[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.]
enero 2018
¡feliz año, difus@s!
though december (and 2017, more generally) left many of us with much disillusion, it also left us with some (albeit qualified) hope and more good art on stage, screen, and view. the end of the year is always the best for film, as underscored by new films from aki kaurismaki (the other side of hope, a mordant comedy about refugee policy), guillermo del toro (the shape of water, a perfect adult fairy tale), michael haneke (happy end, a caustic and darkly comedic family drama—which i enjoyed all the more for having seen the bad seed earlier in the month), and p. t. anderson (phantom thread, a love story as profoundly perverse as it is sartorially sumptuous). equally strong and politically urgent were two documentaries by directors whose work i hadn’t seen before, the rape of recy taylor and quest—both of which left me hoping for an extended run of tonsler park in 2018.
on stage, long-time favorites the tallis scholars and the jack quartet were, as always, impeccable. heinrich isaac’s music was new to me, and the tallis scholars’ program was the perfect introduction, with splendid singing and meaningful juxtapositions with other works. i’d heard the jack quartet play haas’ music in the dark before, but this piece was much richer and more expansive (and perfect for the solstice). suzanne bocanegra’s latest artist lecture, farmhouse / whorehouse with lili taylor, was every bit as ingenious and engrossing as her prior lectures with frances mcdormand and paul lazar. i absolutely love her mind. the politics in ariane mnouchkine’s a room in india were, in a few instances, a bit unsophisticated, but her ability to conjure a world on stage is extraordinary—and her (protagonist’s) recourse to epic narrative was politically and artistically astute (as amitov ghosh has argued). trisha brown dance company delivered a gorgeous performance, a loving homage to the choreographer who passed earlier in the year. tesseract was a lot of fun, provided one didn’t take the first half seriously (but how could one, given the ridiculous costuming and set design?); the second half proved that charles atlas remains a master of the moving image.
among the museum and gallery shows i managed to catch, never built new york was one of the most fascinating; though the projects never came to fruition, they do remind us that new york can—and should—be something other than a metastasis of middle-brow architecture and chain stores. the sable elyse smith show there was also a reminder that there’s plenty of great contemporary art on display outside manhattan. in manhattan, the laura owens show was tour-de-force, and an incomplete history of protests: selections from the whitney’s collection 1940-2017 was effective and affecting, a great example of how to make the permanent collection engaging. trigger: gender as a tool and a weapon was more miss than hit, but justin vivian bond’s contributions were stellar (and her holiday show, which riffed on the exhibition’s title, delivered far, far more than the exhibition as a whole).
one of my year-end guilty pleasures is reading various “best of” lists (artforum’s compendium is my favorite) to see what, if any, sense they make of the year as a whole…i’m still ruminating, but one of the most surprising “bests” came from ad week’s list. while their number one choice is utterly objectionable, their number six spot, “bullying jr.” from none other than burger king, is one of the most incisive political commentaries of the year—on authoritarian leadership, the collective complicity that enables abuses of power, and, if perhaps unintentionally and obliquely, the fallacy of consumer-activism—far more coherent and cogent than anything the dnc has put out this past year.
the annual conference of the association of performing arts professionals makes january a veritable carnival of live arts, as several festivals (all open to the public) complement the conference’s showcases. these festivals are well worth braving the cold; the work is quite varied (and usually quite good), and the audiences are among the most engaged and informed (which makes for great eavesdropping). plus, the tickets tend to be affordably priced, so take some risks you might not otherwise.
performance + theater: though the public theatre is no longer on my list, its under the radar festival has some excellent shows, presented in collaboration with other venues i do wholeheartedly support. two other theater festivals open this month and carry into the next, the labute new theater festival at 59 e 59 and the ny indie theater festival at new ohio theatre. ps122 reopens in the east village with the final edition of its coil festival, abrons carries on with the ninth edition of american realness. jack hosts the oye! group’s one catches light festival, and wildproject presents the special effects festival: clusterf*ck. off the festival circuit, long-time favorites richard maxwell and new york city players are performing in a gallery this month, arsnova has a timely one-night show called citizens united ii: what happened?, the associates’ new play sheila arrives at a.r.t. / new york theatres, and america is hard to see opens at here.
music: prototype has become an essential festival for new opera (if only the met would take note of the excitement it generates!), but for the less opera-inclined, winter jazz fest and the fetus festival both have programs worth exploring. roomful of teeth perform at carnegie hall, changüí majadero plays lincoln center, xenia rubinos and adam schatz’s civil engineering is on at the kaufman center, yusef komunyakaa and tomás doncker present the mercy suite at la mama, and tyshawn sorey plays national sawdust.
dance: american dance platform at the joyce, live artery at new york live arts, and the women in dance leadership conference performances at danspace project—along with the dance components of coil festival and american realness—make january one of the most diverse in terms of dance. other dance works that i’d like to catch include conkrete jungle season 3 at dixon, compagnie accrorap at the joyce, and contra-tiempo at lincoln center.
film: while moma’s the contenders ends its survey of 2017, the museum of the moving image looks ahead with first look 2018. metrograph has a mini-retrospective of paul thomas anderson’s oeuvre, which i would love to see (as i haven’t followed him as closely as i should). ifc has several new releases i’d like to catch: the green fog, freak show, and vazante. film forum is playing a classic of latin american cinema, memories of underdevelopment, and anthology is screening the idea of a lake as a part of its series of contemporary latin american cinema premieres. anthology is also premiering robinson devor’s pow wow, which i really want to see because his zoo still haunts me, and film forum brings in the intense now, another film i’m quite anxious to see, at the end of the month.
