[note: many, if not most, of these links may no longer be working, but such is the nature of the digital. hopefully, the url and context are enough to help you find any further information you want. if not, feel free to contact me, and i’ll try to help.]
junio 2015
¡hola, difus@s!
…y ¡saludos desde asbury park! i’m trading the city for the beach as much as i can this summer, so the estival issues of this boletín will be a bit shorter on what i’ve seen and longer on what you should see (and, please, tell me about it!). in preparation, though, i spent may taking in as much as possible, a bit like bears do before their winter hibernation (or during their ptown vacations)…
in terms of music, may was the most generous, memorable month of the year to date, owing largely to performances by the jack quartet and the international contemporary ensemble (ice). both groups played the final installment of the new music series earheartmusic, which filled roulette almost to capacity. tony arnold, ice’s phenomenal soprano, also performed with the jack quartet as part of john zorn’s sacred visions at the cloisters, an inarguably awe-inspiring program (enhanced, to be sure, by the sublime setting itself). near the start of the month, claire chase (also of ice) and anthony roth constanza’s show at subculture was equally gorgeous, for the music (including a haunting piece by suzanne farrin) as well as for the incredible rapport between them. at the end of the month, i saw ice again, delivering a magnificent program of varèse, lewis, and copland at abrons arts center—the scale of which was uniquely intimate, with a performer-audience ratio of roughly 1. if you’ve any interest in new (classical) music, i highly recommend following both these ensembles…like you’d follow truffle pigs.
lest i seem too narrowly focused on new music, i did see pixies twice—at the stone pony in asbury park and the beacon in manhattan—with john grant, and the shows were excellent. the asbury park show also featured tv on the radio, who were as smart and engaging live as they are on their albums. the red hot + arthur russell show, on the other hand, was an infuriating disappointment. many of the individual performances were, to be fair, quite good, but the production and direction of the show as a whole—from the bad mixing, the thoughtless sequencing, and the worthless house band leader / mc—were relentlessly mediocre, which was insulting to the audience and russell’s legacy, especially after the heartfelt introduction from russell’s former partner. the scott walker tribute show at le poisson rouge in december 2013 had much more head and heart—and far, far fewer resources with which to work…
in terms of theater and performance, the month was also quite good, though perhaps a bit less consistently rewarding than in music. belarus free theatre’s trash cuisine had some compelling ideas (food as violence, gastronomy as decadence) and a few very striking vignettes (especially the one about capturing and preparing a regional bird delicacy), but i wanted more from the work as a whole—more cohesion, more depth, more nuance…even though they did provide more of all those qualities than so much theater on or off broadway. amelia saul’s marisas at the performing garage and penny arcade’s longing lasts longer at joe’s pub made great (inadvertent or serendipitous) companion pieces, as both are very much works-in-progress (although already well developed) exploring their creators’ relationships to the artistic process and their conditions of production at very different points in their lives / careers (arcade is about three decades ahead of saul) and with very different foci (saul’s is more internal while arcade’s is more external).
sophia cleary and yves laris cohen, whose work i saw on consecutive weekends, made for an even deeper study in contrasts. at first glance, the two might seem quite similar (in terms of demographics, theoretical interests, artistic influences, etc.), but their differences could not be more profound. cohen’s fine was definitely and deliberately difficult—formally austere, conceptually rigorous, intellectually challenging—but ultimately open in its questioning of risk, failure, art-making, personal archaeology, the built environment, and so much more. it was some of the best art i’ve seen this year. cleary’s emerging artist was some of the best executed and yet most reprehensible “art” i’ve seen, ever. in its (attempted) problematizing of "truth" and "authenticity," emerging artist offered not the radical, political potential of nietzsche's nihilism (or heidegger's hermeneutics) but rather the self-satisfied cynicism—and pathological solipsism—of the entitled. cleary very much embodies the ethos jackson lears describes as (read his entire book review!): “as a signifier of the dominant cultural tone, the furrowed brow has been largely eclipsed by the knowing smirk…this convergence of postmodern style, positivist epistemology, and neoliberal political economy.”
among the month’s other events, wendy whelan’s restless creature stood out as the dance experience i’d been craving for so long. she’s always spell-binding, and her collaborations with these four choreographers were simply gorgeous (the latter half the program, with kyle abraham and brian brooks, was the stronger for me). i caught the first installment of the apu triology at film forum and desperately want to see the other two films before it closes this month; satyajit’s mid-century realist cinema from rural india is a wonder still. the duchamp syndrome could use some tighter editing to focus its latent (and very much worthwhile) social critique, but the stagecraft and actors’ commitment made it enjoyable enough to recommend. a friend and i spent an afternoon traipsing through chelsea and saw a lot of good work, but the real stand-out was, unsurprisingly, richard serra’s show at david zwirner, which is pretty much perfect.
as i mentioned earlier, i’ll be devoting most of this month to my dissertation and the beach (in that order…right?). my ardent hope is that you’ll all get out and see more than i, as there’s plenty of good stuff on offer.
art: after last month’s commercial frenzy (over $2 billion at auction and heaven only knows how much more at the various fairs), bushwick open studios will either be a refreshing anti-commercial corrective or a nauseating orgy of financial speculation…or probably some combination of both. what is sure to be among the best of the weekend is newd’s second edition, so don’t miss it. philippe parreno takes over the park avenue armory drill hall starting mid-month and continues through july. olafur eliasson’s the collectivity project is now on as part of the high line’s panorama series. the guggenheim has a one-day showing of matthew barney’s the cremaster cycle, which i’ve seen twice—once in installments and once in a one-day sitting, and i highly recommend the latter for maximum mind-blowing. if you don’t want to do the whole cycle, i’d recommend cremaster 2 and / or cremaster 5 to start; the rodeo-as-execution-metaphor scene on the bonneville salt flats in cremaster 2 is one of the most poetic things i’ve ever seen on film, and ursula andres lip-synching hungarian opera in cremaster 5 is just, well, beyond. the other testosterone-driven (and i mean that in a good way) exhibition i’m looking forward to this month is artists space’s adamantly NSFW tom of finland: the pleasures of play.
