this week in art

FIRST SATURDAYS: BROOKLYN LGBTQ PRIDE

Judy Chicago, “Birth Hood,” sprayed automotive lacquer on car hood, 1965/2011 (Courtesy of the artist. © Judy Chicago. Photo © Donald Woodman)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, June 7, free, 5:00 – 11:00 ($10 discounted admission to “Ai Weiwei: According to What?”)
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum is currently home to four temporary exhibitions that deal with different types of activism, which together fit in extremely well with its June free First Saturdays program, a tribute to “Brooklyn LGBTQ Pride.” Now on view are “Ai Weiwei: According to What?,” a stirring retrospective that examines social, historical, and political elements of art and freedom in China ($10 discounted admission on Saturday after 5:00); the expansive “Swoon: Submerged Motherlands,” which incorporates feminist ideals into such environmental issues as climate change and waste; the gripping “Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties,” which looks at the depiction of the civil rights movement in painting, sculpture, and photography; and the colorful “Chicago in L.A.: Judy Chicago’s Early Works, 1963–74,” which follows Judy Chicago before she became a feminist icon. On June 7, there will be live performances by the Shondes, Rivers of Honey, and AVAN LAVA, a movement workshop led by Benny Ninja Training Academy in memory of voguing master Willi Ninja, an excerpt from The Firebird, a Ballez by Katy Pyle and the Ballez, the drag-oriented BUSHWIG festival hosted by Horrorchata and Macy Rodman, a talk by multidisciplinary artist and activist Alexander Kargaltsev on being a gay Russian artist, a hands-on art workshop in which participants will create a dancing figure in clay, a discussion with members of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, and pop-up gallery talks. (Some events require free tickets distributed in advance at the Visitor Center.)

SWOON: SUBMERGED MOTHERLANDS

Swoon’s “Submerged Motherlands” fills the Brooklyn Museum’s fifth-floor rotunda (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Brooklyn Museum
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery, fifth floor
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Wednesday – Sunday through August 24, $12 ($15 including “Ai Weiwei: According to What?”)
Art Off the Wall: Swoon’s “Submerged Collaborations,” June 12, $15, 6:30
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org
www.facebook.com/SwoonStudio

“Is this insane? Is this dangerous? Should I not do this?” Brooklyn-based artist Caledonia Dance Curry, aka Swoon, asked an engineer when she first began putting together “Submerged Motherlands,” her enormous, environmentally conscious installation at the Brooklyn Museum. Filling much of the institution’s fifth-floor rotunda, the site-specific exhibit features two rickety-looking handmade junk rafts, Alice and Maria, that Swoon constructed using found materials, then sailed in New York waters for “Miss Rockaway Armada” and along Venice’s Grand Canal as part of her “Swimming Cities of Serenissima” project. At the center is a tall tree, made of dense layers of dyed fabric and elaborately detailed white cut-paper leaves, that rises to the rotunda’s seventy-two-foot-high circular skylight. The walls of the room suggest water and submersion, splattered with swoops of blue and green paint applied using fire extinguishers, interacting with light and shadow. “Submerged Motherlands” references climate change, Hurricane Sandy, and Doggerland, the Ice Age-era landmass that connected Great Britain and Europe and was destroyed by a tsunami; it also has conceptual ties to the Konbit Shelter sustainable building project in Haiti begun by Swoon and other artists shortly after the 2010 earthquake, as well as Swoon and art collective Transformazium’s Braddock Tiles community-based microfactory being built in an abandoned church in Pennsylvania. “Submerged Motherlands” also includes a healing gazebo decorated with corrugated cardboard honeycombs and wasp nests, and large-scale prints and drawings that recall Swoon’s wheatpastes, which dotted the streets of the city in recent years; here she depicts mothers and children and taliswomen, from a homeless Buddha figure to a friend breast-feeding to depictions of Swoon’s mother’s life cycle; her drug- and alcohol-addicted mother passed away from lung cancer last year.

