this week in art

CARRIE MAE WEEMS: FIELD OF VIEW AND OTHER MINOR CONSIDERATIONS

Carrie Mae Weems, “The Considered,” 2012 (photo courtesy the Performa Institute

Who: Carrie Mae Weems
What: “Field of View and Other Minor Considerations”
Where: NYU Steinhardt, Einstein Auditorium, Barney Building, 34 Stuyvesant St., 212-366-5700
When: Thursday, March 26, free with advance RSVP, 6:30
Why: As part of the Performa Institute Portrait of the Artist series, Portland, Oregon–born photographer and video artist Carrie Mae Weems will deliver a lecture on her life and career, “Field of View and Other Minor Considerations,” with a focus on her artistic process and production. Weems, who had a terrific retrospective at the Guggenheim last year, “Three Decades of Photography and Video,” is a fascinating person, so this should be a very special evening. “My work has led me to investigate family relationships, gender roles, the histories of racism, sexism, class, and various political systems,” she writes in her online biography. “Despite the variety of my explorations, throughout it all it has been my contention that my responsibility as an artist is to work, to sing for my supper, to make art, beautiful and powerful, that adds and reveals; to beautify the mess of a messy world, to heal the sick and feed the helpless; to shout bravely from the roof-tops and storm barricaded doors and voice the specifics of our historic moment.”

NEW YORK ART FAIR WEEK 2015: FREE FAIRS

Héctor Zamora’s O ABUSO DA HISTÓRIA will be shown at Moving Image art fair (courtesy Luciana Brito Galeria)

This year’s March edition of New York Art Fair Week — the city will be overrun with fairs again in May — features no fewer than a dozen shows, including Volta, Scope, Art on Paper, the Independent, Pulse, Spring/Break, and the granddaddy of them all, the Armory Show. If you want to see each one of them, it’s gonna cost a pretty penny, upwards of two hundred bucks total. But there are five fairs that offer free admission and a respite from the craziness that goes on at the ticketed shows.

Who: Nearly three dozen video artists, including Charlie Ahearn, Peggy Ahwesh, Oliver Bevan, Raphael Couto, Tuomas A. Laitinen, Pink Twins, and Héctor Zamora
What: Moving Image
Where: Waterfront Tunnel, 269 Eleventh Ave. between 27th & 28th Sts.
When: March 5-8, free
Why: Moving Image is a video art fan’s dream, lining the passageway in the Waterfront Tunnel in Chelsea with a multitude of innovative short works. On Saturday at noon, Sean Elwood will moderate the panel discussion and networking session “How Do Artists Secure Funding for Film and Video Artwork?” with Chris Doyle, Guy Richards Smit, Patrik Söderlund, and Eve Sussman, followed at 2:00 by “Moving Image: Instant Upload” with Alex McQuilkin, Alice Gray Stites, Amy Taubin, Rachael Rakes, and Zoë Salditch, moderated by Andrea Monti and Elle Burchill.

Sabrina Barrios will be among the artists exhibiting at the (un)Scene

Who: More than eighty visual, tech, and performance artists, including Carlos Betancourt, Sabrina Barrios, Will Kurtz, Chris Ofili, Matt Lombard, Eunjin Kim, Carolee Schneeman, Frederico Uribe, Monika Weiss, Matthew Silver, and Kelly McLaughlin
What: The (un)Scene Art Show
Where: 549 West 52nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
When: March 4-8, free
Why: Renamed from last year’s (Un)Fair designation, the (un)Scene Art Show seeks to “celebrate passion rather than fashion.” This year’s edition features numerous “Happenings,” including such live performances as Moon Ribas’s Waiting for Earthquakes, Jade Fusco’s Talking Tapestry, TunanuT’s Group Love, Nicole Woolcott’s Paper Pieces, Kate Brehm’s The Proofs, and Danielle Russo Dance Company’s Since thou was precious in my sight. There will also be an art and dance party hosted by Brock Enright, such panel discussions as “The Radical Eye: Why Artists Must Curate” with Anne Harris, “The (un)TALK” with Raoul Middleman, and “The Art Pollution Crisis (Three-Step Detox Program)” with Alex Melamid, and other events.

Who: Artists who are not represented by a New York City gallery
What: Clio Art Fair: The Anti-Fair for Independent Artists
Where: 508 West 26th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
When: March 5-8, free
Why: The Clio Art Fair lets their artists run wild without worrying about art market constraints and rules; there was a charming freshness to last year’s inaugural edition that the others lack, caring about the art and the artists ahead of the sale and actually enjoying itself, which rubs off on visitors.

Takahiro Hirabayashi will be among the artists showing at New City (courtesy Gallery Kogure)

Who: Nearly three dozen artists from eight Japanese galleries
What: New City Art Fair
Where: hpgrp Gallery New York, 529 West 20th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
When: March 5-8, free
Why: Now in its fourth year, New City concentrates on Japanese contemporary art. Programs include studio visits with Spoon & Tamago and a presentation by Pola Museum Annex.

