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mayo 2016
¡hola, difus@s!
¡feliz día del trabajador! april seemed to pass by in flash, but, looking back over my notes, it was really quite a full month. i started out with some pretty high expectations, which fortunately didn’t yield much disappointment. neither les fêtes vénitiennes at bam nor elektra at the metropolitan opera were as transcendent as i’d hoped, but both director’s previous productions (from the house of the dead and david et jonathas) had set the bar very high—for any opera, really. i definitely think elektra is the best thing the met has done all year (yes, even better than lulu), but, apart from calixto bieito's upcoming production, i’m going to concentrate on exploring opera elsewhere (read “somewhere more adventurous, more relevant”).
ballet preljocaj’s empty moves (i, ii, & iii) was a reminder of how much i’ve been missing dance this spring and how utterly moving (pardon the pun) choreography can be. i’d seen empty moves (i & ii) and been thoroughly impressed five and half years ago (though, full disclosure, i’d forgotten it was ballet preljocaj), but this iteration and extension of the piece completely blew me away. the score, a live recording of john cage’s empty words with an italian audience teetering on violent revolt, is itself quite a challenge, but preljocaj’s choreography meets and even exceeds that challenge with non-stop movement full of grace, wit, and life. the dancers are extraordinary, in terms of skill as well as stamina (chapeau!). since cage’s score has four parts, i’m hoping empty moves (i, ii, iii, & iv) will arrive before long.
daniel kok and luke george’s bunny benefitted from some sharp visual design and one of the most engaged audiences i’ve seen. ultimately, though, the work was disappointingly limited, a bit ironic given the work’s attempted exploration of submission and restraint. the fundamental problem was that the work never moved beyond re-presentation, to borrow from korzybski, bunny always felt like the map (however partial) and never the territory, a fetishization of fetish rather than a poetic inquiry into it. to be fair, i’ve seen very little art that manages to explore intimacy—and especially the very particular intimacies of bdsm, with its fundamental and generally overlooked ethic of care (here, george and kok failed dismally at several points)—successfully. however, i couldn’t help wishing for something on the level of rachid ouramdane’s exploration of torture survival or jerome bel’s exploration of disability. neither of those subjects lends itself easily to artistic inquiry, but bel and ouramdane use their art in ways that open these subjects up with such thoughtfulness, rigor, and sensitivity that dance feels like the perfect—perhaps only!—means of doing so.
alexander sokurov’s francofonia, chantal akerman’s là-bas (down there), and tsai ming-liang’s afternoon (which i saw at film forum, anthology film archives, and metrograph, respectively) made for a brilliant, if incidental, triptych. each film is narrated by the director (afternoon is, technically, a dialogue, but tsai does almost all the talking) and functions as a kind of personal essay on art, its conditions (social, political) of production, and their relationship to both. akerman's is the most austere and, in many ways, successful, a haunting portrait of dislocation and the individual struggle to cope with geopolitics. sokurov’s new museum piece is, perhaps, less ravishing than his last, but it’s every bit as eloquent and timely (and, yes, oblique, which i enjoy). tsai ming-liang’s film has been woefully underappreciated by all the critics i’ve read, perhaps because none seems to have much familiarity with his oeuvre. for anyone who’s seen at least two of his films, this film feels like an event, a revelation. tsai’s films are so rigorously restrained and laconic that his volubility here is startling, as is his unbridled candor about his homosexuality and his unconventional relationship with his muse lee kang-sheng. if i’d had a spare evening during the film’s one week at metrograph, i’d definitely have seen it again.
of the rest that i saw, gabriel mascaro’s neon bull merits special mention (and, begrudgingly, thanks to the film society for dennis lim’s commitment to lusophone cinema) as an astutely observed, gorgeously filmed, quietly devastating work of art. i’ll be seeing more of his work as soon as i can. charles busch’s cleopatra was also a fantastic evening of old school camp (would that the kids on rupaul’s drag race had even a modicum of his wit, style, sincerity, and sass!), with the kind of audience that makes one happy to be in new york.
we’re now just a few weeks away from summer (on the calendar, at least), but, before i shift into beach-bum mode, there’s plenty that i want to catch:
art: the new york art world blows up again this week with the arrival of frieze and several satellite fairs, including nada (always worthwhile), spring masters (which i’m especially interested in after visiting tefaf in march), 1:54 contemporary african art fair, art new york, and collective design. as the fairs kick off, art world “star” ryan mcnamara (whose relationship to choreography i find deeply problematic) brings his battleground to the guggenheim; it’s sure to be a hot ticket. the lisson gallery inaugurates its new york space with carmen herrera, and several other galleries have strong shows opening during the fair frenzy, e.g., jasper johns at matthew marks and cindy sherman at metro pictures. the guggenheim and the whitney lead the seasonal turnover of museum shows with but a storm is blowing from paradise: contemporary art of the middle east and north africa and nicole eisenman: al-ugh-ories. (my other museum priority is the ramones show at the queens museum.) we’re also heading into public art season with cornelia parker’s installation on the roof of the met and creative time’s production of duke riley’s fly by night.