There’s a distinctly feminist quality to Swoon’s site-specific installation at the Brooklyn Museum (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Is it insane and dangerous? Probably, but we’re all the better for Swoon’s having gone ahead with “Submerged Motherlands,” an intimate, compelling, and welcoming exploration of life, death, and rebirth. The exhibition continues through August 24; on June 12, Swoon will participate in “Art Off the Wall: Swoon’s ‘Submerged Collaborations,’” which will include a screening of Flood Tide, Todd Chandler’s fictional film about the “Swimming Cities” project; a talk with Swoon and some of her collaborators; and a silent procession from the auditorium to the installation for a live performance by the Submerged Motherlands Orchestra (consisting of Mirah, Marshall LaCount, Chandler, the band North America, and violinist Chloe Swantner).

OUT OF HAND: MATERIALIZING THE POSTDIGITAL

Richard Dupont’s digitally created “Going Around by Passing Through” greets people outside the Museum of Arts & Design as part of “Out of Hand” exhibition (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Museum of Arts & Design
2 Columbus Circle at 58th St. & Broadway
Through June 1, $12-$18 (pay-what-you-wish Thursday & Fridays, 6:00 – 9:00)
800-838-3006
www.madmuseum.org

Exhibitions at the Museum of Arts & Design often feature handcrafted objects, often with a folkie appeal. But “Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital” changes that dramatically, gathering more than 120 works from the past nine years that have been created using cutting-edge digital technology. Divided thematically into “Modeling Nature,” “New Geometries,” “Rebooting Revivals,” “Remixing the Figure,” “Pattern as Structure,” and “Processuality,” the pieces range from chairs, tables, and lamps to clothing, jewelry, and abstract and figurative sculptures. Artists have employed such techniques as 3D printing, digital scanning, and manipulated computer animation to create the objects, and nearby videos show how some of the works have been made, while the labels list the exact methods used. Barry X Ball reimagines Giusto Le Court’s seventeenth-century “La Invidia” in the golden honeycomb calcite sculpture “Envy.” Michael Schmidt’s “Fully Articulated 3D-Printed Dress” is made of laser-cut Strathmore. HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts offers a new form of transportation with “Rapid Racer,” which was made in one solid piece using 3D printing. Nick Hornby references art history and uses algorithms in making the white marble resin composite “I Never Wanted to Weigh More Heavily on a Man than a Bird (Coco Chanel).” Marc Newson used mathematical formulas to create the fractal “Doudou Necklace.” The exhibition also features works by Frank Stella, Chuck Close, Anish Kapoor, Ron Arad, Wim Delvoye, Maya Lin, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Roxy Paine, Zaha Hadid, and Richard Dupont, who uses himself as a virtual model in an untitled, heavily distorted full-body sculpture on the fifth floor and the large-scale head, “Going Around by Passing Through,” that resides outside the museum. “There’s this deep resistance to the idea that a digitally sourced thing can be an art piece,” Dupont says in a promotional video for the exhibition that explores his process. “Out of Hand” should significantly reduce such resistance in the future. (The show ends June 1, but on June 14, Andrew Payne of LIFT Architects will lead an afternoon workshop showing how to use 3D printing in design and programming.)

TONY OURSLER: VOX VERNACULAR

PERFORMANCE ARTS SERIES
New York Public Library
Stephen A. Schwartzman Building
South Court Auditorium
Fifth Ave. at 42nd St.
Wednesday, May 21, free, 6:00
www.nypl.org
www.yalepress.yale.edu

