[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.]
julio 2016
¡hola, difus@s!¡
if last month’s performances by kiki & herb and anohni reflected (on) a sense of hopelessness—political, social, economic—then june’s events all but galvanized that feeling: first orlando (“america’s polarised political culture demands that people choose between these [reductive, singular] interpretations”), then the united kingdom (“this was a working-class revolt, but it is not a working-class victory. that’s the tragedy here.”), then istanbul (“erdogan’s policy of supporting islamist groups to muck around neighboring countries isn’t going exactly to script.”)…
most of the discourse surrounding the events has been as disturbing as the events themselves (#reasonsimnotontwitter)—as much from the left as from the right, frankly—but at least a few thoughtful voices have engaged in much-needed critical reflexivity about neoliberalism and the complicity of the putative “liberal left." one of the most moving pieces about the tragedy in orlando is also a reminder of what we need politically and what art—understood as poeisis, as world-making—can do: “the only imperative is to be transformed, transfigured… to lighten, loosen, see yourself reflected in the beauty of others.”
if anything i saw this past month realized that imperative, it was dolly parton’s concert at forest hills. with only a band (and a ton of rhinestones)—no battalions of dancers, no elaborate set pieces, no video or pyrotechnics—she created a utopic, joyous feeling of community, not by eliding (or exacerbating) difference but by focusing on the common, on what we all shared, her music and our humanity.
elsewhere on stage, bedlam’s sense & sensibility, which completely revitalizes jane austen’s classic, similarly created a sense of community (if, to be sure, one a bit more homogeneous than dolly’s) through its intimate, inventive staging and energetic performances. cal in camo offered some oblique but still interesting perspectives about class, real estate, and the environment in contemporary america (and, as literature, merits comparison with last spring’s smokefall). on screen, the fits and les cowboys are two remarkable debut features that deal with the passage into womanhood while reflecting on their social and political contexts. both are elliptical and economic in their narratives, sumptuously filmed and beautifully acted. (together with dheepan and eastern boys, les cowboys also suggests an interest in migration and family construction within contemporary francophone film.)
though i’ll be traveling at the end of the month and into the next, there’s plenty i’d like to catch before i go:
film: while blockbusters occupy most of the country’s cinemas, we’re lucky to have an incredible array of series and single screenings to view. the museum of the moving image presents a month-long retrospective of theo angelopolous, anthology film archives hosts a series of ken jacob’s work (including star spangled to death) and a collaborative series with the international center for photography, metrograph brings together some classic films under the title “summer in the city” and as well as several depicting native american culture, and bam screens a series films for the presidential campaign season. homo sapiens sounds like the kind of film i really love, and hieronymous bosch: touched by the devil is a high priority for me after seeing his exhibition in the netherlands this spring.
performance + theater: small mouth sounds returns to the city this month and runs into the fall; having missed its first run, i’m making it my top priority this month. apart from privacy, other new works on offer tend toward the small-scale and experimental (which are both good things for me). men on boats comes to playwrights horizons, and dixon place offers some sexually frank explorations of contemporary queer life: interested in, gentlemen prefer bottoms, and double penny. other shows of interest running into or through this month include sense and sensibility (shows will certainly be selling out well in advance soon), the effect, and the animals.
music: most of the programming at lincoln center’s two summer festivals, the lincoln center festival and mostly mozart, is rather unexciting (which is, of course, rather unsurprising), except for three concert series. "reich / reverberations" features two personal favorites, sō percussion and the jack quartet, playing the music of an undisputed genius (if you need proof, read this). sō percussion also presents “triology,” which includes work by several other phenomenal composers (e.g., cage, ergun, lang, xenakis). to celebrate mostly mozart’s 50th anniversary, artists-in-residence ice are playing 50 premieres, many of which are free. dave malloy’s ghost quartet reappears briefly in concert form at joe’s pub, and, though i can’t imagine that the staging will be as engrossing and transcendent as the original run at bushwick starr, it’s a gorgeous, haunting song cycle. other notable shows for month include the rake’s progress at roulette, an epic marathon concert organized by issue project room and pioneer works, and okkervil river at national sawdust (their early songs “black” and “our life is not a movie (or maybe)” are pretty much perfect).
