this week in art

THE GAITS: A HIGH LINE SOUNDWALK

Free smartphone app turns High Line walk into an audio adventure

Free smartphone app turns High Line walk into audio adventure

Who: Composers Laine Fefferman, Jascha Narveson, and N. Cameron Britt and software developer Daniel Iglesia
What: Make Music Winter festival
Where: The High Line, Gansevoort & Washington Sts. to West 30th St.
When: Sunday, December 21, free, 5:00 – 6:30 pm
Why: Free downloadable app turns walk along the High Line into an unusual soundscape; portable speakers encouraged (first one hundred participants can borrow a wearable speaker for free); among the other free Make Music Winter events on December 21 are Tom Peyton’s “Bell by Bell,” the Nick Horner Family’s “Flat Foot Flatbush,” J. C. King’s “Kalimbascope,” Hiroya Miura’s “Lightmotif,” Malcolm J. Merriweather’s “Pilgrimage,” James Holt’s “Prelude,” Daniel Goode’s “Soho Gamelan Walk,” and Nissim Schaul’s “Wheels”

AM AT THE JM: CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI IN CONVERSATION WITH JENS HOFFMANN

Christian Boltanski, “Monument (Odessa),” six gelatin silver prints, three tin biscuit boxes, lights, wire, dimensions variable, 1989–2003 (© Christian Boltanski / Courtesy of the Marian Goodman Gallery, New York)

Think Coffee
123 Fourth Ave. between Twelfth & Thirteenth Sts.
Friday, December 12, free, 8:00
www.thejewishmuseum.org
www.thinkcoffee.com

For years, we’ve been fascinated by Christian Boltanski’s “Monument (Odessa),” which is part of the permanent collection of the Jewish Museum. The wall installation consists of six photos of children, surrounded by wires connected to more than two dozen lights, above three rusted tin boxes. It makes one instantly think of the Holocaust, of lighted Yahrzeit remembrances in synagogues, of the six million. However, Boltanski, who was born in France in 1944, has stated, “My work is about the fact of dying, but it’s not about the Holocaust itself.” On Friday, December 12, at 8:00 in the morning, Boltanski, who built a mountain of clothing at the Park Avenue Armory for “No Man’s Land” in 2010 — an immersive work that also evoked the Holocaust — will discuss art, memory, “Monument (Odessa),” and more during the Jewish Museum’s latest downtown edition of “AM at the JM,” a free morning talk, with free java, at Think Coffee by Union Square, hosted by Jens Hoffmann, deputy director of exhibitions and public programs at the Jewish Museum. “A good work of art can never be read in one way. My work is full of contradictions,” Boltanski told Tamar Garb in 1997. “There are many ways of looking at the work. It has to be ‘unfocused’ somehow so that everyone can recognize something of their own self when viewing it.” This coffee klatch should make for quite a heady way to start the day.

tears become . . . streams become . . .

Performance installation transforms the Park Avenue Armory into a multisensory experience (photo by James Ewing)

Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Ave. at 67th St.
Installation: December 11 – January 4, $15, times vary
Performances: December 9-21, $90, 7:00 or 8:00
212-933-5812
www.armoryonpark.org