For more than thirty years, multimedia installation artist Tony Oursler has been creating eye-catching works that examine unique aspects of the human experience, often involving videos projected onto miniature environments and larger-scale sculptures. The new book Tony Oursler / Vox Vernacular (Yale, February 25, $65) takes a look at a different side of the native New Yorker, focusing on the language and text that accompanies his pieces — for example, “L7-L5,” “Spillchamber,” “Lock 2,4,6” and “The Influence Machine” — which often play out like tiny dramas. On May 21, a group of his friends will gather at the South Court Auditorium at the New York Public Library for a performance and book launch, with Tony Conrad, Constance DeJong, Jim Fletcher, Joe Gibbons, Kim Gordon, Josie Keefe, Tracy Leipold, Brandon Olson, Jason Scott, and Holly Stanton presenting transcripts from Tony Oursler / Vox Vernacular, bringing these works, dating from 1977 to 2013, to life in a new, poetic way, accompanied by video clips. After the event, Oursler will sign copies of the book, which also includes two hundred illustrations (190 in color) and contributions by Laurent Busine and Denis Gielen of the Musée des Arts Contemporains au Grand-Hornu and Billy Rubin. This one-night-only free event should offer a fascinating perspective on one of the art world’s most consistently inventive and entertaining creators.

CELLIST INBAL SEGEV: RECITAL AT THE FLAG ART FOUNDATION

Inbal Segeb will perform works for solo cello at FLAG Art Foundation (photo by ME Reps)

MUSIC FOR SOLO CELLO BY BACH AND PENDERECKI
The FLAG Art Foundation
545 West 25th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., ninth floor
Wednesday, May 21, free with advance RSVP, 6:00
www.flagartfoundation.org
www.inbalsegev.com

The FLAG Art Foundation exhibition “Roy Lichtenstein: Nudes and Interiors” comes to a close on May 21 with a special live performance by Israeli-American cellist Inbal Segev. The New York-based Segev, whose albums include Nigun: A Celebration of Jewish Music and Beethoven, Boccherini: Cello Sonatas and is a founding member of the Amerigo Trio, will perform J. S. Bach’s Suite in C Major and Krzysztof Penderecki’s Divertimento on her 1673 Francesco Ruggieri cello. The exhibit features more than three dozen drawings, collages, and sculptures by Lichtenstein, along with two new works by curators Ewan Gibbs and Hilary Harkness. The solo recital will take place at 7:00 in the gallery, following a 6:00 cocktail reception with wine and light refreshments. Advance RSVP is a must.

ZÜRICH MEETS NEW YORK: A FESTIVAL OF SWISS INGENUITY

Zürich Meets New York festival honors upcoming centennial of the Dada movement

Multiple locations
May 16-23, free – $20
www.zurichmeetsnewyork.org

In The Third Man, one of the greatest movies ever made, Harry Lime (Orson Welles) tells his childhood friend Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), “You know what the fellow said — in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace — and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” Of course, Switzerland has contributed a whole lot more to international culture and history than the cuckoo clock — and by the way, who doesn’t love the cuckoo clock? — as evidenced by this month’s Zürich Meets New York: A Festival of Swiss Ingenuity. From May 16 to 23, more than two dozen events will be taking place around the city, from concerts and dance to panel discussions and film screenings, from art exhibits and seminars to theater and scientific conversations, with a particular focus on the one hundredth anniversary of the Dada movement, which was born at the Cabaret Voltaire. Aside from “How Black Holes Shape Our Universe,” a multimedia presentation at the Explorers Club that requires a $20 ticket, everything else is absolutely free, although most events require advance RSVP. Below are only some of the highlights; other participants and programs include Dieter Meier of Yello, game developer Tim Schafer, Jungian analyst Christopher Hauke, complexity scientist Dirk Helbing, financial economist Didier Sornette, IBM director of research John E. Kelly, novelists Renata Adler and Ben Marcus discussing the work of Max Frisch, and a pair of documentaries about artist Urs Fischer.