Who: Polly Apfelbaum, BTHY, Fransje Killaars, Pushpamala N., Dona Nelson, Diana Shpungin, and Sarah Tritz
What: Salon Zürcher
Where: Salon Zürcher New York, 33 Bleecker St. between Lafayette & Bowery
When: March 5-12, free
Why: In its third edition, Salon Zürcher will highlight work by seven women artists shown by seven international galleries, including India, the United States, France, and the Netherlands.

FIRST SATURDAY: WOMEN CHANGEMAKERS

Curator tour of “Judith Scott: Bound Unbound” is part of free First Saturday program at Brooklyn Museum (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Curator tour of “Judith Scott — Bound and Unbound” is part of free First Saturdays program at Brooklyn Museum (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, March 7, free, 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum celebrates women in the March edition of its free First Saturdays program. “Women Changemakers” will feature live performances by Alissia & the Funketeers, Princess Nokia, and the DJ duo JSMN and MeLo-X; a curator talk by Catherine Morris about the exhibition “Judith Scott — Bound and Unbound”; a Colored Girls Hustle mix tape workshop; a sketch class in which participants will draw from a live woman model; a book club talk with Dao X Tran, author of 101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals Who Changed U.S. History; screenings of Julianna Brannum’s LaDonna Harris: Indian 101 and Rahwa Asmerom’s Didn’t I Ask for Tea?; a healing space with tarot readings, herbalism, acupressure, and more led by Harriet’s Apothecary; and a discussion with Tavi Gevinson about her online Rookie magazine and the print companion Rookie Yearbook Three. In addition, you can check out such exhibitions as “Revolution! Works from the Black Arts Movement,” “Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic,” “The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago,” and “Chitra Ganesh: Eyes of Time.”

PETER REGLI: RH NO. 320 (SNOW MONSTERS), 2015

Peter Regli hacks into Flatiron reality with twelve marble snowmen (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: Peter Regli
What: “RH No. 320 (Snow Monsters)”
Where: Flatiron Plaza, intersection of Fifth Ave., Broadway, and 23rd St.
When: Daily through March 13
Why: It’s been a monster of a winter, so Peter Regli’s “Snow Monsters” look right at home on Flatiron Plaza, a dozen marble snowmen hanging out in the shadow of the Flatiron Building next to Madison Square Park. This 320th installment of Regli’s Reality Hacking series, realized and pending public-space interventions that began back in 1995 in Zurich, follows such other New York City projects as 1999’s “Wall Clocks,” 2000’s “Walk/Talk” and “Post No Bills,” 2002’s “Tempo,” and 2009’s “Flag.” A collaboration between the Dominique Lévy Gallery, the New York City Department of Transportation Art Program, and the Flatiron 23rd Street Partnership, “Snow Monsters” invites curiosity not only because the snowmen look real from a distance (and remain in the exact same position no matter the weather) but because they are on a median that often is home to corporate-sponsored initiatives, but these sculptures are not selling anything, instead just helping New Yorkers pay closer attention to their surroundings and, as Regli says, helping to “put question marks into the everyday world. . . . I chose the snowman because of its Buddha-like nature. They appear briefly in the world, bring joy and evoke memories of childhood, then disappear again, melting away without complaint.”

THE STOOP SERIES — DIGITAL CITY: GOOGLE MAP HACKERS

Jennifer Maravillas, whose ongoing “71 Square Miles” project is part of “Mapping Brooklyn” exhibition, will be at BRIC for Stoop Series talk on March 3

Artist Jennifer Maravillas, whose ongoing “71 Square Miles” project is part of “Mapping Brooklyn” exhibition, will be at BRIC for Stoop Series discussion on March 3 (photo courtesy Jennifer Maravillas)

Who: Justin Blinder, Brian House, and Jennifer Maravillas
What: “The Stoop Series”
Where: BRIC House, 647 Fulton St., 718-683-5600
When: Tuesday, March 3, free, 7:00
Why: In conjunction with the new exhibition “Mapping Brooklyn,” a joint venture between BRIC and the Brooklyn Historical Society, exhibition artists Justin Blinder and Jennifer Maravillas and media artist Brian House will discuss the use of technology in their work, with a particular focus on Google Maps, as part of “The Stoop Series.” The exhibit, which also includes contributions from Aaron Beebe, Joyce Kozloff, Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin, and others, continues through May 3 at BRIC and September 6 at BHS. In addition, on March 14 and April 11, Chloë Bass will perform live as part of her “Mental Map” interactive installation; on March 28, Katarina Jerinic will lead “Visit to Erratic Monuments,” a walking tour between BRIC and BHS; and on April 2, BHS will host “Tales from the Vault! Wish You Were Here,” which looks at historical Brooklyn maps and tourism guides.

