this week in art

HIMALAYAN STYLE: HOW TO REBUILD NEPAL

Thomas L. Kelly and Claire Burkert explore ways to rebuild post-earthquake Nepal in discussion at Rubin Museum (photo by Thomas L. Kelly)

Who: Claire Burkert and Thomas L. Kelly
What: Himalayan Style: How to Rebuild Nepal
Where: Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave., 212-620-5000
When: Wednesday, December 9, $20, 7:00
Why: Earlier this week, we returned from a seventeen-day visit to Kathmandu, where we saw firsthand the destruction wrought by the April and May 2015 earthquakes as well as the intoxicating resiliency of the Nepalese people, who are also currently in the midst of a significant fuel blockade imposed by India, with far-reaching effects. Among the most impressive things we witnessed during our travels was a stop in Bungamati, where an international group of architecture students are working hand-in-hand with local residents to help the community get itself back on its feet. On one wall in an old temple, Bungamati residents can indicate whether they will “clean up,” “reuse materials,” “rebuild,” “repair,” or “do nothing.” On December 9, a similar conversation will take place at the Rubin Museum of Art, when Janakpur Women’s Development Center founder Claire Burkert and photo-activist Thomas L. Kelly will discuss “Himalayan Style: How to Rebuild Nepal,” inspired by their book Himalayan Style (Roli, March 2015, $49.95), which came out shortly before the earthquake hit. Burkert, a crafts expert with Nepal’s Poverty Alleviation Fund, and Kelly, who runs Wild Earth Journeys with his wife, Carroll Dunham, will sign copies of the book after their illustrated lecture, which will include photographs Kelly has taken following the earthquakes, many of which you can see here. You can contact twi-ny directly if you are interested in seeing some of the photos we took in Nepal as well.

FIRST SATURDAY: CONEY ISLAND

Harvey Stein, “The Hug: Closed Eyes and Smile,” digital inkjet archival print, 1982 (© Harvey Stein, 2011)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, December 5, free, 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum is honoring the most dramatic, historic, and entertaining part of the world’s greatest borough for the December edition of its monthly free First Saturday program. On the always eclectic bill are live music by Fright Barker and Sons and Raya Brass Band, a theatrical drawing performance by Amour Obscur, sideshow acts curated by Adam Rinn, the issues-oriented BodySpeak by Brown Girls Burlesque, a curator talk and Q&A about the new exhibition “Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861–2008” with Robin Jaffee Frank, a wire workshop where you can make your own Coney Island ride, a book club discussion with Harvey Stein about his photography book Coney Island: 40 Years, 1970–2010, a screening of Sidney Lumet’s The Wiz, and a Visual AIDS screening of Radiant Presence, followed by a discussion with Ted Kerr, Shawn Torres, Rusti Miller-Hill, and Jawanza Williams held in conjunction with World AIDS Day/Day With(out) Art. In addition, the galleries are open late so you can check out such other exhibitions as “Stephen Powers: Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To a Seagull),” “Forever Coney: Photographs from the Brooklyn Museum Collection,” “Impressionism and the Caribbean: Francisco Oller and His Transatlantic World,” and “KAWS: ALONG THE WAY.”

ARTIST TALK: SEAN SCULLY AND GLENN FUHRMAN

Sean Scully, “Landline Deep Blue Sea,” oil on aluminum, 2015 (©Sean Scully / courtesy of Timothy Taylor Gallery, London)

Who: Sean Scully and Glenn Fuhrman
What: Artist talk
Where: The FLAG Art Foundation, 545 West 25th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., ninth floor, 212-206-0220
When: Friday, November 20, free with RSVP, 7:00
Why: In 2006, Irish-born American artist Sean Scully said, “I remember growing up in Ireland and everything being chequered, even the fields and the people.” The two-time Turner Prize nominee creates abstract canvases lush with horizontal and vertical rectangles and stripes that are filled with power and emotion while always displaying the hand of the painter. The seventy-year-old artist will be at FLAG on November 20, discussing his work with FLAG founder Glenn Fuhrman in conjunction with the group exhibition “Surface Tension,” where Scully’s 2015 “Landline Deep Blue Sea” can be seen along with pieces by El Anatsui, Mark Bradford, Sam Gilliam, Sterling Ruby, Rebecca Ward, and others in an exploration of materiality, texture, and depth.

EXPLORATIONS: IRRESISTIBLE RESISTANCE

The New Negress Society will present a program of short films in conjunction with “Irresistible Resistance” exhibit at Made in NY Media Center

Who: Members of the New Negress Film Society
What: “Irresistible Resistance”
Where: Made in NY Media Center by IFP, 30 John St., DUMBO, 718-729-6677
When: Friday, November 20, free, 7:00
Why: Formed in 2013 by Frances Bodomo, Ja’Tovia Gary, Kumi James, Stefani Saintonge, and Dyani Douze, the New Negress Film Society identifies itself as “a core collective of Black woman filmmakers whose priority is to create community and spaces for support, exhibition, and consciousness-raising.” On November 20 at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP in DUMBO, the society is hosting an evening of experimental short films and discussions about power relations around the world, held in conjunction with the exhibition “Irresistible Resistance,” which runs through November 27. The lineup consists of Gary’s An Ecstatic Experience, Saintonge’s Seventh Grade, Bodomo’s Boneshaker, James’s savage, and Douze and Nontsikelelo Mutiti’s Pain Revisited. It is all part of “Explorations,” a series of programs examining the creative process from multiple angles.

