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mayo 2017

¡hola, difus@s!

since i’m running egregiously behind on this issue, i’ll keep it brief (and hope you'll forgive the limited copy-editing). most everything i managed to catch last month was pretty terrific. richard maxwell’s samara was probably the singular highlight, easily the best i’ve seen from him (despite—or, perhaps, because of—its being less aggressively affectless than his signature style); it’s an elusive, mythic western with a brilliant set that i’m looking forward to seeing again (this week, in fact). the compagnie cdnc-angers / robert swinston show of merce cunningham’s work at the joyce was as sublime as frederick wiseman’s masterpiece titicut follies was devastating. even though wiseman had a hand in titicut follies: the ballet, it was an offense to the film, a deeply problematic and woefully misguided waste of choreography. nise: the heart of madness was a much better complement to the wiseman film, if much more straightforward and relatively understated, which, given the subject, is an accomplishment. (both films have since had me thinking about the work of jean vanier and the l’arche communities.)

graduation is a fine example of everything i love about the romanian new wave, even if it falls a little short of his beyond the hills. similarly, françois ozon’s frantz isn’t his strongest work, but its questioning of truth and history has stayed with me. do what i want: arthur russell on film wasn’t as interesting cinematically as his work is musically, but it was still great to see. cry havoc! was at its best when it was its most straightforward; the second act (a radical formal departure) was not as immediately engrossing as the first act (which would be a cogent solo show on its own), but it was, ultimately, absolutely integral—and it underscored how superficial so much invocation of “community" is in participatory theater (e.g., taylor mac).

both gently down the stream and the profane were good, but, because they dealt with issues of keen interest for me (intergenerational difference in the queer community and contemporary religious in/tolerance, respectively), i was left wanting more, both conceptually and artistically. “a nonesuch celebration” at bam also left me wanting more, but a completely different sense: with so many wonderful performances and so much genuine love and appreciation for bob hurwitz, i just didn’t want it to end. on the other hand, i was glad to see the end of blurred lines: inside the art world because it’s everything that’s wrong with the art world (qua art market) and with the people who talk about it (e.g., sarah thorton, adamant art market reporting apostate that she is, certainly has no problem talking about the art market when you put a camera in front of her).

may’s got a lot to offer, so here are my top picks:

performance + theater: i’ll be kicking off the month with unitard’s “tard core — there are no safe words,” which sounds like precisely the comic relief (and critique) i’ve been craving amid the current political climate…and i may need to see them again at the end of month. also high on my list this month are beckett’s happy days at theater for a new audience and ain gordon and josh quillen’s radicals in miniature at baryshnikov arts center. hamlet, or i shall mourn the rivers at dixon place combines shakespeare, judith butler, and slavoj zizek, which sounds right up my alley (but, admittedly, is a gamble). other shows that i might try and squeeze in are suicide forest at arsnova, mourning becomes electra at abrons arts center, and dark circus at here.

art: frieze is on this week, bringing with it roughly a dozen other fairs; both artnet and artnews have handy guides to navigating them. the gorgeous weather we’ve been having makes the season’s public art all the more enjoyable, so i’m looking forward to seeing the work of sophie calle, liz glynn, josiah mcelheny, anish kapoor, and others outdoors. indoors, i hope to catch joan jonas, nancy spero, lygia pape, roni horn, hanne darboven, louise lawler, black radical women, and sara cwynar.

film: the summer surfeit of good cinema seems to have arrived early; i could easily spend this month seeing nothing but film. a trio of artist documentaries is at the top of my list: maurizio cattelan: be right back and julian schnabel: a private portrait at the newly renovated quad and burden at metrograph. i’m also eager to see two new tarkovsky restorations, stalker and solaris, at the film society at lincoln center. last men in aleppo, surviving surveillance, catering to america: shahina parveen, and the series "the seventh art stand" all deal with us-middle east politics in different ways while several other films probe domestic political issues (abacus: small enough to jail, risk, killer of sheep, and bless their little hearts). may also has several terrific samplers of international film: “true stories: non-fiction film from europe,” "panorama europe 2017," “the films of zelimir zelink,” "moustapha alassane, pioneer of the golden age of nigerien cinema," “filmafrica 2017,” “jiang wen rising,” ta’ang, and “clouded vision: the films of yo ota.” and there’s a lot more in the full calendar below (including this month’s guilty pleasure, dan savage’s hump! film festival)!

music: astrid hadad and justin vivian bond are both on this month, though, sadly, not together (¡ojalá!), and i’m very much looking forward to seeing them both. the red bull music academy continues with some excellent shows (including a conversation with werner herzog on music and film). other shows that are high on my list include “flash operas” at symphony space, the new york philharmonic’s “contact!” at national sawdust, silent voices at bam, “songbook classics by unsung lyricists” at 92y, “moment’s notice – an opto-acoustic experimental music performance” at le poisson rouge, and somi at carnegie hall.

dance: one of the best dance events this month is on screen rather than on stage: wendy whelan: restless creature will be showing at film forum. at danspace project, christopher williams, koma, stacey matthew spence, and vanessa anspaugh are all presenting shows i’d like to see. elsewhere, elisa monte dance, michelle boulé, and limón dance company are on stage.

as always, the full calendar follows, and you can add anyone you’d like to the mailing list here.

abrazos,
p