As you enter the cavernous Wade Thompson Drill Hall in the Park Avenue Armory to experience Douglas Gordon and Hélène Grimaud’s absolutely wonderful “tears become . . . streams become . . . ,” you encounter a long rectangular space in front of you, several inches below floor level, with two pianos standing on it and groups of chairs on all four sides. Slowly, water begins seeping into the central area. You take your seat and become mesmerized as water continues coming up through the seams of more than eight hundred dark panels of cement-bonded particle board and spreads across the thirty-three thousand square foot space, filling in ever-dampening circles in extremely satisfying individual narratives. Then the French-born, Switzerland-based Grimaud, seated at the larger of the Steinway grands, begins playing water-inspired works by Debussy, Ravel, Liszt, and others as the lighting turns the floor into a breathtaking reflecting pool, the arched ceiling echoed below in such a way that you feel like you can fall right into its spacious depths, as if the pool below is as vast and open as the space above. The large semicircular vaults of the west entrance and the east wall become complete circles with the reflection, the whole entity resembling a kind of submarine; meanwhile, little gurgles of water occasionally pop up on the surface, making quick sounds and small ripples. In addition, occasional currents create shimmers that add an enticingly surreal quality to the proceedings. At the press preview on December 8, the Turner Prize–winning Gordon sat on the piano bench next to Grimaud, occasionally standing up and determinedly waving his hands and arms, signaling the lighting personnel as if conducting an orchestra. One of the most accomplished classical pianists in the world, Grimaud has synesthesia, a sensory condition that causes her to visualize music as colors, which is ironic given the piece’s decidedly monochromatic appearance; also ironic is that Gordon says he is not a very good swimmer — and in his 2012 installation “The End of Civilisation,” he burned a piano onscreen. (Gordon and Grimaud each has a thing for wolves as well.) Doused in magic and mystery, “tears become . . . streams become . . . ” is yet another major triumph for the armory, which has been presenting many of the city’s most dazzling and innovative performance installations since opening as an arts institution in 2007.

Lights and music lead to reflective moments in “tears become . . . streams become . . . ” (photo by James Ewing)

Grimaud will be performing a one-hour program live December 9-21 ($90); there will be an Artist Talk on December 10 ($15) with Gordon and Grimaud, moderated by armory artistic director Alex Poots, who brought the two together for this very special commission, and Family Day takes place Sunday, December 13, from 10:00 am to 12 noon, specifically for families with children ages six to twelve. The must-see “tears become . . . streams become . . . ” — a title Gordon came up with from a memory of having seen a young boy playing the piano with one hand while wiping away tears with the other — will be open afternoons and some evenings December 11 through January 4 ($15, stay as long as you want), during which times a computerized piano will play Grimaud’s music, but the lighting, which is so integral to the piece, will not change. “A field is endless — it goes on, and on, and on, and on,” Gordon states about the project. “And as the water collects, the space it inhabits will never be the same again.” Indeed, after immersing yourself in “tears become . . . streams become . . . ,” you will never see the armory — or hear Debussy, Ravel, and Liszt — quite the same way again.

THE L.E.S. ART DRIVE BENEFITTING THE BOWERY MISSION

New Museum ground floor space
231 Bowery between Stanton & Rivington Sts.
Sunday, December 14, free, 1:00 – 6:00
www.bowery.org
www.newmuseum.org

For 135 years, the Bowery Mission has been helping hungry and homeless New Yorkers. Now you can help the Bowery Mission by bidding at the first annual L.E.S. Art Drive, a benefit auction for the nonprofit organization whose stated goal is “to be the most effective provider of compassionate care and life transformation for hurting people in New York City.” On Sunday, December 14, the mission’s neighbor, the New Museum will host a fundraising silent auction in its ground-floor space at 231 Bowery from 1:00 to 6:00. Curated by Karline Moeller of the Cy Twombly Foundation, the auction will feature works from $450 to $10,000 donated by more than three dozen Lower East Side galleries and individual artists, including Sperone Westwater (Malcolm Morley), gallery nine5 (Steve Ellis, Jessica Lichtenstein), Patrick McMullan, LMAKprojects (Joan van Barneveld), Robert Aitchison, Invisible-Exports (Philip von Zweck), Maxwell Snow, Wallplay (Luca Chiriani), Rob Wynn, the Keith Haring Foundation (Shepard Fairey), and Cindy Rucker Gallery (Charles Dunn). (You can get a sneak peek at the art here.) In addition, there will be a photography exhibit inside the mission itself, “Through My Lens,” consisting of pictures taken by members of the marginalized local community. Every little bit helps; the Bowery Mission is estimating that a complete Christmas dinner for twelve people costs a mere $19.08 this year.

