Laurie Anderson is curating and participating in a special series of events for the free River to River Festival this week (photo by Tim Knox)
RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL
Note new time and place: Tuesday, June 18, Stuyvesant High School, 345 Chambers St., free, 8:00
Wednesday, June 19, Rockefeller Park, free, 7:00
Curated programming continues through June 22
www.rivertorivernyc.com
www.laurieanderson.com
Innovative experimental multimedia artist Laurie Anderson is guest-curating five days of special programming for the River to River Festival, including two nights that harken back to her seminal work United States 1-4. On June 18 and 19, Anderson will be in Rockefeller Park presenting “The Language of the Future,” with Tuesday focusing on “Stories” with the Annie Gosfield Trio (with Gosfield on sampling keyboard, Roger Kleier on guitar, and Ches Smith on drums), actor Steve Buscemi, choreographer Young Jean Lee, guitarist Gerry Leonard, horn player Doug Wieselman, and violist Eyvind Kang, while Wednesday will be all about “Songs,” with Richard Devine on electronics, Jacob Garchik on horns, and Jeffrey Zeigler on cello in addition to Wieselman, Kang, and Smith. [ed. note: Because of the weather, Tuesday’s show has been moved indoors to Stuyvesant High School and pushed back to 8:00.] “I wanted to explore how artists use time in their work,” Anderson explains in a statement about the shows. “Each guest artist in this series has a unique approach to time whether slowing it down, rolling it backwards, speeding it up, or pairing it with images in polyphonic ways. Perhaps, my real, and deeper, motive is to create a floating atmosphere that extends the summer evening and makes it all the more dream-like and timeless.” The series continues June 20 at Pier 15 on the East River Esplanade with “An Evening of Live Music and Cinema” featuring documentarian Sam Green, Brooklyn band the Quavers, and music collaborative yMUSIC. Next, Luibo Borissov and Konrad Kaczmarek team up for the interactive Peripatetic Audio Visual Ensemble beginning at River Terrace in Rockefeller Park, with an open rehearsal on June 20 followed by 2:00 and 7:00 shows on June 21-22, all of which require free advance RSVP here. Also on June 21, River to River will screen Chassol’s Indiamore, and on June 22, Andrew Schneider will perform his live multimedia Tidal, both on Pier 15. Anderson fans can also catch her inaugural New York painting and drawing exhibition, “BOAT,” along with a video installation and sculpture, at Vito Schnabel on Leroy St. through June 23.