SHEN WEI: AN EVENING OF CONVERSATION AND PERFORMANCE

Excerpts from FOLDING will be part of special program with Shen Wei at New-York Historical Society on March 3 (photo by Stephanie Berger)

New-York Historical Society
The Robert H. Smith Auditorium
170 Central Park West
Tuesday, March 3, $38, 7:00
212-485-9268
www.shenweidancearts.org
www.nyhistory.org

“I have always been fascinated about the idea of Qi — the subtle energy that permeates everything in life and links all its elements together. This idea constantly makes me curious about how human beings and the material world are universally related and bonded to each other,” Hunan-born, New York-based multidisciplinary artist Shen Wei says about his latest photography exhibit, “Invisible Atlas,” continuing at Flowers Gallery in Chelsea through February 28. Shen Wei is curious indeed; since his founding of Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2000, he has guided his troupe in performances in such unusual locations as the Park Avenue Armory (in and around Ernesto Neto’s “Anthropodino” installation), the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Charles Engelhard Court, the Prospect Park Bandshell, and the Guggenheim Rotunda. On March 3, Shen Wei will be at the New-York Historical Society in conjunction with the exhibition “Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion,” beginning his company’s fifteenth anniversary season by participating in a discussion with dance critic and historian Suzanne Carbonneau; the two also spoke this past November as part of Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance festival, which includes Shen Wei’s Rite of Spring and comes to Lincoln Center later in March. The talk at the New-York Historical Society will feature video clips, selections of the MacArthur Genius’s photography, and live performances of excerpts from Folding, Rite of Spring, and the new Untitled 12-1 as the guest of honor recounts stories from his life and career.

LUNAR NEW YEAR 4713: THE YEAR OF THE RAM (or GOAT or SHEEP)

Sara D. Roosevelt Park and other locations
East Houston St. between Forsythe & Chrystie Sts.
February 19-28, free – $115
www.betterchinatown.com
www.explorechinatown.com

Gōng xǐ fā cái! New York City is ready to celebrate the Year of the Wood Goat (aka the Year of the Ram and the Year of the Sheep) this month with special events all over town, in all five boroughs. The sixteenth New Year Firecracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival will explode in and around Sara D. Roosevelt Park on February 19 at 11:00 am, with live music and dance, speeches by politicians, drum groups, lion, dragon, and unicorn dancers making their way through local businesses, and more than half a million rounds of firecrackers warding off evil spirits and welcoming in a prosperous new year. The Flushing Lunar New Year Parade takes place February 21 at 10:00; following the parade, there will be a family festival at the Queens Botanical Garden ($2-$4, 1:00 – 4:00). Also on February 21 ($5-$12, 1:00 – 4:00), Asia Society will present its annual Family Day: Moon over Manhattan, featuring lion dance and kung-fu demonstrations, live music, and arts and crafts. The New York Chinese Cultural Center will present a Lunar New Year program with folk dances, paper cutting, calligraphy, and lion dances at the Bronx Museum of the Arts on February 21 (free, 2:00 – 4:00). One of our favorite restaurants, Xi’an Famous Foods, will be hosting a culinary Lunar New Year concert at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on February 21 with MC Jin, Wanting Qu, Clara C, Esther & Lara Veronin, the Shanghai Restoration Project, and Mree, benefiting Apex for Youth ($50-$165, 6:00). There will be a performance by Chinese Theater Works, a zodiac-themed scavenger hunt, and sheep meet-and-greets at the Prospect Park Zoo February 21-22 ($6-$8). The Museum of Chinese in America will give Lunar New Year walking tours on February 21-22 ($8-$15, 11:00 and 1:00), followed on February 28 ($10, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm) by its Lunar New Year Family Festival, with lion dances and workshops, food tastings and demonstrations, storytelling, calligraphy, balloon animals, arts and crafts, and the Red Silk Dancers. The sixteenth annual Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade and Festival will wind its way through Chinatown, Sara D. Roosevelt Park, and Columbus Park on February 22 starting at 1:00, with cultural booths in the park and a parade with floats, antique cars, live performances, and much more from China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and other nations.

On February 22 (free – $25, 11:00 – 3:00), the China Institute’s Chinese New Year Family Celebration boasts lion dance and kung-fu performances, gallery tours with receptions, and dumpling and lantern workshops. Dr. Hsing-Lih Chou has curated a Lunar New Year Dance Sampler at Flushing Town Hall on February 22 (free, 2:00). The New York Philharmonic gets into the party spirit with Yo-Yo Ma leading a Chinese New Year musical evening on February 24 at Avery Fisher Hall ($45-$115, 7:30); the program includes the U.S. premiere of Zhao Lin’s Duo concerto for cello, sheng, and orchestra, conducted by Long Yu. Earlier that day, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company and students from the National Dance Institute will perform traditional dances on Josie Robertson Plaza (free, 4:30). The annual Lunar New Year Festival at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is set for February 28 (free with suggested museum admission, 12 noon – 5:00), with puppet shows, martial arts demonstrations, dances, storytelling, tea presentations and ceremonies in the Astor Chinese Garden Court, and activities inspired by the exhibition “The Art of the Chinese Album.” And the Queens Zoo will honor the goat/ram/sheep February 28 – March 1 with scavenger hunts, arts and crafts, live live performances, calligraphy workshops, and meet-the-sheep programs.