art: my primary objective this month is to catch at least a few of the museum shows i’ve still not seen before they close: art and china after 1989: the theater of the world at the guggenheim, juan josé barboza-gubo and andrew mroczek at the museum of sex, generation wealth at the international center for photography, studio views: craft in the expanded field at the museum of art and design, fictions at the studio museum of harlem, and expedition: fashion from the extreme at the museum at fit.
as always, the full listing follows (and note that, with very few exceptions, i haven’t listed festival performances separately), and you can support your loved ones’ (i’m hoping) new year’s resolutions to see more live art by signing them up here.
abrazos,
p
january / enero
1-: happy end (film)
1-: killing for love (film)
1-: the shape of water (film)
1: the two of us (film)
1-4: animation show of shows (film)
1-4: antiporn + wet women in the wind (film)
1-4: youth (film)
1-5: paul thomas anderson x 5 (film)
1-7: emotion pictures: international melodrama (film)
1-7: michelangelo antonioni (film)
1-7: so long boulder city (theater)
1-12: the contenders 2017 (film)
1-14: the snow queen (theater)
1-28: mankind (theater)
1-: new york film and video: no wave–transgressive (film)
3-16: anatomy of a male ballet dancer (dance, film)
4: trailer camp (film)
4-15: under the radar (performance, theater)
4-21: unexploded ordinances (uxo) (theater)
5: god of war (film)
5: never talk in costume (theater)
5-7: max ophuls (film)
5-11: the strange ones (film)
5-15: first look 2018 (film)
5-25: the green fog (film)
6: conkrete jungle season 3 (dance)
6-17: until the flood (theater)
7: david commander's modern toy theater & cara francis' happy to see you (performance, theater)
7-20: prototype (music, performance)
8: decolonizing my vagina (performance)
9-12: american dance platform (dance)
9-13: variations on themes from lost and found: scenes from a life and other works by john bernd (dance)
9-13: electric lucifer (music, performance)
9-28: ballyturk (theater)
10: going south (theater)
10: the election (theater)
10-11: jessica lang dance and backhausdance (dance)
10-12: a proust sonata (theater)
10-17: winter jazz fest (music)
10-23: new york jewish film festival 2018 (film)
10-27: cute activist (theater)
10-: coil festival 2018 (performance)
11: changüí majadero (music)
11: roomful of teeth (music)
11-13: philadanco! and hālau o kekuhi (dance)
11-13: special effects festival: clusterf*ck (performance, theater)
11-16: american realness festival (dance, performance, theater)
11-16: ferus festival (music)
11-: labute new theater festival (theater)
11-: miles for mary (theater)
12: trans film (film)
12: divina: a perfectly imperfect cabaret (music, performance)
12: dietrich rides again (performance)
12: witch hunting (performance)
12: the election (theater)
12-16: bitter money (film)
12-18: memories of underdevelopment (film)
12-18: the insult (film)
12-27: sheila (theater)
12-31: freak show (film)
12-31: vazante (film)
12-: paradiso (art, performance, theater)
13: abandoned playground (dance)
13: construction and closed system (work-in-progress) (dance)
13: punk kabarett international (music, performance)
13-14: x (dance)
13-15: paramodernities (work-in-progress) (dance)
14: the deep blue sea (working title, work-in-progress) (dance)
14-15: everything is imaginable (work-in-progress) (performance)
15: inhibited bites (performance)
15: talks progress administration: memory’s first kiss (performance)
16: "i do not remember" (film)
16: anton batagov + attacca quartet (music)
16-: balls (theater)
17: the opera house (film)
17: citizens united ii: what happened? (performance)
17-30: beuys (art, film)
17-: a chronicle of the madness of small worlds (theater)
18: glass + schubert (music)
18: the red wool (theater)
18-20: women in dance leadership conference performances (dance)
18-: he brought her heart back in a box (theater)
19: young and nervy: dances from the edge (dance)
19: unboxing (theater)
19-20: evil nigger: a five-part performance for julius eastman by jeremy toussaint-baptiste and lamont hamilton (performance)
19-25: pow wow (film)
19-25: the road movie (film)
19-27: one catches light festival (performance)
19-31: mama africa (film)
20-27: contra-tiempo (dance)
20-: jericho (theater)
21: the music of nicole mitchell, lu wang, okkyung lee, and more! (music)
21-: jean rouch (film)
22: alexei ratmansky’s harlequinade (selections) (dance)
22: decolonizing my vagina (performance)
22-: fill fill fill fill fill fill fill (theater)
23-28: compagnie accrorap (dance)
24: julliard songfest (music)
24: night soap (performance)
24-: the whisper opera (music)
24-: draw the circle (theater)
25: 21st century choreographers (dance)
25-27: jessica dimauro / dimauro dance (dance)
25-27: kei takei’s moving earth orient sphere (dance)
25-: 21st century choreographers (dance)
26: sarah davachi / gabi losoncy (music)
26: l.ear (theater)
26-: the last family (film)
27: the hong-kong-a-thon! (film)
27: ecstatic music festival: xenia rubinos & adam schatz’s civil engineering (music)
27: the pink room: david lynch burlesque’s 7th annual miss twin peaks pageant (performance)
27-28: projections of memory (film)
29: the idea of a lake (film)
29: kevin smith kirkwood is classic whitney: alive! (music, performance)
29: decolonizing my vagina (performance)
30: for life against war (film)
30: the mercy suite: the songs of yusef komunyakaa & tomás doncker (music)
30: a brief history of colonization (theater)
30-: compagnie hervé koubi (dance)
30-: america is hard to see (theater)
30-: ny indie theatre festival 2018 (theater)
31: 21st century choreographers (dance)
31: tyshawn sorey (music)
31-: in the intense now (film)