GINGERBREAD EXTRAVAGANZA: MADE IN NEW YORK

Citarella has re-created the Fulton Fish Market out of gingerbread for annual City Harvest fundraising display at Le Parker Meridien

Le Parker Meridien, 56th St. atrium lobby
119 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Daily through January 4, free ($1 per vote)
212-245-5000
www.giving.cityharvest.org
www.parkermeridien.com

Gingerbread dates back thousands of years, to the time of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians; in the 1500s, Queen Elizabeth I had gingerbread cookies decorated to look like visiting guests, and in 1812, the Brothers Grimm published “Hansel and Gretel,” a story of two children who get trapped by a witch in a house made of gingerbread and candy. Wonderfully designed gingerbread cakes and cookies have been a longstanding Christmas tradition in America — and at Le Parker Meridien in Midtown Manhattan as well, where the annual Gingerbread Extravaganza continues through January 4. This year’s theme is “Made in New York,” with such inventive constructions made out of gingerbread as FIKA’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” centered by a mirror silhouette of Audrey Hepburn; Crave.It’s “Balancing Justice in NYC,” with Spider-Man battling an evil villain atop the Brooklyn Bridge; Great Performances’ “Katchkie Farm Gingerbread Farmhouse,” a tribute to the organic farm in Kinderhook; Citarella’s “Fulton Fish Market,” which smells a lot better than the real thing; Norma’s “The Great White Gingerbread Way,” celebrating Times Square and Broadway; Silk Cakes’ “Cookie Monster Takes a Bite Out of NY,” in which the Sesame Street favorite munches on Manhattan; Rolling Pin Productions and Sotto Voce Restaurant’s “Saturday Night Before Christmas,” with Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves partying at the much-lamented Palladium, Limelight, and Studio 54; Baked Ideas’ “City Harvest Holidays,” with the familiar City Harvest truck collecting food for the hungry; and Sullivan St Bakery’s “Domino Sugar Factory,” a snowy-sweet scene depicting the since-demolished refinery. Unfortunately, Cake Alchemy’s “Going Ape over New York,” with King Kong wearing a Santa hat, came tumbling down the other day and is no more. In addition, you can find Roberta’s “Made in Bushwick” at the pizza place on Moore St., “Lady Liberty & the Seven Year Itch” at Colicchio & Sons on East Nineteenth, and “Industrial Gingerbread in the Jazz Age” at Maialino on Lexington Ave. The event is a fundraiser for City Harvest; visitors are encouraged to vote for their favorite gingerbread display, with individual ballots available for one dollar each, either at Le Parker Meridien or online, with each buck representing four pounds of food. All voters will be eligible to win a five-day trip to the Parker Palm Springs in California.

NAM JUNE PAIK: BECOMING ROBOT

Nam June Paik, “Family of Robot: Father” and “Family of Robot: Mother,” single-channel video sculptures with vintage television and radio casings and monitors, tuner, liquid crystal display, color, silent, 1986 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Asia Society Museum
725 Park Ave. at 70th St.
Tuesday – Sunday through January 4, $12, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm (free Fridays 6:00 – 9:00)
212-288-6400
www.asiasociety.org
www.paikstudios.com

I was on the subway late last week, reading one of the chapters in the “Nam June Paik: Becoming Robot” catalog for the splendid exhibition at Asia Society, when I looked up and saw an ad for a company that proclaimed, “The most powerful inventions are playful. . . . The most playful inventions are powerful,” touting a robot head, a remote pet feeder, and a synthar. The advertisement made me immediately think of the life and work of Paik, who instilled his highly technological, often futuristic sculptures, musical compositions, videos, drawings, installations, and live performances with an innate playfulness. If you’re not ready, willing, and able to have fun with the innovative, visionary Paik, then don’t bother going to Asia Society, because the exhibit, which continues through January 4, is nothing if not a whole lot of fun. The chapter I was reading on the subway was “Ok, Let’s Go to Blimpies: Talking about Nam June Paik,” a lively, informative, and, yes, playful discussion between museum director Melissa Chiu, former Paik studio manager Jon Huffman, former Paik studio assistant Stephen Vitiello, and Paik’s nephew, Ken Hakuta, that gets to the very essence of the international artist. Paik, who was born in Korea in 1932, moved to Hong Kong, studied in Japan, and lived and worked in Germany and New York, was way ahead of his time as he experimented with electronic music and images, television circuitry, and robots that could go to the bathroom, but with a unique, personal, warm touch that predated cell phones, social media, and interactive video games. “He wanted to redefine television [not as a] passive object, but [as] an object that we interact with,” Vitiello, who is a multimedia artist in his own right, says in the catalog. “We control our destiny. He was a humanist; he wanted to humanize everything, and technology was just a way of getting more time in which we could make better artwork, better software, have better lives.”

