie Hertlein (violin)

For those who would want to hear Matthew Shipp, he will be playing next Sunday, March 14, from 5 to 7PM, at a benefit for a very special place: A Gathering of the Tribes, a salon on East 3rd Street. You will hear music that feeds the brain and opens the mind, and you will be supporting a real grass-roots artistic community.

For those who can’t attend and are curious, an excerpt of a recent concert with Matthew Shipp and Whit Dickey:

Oscar Peñas’ flowing jazz

For those who like their jazz flowing but not overflowing, the guitarist and composer Oscar Peñas brought a good measure of delicate and smart music at the music barge this Thursday night, where the gentle roll of the river seemed in perfect harmony with his fluid melodies – cool, controlled, yet with an undercurrent that keeps the audience listening for more. I had heard Oscar at BAM Café a couple of months ago – a good performance, but in a distracting setting that could not rival with the excellent sound of this more intimate space, and the magic of city lights in the background…

Oscar Peñas, Guitar and Compositions; Dan Blake, Tenor and Soprano Saxophones; Moto Fukushima, Six-string Electric Bass; Richie Barshay, Drums and Miscellaneous percussion

Wow – it’s Vision Collaborations season already?

So where did the summer go? And New Year? Really, I have not written a note here since June and the Vision Festival???

Well, thanks to Arts for Art here we go again: it’s Vision Collaborations’ season already! Actually it started tonight, but I was stuck at the keyboard by a couple of deadlines. Still, worth checking the program here, as it goes on until Saturday.

So what have I been doing that kept me so busy?

Well, amongst other endeavors, the newest and most fascinating thing I did was to help co-develop the French language and culture unit, using journalistic expertise, for a pilot educational exchange program (a collaborative effort of CUNY and a wonderful not-for-profit, Make A Better Place.)

Also, I went to New Orleans a couple of times, still working on that long piece about the city and all that’s at stake in its rebuilding. This project has taught me quite a lesson about the human spirit, and the very strong political and personal backbone that is quite unique to the people of New Orleans I met through the years.

During my last stay, I went to see the progress at Wesley United, a place I had visited some time ago, where a group of dedicated people are saving a piece of history and building a center that will give the local youth a shot at the music and film jobs the city hopes to create with its development as “Hollywood South”. With the help of local experts, apprentices, and volunteers, progress is made at Wesley: solid, steady – I want to write “obstinate”, because it goes on against all odds, and without the glamour glow of some other (worthy) causes.

This week, “Restore United” launched a donation campaign: adopt a brick, adopt a pew, put your money down and your name up in history. The drive for funds ends Friday and yes, it’s tax-deductible. All the details are here.

The upstairs of the church, future site of the performance/teaching center

The Vision Festival has started

Brass Bang

Tuesday was the opening night of the Vision Festival – the 14th edition, this year at the Abrons Arts Center at Henry Street Settlement. Check out the full program here and be curious: come out, open your eyes, your ears and your heart! It is a yearly blossoming of smart, generous and free expression unlike any other, mixing music, dance and visual arts.

(Yes, full disclosure: I volunteer for the creation of an Innovative Arts Center, an initiative closely linked to this, and I’ll be moderating two panel discussions at the Festival about Arts and Politics).

Still missing in the Obama cabinet…

… or so do over a of hundred of thousand of us think: a Secretary of the Arts.

It’s never happened in the United States, but it would be a welcome change, and the recognition that arts and culture are a vital necessity to the harmonious development of a nation and the pursuit of happiness.

Barack Obama has spoken eloquently, during the campaign, of arts education as an integral and indispensable part of the growth of all human beings. It’s time to take that thinking a step further and recognize that supporting the arts and creation is not a luxury, but an integral and indispensable part making a more perfect union.
If you agree, here’s a petition. Sign it, spread it… and be creative!