this week in art

FIRST SATURDAYS: MICKALENE THOMAS’S ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE

Mickalene Thomas, “A Little Taste Outside of Love,” acrylic, enamel and rhinestones on wood panel, 2007 (© Mickalene Thomas)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, October 6, free, 5:00 – 11:00 (some events require free tickets distributed in advance at the Visitor Center)
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum will celebrate Brooklyn-based artist Mickalene Thomas in the October edition of its free First Saturdays program. Thomas, who explores the concept of female beauty and power in sparkling works that incorporate rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel into 1970s-style tableaux, recently received the Asher B. Durand Award from the museum, along with Martha Rosler and Amy Sillman, for their contribution to Brooklyn culture. The First Saturdays programming is built around Thomas’s “Origin of the Universe,” her first museum exhibition, which continues through January 20. Visitors are encouraged to come dressed in 1970s clothing as they check out musical poet Candice Anitra; a multidisciplinary performance by Latasha Diggs, Beatrice Anderson, and Jaime Philbert, followed by a Q&A; an artist talk with G. Lucas Crane, who will create a live sonic collage and place it in context with Thomas’s work; a curator talk by Eugenie Tsai about Thomas’s painting “A Little Taste Outside of Love”; an art workshop showing how to make a Thomas-like collage; an interactive performance and discussion with poet and conceptual artist Harmony Holiday; “Betty’s Story,” a musical tribute to Betty Mabry Davis (Miles Davis’s ex-wife and singer in her own right) by Nucomme and the Curators; and a fashion show, open to all, hosted by Raye 6, Marcus Simms, and Gizmovintage Honeys Beeline.

OPENHOUSENEWYORK WEEKEND

Green-Wood Cemetery is among the many historic locations opening its doors and gates to visitors for free during openhousenewyork Weekend (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Multiple venues in all five boroughs
Saturday, October 6, and Sunday, October 7
Admission: free (advance reservations required for some sites)
OHNY Passport: $150
212-991-OHNY
www.ohny.org

The fabulous openhousenewyork Weekend celebrates its tenth anniversary by once again offering people the opportunity to experience the nooks and crannies of many of New York City’s most fascinating architectural constructions. Among this year’s special programs, some of which require advance reservations even though admission is free, are Designers’ Open House, with such interior designers as Thomas Jayne, Ali Tayar, Paul Ochs, Aizaki Allie, Christopher Coleman, and Lea Ciavarra inviting guests into their private homes; the Peace Bike Ride led by Nadette Stasa of Time’s Up!; a treasure hunt for kid explorers at the Park Avenue Armory; “Dance on the Greenway,” with Dance Theatre Etcetera performing site-specific pieces by four emerging choreographers in Erie Basin Park behind the Red Hook IKEA; “Paseo,” consisting of short works by choreographer Joanna Haigood and composer Bobby Sanabria that take place on fire escapes and stoops at Casita Maria in the Bronx; “Spirits Alive,” with actors in period costumes portraying famous people buried in the Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens; “Wilderness Plan,” in which costumed dancing creatures lead people through the Elevated Acre in the Financial District; and “Frost Court,” a performance installation featuring dancers Jon Kinzel, Silas Riener, Stuart Shugg, Saul Ulerio, Enrico Wey, and Aaron Mattocks. Although some of the special tours are already booked, plenty of others have vacancies or are first come, first served (unless you buy a $150 front-of-line Passport), so you can still check out the Fading Ads of New York City with Frank Jump, the Manhole Covers of Fourteenth St. with Michele Brody, the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Spaces, the Harlem Edge: 135th St. Marine Transfer Station, the Bronx River Right-of-Way, the Kings County Distillery Tour, Historic Richmond Town, the Noguchi Museum, the New York City Photo Safari for shutterbugs, the Lakeside at Prospect Park Construction Tour, the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, the Tenriko Mission New York Center, the Alice Austen House Museum, Fort Totten, the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden, the Grand Lodge of Masons, the New York Marble Cemetery and the New York City Marble Cemetery, the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, Scandinavia House, the Morris-Jumel Mansion, Merchant’s House Museum, the Jefferson Market Library, the Little Red Lighthouse, the High Line, the African Burial Grounds, and so many, many more. The annual opendialogue series features talks and tours at such locations as the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92, Runner & Stone, UrbanGlass, the East Harlem School, the Horticultural Society of New York, the Museum of the Moving Image, New York City Center, and the TWA Flight Center at JFK. Keep watching the official website for late changes, additions, sell-outs, and other updated information.