music: the red bull music academy is a surprisingly (at least for me) well curated event—i’m very excited to see diamanda galas and anohni—but it’s not the month’s only festival, with a world in trance and the look and listen festival also taking place. personal favorites ice and the jack quartet both have concerts this month. other shows that are high on my list include green: verlaine in song, songs of love and violence: the music of matt marks, fado and other portuguese songs, and black angels.
film: while several cinemas have shown purple rain to mourn the loss of prince, ifc is also showing under the cherry moon. several interesting series are on throughout the month—e.g., the new york african film festival, panorama europe 2016, québec direct cinema—as well as retrospectives of terrence davies (whose sunset song arrives this month) and jia zhangke (who is the subject of a new film by walter salles). among the other films i’m eager to see are fassbinder: to love without demands, dheepan (i really enjoyed the director’s last film), fritz lang’s destiny, and chevalier (another director whose last film was quite good).
dance: la mama’s annual dance festival is on, and dixon place showcases new work in both underexposed and 8 in a show. abrons has three interesting shows: every cell and i a mouth, chaplet of roses and they go out in joy, and still standing you. though i’m troubled by the zombie resurrection of merce cunningham’s work, the program at the baryshnikov arts center and the talk at danspace project could both be worthwhile. also at danspace project, luxury rentals has my interest piqued.
performance + theater: the biggest shows on my list this month are a doll’s house and the father at theatre for a new audience, the judas kiss at bam, and a streetcar named desire at st. ann’s warehouse. many smaller shows, though, are worth considering. mike albo’s a wonderfully smart and funny guy, so his musings on spermhood should make for a great evening. stolen house is an intriguing proposition, as is guys we fucked. other shows i’m eager to see are bear slayer, the tear drinkers, cal in camo, the town hall affair, and leonard nimoy’s vincent.
as always, a longer list follows, and anyone who wants to follow this newsletter can do so by signing up here.
abrazos,
p
mayo / may
1-3: a world in trance 2016 (music)
1-4: fassbinder: to love without demands (film)
1-5: hockney (film)
1-6: look and listen festival (music)
1-7: elektra (music)
1-8: stupid f--ing bird (theater)
1-8: revolt. she said. revolt again. (theater)
1-10: eva hesse (film)
1-21: idiot (performance, theater)
1-29: la mama moves dance festival (dance)
1-: a streetcar named desire (theater)
1-: leonard nimoy's vincent (theater)
1-: a doll's house (theater)
1-: the father (theater)
1-: the effect (theater)
2-4: ryan mcnamara's battleground (art, performance)
3: underexposed (dance)
3-29: bianco (performance, theater)
3-: incognito (theater)
4: modern times (film)
4: jonathan franzen + myra melford (music)
4-5: the ruins of civilization (theater)
4-7: la verità (performance, theater)
4-10: new york african film festival (film)
4-12: a doll's house & the father (theater)
4-17: labor of love: 100 years of movie dates (film)
4-22: murrow (theater)
5-7: levi gonzalez: every cell and i a mouth (dance)
5-17: québec direct cinema (film)
6: experiments in opera presents: video operas (film, music)
6: philharmonia baroque orchestra (music)
6: green: verlaine in song (music)
6-7: under the cherry moon (film)
6-8: chaplet of roses and they go out in joy (dance)
6-12: dragon inn (film)
6-12: dheepan (film)
6-: panorama europe 2016 (film)
6-: cal in camo (theater)
7-9: stolen house (theater)
7-22: terrence davies (film)
8: songs of love and violence: the music of matt marks (music)
10: darmstadt institute new york: 70 year anniversary celebration: ice – international contemporary ensemble // mivos quartet (music)
10-14: diamanda galas: death will come and will have your eyes (music)
10-15: are you now or have you ever been (theater)
10-: the total bent (theater)
11: darmstadt institute new york: 70 year anniversary celebration: talea ensemble // sem ensemble (music)
11-24: a monster with a thousand heads (film)
11-27: the town hall affair (theater)
11-: the judas kiss (theater)
12: fado & other portuguese songs (music)
12: black angels (music)
12-14: pieter ampe & guilherme garrido: still standing you (dance)
12-21: juliette mapp: luxury rentals (dance)
12-29: material witness (theater)
13: uatki with special guest philip glass (music)
13-19: nöel coward (film)
13-28: spermhood (performance, theater)
17: esprit de tour: a conversation on retracing the merce cunningham dance company’s 1964 world tour (dance)
18-19: screening of cunningham ballett 1958, live performances of changeling + suite for two (dance, film)
18-19: anohni presents hopelessness (music)
18-28: beth gill: catacomb (dance)
19: spectralism in america: objets trouvés (music)
19-27: the tear drinkers (theater)
19-: cherchez la femme (the musical) (music, theater)
20-22: keiko fujii dance company: tamashi no hibiki (soul vibrations) (dance)
20-26: fritz lang's destiny (film)
20-26: the other side (film)
20-27: kim brandt: clear night (dance, performance)
23: jack quartet (music)
23: guys we fucked (performance)
23-29: jia zhangke (film)
25: 8 in a show (dance)
25-: bear slayer (theater)
27-: jia zhangke, a guy from fenyang (film)
27-: chevalier (film)