dance: july is a very, very quiet month on the dance calendar. the biggest show is la dance project at the joyce, and the program looks pretty good (especially given that i’ve previously found this company terribly middle-brow). fast forward at dixon, biba bell at jack, and camille a. brown & dancers at bric all seem like good opportunities to see new work outside the dance establishment.
art: july is also a quiet month for the art world, as everyone recovers from the annual basel blitz and looks forward to august vacation. the museums can be unbearable due to the tourist hordes, but some of the smaller shows there are worthwhile and likely to be less crowded (e.g., both rachel harrison’s perth amboy and bouchra khalili’s the mapping journey project at moma look great and will probably be overlooked by tourists). some gallery shows i still want to see are closing this month, e.g., martha rossler, rosalind nashashibi, dan burkhart, abraham palatnik, and larry walker. if you’d like to combine some art with some beach, here’s your rockaways art guide.
to follow up on last month’s fall preview, another advance ticket purchase i HIGHLY recommend is for daniel kitson’s new show coming to st. ann’s in november. i’ve raved about him at length before (and will do so again, to be sure), but i was particularly impressed with his recent e-mail sent just prior to the british referendum on its eu membership. in it, he showed the kind of compassion and reflexivity that’s woefully absent in so much current political discourse. even if you’ve yet to see his work, his mailings are good, if intermittent, reads.
and, yes, i realize there’s another *major* event, sure to be a hot ticket, in st. ann’s fall season. however, the concerns i expressed about that performer’s work (and its attendant political commitments) last fall were vividly borne out in a subsequent exchange with the performer. he not only embodies the “smug style” that drives our current political morass but has also become to theater what marina abramovic is to performance art.
a full monthly calendar follows, and you can share the information with those you love here.
abrazos,
p
julio / july
1: mass rhetoric: a new works festival (theater)
1-7: right now, wrong then (film)
1-2: i want you to want me (performance)
1-2: sight unseen (music, performance)
1-5: new york asian film festival (film)
1-5: nuts! (film)
1-5: summer in the city (film)
1-9: the animals (theater)
1-: martin creed (art)
1-: sense & sensibility (theater)
1-: the effect (theater)
2-10: his favorite films improved: the found footage films of ken jacob (film)
2-: privacy (theater)
3-: small mouth sounds (theater)
6: interested in (theater)
6: kim david smith: morphium kabarett (music, performance)
6-9: dušan týnek dance theatre (dance)
6-12: under the sun (film)
8-14: men go to battle (film)
8-24: eternity and history: the cinema of theo angelopoulos (film)
12: fast forward (dance)
12: ryan raftery’s watch what happens – live on stage! (performance)
13: kim david smith: morphium kabarett (music, performance)
14: the triplets of belleville with live score by benoit charest / jessica fichot (film, music)
14-16: biba bell: together (dance)
15: lucha mexico (film)
15-23: where we're born (theater)
15-24: cassavetes / rowlands (film)
15-: four more years: an election special (film)
15-: voyeurism, surveillance, and identity in the cinema (film)
16: gentlemen prefer bottoms (theater)
16-21: reich / reverberations (music)
18: guys we fucked (performance)
19-: men on boats (theater)
20: double penny (theater)
20: in situ: okkervil river (music)
21: camille a. brown & dancers black girl: linguistic play / brandee younger (dance)
21-22: baby fat: act 1 (music), (performance)
21-23: the rake's progress (music)
22: dandy darkly's myth mouth! (performance, theater)
22-29: native to america (film)
22-31: mondo mondo (film)
26-30: la dance project (dance)
27-30: kurt vonnegut’s god bless you, mr. rosewater (music, theater)
27-: hieronymus bosch: touched by the devil (film)
27-: ice 50 for 50 (music)
27-: this is pg? (film)
28: ghost quartet in concert (music, theater)
28-30: so percussion: triology (music)
29: show & tale: before stonewall (performance)
29-: homo sapiens (film)
30: daniel menche, container, profligate, eartheater, greg fox, ben vida, horse lords (music)