this week in art

YOSHITOMO NARA: WHITE GHOST

Park Ave. median at 67th St.
Park Ave. median at 70th St.
Through November 5
Admission: free
www.artproductionfund.org
67th st. slideshow
70th st. slideshow

In conjunction with his upcoming exhibit at the Asia Society, “Nobody’s Fool,” which opens September 9, Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara has installed “White Ghost,” two giant fiberglass-and-steel statues on the Park Ave. mall, one in front of the Asia Society on 70th St., the other in front of the armory on 67th St., where he recently held an open studio as he constructed “Home” for the show. A joint venture of the Asia Society, the Art Production Fund, and the Sculpture Committee of the Fund for Park Ave., the sculptures depict an enormous white girl, the one on 67th looking north, the other looking south, like sentinels or guards called komainu, both smiling slyly.

Yoshitimo Nara’s “White Ghost” sculpture still has umbilical cord connected to its head during installation (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The sculptures were installed on September 4 by Dun-Rite and SRI; it was especially exciting watching the head being added to the body as the sun shined down on the glistening work. (One of our three videos can be seen above.) The two girls will continue watching over Park Ave. until November 5.

OUT AND ABOUT: THE FINAL SHOW AT GIANT ROBOT NEW YORK

Artist Kelly Tunstall is part of the last show at Giant Robot New York, which is closing later this month (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

NEW WORK BY SUSIE GHAHREMANI AND KELLY TUNSTALL
Giant Robot
437 East Ninth St. between First Ave. & Ave. A
Through September 23
Admission: free
212-674-4769
www.grny.net

It was with great sadness that we attended the opening of “Out and About: New Work by Susie Ghahremani and Kelly Tunstall” on September 4 at Giant Robot in the East Village, and it had nothing to do with Ghahremani’s adorable gouache paintings on paper and wood of animals or Tunstall’s surreal portraits of women with elongated features. Instead, we were horrified to learn from store manager Mark Gilson that this would be the last show at Giant Robot, which will be closing its doors on September 23, a victim of the bad economy. (Ghahremani was also part of the second-ever show at Giant Robot New York.) “It’s been a fun ride and it’s all smiles,” company founder and Giant Robot magazine publisher Eric Nakamura wrote on his blog that night. “Imagine, as a much younger man, I’ve always wanted to have a shop in New York City and I did it.” Sure, that’s easy for Nakamura to say; he still has stores in Los Angeles and San Francisco, while we here on the East Coast will now have to look elsewhere to find unique and unusual toys, art books, and clothing and to see exhibitions by such artists as Matt Furie, Evah Fan, Scrappers, Deth P. Sun, Keith Shore, Souther Salazar, and many others. Giant Robot was a great place to start personal art collections, as most shows had prices that began at $100 or less for original pieces. Beginning September 8, Giant Robot will be holding a clearance sale, with items selling for thirty percent off, and there will be a series of special events leading up to the closing, so keep watching this space for more information as it becomes available.

DOUG + MIKE STARN ON THE ROOF: BIG BAMBÚ

“Big Bambú” installation by Doug + Mike Starn is continually evolving and growing (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

YOU CAN’T, YOU DON’T, AND YOU WON’T STOP
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden
1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St.
Tuesday – Sunday through October 31 (open Monday, September 6)
Recommended admission: $20 adults, children under twelve free
212-535-7710
www.metmuseum.org
phase 1 slideshow
phase 2 slideshow

New Jersey twins Doug and Mike Starn are in the midst of creating a seemingly living installation on the roof of the Met, a twisting, anarchistic environment made of thousands of bamboo poles lashed together with colored nylon rope that will ultimately rise fifty feet high and one hundred feet long, offering spectacular views of Central Park and the surrounding buildings. The first phase of the six-month project opened April 27, followed by the second phase on August 16. The brothers, whose “See It Split, See It Change” was installed in the South Ferry subway terminal in the spring of 2009, will continue to expand the massive structure through the end of October, adding new paths that visitors can watch being constructed, as the Starns, along with a team of rock climbers, can often be seen working on “Big Bambú” during the day, even while people wander through on the free guided tours. (Museumgoers must sign up at the registration desk in the Uris Center for Education at the 81st St. entrance for the tours; make sure to read the very specific rules before going.)

“Big Bambú” offers Cyclone-like thrills and chills on Met roof (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

“Big Bambú” features benches with cup holders, handrails, steps, viewing platforms, and twists and turns that are reminiscent of the Coney Island Cyclone, offering its share of thrills and chills; in fact, the guidelines do not recommend the tour for people with a history of seizures, fear of heights, vertigo, claustrophobia, balance problems, or other physical or psychological conditions. “Big Bambú” is as chaotic as it is spontaneous, connecting the viewer-participant to a fascinating new world growing atop one of the most famous art institutions on the planet. Also on view at the Met now are such special exhibits as “An Italian Journey: Drawings from the Tobey Collection, Coreggio to Tiepolo” through September 19, “Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players: Leon Levinstein’s New York Photographs, 1950–1980” through October 17, “Epic India: Scenes from the Ramayana” through October 3, and “Between Here and There: Passages in Contemporary Photography” through February 13.

