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octubre 2016

¡hola, difus@s!

september was as frenetic as august was quiet, perhaps a little exhausting but definitely quite exhilarating. the month offered few surprises, but that’s no complaint. several of the shows i was looking forward to were from artists whose prior work has been quite strong, so my expectations were admittedly high. by and large, they all delivered. david lang’s the loser was gorgeously spare, with exquisite staging and singing. suzanne bocanegra’s—who, incidentally, did the costumes for the loser—reprisal of her artist lecture was absolutely fascinating; i’d love to see more of these. dekalog is truly a masterpiece; each chapter is an achievement, and i’m already missing spending time in the world they form. john jasperse’s remains is another solid, sublime work from one of the best choreographers currently working. godspeed you! black emperor never gives a concert that’s less than sublime, even if this show was a bit marred by holy body tattoo’s choreography (mediocre mfa “dance theater,” despite some very committed and talented performers). similarly, isabelle huppert is always worth watching, no matter what she’s doing; phaedra(s) only made the most of her peerless talent near its end, when she gave a ravishing interpretation of racine. starving the beast was a very straight-forward documentary, but its subject could not be more urgent. matthew barney’s facility of decline at gladstone was a reminder that, whatever problems one might have with his work and persona, he’s formidable. several other shows in chelsea got the season off to a great start, especially andrea zittel, paul outerbridge, and meleko mokgosi.

a few works were genuinely and thrillingly surprising. cameraperson is an exceptional film (and, indeed, a work of art), as eloquent and elusive as w. g. sebald’s novels and as raw and honest as jonathan caouette’s tarnation. the last two episodes of nature theater of oklahoma’s life and times left me slack-jawed and a bit heart-broken for not having seen—and, probably, never having a chance to see—the seven previous episodes. their creativity, sensitivity, and courage (i started to write “ambition,” but that just feels wrong here) are extraordinary, and their exploration of memory and subjectivity is, arguably, as vital and human as anything i’ve seen or read, ever. equally fearless, but with a quite different sensibility, underground railroad game was genuinely bracing.

the rest of what i saw was generally ok, with a few notable disappointments. bridge over mud was rather middling, some great craft in search of an idea. (the idea it left me with, though, was provocative: what if sarah sze directed a live-action version of wall-e? that would be disney’s most inspired move since hiring julie taymor for the lion king.) the civilians’ the undertaking was at its best when it was less ethnographic (the opening fifteen minutes were excruciating) and more directly personal. the material—in this case, death and dying (which has been the object of much inquiry lately, cf., this issue of cabinet, david lang’s death speaks, thomas laqueur’s the work of the dead, anne carson’s nox)—is so potentially rich but so ultimately underserved.

the same could be said to a much greater degree of both nora chipaumire’s portrait of myself as my father and taryn simon’s an occupation of loss. the former was so devoid of any clear artistic direction, thought, or effort that i struggled to see why it has been presented by both bam and montclair state university. i’m all for incoherence, opacity, non-linearity, and other forms of abstraction, but this work was, quite simply, an unfortunate mess. the most generous assessment is that it trafficked in (and exploited) white, middlebrow desire for other-led (read “native”) shamanic “authenticity.” the same problem inhered in taryn simon’s installation / performance, which, bracketing for a moment its hideous formal qualities (like some bad met opera set design for greek tragedy), was absolutely reprehensible for its abject lack of reflexivity—and all the more so for ms. simon’s emphasis on its procedural and research-based components. the work showed all the sensitivity of a colonial-era ethnographic museum, and its installation and presentation completely neutralized (neutered, even) the very questions that ms. simon putatively sought to provoke. thus, what the work showed most vividly are the insidious workings of white privilege, the ability to “ask” such “daring” questions while avoiding any real risk, any dangerous confrontation with their answers. alas, the armory gave us another flexn (see comments) rather than another st. matthew passion (see comments).

the last thing i saw this month was, rather appropriately, maurizio cattelan’s america, and it was one of the month’s finest surprises. i like much of mr. cattelan´s work, but i find he misses his mark as often as he hits it. this time, though, he nailed it. as an object, it’s phenomenal, but the placement and timing (and, yes, the fact that i was only able to see it thanks to a friend’s after-hours, vip-party access) make it indisputably brilliant. especially after the first presidential debate, the work is an incisive critique of american democracy and this election year.