LAST CHANCE: YAYOI KUSAMA

Yayoi Kusama, “Self-Obliteration (Net Obsession Series),” photocollage on paper, ca. 1966

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
Sunday, September 30, $18, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
212-570-3600
www.whitney.org
www.yayoi-kusama.jp
yayoi kusama in new york slideshow

Today’s your last chance to see the Yayoi Kusama retrospective at the Whitney, but you shouldn’t worry too much if you end up missing it, as curator David Kiehl has somehow made the New York edition of this traveling show remarkably dull. Born in Matsumoto, Japan, in 1929, Kusama moved to New York City in 1957, gaining prominence as a leader in the avant-garde movement through her painting, sculpture, mirror/infinity rooms, and wild happenings. The chronological exhibit begins with such early, more primitive canvases as “Lingering Dream,” “Flower Bud,” and “The Woman,” which only hint at what is to come. The most successful parts of the show feature Kusama’s late-1950s hallucinatory Infinity Net paintings and soft Accumulation sculptures, in which she created a luxurious alternate reality of clothing, furniture, luggage, and other accessories, as well as the photocollages, posters, and twenty-four-minute film associated with her “Self-Obliteration” obsession of putting dots everywhere. In addition, the Whitney has brought back Kusama’s walk-in “Fireflies on the Water” installation, in which individuals get sixty seconds alone in a room of lights, mirrors, plexiglass, and water that seemingly goes on forever. (“Fireflies,” previously displayed at the 2004 Biennial, continues through October 28; be sure to pick up a timed ticket when you enter the museum.) Unfortunately, Kusama’s more recent work, including her acrylic paintings, lack the excitement and originality of much of her previous work, and Kiehl’s decision to focus on all aspects of her career in fairly equal doses makes the show feel less important than it should be. There was more life in the fanciful window displays dedicated to Kusama at the Louis Vuitton flagship store on Fifth Ave., as well as the red and white “Guidepost to the New Space” ladybug-like sculptures along Pier 45 in Hudson River Park and the large “Yellow Trees” billboard on West Fourteenth St. at Ninth Ave. However, there is a lot to be learned about Kusama — who has voluntarily lived in a psychiatric institution since 1977 — in one Whitney gallery that contains letters, photographs, historical information, and other personal paraphernalia, but the works on view just don’t do justice to such an influential and important twentieth-century artist.

DUMBO ARTS FESTIVAL

“Codex Dynamic” is a highlight of the sixteenth annual DUMBO Arts Festival

Multiple venues in DUMBO
September 30, free
www.dumboartsfestival.com

The sixteenth annual DUMBO Arts Festival concludes on Sunday, with another diverse collection of live performances, multimedia exhibitions, interactive installations, and more, continuing into the night. Musicians such as the Well-Informed, Joseph Brent, the Soulfolk Experience, Church of Betty, and WYATT will perform in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The White Wave Dance Company will lead a grand finale at Fulton Ferry Landing. Iviva Olenick turns people’s tweets and Post-it confessions into embroidered musings. Martin Janicek will play his unique Metal Bow. Visitors can participate in Wildbytes’ “Superhero,” making it look like they can fly across buildings. Nathaniel Lieb’s “Tidal Voyage” floats on the East River. Shaun El C. Leonardo and Gabriele Tinti present The Way of the Cross, their book about boxer Arturo Gatti. Leo Kuelbs and John Esnor Parker have curated “Codex Dynamic,” mapped projections that will be beamed onto the Manhattan Bridge Anchorage and Archway. Will Scott will play the blues, while Howard Brofsky will host the jazz program Dr Bebop and Glocals. Jimmy O’Neal and Rebecca Parker will clog around the neighborhood in “Transporting Location.” Frank Viva will read from his children’s book A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse. Entasis Dance will incorporate sculpture into performance. Amisha Gadani will make her way around the area in “Animal Inspired Defensive Dresses.” Josephine Decker will be at the forefront of a fish-headed “School Evacuation.” The Friendly Falcons will roam about with musical architectural interventions. A simple touch sets Michael Rosen and Eszter Osvald’s “Neurime” instrument into action. Alan Ruiz’s “Heist” uses a red laser and mirrors to alter perception. Stacy Scibelli’s “Sabotage I, II, & III” invites people to wear tickle machines. And that is only some of what is going on at such locations as Brooklyn Bridge Park, Empire Stores, the powerHouse Arena, 111 Front St., Tobacco Warehouse, East River Cove, 81 Washington St., and galleries along Jay, York, and Adams Sts.

KRIS PERRY: INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION

Kris Perry’s “Industrial Evolution” will close September 29 with an evening of free music (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Family Business
520 West 21st St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Saturday, September 29, free, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00
www.familybusiness.us
www.krisperry.com

For most of the run of Kris Perry’s “Industrial Evolution” installation in Maurizio Cattelan and Massimiliano Gioni’s tiny storefront Family Business space in Chelsea that opens out onto Twenty-first St., visitors have come and pounded on the drums and played various other percussion and stringed instruments, made from found machine parts and other materials. But in a grand finale on September 29, a group of professional musicians and artists will take over the reins from six to eight o’clock in the evening. The miniconcerts, beginning on the hour, will feature drummer Chris Turco, composer and editor Ben Fundis, multidisciplinary audiovisual artist Brian Dewan, Nashville musician and engineer John Rosenthal, folk rocker Elvis Perkins, and Replacements and Guns N’ Roses bassist Tommy Stinson improvising on the metal machines. The Hudson-based Perry, who was born in Berkeley and is the founder of Fantastic Fabrication, specializes in creating kinetic sculptures and unusual instruments, several of which are on view in the fanciful “Industrial Evolution,” which was curated by culture writer Linda Yablonsky and also includes video components.