MASTER CLASS WITH ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY

Eclectic iconoclast Alejandro Jodorowsky will lead a seminar at the Museum of Arts & Design on September 25

ART AS A WAY OF TRANSFORMATION
Museum of Arts & Design
2 Columbus Circle at 58th St. & Broadway
Saturday, September 25, $60-$85, 3:00
212-299-7777
www.madmuseum.org
www.clubcultura.com

The Museum of Arts & Design is quickly becoming a major player in the world of independent, foreign, and avant-garde film in the city. In July, they presented “Zombo Italiano: The Italian Zombie Film Movement, 1972-1985,” which included screenings of works by George A. Romero, Lucio Fulci, Lamberto Bava, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Later this month, they are featuring the hypnotic, surreal films of one of the twentieth century’s most bizarre characters in the series “Blood into Gold: The Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky.” While the museum will be screening such cult favorites as EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, and SANTA SANGRE, the premier event will be a master class with the Chilean-born Mexican filmmaker, who is also a prolific playwright, poet, puppeteer, performance artist, psychoshaman, philosopher, comic-book writer (with Moebius), composer, mime, novelist, musician, tarot interpreter, and anarchist. The eighty-one-year-old Jodorowsky will be focusing on “the power of film and art, with attention given to art-making as a means for enlightenment.” Advance registration is a must, as space is extremely limited, so sign up quickly to be part of what should be an eye-opening experience.

WHY DESIGN NOW?

E/S Orcelle cargo carrier, concept model. No Picnic AB. Client: Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics. Sweden/Norway, 2005, to be completed 2025

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
2 East 91st St. at Fifth Ave.
September 4-6
Admission: free
212-849-8400
www.cooperhewitt.org

We’ve never quite understood why the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum isn’t free all the time, like the National Museum of the American Indian downtown and all the Smithsonian museums in DC. But we don’t have to worry about that over Labor Day Weekend, when the institution opens its doors for free Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. (Admission is usually $15.) Currently the Cooper-Hewitt is in the midst of its fourth National Design Triennial,“Why Design Now?” which continues through January 9. The exhibit focuses on such themes as energy, mobility, community, health, communication, and simplicity, looking at social housing, charging stations, cargo carriers, LED replacements, tableware, threshers, and the ripple effect. Also on view is “Ted Muehling Selects: Lobmeyr Glass from the Permanent Collection.”

MEMENTO MORI: INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

Veronica Cartwright can’t take any more in chilling remake of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS



INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (Philip Kaufman, 1978)
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Friday, September 3, free with $7 bar minimum, 8:00
212-620-5000
www.rmanyc.org/cabaretcinema

Based on a magazine serial by Jack Finney, Don Siegel’s 1956 classic, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, was the ultimate thriller about cold war paranoia. Twenty-two years later, in a nation just beginning to come to grips with the failure of the Vietnam War, Philip Kaufman (THE RIGHT STUFF, QUILLS) remade the film, moving the location north to San Francisco from the original’s Los Angeles. When health inspector Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) and lab scientist Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) suspect that people, while they sleep, are being replaced by pod replicas, they have a hard time making anyone believe them, especially Dr. David Kibner (Leonary Nimoy), who takes the Freudian route instead. But when Jack and Nancy Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright) seem to come up with some physical proof, things begin to get far mores serious — and much more dangerous. Kaufman’s film is one of the best remakes ever made, paying proper homage to the original while standing up on its own, with an unforgettable ending (as well as an unforgettable dog). It cleverly captures the building selfishness of the late 1970s, which would lead directly into the Reagan era. As an added treat, the film includes a whole bunch of cameos, including Siegel as a taxi driver, Robert Duvall as a priest, and Kevin McCarthy, who starred as Dr. Miles Bennell in the original, still on the run, trying desperately to make someone believe him. The sc-fi thriller is screening at the Rubin as part of the museum’s Memento Mori series, being held in conjunction with the exhibition “Remember That You Will Die,” and will be introduced by Georgia Clark.

CROSSING THE LINE 2010

Ryoji Ikeda’s “datamatics (ver. 2.0)” kicks off FIAF’s Crossing the Line festival on September 10-11

FIAF FALL FESTIVAL
French Institute Alliance Française and other locations
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
Le Skyroom and FIAF Gallery, 22 East 60th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
September 10-27, free- $45
212-355-6160
www.fiaf.org/crossingtheline

The fourth annual Crossing the Line Festival, a multidisciplinary international celebration consisting of cutting-edge music, dance, film, theater, art, photography, lectures, and even a fair, will take place September 10-27 at FIAF as well as such other venues as the Joyce, the Invisible Dog Art Center, 3rd Ward, the Red Hook Community Farm, Dance Theater Workshop, Columbia University, the ISSUE Project Room, and Anthology Film Archives. Ryoji Ikeda kicks off the festival with “datamatics [ver. 2.0],” in which the Japanese artist and composer uses computer data, an electronic score, and strobes to present a visually dynamic performance; Ikeda’s multimedia installation “the transcendental” will be on view in the FIAF Gallery for free from September 11 through October 16. There will be a pair of exciting site-specific performance pieces, with locations to be announced, with Arthur Nauzyciel’s HETERO running September 11-14 and Daniel Pettrow’s THE SEA MUSEUM scheduled for September 18-19. Former Pina Bausch dramaturg Raimund Hoghe and Congolese dancer-choreographer Faustin Linyekula team up on September 16-18, Buddhist monk and teacher Matthieu Ricard sits down with Philip Glass on September 13 to engage in a “Conversation on Contemplation and Creativity,” and Willi Dorner will lead “Bodies in Urban Spaces,” a pair of free performance walks in Lower Manhattan scheduled for sunrise on September 27 and sunset on September 27. In addition, “Farm City: Where Are You Growing?” will explore urban agriculture around the city with a fair, film screenings, a farm tour, and an afternoon forum. The festival will also include performances and appearances by Jérôme Bel, Bertrand Bonello, Bouchra Ouizguen, Richard Garet, and Eliane Radigue. Tickets for the 2010 edition of Crossing the Line are on sale now; please note that some of the free events require advance RSVPs.