as great as september was, it was really just a warm-up for this month, which might well be the highlight of the year (and certainly of the fall season):

music: if one were to focus on only one category for an entire month, this would be the month for music. two of my all-time favorites are playing at the park avenue armory: the jack quartet with flight and composer kaija saariaho with circle map. almost every night of the month has some musical performance i’d like to see, and the range is testament to what makes this city so great. for the more classically inclined, we have early music from trio mediaeval, new york philharmonic ensembles, american brass quintet, carnegie hall´s birthday celebration for steve reich (as well as axiom: steve reich 80th birthday celebration and ensemble signal plays more reich), brooklyn rider with anne sofie von otter, and john zorn’s ultimate bagatelles marathon. for more international fare, check out merasi: master musicians of rajasthan, taksim trio w/ special guests, sahba motallebi – traditional music of persia, and 2016 peking opera festival. october also has some great cabaret and jazz: joey arias is with you now, kim david smith's morpium cabaret, jazz at 100: the music of dizzy, ella, mongo, & monk, and the ghost train orchestra: the unsung composers of harlem and chicago jazz at the height of the prohibition.

dance: october will likely be the best month for dance this year, with several established masters on stage and a number of promising newer choreographers. tere o’conner contributes to the ny quadrille at the joyce, anne teresa de keersmaeker brings her vortex temporum to bam, damien jalet and sidi larb cherkaoui’s babel(words) and mark morris’ sounds of india are part of lincoln center’s white light festival, and jérôme bel has work at the joyce, the kitchen, and moma (thanks to the crossing the line festival, which is also showing a film of his). the legacies of jean erdman and willi ninja are honored this month. rachid ouramdane returns to new york with tordre(wrought), which i am eager to see because his ordinary witnesses still haunts me.

performance + theater: robert wilson and mikhail baryshnikov have a new collaboration, letter to a man, at bam (where peter brook’s battlefield ends). two shows i’ve seen in earlier version and would love to see again are sarah jones’ sell / buy / date and mike albo’s spermhood. most of the other shows i’d like to see tend towards the small and / or experimental—request concert, my old man (and other stories), the mad ones, the loo, porning the planet: the de-sensitization of a nation—but i’m quite tempted to see natasha, pierre, and the great comet of 1812 on broadway because i’m a fan of dave malloy. other shows that might lure me uptown are a life, public enemy, and the resistible rise of arturo ui.

art: though i’ll be seeing a lot of art abroad this month, there are plenty of gallery shows i want to catch in town: douglas crimp, thomas schütte, alan shields, alma allen, bruce nauman, julie mehretu, and the group show at lucien terras. spencer finch’s miniature redwood forest looks fantastic, provided the crowds don’t become prohibitive. several new museum shows are opening, and my goal is to see them sooner rather than later: agnes martin at guggenheim, carmen herrera at the whitney, my barbarian at the new museum, and kerry james marshall at the met. the grande dame of art fairs, tefaf, opens its first venture outside of maastricht at the end of the month (quite literally titled “tefaf new york fall”), and, if they’re able to replicate the quality and experience of the main show, it will be a delight.

film: my top film priorities this month are the 13th, do not resist, and homeland: iraq year zero parts 1 and 2, which are acutely urgent in this election year when too many of us are too willing to forget the historical roots of the current crisis, in terms of both race and foreign policy. (apropos the first two films, please also check out “say their names: a black lives matter fundraiser.”). as ifc’s screening of dekalog winds up, the museum of the moving image unfurls a complete retrospective of kieslowki’s oeuvre, including another screening of the dekalog. kelly reichardt’s films are every bit as poetic as kieslowski’s, which makes the arrival of certain women very good news. if i could, i’d see every film in metrograph’s “queer 90s” series, which i sincerely hope the kids who are coming of age with marriage and truvada will take the time to see. also of note are korean movie night: master series with park chan-wook, the battle of algiers, alexander kluge on film and video, christine, portrait of a garden, and the new york dog film festival.

the full listing for october is below, and you can also share all this information via the sign-up form here.

abrazos,
p