Friday, May 16
“Collegium Novum Zurich: Live Music & Silent Films,” David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts., featuring screenings of shorts by Hans Richter, James Sibley Watson Jr. and Melville Webber, René Clair, and Joris Ivens with live musical accompaniment, free with advance RSVP, 7:00

Saturday, May 17
“Giants Are Small: Dada Bomb,” Dada performance art journey, free with advance RSVP, 7:00

Sunday, May 18
through
Thursday, May 22
“Dada on Tour,” art exhibition in a “nomadic” tent, Whitebox Art Center, 329 Broome St. between Chrystie St. & Bowery, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Monday, May 19
“What Can Robots and Economics Teach Us About Humanity?,” with Rolf Pfeifer and Ernst Fehr, moderated by Maria Konnikova, New York Academy of Sciences, 7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich St., 40th Floor, free with advance RSVP, 7:00

Monday, May 19
through
Thursday, May 22
“Dada Pop-Up: The Absurdities of Our Times,” opening will include spontaneous performances and exchanges, Whitebox Art Center, 329 Broome St. between Chrystie St. & Bowery, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Tuesday, May 20
and
Wednesday, May 21
“Simone Aughterlony/Antonija Livingstone/Hahn Rowe: In Disguise,” dance performance with choreographer Simone Aughterlony, performer Antonija Livingstone, and composer Hahn Rowe, the Kitchen, 512 West 19th St. between Tenth and Eleventh Aves., free with advance RSVP, 8:30

FRIEZE PROJECTS: “TIDE AND CURRENT TAXI” BY MARIE LORENZ

Frieze Art Fair New York
Randall’s Island Park
Through May 12, free with Frieze admission of $43, 11:00 am – 6:00/7:00 pm
www.friezeprojectsny.org
www.tideandcurrenttaxi.org
twi-ny slideshow

When we first heard about Marie Lorenz’s Frieze Project, an extension of her long-running “Tide and Current Taxi” series, in which the Brooklyn-based artist takes people around New York waterways in small rowboats she has designed and built using salvaged materials, we knew we had to get on board, being longtime fans of New York’s underutilized maritime side. We were especially excited about the “taxi” prospect after traveling to Frieze via the fair’s torturous school-bus shuttle, a ridiculously bumpy, shock-absorber-free sojourn from the Guggenheim that makes the Coney Island Cyclone feel like a kiddie ride. Lorenz’s project is described on the Frieze site as “an alternative ferry service,” so we went to sign up for a trip at the outdoor wooden dispatch booth as an alternate exit from the fair, which runs through May 12 on Randall’s Island. The small wooden structure is decorated with a strung-together collection of broken bottles and animal bones Lorenz has picked up on shorelines and landfills during her travels, and a monitor streams a live feed from a camera on the bow of the rowboat, showing the current journey. We asked if we could be dropped off on the other side of the river at the end of the day. Charlie, the dispatcher who would also accompany us on our excursion, quickly said that Lorenz had been waiting for someone to ask that, as everyone else had taken the trip more as a tour of the shoreline than as an actual taxi. We weren’t about to get back on that school bus, and the ferry was stupid expensive ($19 round trip only), so we were ready for an adventure.

Marie and Charlie shepherd us across the East River as part of special Frieze Project (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

At seven o’clock, we returned to the dispatch booth, where we put on big boots and life preservers and were led over to the boat, which looks a lot smaller when you see it on the vast East River. We took an instant liking to Lorenz, a charming and energetic young woman whose father was a water enthusiast. She first started “Tide and Current Taxi” back in 2005, documenting every single ride. We waited for some of the big ferries to pass by so as not to get caught in their wake, then began our journey paddling across the river while Lorenz tried to figure out where it would be best to drop us off on the other side, as there were no nearby easy debarkation points on the Manhattan shoreline. We all decided to use the remnants of an abandoned pier, where we would have to do some crawling and jumping over rotting wood and crumbling cement to make it onto the FDR Drive walkway. Ever the good sport, Lorenz climbed out first, just to make sure it could be done, raising her arms in triumph when she accomplished the feat. The two of us followed, discovering that it was not quite as simple as Lorenz had made it look, but it was absolutely thrilling as we both landed on the sidewalk, raising our arms in triumph as well (and checking to see if any cops were around). Happiness mixed with a little sadness as we wished Lorenz and Charlie a fond farewell; I think all four of us felt we had shared a special, unique experience, one that we will treasure for a long time.