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agosto 2014
¡hola, difus@s!
july was rather short for this culture vulture since the latter half of the month was completely overtaken with teaching an intensive two-week course on art and finance (no complaints!). though i didn’t have time to see much, what i did see was far, far better than anything i’d seen in june.
anne teresa de keersmaeker’s series at lincoln center was something i’d been looking forward to for months, and it far exceeded my (admittedly high) expectations. bartok / microcosmos, the most recent of the four pieces, was a gorgeous antecedent to the diptych she presented at BAM last fall, with so much space generously given to the music itself (piano duets performed live on stage). rosas danst rosas, the second earliest of the four (i only saw three), was equally impressive, an extended exegesis on the ideas explored in her break-through fase. fase, set to four pieces by steve reich, was absolutely riveting, one of the most compelling works of modern choreography i’ve ever encountered. the movement itself was taut, rigorous, spare—seemingly simple, pedestrian motions repeated over and over. the patterns formed by that repetition were anything but simple; the dancers fell into and out of synch with each other, almost imperceptibly, creating a dynamic complexity that was utterly compelling to watch. in essence, she was doing with movement (and lighting—the lighting design was astounding) precisely what steve reich was doing with sound, but she did so in a way that never subordinated (synthesized) either music or movement (in) to the other. the whole experience was ontologically confounding (or, more simply, mind-blowing), leaving me reaching for my copy of alain badiou’s in praise of love—because something about the way she reinvents the relationship between music and movement in that piece felt homologous to the “reinvention” of love badiou advocates so urgently. (this clip of fase is good, but the live performance was even better.)
richard linklater’s boyhood was something else i’d been looking forward to for quite a while, and it was also tremendously rewarding. the plot is, simply, “a boy grows up,” and his growing up is, perhaps, a bit anodyne. nothing major happens—no life-scarring trauma, no transformative encounters, no sudden epiphanies—as this film isn’t about the BIG things but rather the little things, the things that we tend to overlook but that are arguably just as formative as the big events we invoke as anchors for our personal narratives. in that regard, the film shares a sensibility with daniel kitson’s work, especially it’s always right now, until it’s later (and i adore daniel kitson), a generosity and tenderness that, for their subtlety, too often go unappreciated. while much has been made of the film’s production, spanning twelve years with the same cast, i don’t think its importance can be overstated (in the same way that the production of sokurov’s russian ark is absolutely integral to its interpretation). the changes in popular culture, e.g., the progression of video game technology, incidentally indexed by the protracted production process add a kind of documentary depth to the narrative. the film achieves so much on so many levels, but one of its greatest (and, from what i’ve seen, underappreciated) achievements is its exploration of modes of masculinity, especially the retrograde, duty-bound ideal of manhood embodied by the two stepfathers…having spent most of my boyhood in texas, their portrayals cut close (almost too close, really) to the bone.
jeff koons’ retrospective at the whitney was not something to which i’d really been looking forward, but i took my class to see it because, really, could there be a better museum show for illustrating the conjunctures of art and finance? while i can’t say i left the show an admirer, i definitely left it with a profound appreciation for the work and for his place in art history. where i had expected to find only relentlessly commercial cynicism, i also saw much modern(ist) naiveté, an uncritical faith in technology and markets that is very much of its time (and, to be sure, the root of so many contemporary problems). his obsession with technical perfection is incredible (and, frankly, kind of frightening), and the work—at least, the sculpture—is all stunning, even haunting, in that regard. the show itself is beautifully installed and brilliantly curated (a sea change from the curatorial disaster that was the biennial), a phenomenal way to end the whitney’s time uptown. let’s hope the inaugural show in their downtown space is half as good.
august is pretty quiet for most arts spaces, with everyone taking a much-needed break and bracing for the frenzied fall season. even so, the month has a number of good events, some of which should be fantastic.
theater + performance: jean genet’s the maids comes to city center via the lincoln center festival, and i’ve been excited about this production since seeing a trailer for it a few years back when it was in sydney. cate blanchett and isabelle huppert on stage together, doing jean genet?! my head may very well explode (as did my credit card statement when i bought my tickets back in february)… downtown, the flea theater has two shows, strictly dishonorable and smoke (BDSM looks like a trend this fall, seriously), that look interesting, and the performing garage has two performance / installation artists in residency, deville cohen and christopher knowles.
dance: top of my list this month is mark morris’ new work at lincoln center, which is also hosting some free performances (ragamala dance & rudresh mahanthappa / kun-yang lin/dancers / chinese american arts council dancers, molissa fenley). pilobolus dance theater continues their usual summer residence at the joyce through the 10th.
music: st. vincent plays the prospect park bandshell on august 9. yes, the crowd will probably be crazy, but if the weather’s good, she’ll certainly be worth braving it. (if you still need convincing, her cover of INXS’ “never tear us apart” with beck should do the trick.) another promising free show is cassandra wilson at lincoln center, which is also bringing emmy lou harris (#goddess) a few days earlier. for the more experimentally inclined, international contemporary ensemble at the park avenue armory and liturgy / wreck and reference / white suns / kyle eyre clyd at pioneer works (courtesy of issue project room) are good bets.
film: after seeing the maids early in the month, i really want to see jean genet’s silent short film un chant d’amour at anthology film archives on the 21st. the other one-night-only film i’m planning to catch is the queen, a 1960s documentary about a drag ball playing was part of IFC’s queer / art / film’s “summer of drag” series. film forum has a one-week series dedicated to leos carax, whose holy motors was among my favorites last year. the film society at lincoln center is offering a series of joaquim pinto’s films, which i’m curious to see (as i’ve not seen his work yet but have seen some terrific stuff coming out of portugal in recent years).
art: having done the koons show, i’m feeling pretty guilty about all the other museum shows i’ve neglected (especially at the guggenheim and new museum), so i’ll probably focus my efforts there before they all close. however, the bloodflames revisited show at paul kasmin is supposed to be really good, and the trisha brown exhibition on governors island is great (and you can enjoy the island on a sunny afternoon). alfredo jaar’s logo for america playing nightly at times square this month is something i definitely want to see.
savor the remains of the summer! (and, c, thanks for the writing soundtrack!)
abrazos,
p
agosto / august
1-10: pilobolus dance theater (dance)
1-7: femmes noirs (film)
1-20: film forum at socrates sculpture park (film)
1-19: deville cohen: midnight (performance)
1-10: strictly dishonorable (theater)
1-16: the pigeoning (theater)
6: emmylou harris & rodney crowell / robert ellis (music)
7-9: mark morris dance group: acis and galatea (dance)
7: ragamala dance & rudresh mahanthappa / kun-yang lin/dancers / chinese american arts council dancers (dance)
7-13: this is softcore: the art cinema erotica of radley metzger (film)
8-12: a life less ordinary: the films of joaquim pinto (film)
8: cassandra wilson / the campbell brothers (music)
9: st. vincent / san fermin (music)
11: the queen (film)
11: amernet string quartet plays the music of steven r. gerber (music)
15-21: carax (film)
17-21: international contemporary ensemble (music)
20-28: expedition to the end of the world (film)
21: jean genet: un chant d’amour (film)
21-31: christopher knowles: the sundance kid is beautiful (performance)
22-28: strange lands: international sci-fi (film)
22-31: smoke (theater)
23: liturgy / wreck and reference / white suns / kyle eyre clyd (music)
28: molissa fenley: dance an impossible space (dance)
28: ”a night like this" — a night in tribute to the cure (music)
29-: rohmer's four seasons (film)