[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.]
agosto 2017
¡hola, difus@s!
i ultimately surrendered to summer last month and limited myself to the cinema and the beach. the documentaries i saw were all quite compelling, thematically if not artistically. though both 500 years and chasing coral did their best to leave the audience with some hope, the enormity and persistence of the injustices—environmental, social, political—they explore left me feeling a bit less than hopeful. (if you’ve seen13th and i am not your negro, i highly recommend 500 years as a point of comparison and contrast.) conversely, both the beguiled and dunkirk are finely crafted movies from tremendously talented directors, but the absence of any engagement with contemporary race politics and social problems was beyond frustrating. lady macbeth was a striking contrast to both, a gorgeous and ruthless period piece that offers plenty of opportunities to reflect on the present. also visually engrossing was the girl with no hands.
august is definitely the quietest month on the performing arts calendar, but because this is new york, we’ve still got more great stuff on offer than most places have all year…
film: as you’ll see below, film dominates this month’s calendar, so much so that i may well end up devoting myself entirely to it again. at the top of my list are machines (after which i’ll be re-reading this article from a decade ago), this time tomorrow, the series “on fire island”, dawson city: frozen time, nocturama, fox and his friends, and yuliya solntseva’s “ukranian trilogy”. two other documentaries out this month, the farthest and rancher, farmer, fisherman, look terrific and, each in their own way, quite timely. in all likelihood, however, i’ll have to catch those two streaming later so i can see some other not-likely-to-appear-online films, such as dolores and strange days.
performance + theater: the theater season won’t really begin until after labor day, but playwrights horizons gets off to an early start with sarah ruhl’s for peter pan on her 70th birthday (and i’ve yet to experience ms. ruhl’s work). another play that has my interest piqued is resistance at wildproject, especially as an occasion to revisit lauren berlant’s “slow death (sovereignty, obesity, lateral agency)” (also available via jstor). i’ve yet to see ryan rafferty, so i’d like to catch his the rise and fall (and rise) of martha stewart, which is back at joe’s pub. comic genius dynasty handbag is also at joe’s pub for one night with i an, moron. gideon irving is back in town with the touring version of his last show, and, if you’ve not seen him before, he’s a delight. a few shows at dixon place are also on my (admittedly aspirational) list for the month: saints of failure, lucky, tolerance, and home. that last show is of particular interest, as it promises to mine the territory so naively, perhaps disingenuously, avoided by the similarly titled show coming to bam this fall—which i’ll be avoiding myself after seeing a work-in-progress performance last year and being terminally disappointed by its abject lack of political consciousness or critical reflexivity.
music: having listened to peter evans' last album a few times recently, i’d really like to catch mary halvorson and ambrose akinmusire’s show at national sawdust. i would also love to see christeene & tha boyz on their “emergency bottom tour” at joe’s pub (this nsfw ballad was my introduction to their work, and i was hooked). also at joe’s pub, miguel gutierrez peforms “sadonna, the sad songs of madonna”, and i think he’s at his best when he’s working with music and pop culture (rather than with choreography and conceptual art). michael mwenso has a program of protest songs at le poisson rouge, and peter and will anderson present a month-long celebration of the american songbook at 59 e 59th.
dance: i’ve only got two dance performances on this month’s calendar: netta yerushalmy’s performances in josiah mcelheny’s prismatic park and the showcase of female choreographers at dixon place. for more dance, i’d recommend heading out of town to jacob’s pillow or getting acquainted with the jerome robbins division of the new york public library for the performing arts, which has a far greater collection of recorded performances and documentaries than any streaming service.
art: the art world pretty much takes off the last two weeks of august, but before then, i’m hoping to see the group shows at matthew marks, arsenal contemporary, and nicelle beauchene. after that, i really need to run the museum circuit to see the shows i didn’t get to from last month’s recommendations, as well as the carol rama show at the new museum and the hélio oiticica show at the whitney.
the full calendar follows, and anyone how you think might enjoy this can follow along by subscribing here.
abrazos,
p
august / agosto
1-2: suspiria (film)
1-3: blow-up (film)
1-3: escapes (film)
1-3: farrebique, or the four seasons (film)
1-3: mister universo (film)
1-3: shot by carlo di palma, from rome to new york (film)
1-3: the girl without hands (film)
1-12: singing beach (theater)
1-13: in concert (film)
1-13: unpacking (theater)
1-14: josiah mcelheny’s prismatic park: netta yerushalmy (dance)
1-16: lucky (performance)
1-31: future imperfect: the uncanny in science fiction (film)
2: why man creates: the films of saul bass (film)
2: home (performance)
2-27: songbook summit (music)
3: saints of failure (performance, theater)
3-10: now: films that inspired the safdie brothers' good time (film)
4-10: brave new jersey (film)
4-10: this time tomorrow (film)
4-17: ’77 (film)
4-20: the elephant in the room: the films of alan clarke (film)
4-24: jonathan demme: heart of gold (film)
4-27: columbus (film)
6: lois weber: first auteur (film)
6-7: the skivvies (music, performance)
7: the rise and fall (and rise) of martha stewart (performance)
7: the tragedy of the election of the citrus king (theater)
9: she must be seeing things (film)
9-15: machines (film)
10-13: resistance (theater)
10-16: the beguiling bujold (film)
11: christeene & tha boyz: emergency bottom tour (music, performance)
11-12: my name is gideon…and i'm probably going to die eventually (theater)
11-13: on fire island (film)
11-17: the farthest (film)
11-22: this is minidv (on 35mm) (film)
11-24: a trip to spain (film)
11-: summer double features (film)
12-13: fad market (art)
15: michael mwenso’s sacred protest songs: from africa to america (music)
16-29: the wound (film)
17: new york no limits film series: short film event (film)
17: strange days (film)
17: isaac oliver won’t stand for this (performance)
17-: for peter pan on her 70th birthday (theater)
18-19: inquad (dance)
18-20: dawson city: frozen time (film)
18-20: old school kung fu fest (film)
18-23: disasterpieces (film)
18-24: california typewriter (film)
18-24: nocturama (film)
18-27: this is boxing on film: part 1 (film)
18-: memories of murder (film)
20-21: sadonna, the sad songs of madonna (music, performance)
21-26: east village queer film festival (film)
22: the rise and fall (and rise) of martha stewart (performance)
23: raffi besalyan, piano – “rooted and uprooted: an armenian-american’s musical journey” (music)
24: tolerance (theater)
25-31: fox and his friends (film)
25-31: the films of joaquim pedro de andrade (film)
25-: crown heights (film)
25-: rancher, farmer, fisherman (film)
26: a tarab night with yousef shamoun & the tarab ensemble (music)
26-27: fad market (art)
26-27: yuliya solntseva's ukrainian trilogy (film)
27: the music of patrick zimmerli and max bruch (music)
28: taka kigawa plays olivier messiaen: “catalogue d’oiseaux” (music)
28: the rise and fall (and rise) of martha stewart (performance)
30: mary halvorson and ambrose akinmusire (music)
31: delores (film)
31: i an, moron (performance)
31-: jane johnson for the stay at home shopper (theater)