Nam June Paik, “TV Bra for Living Sculpture,” cello, two television sets, microphone, amplifiers, deflection coils, “fussbedienungsgerate,” cables, 1975 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The exhibition consists of more than five dozen sculptures, photographs, writings, videos, and other ephemera from throughout Paik’s career. The centerpiece is “Robot K-456,” Paik’s first automated, remote-control-operated, hermaphrotidic robot, which initially could poop beans. (It seems to have lost this function after being purposely hit by a car as part of a major 1982 show at the Whitney.) Also on display is “Family of Robot,” a mother, father, and baby created out of television monitors that blast images across their screens; “Golden Buddha,” a statue watching itself on television (and on which visitors can see themselves as well); “TV Chair,” which features a surveillance camera above and a monitor on the seat; a pair of antique television cabinets on which he has drawn over the surface; a robot brain in a glass dome; and “Three Camera Participation / Participation TV,” which gets a room unto itself, inviting everyone to see colorful, psychedelic projections of themselves in a far corner.

Nam June Paik, “Golden Buddha,” video installation with twenty-seven-inch monitor and closed circuit video camera, painted bronze Buddha with the artist’s additions in permanent oil marker, 2005 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Perhaps most fascinatingly, “Becoming Robot” explores the artistic relationship between Paik and classically trained cellist Charlotte Moorman, who would play topless or wearing Paik’s “TV Bra for Living Sculpture” or “Light Bikini.” The show documents various performances, includes a room of many of Moorman’s outfits, and delves into her arrest for indecent exposure while playing Paik’s Opera Sextronique. Nudity also play a role in “Reclining Buddha,” a stone sculpture of a female Buddha relaxing on her side, right hand holding up her head in a classic pose, atop a pair of color monitors depicting a real naked woman in the same position; nearby is a collection of Paik’s decidedly childlike toys. And be sure to allow extra time to watch clips from Paik’s 1984 satellite installation, Good Morning, Mr. Orwell, a different kind of variety show with Moorman, Laurie Anderson, Peter Gabriel, Allen Ginsberg, Merce Cunningham, Philip Glass, and Joseph Beuys, as well as a sampling of Paik’s live performances. In his 1966 Great Bear Pamphlet, “Manifestos,” Paik declared, “Cybernated art is very important, but art for cybernated life is more important, and the latter need not be cybernated.” Eight years later, Paik coined the phrase “electronic superhighway.” As “Becoming Robot” so ably shows, Paik was at the crossroads of technology and culture long before the rest of us, predicting a world that would become obsessed with broadcasting personal information and images on handheld devices that resemble their own personal television stations. All the while, though, he remained philosophical and hopeful about the future, deeply serious about his work but intent on incorporating an intoxicating playfulness that is just plain fun — and decidedly human.

STEPHEN VITIELLO: LIGHT READINGS

Stephen Vitiello’s site-specific “Light Readings” installation includes a performance on December 9

Baryshnikov Arts Center, Studio 6A
450 West 37th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
December 8-18, free, various times
December 9 performance, $15, 7:00
www.bacnyc.org
www.stephenvitiello.com

Interactive multimedia artist Stephen Vitiello, whose geographic sound installation, “A Bell for Every Minute,” rang out on the High Line back in 2010-11 and was later acquired for MoMA’s sculpture garden, will be adding a glow to the Baryshnikov Arts Center with the New York premiere of “Light Readings,” translating light into sound using photocells. The unique environment will be open for free December 8-18 from 3:00 to 5:00 or 8:00 during the week and 12 noon to 6:00 on Saturday in Studio 6A, where the natural light will keep things ever changing; Vitiello, a Guggenheim Fellow and an associate professor of kinetic imaging at Virginia Commonwealth University, will also be at BAC on December 9 for a special one-time-only forty-five-minute ticketed performance.