MUSEUM DAY LIVE!

Multiple venues
Saturday, September 29
Admission: free for two people with printed ticket
www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday

The eighth annual free museum day, sponsored by Smithsonian magazine, takes place on Saturday, September 29, with institutions all over the country opening their doors to people who have downloaded a free ticket for two from the above website. There’s only one ticket allowed per household/e-mail address, so be careful before filling out the online form; some of the museums are free anyway, either all the time or on Saturdays, while others might be between exhibits so there won’t be all that much to see. The participating venues in the five boroughs include the American Folk Art Museum, the Asia Society Museum, the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Brooklyn Museum, the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, the Children’s Museum, El Museo del Barrio, the Fraunces Tavern Museum, the Hispanic Society, Historic Richmond Town, the International Center of Photography, the Jewish Museum, the Morgan Library, the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, the Museum of American Finance, the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators, the Museum of Arts & Design, the Museum of Chinese in America, the New York City Fire Museum, the New-York Historical Society, the Noble Maritime Collection, the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, the Queens Historical Society, the Queens Museum of Art, the Skyscraper Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, the South Street Seaport Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Ukrainian Museum, and the Vilcek Foundation. Of course, if you pair up with friends and relatives, you can get more tickets for different places.

LAST CHANCE: GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE

Richard Hamilton, “Man, Machine and Motion,” exhibition reconstruction, 1955/2012 (photo by Benoit Pailley)

New Museum of Contemporary Art
235 Bowery at Prince St.
Friday – Sunday through September 30, $12-$16
212-219-1222
www.newmuseum.org

“From a contemporary perspective, the distance between our machines and our selves has never been closer,” writes Gary Carrion-Murayari in “The Body Is a Machine,” one of several marvelous essays in the catalog of the fascinating New Museum show “Ghosts in the Machine,” which runs through this Sunday. Curated by Carrion-Murayari and Massimiliano Gioni, the exhibit examines the intersection between man, motion, art, and machine in a consumer society growing more and more obsessed with pop culture. Spread across four floors, “Ghosts in the Machine” features painting, sculpture, film, and installations focused on a time before the personal computer, when a developing technology was not as all-pervasive as it is today. In Stan VanDerBeek’s 1960s “Movie-Drome,” visitors can lie down inside a dome and watch myriad images projected onto the curved ceiling, an early version of the internet. A reconstruction of Richard Hamilton’s seminal 1955 “Man, Machine and Motion” follows humanity’s pursuit of going faster, farther, and higher, even foreseeing space travel. “The Medium Is the Medium” is a 1969 public television program in which Allan Kaprow, Nam June Paik, Otto Piene, and Aldo Tambellini create short films using cutting-edge technology. Paul Sharits makes the film projector itself the key element in “Epileptic Seizure Comparison.” Harley Cokeliss’s “Crash!” video, Claus Oldenburg’s “Profile Airflow,” and Thomas Bayrle’s “Madonna Mercedes” examine the world’s growing love affair with the automobile. Works by Channa Horwitz, Bridget Riley, Victor Vasarely, and Emma Kunz play with perception in mathematical, scientific, and architectural patterns. Otto Piene’s “Hängende Lichtkugel” and Gianni Colombo’s “Spazio Elastico” use light to alter reality. Hans Haacke creates a bit of magic in “Sphere in Oblique Air Jet” and “Blue Sail.” Among the more contemporary pieces, Henrik Olesen pays homage to Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Alan Turing, and outdated machines in such works as “Apple (Ghost) (1),” an old apple computer wrapped in plastic, and “Imitation/Enigma (2),” a sewing machine tied up in a blanket, while Seth Price repurposes licensed images in “Film/Right” and Philippe Parreno investigates an automaton in the miniature “The Writer.” Other artists represented in the show are J. G. Ballard, Eduardo Paolozzi, Rube Goldberg, Robert Smithson, Konrad Klapcheck, and Herb Schneider. In today’s crazy, fast-paced, constantly connected world, “Ghosts in the Machine” offers an intriguing, involving look back at a different era, one that, knowingly or not, paved the way for today’s consumer-driven digital age. (Also this weekend at the New Museum, the “Propositions” series continues with writer and curator Fionn Meade presenting “When Genealogy Becomes Critique,” a two-day seminar [Friday at 7:00 and Saturday at 3:00, $8 plus half-gallery same-day admission] dealing with art criticism, cinefication, and historiography.)