DANISH MODERNITY: JACOB A. RIIS AND VILHELM HAMMERSHØI IN 1900

Museum of the City of New York will host discussion surrounding

Museum of the City of New York will host presentation and discussion about contemporaries Jacob A. Riis and Vilhelm Hammershøi

Who: Danish ambassador Anne Dorte Riggelsen, curator Bonnie Yochelson, and assistant professor of art history Dr. Thor J. Mednick
What: “Danish Modernity: Jacob Riis and Vilhelm Hammershøi in 1900”
Where: Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave. at 103rd St.
When: Monday, November 16, $16, 6:30
Why: In conjunction with the exhibition “Jacob A. Riis: Revealing New York’s Other Half” at the Museum of the City of New York and “Painting Tranquility: Masterworks by Vilhelm Hammershøi from SMK — The National Gallery of Denmark” at Scandinavia House, MCNY is hosting an evening of presentations and discussions on the similarities and differences between the life and careers of Danish-born American photojournalist and social reformer Jacob A. Riis and Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi as they relate to the movement toward modernity.

MOBY-DICK: A MARATHON READING

Frank Stella, “The Whiteness of the Whale (IRS-1, 2X),” paint on aluminum, 1987 (© 2015 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph by Steven Sloman)

Whitney Museum of American Art
Neil Bluhm Family Galleries, fifth floor
99 Gansevoort St.
Friday, November 13, 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Saturday, November 14, 11:00 am – finish
Free with museum admission of $18-$22
212-570-3600
whitney.org

Last November’s second biennial Moby-Dick Marathon took place over the course of three days at the Ace Hotel, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. This year a bonus marathon is being held November 13-14 on the fifth floor of the new Whitney, where more than 150 artists, writers, curators, editors, and others will celebrate the 164th anniversary of Herman Melville’s thousand-page 1851 epic with a two-day marathon reading in conjunction with Frank Stella’s Moby-Dick series, part of a major retrospective of the work of the Massachusetts-born, New York-based artist that continues through February 7. Stella created the works for a special 150th anniversary publication of Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, containing reproductions of sculptures, reliefs, prints, and a mural inspired by the tale of Captain Ahab’s desperate hunt for the title mammal. Among the myriad scheduled readers of the massive tome are Ben Greenman, Brian Floca, Trisha Baga, Alan Light, Morgan Parker, AK Burns, Lucky DeBellevue, Monica de la Torre, Salman Rushdie, Melissa Febos, Paul Rome, Rebecca Dinerstein, Kurt Andersen, Ben Fama, Angela Flournoy, and Rowan Ricardo-Phillips, with more to be announced.

CANSTRUCTION

Gensler’s What’s U, Doc? Canstructure consists of 5,932 cans (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Gensler’s “What’s Up, Doc?” CANsculpture consists of 5,932 cans (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Brookfield Place
250 Vesey St.
Daily through November 16, free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
212-945-0505
brookfieldplaceny.com
www.sdanyc.org/canstruction
canstruction nyc slideshow

The twenty-third annual Canstruction NYC Design/Build Competition is under way at Brookfield Place, although they’re a little trickier to find this year than in the past, when they lined the Winter Garden. The architectural battle and fundraiser — visitors are asked to bring a can of high-quality, nonperishable food to donate — features more than two dozen creative structures built by teams referencing the international hunger crisis. As always, the overall construction is best viewed through a camera, but get up close and personal with the naked eye to see how ingenious many of the intricate designs are. You can vote for your favorite here. Among the impressive competitors are HOK’s “Presidential CANdidates,” Thornton Tomasetti’s “Wall Street Charging Bull,” Severud Associates’ “Spanning the Hungry Rapids,” GACE Consulting Engineers’ “The Butterfly Effect: How Far CAN Kindness Go?,” RAND Engineering & Architecture’s “Pipe Down Hunger,” and WJE Engineers & Architects’ “Yoshi’s Soup’er Mission,” although it will be mighty tough to beat out Gensler’s “What’s Up, Doc?” At the end of the competition, the structures are taken apart and the cans donated to City Harvest, so come on by, bring some nonperishable items, and help CANstruction raise upwards of 100,000 cans of food. On November 12 from 12 noon to 3:00, Jenny McCoy, a chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education and author of Desserts for Every Season, will host a free presentation and tasting (of sweets made with canned food) next to Hudson Eats, right near several of the CANsculptures.