dance: for solid contemporary work, check out brian brooks moving company (one of wendy whelan’s choreographer collaborators for restless creature) at the joyce or 10 hairy legs at new york live arts. some more experimental dance that has my interest piqued includes ayelen parolin at invisible dog, the dance and process and open house programs at the kitchen, blanca li’s robot at BAM, and it felt like a kiss at dixon place.
music: though neither the jack quartet nor ice are performing in the city this month, we have plenty of other opportunities for exploring new music, including the sound bites benefit concert and the lukas legeti birthday celebration at roulette, sabisha freidberg’s the hant variance at artists space (courtesy of issue project room), bruce brubaker at le poisson rouge, and the new york electroacoustic music festival at abrons arts center. more popular (again, i mean that in a good way) fare is on offer, too. the folks from yo la tengo join little black egg band at pioneer works (courtesy of issue project room), josh rouse plays le poisson rouge, loudon wainwright iii plays subculture, and david byrne brings a crazy color spectacle to BAM.
theater + performance: were i in the city tonight, i would definitely be seeing #itgetsbitter, which seems urgent and necessary amid this month’s pride festivities—especially given the controversy surrounding celebrate brooklyn’s tone-deaf (to be generous) programming of paris is burning. penny arcade’s longing lasts longer and the fugard theatre and eric abraham’s a human being died that night are also must-sees. two war-themed plays are on this month and strike me as a provocative (and also politically urgent) pairing, afghanistan, zimbabwe, america, kuwait and your war’try grave. sure to be provocative and probably polarizing is botox angels, so count me in for that.
film: three series this month dedicate themselves to the pleasures of analog (with which, call me a curmudgeon, i identify ever more intensely): black & white ‘scope: international cinema at BAM, celluloid dreams at ifc, and this is celluloid: 35mm at anthology. BAM cinemafest 2015 and film society’s open roads: new italian cinema bring some exciting new work to town. as much as i enjoyed watching (because that’s really all one had to do was watch, not think about) mad max: fury road, i’m much, much more excited by two new releases at film forum: a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence and the tribe.
as always, the full calendar follows below, and you can sign up any one else you think might be interested in receiving this here. if you’re in asbury park (obviously my favorite beach option), let me know!
abrazos,
p
junio / june
1-21: la mama moves! dance festival (dance)
1-16: a pigeon sat on a branch reflecting on existence (film)
1-16: black & white 'scope: international cinema (film)
1-16: the apu trilogy (film)
1-21: this is celluloid: 35mm (film)
1-23: celluloid dreams (film)
1-7: the duchamp syndrome (theater)
1-21: a human being died that night (theater)
1-27: afghanistan, zimbabwe, america, kuwait (theater)
1-27: the sound and the fury (theater)
1-28: heisenberg (theater)
1-28: the old masters (theater)
1-: 10 out of 12 (theater)
1-: the flick (theater)
1-: the qualms (theater)
2-4: brian brooks moving company (dance)
3-6: cedar lake contemporary ballet (dance)
3-24: loudon wainwright iii: “surviving twin” (music)
4-11: open roads: new italian cinema 2015 (film)
4: #itgetsbitter (performance)
6: matthew barney: the cremaster cycle (art)
6-7: pontus lindberg dance (dance)
6-7: will rawls: settlement house (world premiere) (performance)
8-28: rachel tess: souvenir (dance)
8: penny arcade: longing lasts longer (performance)
9-14: robot, a show by blanca li (dance)
9-11: blue note jazz festival (film, music)
10-: philippe parreno: h {n) y p n (y} osis (art)
11-14: 10 hairy legs (dance)
11: sound bites: a concert to benefit roulette’s new + adventurous art (music)
12-13: 25.06.76 (dance)
12-13: dance and process: bourque-lafrance, kimitch, krantz, ward (dance)
12: and it felt like a kiss (dance, performance)
12-20: human rights watch film festival 2015 (film)
12-21: your war’try grave (theater)
13: josh rouse (with band) and special guest walter martin (music)
14: lukas ligeti: 50th birthday concert (music)
14-21: folksbiene centennial (performance, theater)
16: bruce brubaker "glass piano" (music)
16: sabisha friedberg: the hant variance (music)
17-19: keely garfield dance: pow (dance)
17-28: bam cinemafest 2015 (film)
17-30: the tribe (film)
18: eighth blackbird with special guest will oldham / bill frisell & sam amidon (music)
19-27: piehole: hand foot fizzle face (performance)
20-: happy days (theater)
22: amirtha kidambi quartet: mother tongues (music)
22-28: nyc electroacoustic music festival (music)
25-27: open house: steven reker, ryan seaton, matt evans, and eliot krimsky (dance)
25: the string orchestra of brooklyn: dimensions of time and silence: music of wollschleger, feldman, and penderecki (music)
25-28: botox angels (theater)
27: strange weather (dance, performance)
27-28: david byrne: contemporary color (music, performance)
28: little black egg big band: yo la tengo & friends / oren ambarchi (music)
29: paris is burning / jd samson (film, music)